Venn’s been working on this for years. With the convention drawing close, his pace accelerates. Late nights. Early mornings. Lost sleep. Mid-day coffee. In the earliest fraction of morning light, his wife leans against the kitchen counter, sipping the day’s first mug of coffee. “Are you ready, darling?” The lip of the cup reaches her mouth. A shy smile of shared giddiness opens toward him. “Of course, Lil,” he says, drinking his orange juice. “Never so much as now.” He sets the juice cup on the counter. “Does this tie go with my suit?” “Does anything not go with gray,…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From creative
ON SUGAR, PARALLEL UNIVERSES, AND UTILITARIAN SELFISHNESS
As selfish as a dog in a manger: this self-gratifying dog is found lying on the hay originally intended for the hard-working horses, and you, the witness, can only gaze in horror. In Horror, but not shock; not shock as you could have expected no less from a dog as selfish as this. You do not feel shock for the selfishness of this dog just as I feel none for the ignorance of the person in the shop last week who labelled me ‘as selfish as a dog in a manger.’ While I failed to give this encounter much thought…
8 ONE-SENTENCE STORIES ABOUT LOVING ROBOTS
1. The celebrity chef loves her drone, posting its photos of her organic farm on a blog, and now hipsters picnic on farms illegally. 2. I love the robot even more desperately knowing it can’t love me back, will never lie, and is more attentive than my ex. 3. Taking a selfie with a star at the awards show through a telepresence robot, I post it with a link to my album, and the next day I’m a new celeb. 4. Mom doesn’t understand that Kim never remembers to do things, and the robot always does, so of course I…
EPISODE 4: DEGREES
EPISODE 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Second guessing your PhD? You are not alone. In the fourth episode of the series, the characters are asked that question we’ve all been asked: “Why not med school?” This makes them wonder about life after their PhD. Meanwhile, Dave has office hours, and an upsetting decision forces Alex to scream in the coldroom. What makes you second guess your graduate degree? Share your experience with us on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watchTheLab), Twitter (www.twitter.com/watchTheLab), or Facebook (www.facebook.com/watchTheLab). Cast: Frank R. Bailey IV, Daniela Tempesta, Walt Yao, Jonathan Tan, Jasleen Kaur, Dawn Williamson, Dave Walden,…
(M + M)i: A PROOFREADER’S LOVE STORY
One did not speak of dinner with Andrey Andreyevitch Markov, only the probability of dinner. And that probability might change, of course, depending on whether the great man had taken lunch, or gone without since his usual breakfast of black tea, unripe cantaloupe, and potato knish, or snacked perhaps on a thick slice of that Ukrainian poppyseed cake which Maria Ivanova baked with such flourish. That recipe alone would have made her name in St. Petersburg—if her husband had ever allowed a crumb to leave the house. But Markov was nothing if not meticulous. In my humble opinion, Poisson and…
PRELIMINARY PHYLOGENY OF MAGICAL AND ORDINARY CREATURES: EVIDENCE OF A RECENT DIVERSIFICATION
Annals of Praetachoral Mechanics (2016). Vol 2. Advanced online publication. download pdf ABSTRACT We use phloygenetics to accurately describe the relationships between various taxa and elucidate patterns in evolution that leads to the great diversity of life we experience today. The events of “first contact” with the wizarding world has led to a stunning variety…
WHAT IS IN THE JAR?
This is a collaborative poem written by Grade 4 and 5 students on the contents of a “jar.” This jar was a prop that was used to discuss poetry and science, as well as segue into a DIY cloud chamber activity for detection of sub atomic particles. – – – Air, hot, and oxygen and nothing but dogs and cats and breathing. I think an explosive is in the jar. I think a pickle now is in the jar. Nothing but kittens, nothing but love. The space is in the jar. GRAVITY IS IN THE JAR. A tiny creature is…
ADVANCED QUANTUM THERMODYNAMICS (is a subject I know very little about)
This is the title of a new book that collects the various published science humour and creative non-fiction writings of David Ng. See how clever one looks, even whilst “pretend reading” it! Great for the “hipster that doesn’t get science” but who wants to look like the “hipster that gets Advanced Quantum Thermodynamics.” Great also…
FIDELITY
(with thanks to Ariel Gomez) “Justus quidem tu es.” – Gerard Manley Hopkins Minus one gene, cells that swing red or green— fascia or hormone— should groan, cease, dissolve to cell-ghost and bone. When staying true would have meant giving death’s due, instead they became something new. When faithfulness to what we knew about what they need would have meant a fatal bleed, cells knew better, needed less— were simple, simply were, and let themselves have happiness.