Science in Society

History of Science, Science in Society, Science Art & Illustration, Science in Fiction, Science Issues & Philosophy, Skepticism, Science Book & Film Reviews, Pseudoscience Criticism, “Myth Busting,” Humour Science Careers, Career Development, Journalism, Academia, Publishing, Ethics, Funding, Archeology, Social Anthropology

Species, their names, and the people who named them.

Staffan Lindgren Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Science in Society
Linnea borealis, the twin flower which Carolus Linnaeus named for himself, apparently. Reading is a good pastime during the isolation most of us experience due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently I have been reading books that grapple with evolution, the species concept, and the naming of species (I also have read about wolves and cougars, making me much more attentive when in the great outdoors). As a student, I always thought of a species as…

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Science communication: perspectives from 39 countries

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
Bravo to the team behind “Communicating Science: A Global Perspective” published in September 2020 by the Australian National University Press! Two of the editors, Toss Gascoigne (Visiting fellow, Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University) and Joan Leach (Professor, Australian National University) have written November 8, 2020 essay featuring their book for The Conversation, It’s a challenging time to be a science communicator. The current pandemic, climate crisis, and concerns over new…

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Adisokan: Winter Solstice 2020 and storytelling; a December 2020 event

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
Ingenium (Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation) is hosting the second in a series of Indigenous Star Knowledge Symposia. (There’s a more comprehensive description of the series in my Sept. 18, 2020 posting, which also features the Fall Equinox event (the first in the series) and information about a traveling exhibit. ) Adisokan: Winter Solstice, Stars and Storytelling will be held on December 21, 2020 (from the event page), December 21, 2020 from 3 p.m.…

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A computer simulation inside a computer simulation?

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
Stumbling across an entry from National Film Board of Canada for the Venice VR (virtual reality) Expanded section at the 77th Venice International Film Festival (September 2 to 12, 2020) and a recent Scientific American article on computer simulations provoked a memory from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune. From an Oct. 3, 2007 posting on Equivocality; A journal of self-discovery, healing, growth, and growing pains, Knowing where the trap is — that’s the first step…

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Digital aromas? And a potpourri of ‘scents and sensibility’

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
Mmm… smelly books. Illustration by Dorothy Woodend.[downloaded from https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/11/19/Smell-More-Important-Than-Ever/] I don’t get to post about scent as often as I would like, although I have some pretty interesting items here, those links to follow towards of this post). Digital aromas This Nov. 11, 2020 Weizmann Institute of Science press release (also on EurekAlert published on Nov. 19, 2020) from Israel gladdened me, Fragrances – promising mystery, intrigue and forbidden thrills – are blended by master…

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Spinach could help power fuel cells.

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65303730 I was surprised to see a reference to the cartoon character, Popeye, in the headline (although it’s not carried forward into the text) for this October 5, 2020 news item on ScienceDaily about research into making fuel cells more efficient, Spinach: Good for Popeye and the planet“Eat your spinach,” is a common refrain from many people’s childhoods. Spinach, the hearty, green vegetable chock full of nutrients, doesn’t just provide…

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Boost single-walled carbon nantube (SWCNT) production

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
I’m fascinated by this image, Caption: Skoltech researchers have investigated the procedure for catalyst delivery used in the most common method of carbon nanotube production, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), offering what they call a “simple and elegant” way to boost productivity and pave the way for cheaper and more accessible nanotube-based technology. Credit: Pavel Odinev/Skoltech If I understand it correctly, getting the catalyst particles into a tighter, more uniform formation is what could lead to…

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Wilson Center and artificial intelligence (a Dec. 3, 2020 event, an internship, and more [including some Canadian content])

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
The Wilson Center (also known as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars) in Washington, DC is hosting a live webcast tomorrow on Dec. 3, 2020 and a call for applications for an internship (deadline; Dec. 18, 2020) and all of it concerns artificial intelligence (AI). Assessing the AI Agenda: a Dec. 3, 2020 event This looks like there could be some very interesting discussion about policy and AI, which could be applicable to other…

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Gene therapy in Canada; a November 2020 report and two events in December 2020

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
There’s a lot of action, albeit quiet and understated, in the Canadian gene therapy ‘discussion’. One major boost to the discussion was the Nov. 3, 2020 release of a report by the Canadian Council of Academies (CCA), “From Research to Reality; The Expert Panel on the Approval and Use of Somatic Gene Therapies in Canada.” Dec. 2 – 3, 2020 Breaking Through Another boost is the the free and virtual, upcoming 2020 Gairdner Ontario International…

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“Imagine Van Gogh” in Vancouver (Canada) in 2021

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
Here’s a video about “Imagine Van Gogh,” coming soon to Vancouver, they hope, but which opened first in Montréal in December 2019 where almost 200,000 visited the exhibit before it moved to Winnipeg in March 2020 (Note: There is an advertisement before the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) segment begins), The Dec. 7, 2019 CBC news item (where video was embedded), provides more details about the exhibit experience (Note: A link has been removed), …Brushstrokes appear…

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