Hello Mothers and the sons and daughters of Mothers,
I hope everyone is having an excellent Mother’s day. Did you get up early and make a fine cup of Kopi Luwak for the mom of the house? Let’s be honest here. None of us would be here without mothers or science. I like to think we celebrate science here at the SciSchmooze. I hope that we do better than history in general to remind everyone that there have been many Women in science who changed the world.
I want to make sure that you know about a great opportunity this Saturday May 20 at the Berkeley Public Library. There will be a Live Hangout with Susan Gerbic. I know you might be wondering what??? (It’s like a SkepTalk but more interactive) I assure you it will be worth attending. Here is the full description: “Are you having difficult discussions with people on the edge of falling into magical thinking rabbit holes? This workshop will provide you some skills to help with this problem that so many of us have experienced. We will discuss the concepts of debunking vs prebunking (also called inoculation theory). We will start with a case study and use that to further the discussion on how to have difficult discussions. This is a workshop, not a lecture! Join us!”
I have been distracted shortly after sunset almost every evening lately. There are apps to let you know when and where to look for the International Space Station and many other things humans have put in orbit. (There are many so I’m not going to recommend one!) I think it is refreshing after a full day to stop and look up and realize that there are humans up there. It’s not the first living environment in space. There was at least one other, that ultimately resulted in a $400 fine for littering, after having done amazing stuff in space! You can still visit and see some remains. I find it interesting that we often hear the statement that we know more about the moon than we do what’s under our oceans. It isn’t too rare that science puts life at risk for the sake of discovery. Not just human life but that of an organism that is being studied. We have learned many things in the last hundred or so years. But what about now that the extinction of entire species of animals are occuring? What about new ones that are being lost even as we gaze at the stars? The Challenge of Deep-Sea Taxonomy: Miles below the ocean’s surface, should the old rules still apply? is from Nautilus
There’s more cool things to learn this week. Here are a few that I think are worth a look at…
–After Dark: Plants and Place Thu @ 6:00
–Nerd Night SF #132 Urine, Minerals, & a Botanical + Legal History of Abortion! Thu @ 8:00
–Easy Morning Walk at Wavecrest Sat @ 10:00
The May/June Skeptical Inquirer is focused on Medical Pseudoscience around the World they have a couple of articles worth checking out… Homeopathy Research Hits New Low, Rise Of Ayurveda: A Dangerous Trend To Decolonize The Scientific Method, The Hypocrisy Of Medical Disinformation: A Report From Hungary
Check out this Tutorial: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth and Understanding our planet to benefit humankind.
Here’s an interesting and entertaining interview worth watching as well… Penn Jillette and Julia Sweeney in Conversation (Recently I received a notice that if I was offended by Mother’s Day and Father’s Day announcements because I’m neither, I could opt out of them! In that spirit I offer that if you are religious you may find topics in this that make you uncomfortable!)
Here’s one more to check out… It was pretty audacious: suck enough water from the underside of the glacier for the whole block of ice to lose its water cushion and crash back down onto bedrock
I hope that you have a great week learning new and cool things!
herb masters
A Schill for Science
Every time we get slapped down, we can say, “Thank you Mother Nature,” because it means we’re about to learn something important.
— John N. Bahcall
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