September 2010
15 posts
August 2010
10 posts
Taking the mystery out of technology →
One of the most potent tools for making science interesting and accessible to non-scientists is pointing it out in people’s every day lives. Most people never encounter MRIs, and those who do are probably so upset about the possibility of a torn ligament in their knee that they could care less what an MRI actually does. So maybe lesson #1 is don’t try to get people psyched about science when...
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric... →
I love these heat-distribution diagrams. The colors are so intuitive; it’s a really quick and easy way to convey temperature data to anyone, regardless of their knowledge of a subject.
In this case, however, I wish they had given us two diagrams. This globe that they are showing is supposed to illustrate an anomalous pattern of sea surface temperatures. We can take their word for it, but...
Origami Masters and a PBS documentary →
theplaylab just pointed out this documentary called “Between the Folds” about 10 origami masters. You can read short bios and look at their incredible work here. By the way, I just checked and the documentary is available on Netflix. Good thing, because I can’t make heads or tails of PBS’s schedule-finder!
theplaylab-deactivated20110204 asked: Have you seen this: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/?
Joseph Wu's Origami Page →
Sometimes the sheer beauty of an object is enough to justify its existence. But in the case of these incredible origami pieces, I say, why not put them in the service of science!? Perhaps a conservation ad campaign? They’d certainly capture my attention…
I don’t know much about it but I think these guys who make origami models from scratch use math pretty intensively to...
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This is why we need scientific illustrators and... →
This model of Tiktaalik roseae is a perfect example of why expert scientific illustrators and paleoartists are needed when conveying science to the public. While this museum installation is a fantastically creative concept, they get the anatomy of Tiktaalik’s front fins completely wrong and in doing so, perpetuate a myth about how life on land evolved.
This depiction of Tiktaalik...
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The World's Longest Mountain Range... Interrupted.
What is the longest mountain range on the planet? Look at this map. There are the Andes that run the length of South America’s west coast. There are the Rockies, running much of the length of North America. And then, there’s the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Impressive, no?
But wait - follow it south, around the tip of Africa, up into the Indian Ocean and then off the page… Pick up the...
“What I found was that interacting with visuals prompted students to better...”
– This is a quote from Jeff Miller, a teacher and member of the Denver Public Schools advisory board, explaining the impact of an NSF-funded program to create digital libraries of illustrations and animations that will be used with Denver’s middle & high school earth sciences curriculum.... 