Endangered Species Act

The Dolitter's got a good rant up about the latest attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act. Go gander!

What is Science?

Linked to me by kadath, is this blog post defining Science. The important part is the 3-part definition, which includes EVERYTHING I've ever thought of as science.

#1: Science is a changing and growing collection of knowledge, characterized by transparency (all methods are documented, and the lineage of ideas can be traced) and testability (prior work can be repeated or its results evaluated). It is an edifice of information that contains all of the details of its construction.

#2: Science is what scientists do. We have institutions that train people and employ them in the business of generating new knowledge — contributing to that edifice in definition #1 — and we have procedures like the bestowal of degrees and ranks that certify one's membership in the hallowed ranks of science.

#3: Science is a process. It is a method for exploring the natural world by making observations, drawing inferences, and testing those inferences with further experimentation and observation. It isn't so much the data generated as it is a way of thinking critically about the universe and our own interpretations of it.

There are essentially three different usages of the word "Science" that I have seen, and Pharyngula neatly sums them all up. #1 is the layman's definition, #2 is the research scientist's, and #3 is the educator's. When I student-taught middle school science, one of our main goals was showing the kids that they ARE scientsts themselves and that they already do use the process of science in their everyday lives, so it's not something big and scary and separate from them.

Mad Movie Scientists

Linkie dink

And aw, shucks, Sclerotic Rings likes me. ^_^''

Fuel cell car

Although this blog article on fuel cells isn't entirely correct (see my comments below the article), the author still makes some good points about fuel cells NOT being a solution to our fossil fuel problem.

Physics is Love

Earlier this week my students asked me if I'd cancel class on Valentine's Day. I replied of course not, because we all love physics! And to prove my point, check out this little treatise on romance as circuit diagrams. It's a little flawed as I mention elsewhere, but still entertaining and illustrates a point.