Posts with keyword: science

9 entries

On Science, Society, and Democracy

Mon Jan 11 08:49:00 2010

A few weeks ago a friend said something about science that helped me understand why many people misunderstand it. He said "science isn't the only way I have of knowing the truth." He was looking at science as a way for individuals to know things. Certainly science informs us all--and that's at the heart of the misunderstanding--but that's not the point of science. Science is how we as a society can know the truth about the world we live in. Another example of a societal truth-finding system is the justice system. A court of law is
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World Wide Telescope

Sat Mar 1 09:55:00 2008

Miscrosofts World Wide Telescope(click to visit) Scoble says that when he visited Microsoft a few weeks ago he was blown away by the World Wide Telescope. Actually he said it made him cry. The WWT isn't available yet, but you can see a demo in this TED talk. My impression after viewing the TED talk is that it's like a Google Earth for the sky, seemlessly integrating pictures and information in a single platform. I'm just hoping there's an OS X version--but if not, there's always Parallels or Fusion.
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Web Science: Do We Need a New Discipline?

Wed May 9 11:54:00 2007

Web Science panel(click to enlarge) I'm in a panel at WWW2007 on Web Science, essentially a proposal for a new discipline. The field would be interdisciplinary, taking things from areas as diverse as sociology, physics, biology, law, and psychology, as well as the areas you might immediately think of like computer science or math. What is Web Science? Here's a quote from a Science paper on Web Science: When we discuss an agenda for a science of the Web, we use the term "science" in two ways. Physical and biological science analyzes the natural world, and tries to find
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The World's Largest Particle Accelerator

Tue Apr 10 20:49:00 2007

I heard a two part show on NPR yesterday about a new $8 billion particle accelerator that will go into operation this November at CERN. I love this kind of thing--always have. When I was a kid, I grew up next to the National Reactor Testing Station (now the INEEL) in Idaho. There are over 60 nuclear reactors there (only a few are still operational). Names like the Experimental Breeder Reactor were common in my childhood and I just grew up being fascinated by all of it. The new accelerator is simply amazing. Of course, the US doesn't do
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EO Wilson in Utah

Thu Mar 1 11:58:00 2007

I'm listening to Doug Fabrizio interview EO Wilson on Radio West. Doug is one of the best interviewers I know and I always enjoy him--I listen to him whenever I can. EO Wilson is in Salt Lake this week as a guest of the Utah Museum of Natural History and the Nature Conservancy. He spoke last night as part of the Nature of Things series. He was just delightful to hear and listen to. EO Wilson is the author of many influential books, including On Human Nature and, his latest, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth.
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Power Line Innovations

Fri Feb 16 15:26:00 2007

I have an undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering. That's probably why I enjoyed the first segment of this IEEE Spectrum Radio program on composite power lines so much. No accounting for taste, I suppose. The other segments on home-scale windmills and paying for non-consumption were interesting as well. I added it on my personal queue at IT Conversations.
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If You Can't Walk On Water, Write On It

Tue Oct 31 09:25:00 2006

This article about printing on the surface of water amazes me. Having taken my share of undergraduate and graduate fluid mechanics classes and having struggled with waves in engineering physics, it boggles my mind to think someone could control them this well.
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Supporting Utah Dinosaur Curation

Wed Jul 19 11:24:00 2006

You may or may not know it, but Utah has a huge collection of dinosaur fossils. Of course, Utah is where Dinosaur National Park is located. Unfortunately, the facilities for supporting this important collection are in serious disrepair. The National Park Service is requesting comments on the development of a regional paleontological repository facility in Vernal, Utah in a partnership with the Vernal Field House of Natural History (Utah State Parks). The facility is to be constructed adjoining the newly opened Vernal Field House of Natural History in Vernal and jointly managed. The Utah State Paleontologist, Jim Kirkland, is
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Keep Science Off the Web

Sat Nov 26 12:48:00 2005

If you thought record companies and movie studios were the only organizations capable of harmful anachronism in order to perserve outdated business models, then you'll need to read this story from the Guardian about the Royal Society's stand on publishing academic reseach on the web: A spokesman for the Royal Society said: "We think it conceivable that the journals in some disciplines might suffer. Why would you pay to subscribe to a journal if the papers appear free of charge?" From Keep science off web, says Royal SocietyReferenced Sat Nov 26 2005 13:30:12 GMT-0700 (MST)
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