Science Cheerleader

Delighted to have been invited to speak at this important event. Kindly join in the discussion, in person or online.

From Shawn Otto, CEO of ScienceDebate2008.com:

“The great press continues – we are affecting the presidential discussion. But now we need to take this conversation to a new level. Please tell friends, colleagues and associates interested in the future of America to join us in Minnesota on October 20-21st for a very exciting national discussion at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy. Register now – space is limited.

Keynotes
Nobel laureate Peter Agre
Science broadcaster Ira Flatow

Topics
Our discussions will cover Innovation and the economy, Science and the Elections, STEM and the education crisis in America, Energy Security & Sustainability – what’s missing from the debate, and Rekindling America’s love affair with Science. Visit www.innovation2008.com for more details. We will also have some very special high-tech art presentations.”
Some of our confirmed speakers and panelists: (more…)

Guess it’s official. I’m a nerd. I’ve been called worse. Sweet Science Cheerleader write up on The Nerdy Life.

Thanks, Jacquie, for this interesting news.

 Jacquie: “This football season brings us perhaps the utimate citizen science sacrifice: The NY Times reports 12 NFL players have donated thier brains (post-humously of course) to enable scientists to explore the long term effects of repetitive head injuries. (hint: not good) See full story. Not an original idea: in 1876 la Société d’autopsie mutuelle (The Mutual Autopsy Society of Paris) allowed members to donate thier bodies for study (by other society members) to advance science.”

And, from Wired,  here’s another example of passive participation in science–though incredibly whimpy when compared to donating brains to science! GPS-Equipped iPhone Could Enable New Citizen Science

More on this later but you heard it here, folks: near-future personal technologies will turn everyone into citizen scientists whether you want to or not. YES! My plan to take over the world is working [evil laugh].Here are my evil assistants strategizing the global take-over.

Happy Friday! A friend, who happens to be two-time women’s National Chess Champ Jennifer Shahade, just launched this fictional (very clever) online chess game between McCain and Obama.
Jennifer writes:

September Surprise! Instead of tonight’s scheduled debate, Barack Obama and John McCain will face off in a chess game. And what a match up it will be!

Regardless of your political stance, I think you’ll get a kick out of it.

Why am I writing about this? Well, as it turns out, Jennifer’s not the only Ms. Smarty Pants in her family. Her mom, a chemistry professor at Drexel University, founded  Science-in-Motion. “SIM, for short, brings top of the line science equipment to Philadelphia public schools that can’t afford it,” Jennifer writes on her blog . “The goal of SIM is to get kids excited about science. It works: While waiting for the presentation start, most of the kids were texting or zoning out, but by the end everyone was totally fixated on the show.”

If you’d like to learn more, kindly contact SIM.

Cheers!

Two timely science facts from Scientific American:

Why Trees Lose Leaves: University of Missouri plant biologist John Walker says he and colleagues have identified a group of compounds [in Arabidopsis thaliana] that prompt production of the proteins that cause plants to shed their petals. By blocking these chemicals, they succeeded in keeping petals intact, according to their paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Well, assuming nature continues to take its course and old leaves are replaced with new ones in the spring, Project BudBurst will seek your help in observing the tree buds to detect long-term impacts of climate change. 

Each spring, thousands of citizen scientists participate in Project BudBurst by observing and recording buds and blooms across the nation. Scientists are using this data to learn about the responses of individual plant species to climatic variation locally, regionally, and nationally, and to detect longer-term impacts of climate change by comparing with historical data.  

—

Why hurricanes hit the East Coast of the U.S. (From Scientific American): Hurricanes almost always form over ocean water warmer than about 80 degrees F. in a belt of generally east-to-west flow called the trade winds. California’s cool coastal buffer appears to keep the West Coast hurricane free. If you want to learn a little more, here’s a nice primer on hurricanes from an Earth Science Teacher.

Cheers!

Where are all my fellow “non-scientist-average-citizens from the general public?”

McCain and Obama have answered the 14 science questions and we have a chance to grade them on their responses. The campaigns, the media and the organizers of ScienceDebate2008.com want to know what YOU think of the candidates’ answers. It’s as easy as pie to grade their answers from A-F.

I have a hunch (no imperical data to prove this) that scientists, waiting a lifetime for this opportunity, have been flooding the internet with their grades. All well and good but the Science Debate team (of which I am part) is doing this on behalf of the public, not the scientists.

When you have a few minutes, go here  to read the questions and answers, then grade them. Your opinion matters.

(more…)

Just thought I’d share this recent Philadelphia Inquirer article with you. It’s on the concept of Crowdsourcing and you’ll see the Science Cheerleader in there in referenced to how citizen scientists can advance science through Crowdsourcing.

For the first time in recorded history, the Presidential candidates have gone on record with their views on a broad array of critical science policy issues: Stem Cells, Water, Energy, Climate Change, Innovation, Science Education, Genetic Engineering and more.

For months, the Science Debate team has been pushing for this to happen. I am part of that team. (I think they added me because they needed a minority on the team–in this case, minority means “non genius.”) Thanks to all of you who jumped on board and demanded answers from the candidates, particularly in response to this quirky youtube mock debate.
And, kudos to McCain, Obama and their campaigns, for taking a bold step forward.

Here are the questions and answers.

As anticipated, major media outlets are reporting on this development. Here’s a nice, distilled interpretation of the candidates’ answers, from The New York Times.

What are your initial thoughts?

Next challenge: Let’s ask Jim Lehrer (moderator of the upcoming, September 26th, presidential debate in Mississippi) to toss out a couple of these 14 questions during the televised debate! We can start planting the seed, here. Free Science Cheerleader T-shirt for the first five people who move on this!

Cheers!

Firefly season has ended. In a few short months, volunteer citizen scientists (folks like us), recorded 11,800 fireflies on behalf of researchers. The data collected will help scientists better understand these critters and shed light on how nature and human actions impact their fate.

Through this program, FireFly Watch, citizens help scientists while learning a good deal about science in the process.

“Firefly researchers have been saying for years that a site like this is needed, but [until now] nobody has taken the time and effort to put one in place,” says Don Salvatore, director of FireFly Watch at the Boston Museum of Science.

It’s one of many so-call Citizen Science projects. Expect to see more popping up as researchers’ budgets are slashed and more of the DIY (do-it-yourself) population seizes the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

Cheers!

No one disputes that a lot of oil lies untapped under the rocky floors of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans off the U.S. coasts, in areas where Congress has banned drilling since 1982. But is it enough to free the U.S. from its dependence on foreign suppliers?

Based on this Scientific American article, the answer is no. However, read the reader feedback to gain a broader perspective. Regardless of whether you lean right or left, I think you’ll find the article and the comments enlightening (or infuriating).

We’re talking science, economics, statistics, values, and pure politics piled up like a giant parfait. If you can provide some clarity to this heavily layered conversation, please do.