Science Says 2022 SciArt Contest (Jan. 3 – 31, 2022) for California (US) residents

January 4, 2022 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Science Says is affiliated with the University of California at Davis (UC Davis). Here’s a little more about the UC Davis group from the Science Says homepage, We are a team of friendly neighborhood scientists passionate about making science accessible to the general public. We aim to cultivate a community of science communicators at UC Davis dedicated to making scientific research accessible, relevant, and interesting to everyone. As for the contest, here’s more from the…

Futures exhibition/festival with fish skin fashion and more at the Smithsonian (Washington, DC), Nov. 20, 2021 to July 6, 2022

January 3, 2022 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Fish leather Before getting to Futures, here’s a brief excerpt from a June 11, 2021 Smithsonian Magazine exhibition preview article by Gia Yetikyel about one of the contributors, Elisa Palomino-Perez (Note: A link has been removed), Elisa Palomino-Perez sheepishly admits to believing she was a mermaid as a child. Growing up in Cuenca, Spain in the 1970s and ‘80s, she practiced synchronized swimming and was deeply fascinated with fish. Now, the designer’s love for shiny…

FrogHeart casts an eye back to 2021 then looks forward to 2022 and contronyms

December 31, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Casting an eye back isn’t one of my strong points. Thankfully I can’t be forced into making a top 10 list of some kind. Should someone be deeply disappointed (tongue in cheek) that I failed to mention one of the big 2021 stories featured here, please leave a note in the Comments for this blog and I’ll do my best to add it. Note: I very rarely feature space exploration unless there’s a nanotechnology or…

Two (very loud) new species in Australia: the Slender Bleating Tree Frog and the Screaming Tree Frog

December 30, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Slender Bleating Tree Frog (H.B. Hines) [downloaded from https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/featured/screaming-for-attention-surprise-discovery-of-two-new-and-very-loud-frog-species] A November 22, 2021 item on phys.org announces two ‘new to science’ frog species in Australia, Scientists from the University of Newcastle [Australia], Australian Museum, South Australian Museum, and Queensland National Parks and Wildlife have found and described two new, very loud frog species from eastern Australia: the Slender Bleating Tree Frog, Litoria balatus, and Screaming Tree Frog, Litoria quiritatus.Published today [November 22, 2021] in Zootaxa,…

A little more Christmas: “Kitty Q” award-winning game app explains quantum physics

December 29, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Caption: Kitty Q. Credit: Philipp Stollenmayer It kind of reminds me of ‘Hello Kitty’. However, you can see in this larger version that 1/2 of this cat has a skeletal paw giving it kinship to Erwin Schrödinger’s cat. The app was first announced in a September 28, 2021University of Würzburg press release on EurekAlert, Cute but half-deadDing, dong. There is a box in front of the door. And inside there is … a cute but…

2nd international Nanocar Race to be broadcast live in March 2022

December 28, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

I gather they’re sticking to 2022 as the year for the second race as first mentioned in my December 18, 2020 posting “Next-gen Rice University nanocars for Second international Nanocar Race (it’s been bumped to 2022).” A November 17, 2021 news item on Nanowerk announces the inclusion of a team called NANOHISPA from IMDEA Nanociencia (Institute of Advanced Studies in Nanoscience, a private non-profit foundation initiated by the regional government of the community of Madrid…

Virgin birth in a Sardinian aquarium and whistled languages could help us understand dolphins

December 27, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

A virgin birth story seems particularly apt at this time of the year (as I was taught the story, Jesus was born of a virgin birth on Christmas Day). As for the whistled language story, that’s pure self-indulgence. Virgin shark birth From an August 26, 2021 article by Harry Baker for Live Science (Note: Links have been removed), A shark’s rare “virgin birth” in an Italian aquarium may be the first of its kind, scientists…

Season’s Greetings with the world’s thinnest Christmas tree

December 24, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Courtesy: Technical University of Denmark I haven’t seen one of these in a while. It used to be a relatively common occurrence (especially during a holiday) that scientists would create the world’s smallest XXX and send a press release. I’ve missed them so I’m glad to see this one pop up. A December 23, 2021 news item on phys.org announces the world’s thinnest Christmas tree, A Christmas tree with a thickness of one atom has…

Update on Charles Lieber (former Harvard professor) has been convicted

December 23, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

That was quick. Lieber went on trial Tuesday, December 14, 2021 and he was found guilty of two charges one week later on Tuesday, December 21, 2021. (You can see my December 20, 2021 posting for mention of the trial and a description of the events leading up to it.) As for the conviction, here’s more from a December 23, 2021 posting by Brian Liu and Raquel Leslie for the Law Fare blog (Note: Links…

Your cyborg future (brain-computer interface) is closer than you think