The SCQ is pleased to announce that AMBL and UBC’s Department of Creative Writing will be initiating a new outreach program aimed specifically at nurturing and combining the two acts of scientific exploration and creative writing. The program will encompass a one day fieldtrip opportunity and will be directed towards young children from the grade 6 and 7 levels. This program is slated to be offered beginning in early May (2008). Teachers from the Lower mainland are encouraged to contact us for more details. Many thanks to 826 Valencia for their insight and inspiration. – – – SAN FRANCISCO –…
The Science Creative Quarterly
By David Ng
David (@ng_dave) is Faculty at the Michael Smith Labs. His writing has appeared in places such as McSweeney's, The Walrus, and also as an occasional blogger at boingboing.net. If you're looking for a graphic for your next science talk, he encourages you to check out his blog, popperfont.net.
CARTOON EPISODES ABOUT SCIENCE
(Originally from Yankee Pot Roast) – – – The Super Friends epsiode: “Wonder vs. Wonder” When it becomes clear that a mission is botched because Wonder Woman is clearly visible in her invisible jet, unhappy murmurs begin to surface within the Super Friends’ organization. In particular, Zan, of the Wonder Twins, is merciless in his teasing of Wonder Woman. It also doesn’t help that Wonder Woman, herself, is generally not impressed with his otherwise useless superpower (“Form of a bucket of water? What in Amazon is that about?”) In any event, Batman decides to put his scientific mind to work…
BUILDING A “SUSTAINABLE” GINGERBREAD HOUSE: THE CONTEST
(image source) O.K. So the deal is that it’s the holidays – and soon the whole merriment parade will be kicking into high gear. This includes a number of things that I bet many households end up going through. Things such as: 1. the strategic maneuvering of the mistletoe locale. 2. watching the antics of nasally sounding claymation elves, 3. arguing over the relative merits of putting raisins in the stuffing, 4. real tree, fake tree, or no tree. 5. debating the necessity of the feature length Grinch movie, 6. figuring out what did “my true love give to me”…
ADVICE ON HOW TO BABYPROOF YOUR MOLECULAR GENETICS LABORATORY
One of the first things that a newborn experiences is not necessarily the warmth and scent of the mother’s embrace, but rather a series of pokes and pricks to ascertain health and mental alertness. It therefore seems to me that a natural progression of this trend is to incorporate the highest medical predictive technology into an infant’s normal surroundings. In other words, it seems obvious to me that sooner or later everyone will have their own molecular genetics lab in their household – most likely adjoining the kitchen. But, of course, with this new standard of living, steps must be…
THE UNIVERSE OF IPOD CONTESTS: A SUMMARY AND CASE FOR OURS
Data obtained November 13, 2007 It seems obvious to most people that iPods are a ubiquitous part of culture. But for folks like myself who also look after a website, the notion of an iPod contest is just as pervasive. A good indicator of this is to simply google a few pertinent terms. In fact, when I did that with the phrase “Win an iPod” (in quotes) I was actually returned with an astounding 2,000,000 hits. More enlightening, is if you narrow down the search to limit the term mentioned within the last week (2570 results), or even the last…
A UNIVERSITY JOB POSTING (OR BECOMING A PROFESSOR IS HARD THESE DAYS)
This is a call for outstanding candidates to apply for a tenure track assistant professor position within the context of the Department of [subject name] at the [institution name]. The successful applicant is expected to work in areas of interest to current faculty members, to interact with related groups within our network and to have demonstrated ability in producing research material of excellent quality and interest. Due to the competitive nature of this process, we ask that all candidates at the very least meet the following criteria: The candidate’s current area of specialty must contain at least fourteen syllables. The…
THE REASON IS MATH: BUSH EDIT
My Fellow Americans. I speak to you today on a matter of great importance, a matter that affects the very fabric of our nationhood. You no doubt know that it is the intention of the White House to increase America’s military engagement in Iraq – more bluntly, to send in even more of our fine citizens into the area. Today, I would like to speak to you, the American people, on why we have chosen such a route. I would like to speak to you on why we feel this is the best route – a hard but worthy choice…
WHEN CELEBRITIES, WHO HAVE BEEN CLONED IN THE MOVIES, GET TOGETHER FOR A COFFEE
– FROM THE ARCHIVE – SETTING: A Starbucks in L.A. – three celebrities are sitting at a table with their coffees and sharing a newspaper, a fourth is walking towards the table with his coffee. FADE IN MICHAEL KEATON (Approaching the table) Man, I really need this now. (Sits down, whilst the others nod or wave). Is there a free section of paper? ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER You vant the sports section? MICHAEL KEATON Sure. (Takes the paper and starts looking at the front page) (A few minutes of silence as everyone reads their newspaper) HITLER (Slams his paper down and stands…
AM I EVERYWHERE?
– FROM THE ARCHIVE – Last year, I had a decidedly Jungian experience, which is odd for me as a rational scientific sort. This synchronicity event happened at a local bookstore where I was searching for an issue of a Canadian magazine called Maisonneuve, a publication nice enough to print an essay of mine. As I was looking over the rack, my eyes wandered and noticed an issue of The Believer1 , where lo and behold, I saw my name on the front cover – a very observable and clear “by DAVID NG”, written with agreeable font, and even flanked…