Archive for July 2nd, 2008
Science is Free (as in Beer)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
One of the things I loooooooooove about science writing is all the free stuff. Scientists aren’t like those crummy jerks at the Associated Press, scientists want you to talk about what they’re doing. They want us bloggers to quote them, link to them, post their photos. Scientists give away tons and tons of intellectual property every single day, which gives people like me tons and tons of stuff to cover. I never hurt for content or media to fill this blog all because I cover science.
If I covered movies, music, television, or radio, I would be wasting more time than its worth trying to rationalize fair use, translating the word-count of my cited quotes to the pennies in my budget, and shelling out the moolah for photos and video clips to illustrate my content–and even then I’d probably get sued.
You know what? #$%@ it. It’s not worth it covering those media fantasy lands anyways. Science is reality, 99% of modern media is crap.
The following quote from G.M. Trevelyan, although speaking to history, applies to science as well as any other academic pursuit. Just replace the word “historians” with “scientists”:
And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to interest it intelligently in the past, then all their historical learning is valueless except in so far as it educates themselves.
If a scientist makes a discovery, and fails to share it with anyone, then is it science? Absolutely not. They are irrelevant. Lucky for Science Bloggers, scientists are all about the pursuit of knowledge for everyone’s benefit, and not about hoarding it to make a little money.
One of the things I loooooooooove about science writing is all the free stuff. Scientists aren’t like those crummy jerks at the Associated Press, scientists want you to talk about what they’re doing. They want us bloggers to quote them, link to them, post their photos. Scientists give away tons and tons of intellectual property every single day, which gives people like me tons and tons of stuff to cover. I never hurt for content or media to fill this blog all because I cover science.
If I covered movies, music, television, or radio, I would be wasting more time than its worth trying to rationalize fair use, translating the word-count of my cited quotes to the pennies in my budget, and shelling out the moolah for photos and video clips to illustrate my content–and even then I’d probably get sued.
You know what? #$%@ it. It’s not worth it covering those media fantasy lands anyways. Science is reality, 99% of modern media is crap.
The following quote from G.M. Trevelyan, although speaking to history, applies to science as well as any other academic pursuit. Just replace the word “historians” with “scientists”:
And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to interest it intelligently in the past, then all their historical learning is valueless except in so far as it educates themselves.
If a scientist makes a discovery, and fails to share it with anyone, then is it science? Absolutely not. They are irrelevant. Lucky for Science Bloggers, scientists are all about the pursuit of knowledge for everyone’s benefit, and not about hoarding it to make a little money.
Science Etectera, Mercuryday 20080702
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Below is one of the spooky proposed landing sites for Mars Science Lander.
Mars Science Lander Landing Site
Credit: NASA
Har! Har! Har! Those silly dittoheads are at it again, this time demanding a researcher publish his data for a paper that demonstrated the evolution of bacteria. If they had only bothered to read the paper, they would have found the data published in it!!! Silly Dittoheads! No science for you! Thpppt!!!
Good morning America, there are 450,000 acres of wildfires burning across the country right now.
John’s Hopkins Researchers report that most volunteers given psilocybin mushrooms in a controlled experiment say, 14 months later, that the experience “increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction.”
Creepy sounds of the solar wind colliding with Earth’s magnetic field. Somebody remix this with an NIN song.
Eigenfactor let’s you map scientific notations in journals. Nifty!
Eigenfactor
Science Rockstar: David Pritchard has an hypothesis that hookworms suppress the immune system, causing those infected with them to have fewer allergies. To test this he’s infected himself.
An awesome spectacular incredibly good-looking judge in Georgia, who probably has an enormous phallus, has denied a Coal Plant Permit because it did not set limits on Carbon Dioxide emissions.
ROUNDEST OBJECT EVER could be used to redefine the kilogram.
For just $10, you can adopt a star for the Kepler satellite to investigate, and get personal notification if a planet is discovered in orbit around it. I’m signed up and will get to select a star in August with all the other cool kids. Don’t you want to be part of the club?
Discovery Channel’s The World is Just Awesome Commercial:
|
Mars Science Lander Landing Site Credit: NASA |
|
Eigenfactor |
