Category → Miscellaneous
In Print: Prince Harry Turns into a Doll and Other Misleading Headlines
Read all about it: Misleading headlines can even plague presidential elections. Credit: Byron Rollins/AP/Wikipedia
The Newscripts blog would like to be closer Internet buddies with our glossy print Newscripts column, so here we highlight what’s going on in the print issue of C&EN.
There’s an unfortunate trend that seems to be becoming increasingly popular in today’s science news world. The recipe goes like this: Take one misleading headline, add an introductory sentence that takes liberties with the subject matter it’s covering, and stir in one gullible blogosphere, and before you know it, you have a distorted science news story that appears to be popping up everywhere.
That’s the controversy that C&EN Senior Editor Carmen Drahl took on in last week’s Newscripts column. Carmen stumbled upon a press release purporting to have found a way to analyze human health through the measurement of genetic material. She called bullocks on the claim, and the journal responsible for the press release apologized.
According to Carmen, this incident is nothing new. She says National Geographic blogger Ed Yong and many others have been leading a battle against misleading public relations for years. She also remembers stumbling across two particularly dubious “news stories” herself. One centered on the ENCODE (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements) Project. As Carmen remembers, the project’s attempts to catalog the pieces that make up the genome led to press releases that claimed so-called junk DNA served a life function, which in turn led to a barrage of articles both deriding the articles as hype and asking for clarification on what constitutes as “junk.”
Amusing News Aliquots
Silly samplings from this week’s science news, compiled by Sophia Cai, Bethany Halford, and Jeff Huber.
It’s a boy: And he’s pregnant. Credit: Chicago Department of Public Health
Newest scare tactic to prevent teen births: photos of pregnant boys. [Today]
Speaking of dude looks like a lady, Aerosmith’s organist is a leading geneticist in his spare time. [CNN]
Mountain livin’ changes the way people talk. In a related story, talkin’ about mountain livin’ makes the Newscripts gang want to drop the letter g from gerunds. [Perth Now]
Here’s a job we don’t want: tiger acupuncturist. [CBS News]
The world’s best sci-fi-themed bars. It’s like they were made for the Newscripts gang. [io9]
Florida scientists dismiss the notion of “vampire mosquitoes.” Somewhere a “Twilight” fan sighs heavily in disappointment. [News 13]
Turns out antidepressants kill the libidos of male minnows. No word yet on whether some Barry White music and a bottle of wine might mitigate these effects. [TreeHugger]
There’s no front basket for E.T. to sit in, but this helicopter bike can actually fly (with video). [Gizmodo]
And while we’re on the subject, these scientists are tired of waiting to hear from aliens–they’re phoning E.T. first. [NBC News]
Hey, ACS, Where’s My Comic Book?
BAM! Don’t mess with Tesla. Credit: APS
If you read this blog with any regularity (I know there’s at least one of you out there, two tops), you’ll remember a post I wrote awhile back bemoaning the lack of chemistry coloring books. I had just come across a supercool version about biology—filled with stem cells and neurons and viruses, oh my!—and was wondering what a chemistry version (perhaps produced by the American Chemical Society) might look like.
Well, that coloring book still hasn’t materialized, and now I’m even more miffed: The physicists have comic books. And notice that I didn’t say “a” comic book. They have many of them.
I spotted a few of these at the American Physical Society (APS) national meeting, held in Baltimore, back in March. One called “Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair” caught my eye, as well as a S-E-R-I-E-S of books about the original laser superhero Spectra (you know how it goes: She discovers her powers after a class on lasers and winds up being able to cut through metal and play CDs … just your typical teenage drama). These educational aids for middle school classrooms are distributed by APS.
Able to spot-weld a building in a single bound. Credit: APS
But I wouldn’t even say they’re just for middleschoolers. I read all the way through the story of Telsa: It brings to life the epic battle between himself and Thomas Edison over alternating current (AC) and direct current. I guess I never realized that the “War of the Currents” ended when Tesla successfully used AC to light the infamous World’s Fair in Chicago (where the Ferris Wheel also made its debut). Via the comic, I also discovered that Tesla had a fondness (perhaps a little too much fondness) for pigeons.
So even I learned something!
But it wasn’t until I received a press release about Stephen Hawking’s new comic book that I was pushed over the edge to write this post and point out this educational trend.
Page from new Hawking comic detailing how he learned of his disability. Credit: Bluewater Productions
“Stephen Hawking: Riddles of Time & Space” is produced by Washington-based Bluewater Productions. It chronicles the cosmologist’s life, including how he discovered that he had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his dispute with scientist Fred Hoyle over the Big Bang Theory.
You can get your print copy of it here for $4.33.
Folks making comic books about physics is by no means a bad trend. But I’m once again left wondering, “Where’s the chemistry equivalent?” We may not have Stephen Hawking or Nikola Tesla to brag about, but surely we’ve got someone who’s got an interesting story to relate to the general public? Organic chemist R.B. Woodward, in all his Mad-Men-esque glory? One of the many bearded chemists of yore?
What about Kevlar, the original polymer superhero? Or how about turning the periodic table of elements into superheroes, an idea originated by a graphic designer here?
Readers, what kind of chemistry comic book would you like to see? (And ACS, when can we have one, pretty please?)
Chemists are notoriously bad at tooting their own horns to the public (go ask someone on the street to name a famous chemist, and you’ll see what I mean). But I’m certain they’ve got interesting stories to tell—the tales have just got to be drawn out.
Flame Challenge 2: And The Winners Are
Some 20,000 11-year-olds voted to determine the winners of the Flame Challenge 2 competition. Depending on the format of scientists’ responses to this year’s question, “What is time?” entries were categorized as written or visual. Nicholas Williams, a retired scientist who spent 33 years working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and ACS member Steven Maguire, a Ph.D. candidate in inorganic catalysis at the University of Ottawa, in Ontario, were recognized as the winners on June 2 at the World Science Festival, in New York City.
Both winners have experience communicating science, which is the goal of the competition. Williams, the winner of the written category, continues to work with LLNL through its “Fun with Science” outreach program. About teaching science, Williams says, “Teach so it makes sense. Teach so it can be understood. Teach so it can be remembered.” And this he did in his entry. He begins his prose mimicking a nagging parent and their child, “Time to go to school, time to clean your room, time to do this, time to do that.” No wonder 11-year-olds like his answer: He immediately relates to their world before he gets to the tough stuff.
Maguire, winner of the visual category, hosts a Web series, “Science Isn’t Scary.” In each video clip, he answers a science question that seems complicated, but by the end of the explanation Maguire has helped the viewer better understand the science behind how or why something works. His series is essentially mini Flame Challenges, so he has experience explaining scientific concepts to an audience in a way that they’ll understand.
According to the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, a division of Stony Brook University, in New York, and one of the sponsors of the Flame Challenge, there will be another question from 11-year-olds for scientists to answer in 2014. If you know an 11-year-old who has a suggestion for the Flame Challenge 3, submit their question here.
In Print: Cooking With Cicadas
The Newscripts blog would like to be closer Internet buddies with our glossy print Newscripts column, so here we highlight what’s going on in the current issue of C&EN.
Apparently skewered invertebrates (and sea horses) are standard snacks in Beijing. The cicada shish kebobs are in the center.
Credit: National Geographic/Photograph by Victor Fraile, Corbis
The cicadas are coming. Here at Newscripts headquarters in Washington, D.C., we’ve been tracking Brood II’s invasion progress warily. Senior Editor Linda Wang, who has survived previous infestations and lived to tell the tale, assures the Newscripts gang that we will survive. As Linda remembers, the last infestation brought annoying buzzing sounds and dead bodies strewn on the sidewalks–dead cicada bodies, that is. Phew.
As she writes in her Newscripts print column this week, Linda isn’t terribly worried about this impending resurrection 17 years later. Instead, she’s adopted the stance of “if you can’t beat them, eat them,” thanks to her discovery of some cicada recipes in a National Geographic article.
“Cicada recipes?!” you exclaim. (Okay, we exclaimed it.) Apparently insects are high in protein and low in fat and carbs, which we suppose sounds healthful. There’s even a legitimate, university-backed cookbook that has recipes for cicada dumplings, cicada rhubarb pie, and sizzling chili cicadas.
Linda isn’t quite ready to go home and blanch some cicadas she finds on the sidewalk, however, just to try out these recipes. “I can barely cook normal food on my own, so if I eat cicadas anywhere, it’d be at a restaurant or fast-food joint,” she muses.
So far, she’s tried a grasshopper taco at a tapas restaurant in D.C. and recalls: “Honestly, there wasn’t much flavor to it, it was just salty and crunchy. Not terrible, but not amazing either!”
She also thinks it would be fun if McDonald’s chimed in with a cicada milkshake on the Dollar Menu. “If I have to eat a cicada,” she says,” I might as well enjoy it!”
If you enjoy it so much, Linda, you can have ours, too!
Amusing News Aliquots
Silly samplings from this week’s science news, compiled by Sophia Cai, Bethany Halford, and Jeff Huber.
Siberian researchers recover the first-ever sample of mammoth’s blood, which was preserved in ice. Credit: Semyon Grigoriev/The Siberian Times
Icy Siberian conditions preserve mammoth blood and muscle tissue. Can mammoth clones be far off? And will we be able to use them as vacuums and showers like the Flintstones did? [Siberian Times]
Study finds that diet soda harms teeth just as badly as crack cocaine does. So either diet soda is more harmful than you initially thought, or crack cocaine is less harmful. [My Fox Atlanta]
Well hello there, hydrogen. You look gorgeous. [iO9]
Marijuana stash more than 2,000 years old is discovered at a Chinese grave site. Time-travel movie starring Cheech and Chong now seems inevitable. [NBC News]
Apes may be even closer to us, or at least our children, than we thought–they, too, throw temper tantrums when their risky, emotional choices don’t pay off. [NBC News]
For all you chemists working on top floors in high rise buildings, let this be a lesson to you: Throwing your glassware out the window can be lethal. [Slate]
Time-lapse video documents what the Mars Curiosity rover has been doing for the last nine months. If the Curiosity rover was on parole, its officer would be well pleased. [Huffington Post]
Create a hand-shaped, light-responsive hydrogel, check. Ask Robin Williams if he’d be up for a remake of “Flubber,” pending. [Wired]
In Print: Mission to Mars, Molecular Fashion
The Newscripts blog would like to be closer Internet buddies with our glossy print Newscripts column, so here we highlight what’s going on in the current issue of C&EN.
Meet Anders. He’s 51 and Swedish. He’s also one of more than 78,000 people who have applied to take a one-way trip to Mars.
Red rocks: Rendering of Mars One settlement. Credit: Bryan Versteeg/Mars One
As this week’s Newscripts column explores, Netherlands-based “nonprofit” Mars One is currently soliciting applications from individuals interested in traveling to the Red Planet in 2023 and never returning. Approximately 28 to 40 applicants will be chosen from the pool of applicants to participate in a reality show in which they will train for seven years for the mission. An audience vote will then help determine the four people who will ultimately go where no man has gone before.
There is a video portion to the application that requires applicants, such as Anders, to tell a little bit about themselves and explain their reasons for wanting to travel to a foreign planet. Many of these videos are posted to the Mars One website, and what’s most striking about them is the general lack of enthusiasm many of these applicants have when discussing the opportunity to go to Mars. “I’ve often fantasized to just get on board a spaceship and go to explore the universe. I often get the feeling that I don’t belong here, but out there, in space,” the aforementioned Anders says, without so much as a smile. Continue reading →
Amusing News Aliquots
Uncanny resemblance: Side-by-side comparison of the U.S. national symbol and Arsenal soccer manager Arsene Wenger. Credit: Bald Eagles That Look Like Arsene Wenger/Tumblr
Silly samplings from this week’s science news, compiled by Sophia Cai and Jeff Huber.
Website dares to ask the question millions of Premier League fans have wondered for years: Is the manager of Arsenal’s soccer team a bald eagle? [Grantland]
Don’t go chopping off your fingers for kicks just yet, but we’re one step closer to regenerating body parts like salamanders can. [iO9]
Drug-resistant tuberculosis has finally met its match, scientists say. It’s a powerful, expensive, and rare supplement called … vitamin C. [BBC]
Rubbing dirt in wounds can ward off infections. Boy Scouts everywhere rejoice that getting a first aid merit badge just got a whole lot easier. [Popular Science]
Would you rather lose $1,000 or gain 20 lb? Turns out, people will pay a pretty penny to keep a pretty figure. [USA Today]
NASA puts a new spin on Friday night pizza – no need to order takeout, just print it out. [Huffington Post]
Forget worrying about the war on robots, and start worrying about the super-Einsteins and super-MacGyvers next door. [iO9]
Amphibians are disappearing at a surprising rate in the U.S. Wait a minute, when was the last time I saw the Warner Bros. frog? [Baltimore Sun]
In Print: Toys Will Be Toys
McDonald’s website leaves it up to interpretation what divides these two types of toys.
The Newscripts blog would like to be closer Internet buddies with our glossy print Newscripts column, so here we highlight what’s going on in the current issue of C&EN.
As the cashier at the fast-food restaurant is finishing our order, she grabs a small plastic doll and tosses it in my kids’ meal.
“Excuse me,” my mom says testily. “You didn’t give my daughter a choice of toys.” Even at age six, I can tell my mom is using tremendous restraint to give this young woman a chance to rectify her unintentional wrongs.
The woman looks at my mom, then at me, and asks, “Well, do you want the girls’ toy or the boys’ toy?”
I don’t remember if I ended up picking the doll or the toy car on that particular occasion. But I do distinctly remember the feeling of trying to weigh the gaps in my own eclectic toy collection with the point my now-fuming mother was trying to teach both me and the young woman at the cash register. Toys are toys, and kids should be able to choose their own interests without feeling undue social, gender-specific pressure.
Boots toy signage–with science kits in the boys’ section–before customer outrage led the store to redo how they label toy sections. Credit: Twitter/@SeanEGray
Twenty years later, I call my mom and tell her about this column, and she’s outraged we’re still having this debate. As I write in Newscripts this week, the gender-specific labeling of toys came under fire in England recently. Specifically, customers and online advocacy group Let Toys Be Toys took issue with science kits and chemistry sets being designated for boys. Since the backlash, toy giant Tesco and pharmacy chain Boots have changed their girls- and boys-specific toy labeling and issued apologetic statements.
In Print: Shall We Play A Game?
The Newscripts blog would like to be closer Internet buddies with our glossy print Newscripts column, so here we highlight what’s going on in the current issue of C&EN. The following comes courtesy of the writer of this week’s glossy print column, C&EN Senior Editor Michael Torrice.
The Nintendo Entertainment System came out in the U.S. almost 30 years ago. My family bought the gray video game console in 1988, and my friends and I played it for countless hours. We once staged a Nintendo Olympics, with each kid adopting an official song and flag. Winners received medals or a trophy made from Legos, I think. For this week’s Newscripts column, I relived a bit of my childhood when I wrote about a computer scientist who taught his computer how to play Nintendo games.
Stompin’ goombas: A computer scientist taught his computer to play Nintendo games such as “Super Mario Bros.” Credit: Tom W. Murphy VII
Tom W. Murphy VII is the computer scientist, and he works on machine learning, which is basically teaching computers how to perform specific tasks. (Yes, Murphy is the seventh Thomas Murphy in his family. He says the first died in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War.)
The neat thing about Murphy’s Nintendo-playing program is that it uses a simple, general strategy that works on several games, including the classic “Super Mario Bros.” The program can play a wide range of games because it doesn’t know anything specific about a game (for instance, it’s unaware that mushrooms make Mario grow big). Instead it uses a two-phase process to learn what it means to win in a specific game and then looks for the best series of button presses to succeed.
In the first phase, the computer “watches me play the game and peers inside the memory of the Nintendo and looks at what’s going on,” Murphy says. Basically, it finds bytes of memory that increase in value as Murphy plays. These bytes often correspond to things like the score or progress through a game level—although the program doesn’t know what the bytes translate to on the screen. Continue reading →
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