History of Biology and Spongelab

I've written about Spongelab before, but here's a cool article from Scientific American about the company's history of biology game.  Spongelab understands the importance of good illustration and captivating graphics.  And, their game references the famous painting School of Athens, by Raphael.  Fantastic!

Tiny Town -- A Cabinet of Curiosities in Rhode Island

When I was studying for my master's degree in science writing at the University of Southern California, I was fortunate to be able to take a class that focused on the history of science collections, and in particular cabinets of curiosity (the precursors to today's science museums).  In that class, we learned about odd medical collections that included grotesque sculptures made out of preserved human innards, as well as more distinguished collections by people like Albertus Seba (whose cabinet made the pages of a Taschen book).  I was already interested in the history of science museums, as well as miscellany, so the class fit me perfectly.  Now, whenever I hear about modern cabinets of curiosity, my ears perk up.

So, I was excited to learn about the Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design.  What an amazing place!  I love that the curators used old card catalogs, and I love that the collection includes three-dimensional geometric models for hands-on exploration.  The Nature Lab is definitely on my short list of cool, wacky places to visit.

Read more about the Lab here. 

[Image credited to the Nature Lab]

Dr. Seuss Coming to Chicago

I just learned that an exhibition featuring artwork by Dr. Seuss is now coming to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.  I think this is a brilliant idea.  When I was a kid, I used to love reading Dr. Seuss's books, and part of that love stemmed from Seuss's fanciful creations and wild imagination.  I would very much like to see more explorations of fictional creatures in museums: maybe visitors would be more stimulated and develop a greater interest in biology.

Keeper of the Clock at Trinity College, Cambridge

There's something lovely and enchanting about clocks and old British universities.  Maybe it's something about the romance of learning, or the thought of Big Ben tolling away in the fog as London men in black bowler hats carrying umbrellas rush to and fro.  Maybe it's something related to the Britain captured in Roald Dahl and P.G. Wodehouse stories, or the formidable Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series.  Maybe it's something about clockwork machinery and Britain as a whole, where the Industrial Revolution was born.  In any case, I love hearing about the history of ancient machinery, especially clocks and especially when the machines dwell in the British Isles.

An Orrery Featuring Kepler's Exoplanets

Here is an amazing visualization of the exoplanets discovered by the Kepler space telescope:



There's something mesmerizing and powerful about this simulation.  Actually, there's something powerful about visualizations in general.  Think about Spongelab, a company that creates science visualizations to help students learn.  The merging of artistic, or visual, elements with abstract thinking can help people understand so many things.

More About Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers

The Economist just ran a short piece on the ivory-billed woodpecker, and whether it might not have gone extinct after all. I just love this story: as I have written before, it's like learning that the dodo might still exist somewhere on Earth.

Image is courtesy of Corbis / National Geographic

Euclid in the Rainforest -- Book Review

Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Logic and Math by Joseph Mazur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really, really wanted to like this book. The table of contents sounded so interesting: infinity! logic! how math pertains to reality! But, the further I got into the book, the more frustrated I became. Each section -- infinity, logic, and reality -- contains several chapters, but it's never clear to the reader how each chapter relates to the overarching theme. Moreover, each chapter itself seemed just like a collection of math-related stories, one after the other, with no obvious link. (I'm sure there *were* links, but I would have had to work to find them.) Also -- and this may seem like a nit-picking critique -- the weak topic sentences really got in the way of my understanding each paragraph. Topic sentences have to set up the rest of the sentences in a paragraph, giving the reader a kind of road map, but these didn't. Arrrrgh! In my opinion, the book should be rewritten under the watchful eye of a careful editor.

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