Carl Sagan teaching kids about the universe

  This from the Kepler Mission guys that posted about it: "Sagan visits his old elementary school and tells the children: "By the time that you people are as old as I am, we should know for all the nearest stars whether they have planets going around them or not. We might know dozens or even hundreds of other planetary systems and see if they are like our own... or very different.. or if no other planets are going around the stars at all... That will hapen in your lifetime and will be the first time in the history of the world that anybody found out REALLY if there are planets around the other stars." He was right (though the techniques he describes are not those that have been most commonly employed as of yet). Many of us working on the Kepler team were about the same age as those children at the time of the filming. And now, we are about Carl's age at the time of the filming. It's our wish that the children of today will be inspired by Kepler's discoveries and the prospect that in their lifetime, we should know of a world that could harbor life -- that one day soon we might know of world that DOES harbor life. Have a great weekend everyone!" (via onegoodmove)

Tuesday Morning Links

Is a Bookless Library Still a Library?

Wikipedia Aims Higher

Nine Fish With ''Hands'' Found to Be New Species

Diver Snaps First Photo of Fish Using Tools

Help Science! Preserve the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed!

Help us to preserve the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed

This is a special request from Donald Prothero and Teresa LeVelle,


We have learned that the world-famous Sharktooth Hill Bonebed fossil locality northwest of Bakersfield, one of the richest and most important sites in the world, is in danger of being sold off to commercial collectors. If this happens, the dealers will excavate it for only the commercially valuable fossils and destroy all the scientific information from the hundreds of sharks, as well as whales and seals and other marine mammals that come from these deposits.
The owner of this land, Bob Ernst (who was a good friend of ours), passed away several years ago suddenly without leaving a will, and his widow is now selling off the fossil-rich property to the highest bidder. Already a lot of important specimens have been sold in auction (including some that were already in a museum collection), and now the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is trying to buy one of the most important parcels of Ernst’s property to hold as a scientific preserve (imagine the Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits, but for marine life). If the museum can raise another $25,000–30,000, they will buy the land. If we collect more than what they need for the land purchase, it will be applied to Phase II of the project, building a visitor’s center. The goal is to preserve the site, while allowing access to schools and non-profit educational groups to help collect the less scientifically significant shark teeth and whale bones. Just imagine that you had been one of the donors who assisted with the acquisition of the La Brea Tar Pits. This is just that type of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution toward the cause of preserving this legendary locality, please let us know. We must move quickly before the land is sold off and locked away from the public. Dr. John Long of the Natural History Museum has pledged to give a personal tour of the locality, after its purchase, to anyone who donates $2000 or more. You can contact Donald Prothero (Prothero@oxy.edu) or John Long (jlong@nhm.org) for more information. Don’t let this opportunity to preserve such an important place for science pass you by. Please help!

Thank you,
Donald Prothero and Teresa LeVelle

Books by Dr. Prothero

Stiff

I've had this on my TBR pile for a while.  I don't know what took me so long to read it.  It's right up my alley.  I love a breezy, fun non-fiction book in which the author is just indulging in satisfying her curiosity and taking us along for the ride.

Of course, Mary Roach was curious about what happens to dead bodies after they are donated to science so it's probably an either love it or hate it proposition as to whether you want to read this.

Subject matter aside, I love her style and will be reading her other books for sure. She does for scientific curiosity (and curiosities) what Sara Vowell does for American history.

Now I know you're wondering about the mix of her funny writing and the subject matter of dead people.  Is she disrespectful?  I didn't think so.  She often talked about if she would be comfortable or not either being the subject or having a family member be the subject of any given experiment.  She also discusses the great lengths many of the researchers go to keep everything as dignified as possible.

Then of course, beyond the humor and the interesting subject matter there's the scientific knowledge we're continually gaining from our dead fellow humans.  It's all amazing and worthwhile.  Safer car crashes, better body armor, better footwear for land mine sweepers, along with much, much more.

You don't have to donate your body to science, of course.  I'd be happy to, but that's an entirely personal decision.  I do, however, heartily wish everyone was at least an organ donor as a matter of course.  There's really no good reason not to and it's so needed.

Morning Linkage

Tennessee doomed?: Antievolution bill passes in the house; Creationists notch big win in TN

Lost Dr. Seuss books to be published!

Richard Peck is awesome.  Big Kahuna Round of the battle of the books.

Global warming skeptic changes his tune - by doing the science himself: I think my favorite part of this story is  that this study was funded by the Koch brothers.  Heh, heh.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

You've undoubtedly heard of this book.  I heard about it quite some time ago when the science writer Carl Zimmer posted about it on his blog before it was even officially available.  Unfortunately, it's been a busy year for me so I didn't get to rush out, read and review it and happily introduce you to this amazing book.

But hey, now it's in paperback so if you are one of the twenty or so people left who haven't read it I'm here to tell you it's been worth the wait.  Even if you know that basic story and have heard the author interviewed, well, just about everywhere, it's still worth reading.

It's written in such a clear and compelling way.  She has to jump around in time quite a bit, but at the beginning of each chapter there is a timeline pointing out where in this story you are, from the beginnings, in the 50s, to the present day.

It is really three stories in one.  There is the amazing medical history book in which the HeLa cells transform medical science more than once and in many different ways.  There is the story of the impact of the ignorance and knowledge of these cells and what they mean to the family and the family's sad history.  Then there is the tale of the hunt for these stories, the uncovering of clues and how two very different women; the young, educated writer and the older, uneducated and fearful daughter work together on and off to bring this story and this book to light.

So beyond anything else, it's just a great story.  Then you learn so much not only about the science and the history but the way our culture has changed so dramatically over the last fifty or so years.  It really is as good as you've heard it is and is one of those unique books that is both well-reviewed and popular and deserves both.  I'm just glad Ms. Winfrey hasn't chosen it for her book club, so there's still a chance mine might be able to!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Washing Machines = Literacy!

Hans Rosling is always fascinating.  If you haven't seen them, he has many more inspiring talks on TED.

Critical Thinking: Astrology Edition

Video Sunday

I know this is Ms. Bird's schtick, but I just wanted to make sure these got out as well and I rarely have this many good ones to share all at once!

Oooh, numbers can be pretty. I need to share this with our Math Coach:



This isn't an official NASA video, just something from a great fan:



A Wrinkle in Time in 90 seconds? It's been a while since I read it and this is about all I could remember from the plot anyway. Hilarious. I hope we see more of this kind of thing soon:


"A Wrinkle In Time" In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

I have no defense for this last one, but it weirdly makes sense...



Have a great extended weekend!

Freshwater Firing: A Sigh of Relief

This is good news indeed: John Freshwater has been fired.

I'm just sad my childhood school system had to spend over $900,000 to fire this ignorant bully.  Ignorant because of his creationism and a bully because of his burning a student with Tesla coils (the act he was actually fired for).

I wish that money could have been spent on good science books and equipment instead of a legal action against a creationist blowhard.

Hope there's a lesson learned here for other school districts!

The Disappearing Spoon

A book about the Periodic Table of Elements sounds boring, I know, but this one is so not.  Gallium is the element that you can make into the shape of a spoon and it will look exactly like any other shiny metal, but it's low boiling point will cause the spoon to dissolve in a cup of hot tea, hence the title. (You can view this phenomena on Youtube if you wish).

So Kean takes us on a survey of the Periodic Table by the different groupings and relating the fascinating ways the elements are related.  We also get wonderful stories about their discoverers and the relationships involved with these people as well.  Much like Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, it's these stories that make the book.

That's the beautiful thing about science.  Some of the people are weasels, some are almost saints, but they're all just human.  But over the years the process wins out and the truths emerge and the connections are made.  People individually are a mixed bunch.  But put them together and give them the tools of science, and there's no telling what they'll achieve.

You really need to read this with a copy of Thodore Gray's book of the elements to provide the visuals (though Wikipedia is a help as well).  And don't forget about the wonderful Periodic Table of Videos which adds another dimension to the story.  Those three things together would make a kuch more interesting high school chemistry class.

It's the stories that you remember (or at least I do, being no chemist) and not always the ones you'd think.  Of course I already knew about Linus Pauling and his two Nobels.  I knew he was one of the smartest people ever (although am more than skeptical of his vitamin promotion).  I did not, however, know about his deep gracious humility when it came to his not only admitting his mistakes when it came to the race for the structure of DNA, but his promotion of the winning team of Crick and Watson, ensuring their own Nobels.

The elements and the discoveries are, of course, amazing.  But it's the people and the process that make the endeavor, and this book, the fun ride it is.


The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe

The Periodic Table of Videos

Scott Westerfeld

So I saw YA author Scott Westerfeld last night without even intending to.

Here's how it played out.  My book club, the Guys Read book club, almost always meets on the third Thursday so after school I zipped over to Decatur.  We gather at the Little Shop of Stories, then trundle off to a pub.

As I was walking across the square I noticed some steam-punky looking kids.  I did a double take and smiled because no one else was dressed up.  This wasn't Dragon*Con or anything.  It was the first time I'd seen anyone dressed that way without there being some event.  I was actually impressed.

So I get to the book store and immediately see a friend from the book group.  He was like, "What are you doing here?  The book club is next week."

Well, crap.  Then I notice the store is getting packed and they're gearing up for some event.  My friend was there to get his books signed.  Then the steampunkers come in and I see the stack of Scott Westerfeld books including his new steampunk Leviathan and Behemoth everywhere and I get it.

So this was the first author event I've attended (that I know of) in which I've never read any of the author's books.  I mean I'm no dope, I've of course heard of Mr. Westerfeld and knew most of the titles.  I just don't get around to much YA.

His was a great talk.  He told about where the ideas for his Pretties and Uglies series came from and how they tangentially led to ideas that led to his current steampunk series.  Two of his points were especially intriguing to me.

Apparently Peeps is a vampire story in which the vampires are people infected with a parasite.  Westerfeld has a deep interest in the philosophy of science and has read a lot of Carl Zimmer's books.  Two of Mr. Zimmer's books are on parasites, Parasite Rex and Microcosm and they will, as Westerfeld and I can both attest, blow your mind.  He wondered aloud if Zimmer knew about Peeps.  They share a friend in common with Rebecca Skloot, (who I'm sure you've heard of).  I'm sure Zimmer would be happy to have been an influence and having his books mentioned to young adults around the country!

The other point was about the past dominance and slow resurgence of illustrators for novels beyond just the Wimpy Kid age.  We're talking everything from Austen to Dickens to H.G. Wells, not just kids books.  Apparently the iconic deerstalker hat worn by Sherlock Holmes is never mentioned in any of Conan Doyle's stories.  It was an invention of the first illustrator.  It is now so iconic that many libraries have a book spine sticker indicating "Mystery" that is just a symbol of the deerstalker along with a rocket for science fiction and a heart for romance.  This was all in explanation for his desire to have his new series well illustrated and the process behind this.

A great guy with an equally interesting wife (Justine Lardalestier spoke briefly as well).  I'll have to check out Peeps soon.  A YA book with vampires that sounds good!  Who'd have thunk it?

UPDATE:
An email from Carl Zimmer: "Thanks for your email. I am aware of--and grateful for--Westerfeld's interest in my work. I'll have to send him a note to let him know!

Best,

Carl Zimmer"

Scott Westerfeld books

Scott Westerfeld blog

Carl Zimmer books

Carl Zimmer blog

Dragon*Con 2010

I shook hands with James Randi!  That was probably my highlight for the whole weekend.  He is also known as James "The Amazing" Randi, the magician.  He is probably the most influential skeptical activist ever and is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).  It was truly an honor.

I also shook hands and chatted with Joe Nickell, a leading paranormal investigator for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.  He likes to joke that he's been in "more haunted houses than Casper" but of course has yet to find any compelling evidence for ghosts.  He's the nicest guy ever.

I met  Daniel Loxton and got him to sign my Evolution book. He's the editor of Junior Skeptic Magazine and does most of the writing and illustrating.  Ok, maybe he's the nicest guy ever.

I also interacted with George Hrab, got a hug from the amazing Kylie Sturgess of PodBlack Cat blog, Skeptic Zone and Token Skeptic fame and Rebecca Watson, among other awesome Skepchicks.

And I can't say enough good things about the Atlanta Skeptics who run this thing.  All volunteer and all amazing.

I sat in on another fun episode of the Australian Mystery Investigators.  This is great for getting ideas on just how exactly to teach critical thinking to younger kids.  Show them cool stuff and ask thoughtful questions.  Richard Saunders kept asking, "How could I test this?"  "Can we all be tricked?"  "So does that prove anything?"  A great show and great interactions for the kids.  The covered optical illusions, dowsing, psychic abilities, and even a bit of consumer protection with their Fabulous Amazing Kinetic Electricity device.  Adults need to see this too!

The highlight talk for me was "I Very Much Doubt That!" a talk from James Randi.  The ballroom was packed.  I don't think anyone knew what a huge draw Randi would be.  He got a standing ovation just walking into the room.  He just sat and talked and answered questions but he tells them so well and is so inspiring.  He reported doing well after his chemotherapy due, he winked, to "a little thing called modern medical science."  He discussed the particulars of his famous $1 million dollar challenge if evidence can be found for paranormal abilities.  At another talk he was involved in, the moderator asked the audience of skeptics to raise their hand if they would be happy if he had to give the money away--if compelling scientific evidence could be found for some paranormal ability.  All hands went up.

I also attended the talk "Spotlight on Adam Savage" which was one hour with the Mythbuster in a wide-raging, funny, insightful, and intelligent talk.  He said they had no idea that the show would be embraced by kids and teachers and that he's glad they didn't because if they were shooting for that audience they probably would have messed up.  Now there's a commercial free version on cable due to the STEM initiatives to get kids interested in science.  It's called Head Rush and is hosted by Kari Byron.

Another fun one was "How to Raise a Mad Scientist" put on by the National Science Center's Fort Discovery folks.  They did a number of explosive and fun science experiments you can do with kids using around-the-house or very cheap stuff.  Awesome.

I went to the Astronomy Cast Live! podcast and heard all about the funding issues at NASA.  I wish there was a way that the federal government could only be in charge of funding, but not how the money is spent.  Then we wouldn't have the change in administration whiplash we have to suffer every four to eight years.  Of course, I wish the same thing about education!  Just give us the money and let us figure out how to spend it.  Leave the politicians out of it.

A surprisingly moving discussion was the "Raising Skeptical Geeks" panel.  The panel included Jamie Ian Swiss, Daniel Loxton, Adam Savage, Barabra Dresher and more.  It also included Will Philips' mother.  He's the 10-year-old who decided to quit standing for the pledge in his classroom in Arkansas because until gay people can marry, he decided, then "we don't have liberty and justice for all."  There were some great comments on bullying and then she told her story.  He's now being home schooled because not only the kids but the teacher's and administrators were awful to him and his family for "all the gay stuff."  Nice.

The last big panel I just had to see was "Skepticism in Education."  It was moderated by JREF president D. J. Grothe and included Matt Lowry (The Skeptical Teacher), Daniel Loxton (Jr. Skeptic), Dr. Pamela Gay (Astronomy Cast), Barbara Drescher (ICBS Everywhere), Kylie Sturgess, (PodBlack Cat) and Michael Blanford (Director of Educational Programs at the JREF).  Matt and Kylie get extra points for mentioning the great work of school librarians!  Some of the main points they discussed will not be a surprise to anyone interested in teaching real critical thinking.  They talked of teaching students to use multiple lines of evidence.  They talked of there being more than one way to an answer.  They talked of letting students follow their enthusiasm and mess with things to see what they can come up with, that, as Drescher put it, "The natural world is discoverable."  My two favorite quotes:  "Kids dig monsters!" from Loxton and "I like to ask my students what is a unit of chi?" from Lowry.

A great, thoughtful and inspiring round of discussions.  Check out their sites for more.

Astronomy Cast

James Randi Educational Foundation

Joe Nickell

Junior Skeptic Magazine

Mystery Investigators

National Science Center

PodBlack Cat

Skepchicks

The Skeptic Zone

Skeptrack 2010

Token Skeptic

Death from the Skies!

Finally got around to reading my personally signed copy of Death from the Skies! by the one and only Phil Plait.  It was all that and more.

This is an overview of all the ways the world could possibly end due to various astronomical phenomena.  Astroid collisions, gamma ray burst, rouge black holes, devastating solar events, that kind of thing.  But it's not depressing at all.  Not to me, anyway.  If you've ever seen Phil give a talk you know that he is infectiously excited about learning and sharing all the amazing things that he's learned.  I'll link to his Why Science Is Important video below so you can see what I mean.  He loves science and is a great explainer of all things astronomical.

But he doesn't just explain.  He gets you enthused as well.  He bounces around making hand gestures and saying "really cool" and "amazing" and his face just lights up even as he's telling an audience about gamma ray bursts for the millionth time.  (Mostly because gamma ray bursts really are that cool).

As Daniel H. Wilson so aptly put it: "Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan.  Frightening, yet oddly exhilarating."

I could hear this enthusiasm as I read the book.  It's a shame there's no audiobook for it.  He could record it himself.  Or maybe Wil Wheaton or Adam Savage would be a good stand in.  Get on that, Penguin!

Even if you don't read his book, read his blog (also linked below).  He is by far the best science and skeptical blogger.  Period.

Why Science is Important

Death from the Skies: The Science Behind the End of the World by Philip Plait, Ph.D

Bad Astronomy at Discover Blogs

More Martin Gardner Tributes

Daniel Loxton really sums it up well in this post.

And here's a tribute to Martin Gardner from Douglas Hofstadter, author of Godel, Escher, Bach and other remarkable books:

This is really a sad day. Not so much sad that Martin died, since we all knew it had to come pretty soon, but sad because his spirit was so important to so many of us, and because he had such a profound influence on so many of us. He is totally unreproducible -- he was sui generis -- and what's so strange is that so few people today are really aware of what a giant he was in so many fields -- to name some of them, the propagation of truly deep and beautiful mathematical ideas (not just "mathematical games", far from it!), the intense battling of pseudoscience and related ideas, the invention of superb magic tricks, the love for beautiful poetry, the fascination with profound philosophical ideas (Newcomb's paradox, free will, etc. etc.), the elusive border between nonsense and sense, the idea of intellectual hoaxes done in order to make serious points (for example, one time, at my instigation, he wrote a scathing review of his own book "The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener" in "The New York Review of Books", and the idea was to talk about the ideas seriously even though he was attacking the ideas that he himself believed in), and on and on and on and on. Martin Gardner was so profoundly influential on so many top-notch thinkers in so many disciplines -- just a remarkable human being -- and at the same time he was so unbelievably modest and unassuming. Totally. So it is a very sad day to think that such a person is gone, and that so many of us owe him so much, and that so few people -- even extremely intelligent, well-informed people -- realize who he was or have even ever heard of him. Very strange. But I guess that when you are a total non-self-trumpeter like Martin, that's what you want and that's what you get. And so perhaps it's all for the best that he remains sort of hidden behind the scenes, known only to a special set of people. Anyway, thanks very much for forwarding to us the remarks by Randi -- very touching, very very good. Yours -- Doug

Martin Gardner, the Mathemagician

This is the first part of a 46-minute documentary on Martin Gardener (via Podblack). It links to the other 4 parts and is well worth your Sunday morning to watch them all.

It's strange because just the other day one of the teachers in the gifted program sent out an interesting little math puzzle through the school email. It immediately made me think of the work of Martin Gardener.  How could it not?  As John Tierney states in this appreciation written this past fall, Gardner "has probably introduced more people to the joys of math than anyone in history."

I also used his wonderful Annotated Alice back in college for a class I took on the Carroll books.  (Yes, I took a whole class just on Alice in Wonderland.)

The Martin Gardner Wikipedia entry.

Martin Gardner 10/21/14 - 5/22/10

Someone on Twitter said the world is a little less smart now, but I disagree.  He shared with us all of his work and inspired so many that it is a bit more smart because of him.

Earth

This week's Booking Through Thursday is about Earth Day. I've already seen a ton of Earth Day-related posts about what to read with kids. My seven-year-old daughter even bought The Lorax on her own with her own money last weekend! That was pretty cool.

(A brief proud Papa diversion here: she belongs to her school's Earth Patrol which might not sound impressive until you realize it's only for 4th graders and she's in 1st. I can't wait to see the group shot in the yearbook. They had to order a special small T-shirt for her! She'll be the only first grader on their field trip to the recycling center next week! She's awesome!)

So instead of that, here are some Earth-friendly books I noticed as I was just scanning my TBR (to be read) pile:

Earth: An Intimate History - Richard Fortey

Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Sean B. Carroll

The Future of Life - Edward O. Wilson

Suburban Safari: A Year On the Lawn - Hannah Holmes

I'm also interested in the amazing looking The Atlas of Global Conservation recently released by The Nature Conservancy. Great maps and information for a geek like me!

The Conservancy also has a great Earth Day site. Do check it out.

Oh, and be sure to catch Oceans this weekend!

Pollen Isn't Just for Making You Sneeze

"There's an invisible beauty all around us."

The Blind Watchmaker

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins 1986, 1996.

Michael Ruse: "The closest analogy I can think of is Galileo's Dialogues which made reasonable the Copernican Revolution..."

John Maynard Smith: "Dawkins has done more than anyone else now writing to make evolutionary biology comprehensible and acceptable to a general audience."

The good professor is clearly in love with his subject and you will be as well after reading this. He tackles the stumbling blocks many people have when trying to grasp the concept of evolution through natural selection. The first being, of course, the general misunderstanding of "random" and the importance of understanding the vast amount of time we're talking about here. The other is our propensity to infer design in complex things or ascribe agency where it isn't warranted.

He's a wonderfully down-to-earth companion on the journey, full of good humor, patiently explaining difficult concepts simply. He's a master of just the right metaphor to get across complex ideas.

This book will open your eyes to the wondrous beauty of life around you.

And, if I may, a lengthy quote from the 1996 introduction:

When The Blind Watchmaker was first published in the United States, Norton sent me on a brief tour of the country, and I did a number of radio phone-ins. I had been warned to expect hostile questioning from the fundamentalist listeners and I confess I was looking forward to destroying their arguments. What actually happened was even better. The listeners who telephoned were genuinely interested in the subject of evolution. They were not hostile to it, they simply did not know anything about it. Instead of destroying arguments, I had the more constructive task of educating the innocent. It took only minutes to awaken them to the power of Darwinism as a convincing explanation of life. I got the impression that the only reason they had not seen its possibilities before was that the subject had been totally omitted from their education. Aside from some vague nonsense about 'monkeys', they simply did not know what Darwinism was.

We need to work on this gap in knowledge, and this is one great place to start.

Today in Teacherninja History

On this day in 1974, Mariner 10 became the first probe to fly by Mercury.

It was also the first day, in 2008, we held an Earth Hour.

It's the birthday of biologist and teacherninja Richard Lewontin, born in 1929, winner of the Nobel Prize who helped set the stage for what is now known as molecular evolution. With fellow techerninja Stephen J. Gould he wrote one of the most wonderful papers on evolutionary biology, "The Spandrels of San Marco." Teacheninja John Dennehy has a great post on this here.

It's also the birthday, in 1968, of Lucy Lawless. Teacherninja connection? Her mother was a teacher! And astronomer Mike Brown nicknamed his discovered dwarf planet "Xena" in honor of her famed character.

Oh, and it's also my own Pop's birthday! Hope he digs the Magic Mouse I got him.