On the weekends I have more time to cook and write. The week can pass in an automated blur, but weekends make me feel very human. Cooking and writing are two uniquely human pursuits. Writing is a celebration of the mind – a way we can record and share our thoughts. Cooking celebrates the offerings…
A few comments: 1. NMNH in the captions = National Museum of Natural History, aka the Smithsonian’s absurdly fun enormous collection of dinosaur bones, a giant squid, the Hope diamond, meteorites, BUGS, elephants, a crochet coral reef that lives up to its hyperbolic name… 2. The National Art Gallery has a great temporary exhibit featuring…
Return to K-tron and Slugnads do D.C.
N: I had a conversation at the awards ceremony with John Mather about kids and science. John’s argument was that kids are natural scientists — and that the problem we’re facing is not how to interest kids in science; rather, the challenge is in *keeping* them interested. The Science Expo today demonstrated the truth in…
This will be a “LIVE, recorded during an earlier broadcast” blog post. We will update as much as possible. *NOTE: We have updated to the point of arrival back in California. We’ve added some flavorful text message exchanges and additional photos throughout. Enjoy!* And….begin: [in flight, time unknown because Keith is superstitious and refuses to…
In graduate school, I studied a group of jellies called siphonophores. Most people had never heard of them, except for the Portuguese Man-O-War. (I have now taught spell-check the word ‘siphonophores’) As part of my research, I took pictures of my specimens. I knew nothing about photography, so my time in the field was a…
Flushed from my rush back to the office, I throw open my laptop, slam in the USB cord, and hold my breath. A small moment of panic. Is it there? Is it entact? The file transfers, iTunes bounces awake, and the tinny voices of victory sing my success. Glory be, my interview, with all its…
Our class was visited by NPR’s Richard Harris today. What followed was a fascinating look at what makes radio different from print, and some inside looks at how NPR does such great science reporting for radio. But that’s the subject of a whole different post. Towards the end of his talk, I was struck by…
You’ve heard of the old prank where someone takes your pink flamingo yard ornament (or garden gnome) and sends you photos of it posing in front of the Eiffel Tower and other destinations? I think it’s a wonderful tradition, and if I could bear the sight of such a thing in my yard, I’d have…
Over the past two weeks, we’ve all shared our experiences as we shed our previous lives as scientists and let our writer-ness out to run free. For me, this video pretty much sums it all up. For reference: baby otter = Melissae I’m confident I’ll learn to swim just like the little otter. In fact,…
