education

UK TV Alert: “How to Grow a Planet”

by

This looks like a real gem, its on tonight on BBC 2 at 8pm … (sorry non UK folks, but hopefully you will get access at some point, so it will be worth watching out for) Its a 3 part series by Professor Iain Stewart, in which the BBC description reads … In this first … Read more

Claim: “The Second Law of Thermodynamics disproves Evolution!!” – Nope.

by

I’ve been advised that … “evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics (entropy always increases)“. Yep, somebody played that card, it came in the first comment on yesterday’s posting. The initial questions to perhaps ask include: – How many Thermodynamic laws are there? – Please describe the first law of Thermodynamics. If they do not … Read more

Claim: “Evolution is a Lie” – How should you address this claim?

by

There is an almost perpetual and on-going background chatter that claims evolution is a lie. If you are familiar with this claim then here is where you insert your face-palm moment. Once again today I tripped over several such claims, all from Muslims who were 100% sure. You might or might not be aware, but … Read more

The Pale Blue Dot – A Tribute to Carl Sagan

by

Seth over at The Thinking Atheist has created a new visual translations of Cal Sagan’s famous words. The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of our home planet Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles). Earth is seen as a tiny … Read more

How YouTube is popularising science

by

[Cut and pasted from a Guardian article here]

Brian Cox is brilliant for science popularity, but TV is not the only means to communicate science. James Grime explains how small videos are making a big difference to the reach of science.

I have been recognised four times now. Four times! I knew you would be impressed. And what has brought me such notoriety? Is it my fancy suits, my outrageous tabloid lifestyle, or is it my world famous impression of a teapot? No. I make videos about maths on YouTube.

I am one of a growing number of science communicators on YouTube, and I know many readers could be doing the same. If there is a subject you’re passionate about, whatever it is, I want to invite you to join us. In the meantime, here is a favourite video of mine about a surprising mathematical game called non-transitive dice.

Read more

Eight-year-olds publish bee study in Royal Society journal

by

Now this is truly cool, its a real treat to see this … we have some eight-year old scientists who have had their findings published in Biology Letters, a high-powered journal from the UK’s prestigious Royal Society. This is all about education of course, but takes it in a very practical direction by doing some … Read more