Things I Learned This Semester #8

Back in March I had the good fortune of seeing a talk by Professor Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph. D., hosted by the University of Maryland Society of Inquiry.  Dr. Krauss is a world renown theoretical physicist, and the talk was excellent.  A little cosmology, a little humor, and a lot of nothing.   Absolutely nothing.  In fact, an entire Universe from nothing.  So what did I learn? Cosmic humility, on a scale I never imagined possible.

If you find yourself with a free hour, and you want to learn what I learned, I highly recommend the video below.  You won't regret it.

Uploaded to YouTube by richarddawkinsdotnet.

A film about our HOME.

(So I know I did the same thing last year, but please bear with me as I try and get everything sorted out after my week at SVP so that I can finish up tmy "daily posts from the field".  I'm glad I was able to get up three considering how busy the days are, and the lack of free Wi-Fi in the rooms.  They will come soon, but someone recently sent me this, and I feel like putting it up is pretty important, so here it goes.)

Depending on who you ask, the human population on the planet currently numbers somewhere between 6.973 billion (U. S. Census Beureau) and 7 billion (United nations Population Fund).  That is a lot of people, and sometimes, I don't think we consider the impact a population like that can have on the planet.  Even those of us that do are guilty of contributing to that impact in one way or another.  Many have suggested that we have now reached a critical point in human history; one where we understand what may be before us, and have to act in order to preserve our shared future.  The film HOME does this in a way that is hard to not take seriously.

Interweb Science of the Week #9

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of science and the natural world. It's also not hard to see that I think that science education, starting at a young age, is one of the most important things that any child can have access to. Sadly, in some places, providing this education is difficult for those responsible for shaping the minds of tomorrow. Low funding, fear of starting a controversy, and lack of proper training for science educators are all roadblocks that teachers today face. It's a sad but simple fact: the United States is falling behind in science education. This is something even President Obama recognized in the State of the Union address in January. He wants "to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math", and "teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair". I could not agree more.

Interweb Science of the Week #6

Another Friday, another "Interweb Science of the Week". I love it. And this time, not only will it stimulate the mind, but also tug at the heart strings a little. Meet Riley, the "first grade paleontologist". This kid is awesome. He breaks out his dinosaur toy collection, gets in front of the camera and... well wait, why am I talking about it. Just watch!

Riley the Paleontolgist Show 1 "Carnivores". Check out Rileytalk's YouTube channel for more videos.

Science Online 2011

Tomorrow begins the fifth annual meeting on science and the web, ScienceOnline2011. This year, attending wasn't in the cards for me, but many of the science bloggers I follow will be there, and I want to wish them all the best of luck on their presentations/lectures/workshops/panels/etc. Among the individuals that you'll find there this year are David Orr of Love in the Time of Chasmosaurus, Brian Switek of Laelaps, Glendon Mellow of The Flying Trilobite, Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science, and Carl Zimmer of The Loom. I know that David will be tweeting from the event, so definitely follow him on Twitter @anatotitan and look for the hashtag #scio11 to keep up to date with the goings on there this year. I know I will. And thanks to all parties involved for making the event possible in the first place. With the web being such a huge part of modern life, having a group dedicated to using this powerful tool to effectively communicate and teach science is a wonderful thing.

Earth Science Week - 4.54 Billion Years in the Making.

Among other things, today brings the start of Earth Science Week, a time for Earth scientists to share their knowledge and engage students in discovering the Earth sciences, in addition to reminding people that Earth science is literally all around us and that through understanding it, we can become better stewards for our planet. This years theme is "Exploring Energy", selected to do just that, and remind people where our energy comes from, and discuss alternatives for the future.

I can't stress enough how important it is to get people to think about such topics. How often do we think about how the electricity in our home works, let alone where it comes from? How the petrol in their car gets from deep within the Earth to their tank? I'm guilty of the same disconnect. As much as I try to conserve energy and explore the many facets of the world around me, I take a lot for granted. So dedicating some time this week to these topics seems completely worth it to me. It's essential we understand what's happening now so we can plan for the future. In the words of famous Earth scientist James Hutton (popularized by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology), "the present is the key to the past", or in this case, the present and the past are the key to the future. So grab an Earth Science Week toolkit, plan an event or find one near you to join, enter one of the many contests - there's plenty to do. And not just from the 10th through the 16th of the month, but all year round. So people of Earth, have a great Earth Science Week.

Earth, Life, and Time: A Lasting Legacy

WARNING: The following post contains little science, and lots of "touchy-feely" stuff, but I'm putting it out there anyway. Consider yourself warned.

I will never forget the day of my college orientation. I had been invited to join the College Park Scholars, and had selected the "Earth, Life, and Time" program as my focus. Walking into the basement classroom of one of the imposing University buildings, I took my seat with all the other "ELT" scholars in front of two gentlemen who would, over the course of the next few years, change the way I looked at everything. They introduced themselves as co-directors of the program, said that they were vertebrate paleontologists, and that was pretty much the last thing I remember. There is a definite possibility I blacked out; I was immediately swept up by a whirlwind of excitement and anticipation.

"Wrong, wrong, triple wrong."

I started talking about this subject a long time ago, touched on it a few more times in between other posts here at Superoceras, and I have no doubt that I'll write more in the future. But I want to finally finish up a post series that is long overdue, and answer a question that inspired me to start blogging in the first place: what do I think of the discovery or Ardipithecus ramidus, and the scientist that claimed that "apes descended from humans"?

Life.

I love it. All of it. If there's one thing about Earth that I'd say I'm most enamored with, it is Life and the natural world. It's myriad forms are all around us, and on some level, inspire or teach me every day.

But sometimes, my life becomes so full that I find it difficult to really enjoy it. Or blog about it. This saddens me. I haven't' had a very substantial post (let alone a post at all) in quite some time. But that will soon change. I promise I'll be back very soon, finishing up post series that I started long ago, answering questions I posed to readers, and generally doing what I set out to do with this blog in the first place: write about science and life on Earth, and share the wonder of the natural world with anyone who wants to learn about it.

Until next time, enjoy this photo of an eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus. And while on the subject, I highly suggest checking out powerpig's photoset "Critters". As a science geek and sci-fi nerd, I approve!

Some of the "wildlife" you can find roaming the grounds of the National Zoological Park.

I was always more of a "Coke" guy anyway...

Some of you may know of the recent "Pepsico Controversy" (covered by David Orr over at Love in the Time of Chasmosaurus), which was forcing some over at ScienceBlogs to reconsider their position there. Long story short, Seed Media Group, who runs ScienceBlogs, allowed Pepsico to have a blog there, which seems at best like a conflict of interests, and at worst, a commercial for Pepsico products with no foothold in science whatsoever. Brian Switek over at Laelaps decided to leave altogether. But PZ Meyers over at Pharyngula announced that Pepsico will in fact be the ones leaving. This is a victory for science, and those dedicated individuals over at ScienceBlogs. I hope that Seed Media Group can regain their trust, and any and all bloggers that felt the need to "abandon their posts" will resume writing, as they are a constant source of entertainment and education for so many. Thank you science bloggers, one and all!

**UPDATE 13 July**
Eric Johnson of The Primate Diaries has decided to leave ScienceBlogs for good. Thanks for such a great run Eric, and I look forward to your return to blogging in the future.

***UPDATE 14 July***

Brian Switek has officially moved Laelaps to his author website at http://brianswitek.com.

****UPDATE 26 July****

The Primate Diaries has moved to The Primate Diaries in Exile. Update your links!

Why do you do these things?

I have to start out by saying that I thought long and hard about actually publishing this post. It is, for the most part, an opinion piece, and distracts from the primary focus of my blog. It communicates little science, and is for all intents and purposes, more of a rant than anything. But it does tie into other issues covered here at Superoceras in the past, like the role of the media in communicating scientific knowledge, and protection/conservation of wildlife. For that reason I'll get on with it.

Vanessa over at NatureBreak recently posted a new video titled "Is Wildlife Filming Cruel to Animals?" that has started quite the discussion. I didn't want to distract from the conversation there by getting off topic, or distract here by starting my own on the subject (please follow the link, join NatureBreak, and comment on the video there yourself). But I did want to quickly speak my mind about something that really gets under my skin: Bear Grylls.

Earth Day - Make it every day.

This wouldn't be a very decent, science/nature themed blog without a post about Earth Day. Celebrated annually on April 22, Earth Day (coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network) is a time when all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, are reminded of their moral right to contribute to a healthy, sustainable environment.

The Earth Day Flag, from Wikimedia Commons.

"Tree of Lies"

Yes, I too thought it was a clever play on words. I am, from time to time, extremely vocabularious (a term coined by my brother and I back at the turn of the 21st century that means "funny with words" but apparently has other current definitions on the internet).

This is just a teaser post/question for my readers. Can anyone spot the problems with this cladogram? I'll give you a hint: it is not accurate. If you've already been part of the e-mail discussion regarding it, don't spoil it for everyone else, at least not immediately. Everyone else, happy hunting!

Image courtesy of Peter .

Ardipithecus ramifications. (Science in the media part II)

Back in October, I wrote the first post in a series on science, education, and the media. Needless to say, I never got around to finishing that series, or answering the initial question of my friend regarding my thoughts on the (then) recent publication of papers and news articles on Ardipithecus ramidus, and the interpretation of the fossils by the scientist who claims that "apes descended from humans".

Gotta clade 'em all!

My friend Peter has started his own blog (The Nameless Blog) about video games, and has published more posts in his first week than I did in my first month. If you're a gamer I highly recommend you check it out. But his writing has inspired me to write about one of my gaming experiences that, surprisingly, I can tie into the science/nature/education content I like to write about here at Superoceras.

I'm not going to lie to any of you. Back in the fall of 1998, my interests in speculative biology, video games, and collecting things all merged together in what I considered to be the coolest trend of the day: Pokémon. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I spent a great deal of time capturing, training, and battling those little "pocket monsters". I even did a phylogeny of the first 151 creatures as a gag with a friend of mine. I wish I could find it. Don't lie, you want to see it too.

Clash of the Dinosaur Special and Professional Paleontologist

Man, I really wish that I had actually finished my series on science, education, and the media before now. I keep getting interrupted from writing it, and then something like this happens, which perfectly illustrates why I need to talk about it in the first place. This will be another quick, link heavy post, but bear with me until I can flesh out the bones of my larger post over break.

Matt Wedel over at SV-POW was a featured "talking head" in the recent Discovery Channel documentary Clash of the Dinosaurs, and did not have a very good experience. Essentially, the individuals over at Dangerous Ltd., the production company working on the program edited an interview with Dr. Wedel so that it appeared, on television, as if he agreed with an outdated and falsified notion regarding the "second brain" of sauropod dinosaurs. Dr. Wedel was obsiously very upset at this, as his reputation among his peers and collegues could be seriousy tarnished.

Save geology; get a hoverboard!

(I realize the title may be a bit of a stretch, but bear with me, if you will.)

I'm really trying to keep up with this once a week post thing, but with work, school, and everything else going on, I haven't quite polished up the second post in my science/education/media series. While that waits, I'll hope you'll settle for post 1.5, which addresses a similar and equally (if not more) important issue that I'd like to touch on briefly: the closing of geology and geology related programs at colleges and universities.