I recently posted about a great project in New York City called the Biobus. In August, the Biobus, in conjunction with the awesome science advocacy and investment group the Science House, will commence an ambitious program to distribute high-quality microscopes to schools around the world (free!), encouraging students to share and compare their discoveries online.
From [...]
Too bad Discover waited such a long time to put this March story online. Anyway, a really great profile of Harvard’s monk-like reader and writer of the genome, George Church. It’s written by Ed Regis, a guy who’s been following cutting-edge synthetic biology work from the beginning.
James King, a designer/artist with a scientific bent, has a good article in Seed magazine on the various “flavors” of synthetic biology — a great, accessible introduction to what’s happening right now. Nice work!
Below is video James made for his “Cellularity” project, exploring the scientific notion of “aliveness.”
Cellularity from James King on Vimeo.
I’ve decided that free diving is the extremest of extreme sports. This is world-record-holder Robert Trubridge from New Zealand, diving through the Arch in the Red Sea in 2007. Alec Wilkinson wrote a very good piece about the sport’s top women athletes in the New Yorker last summer — abstract here.
Origami hang gliders soar on “wind” from your hands. More details here.
At a recent science fair at my kid’s preschool, 4- and 5-year-olds were just as pleased with these super-easy paper “helicopters.” So much cheap/free science that kids are naturally excited about!
How about funding for 100 of these around the country? Learn more about the NYC-based Cell Motion BioBus here.
The 19th annual FIRST national robotics championship was held in Atlanta last week, with teams from Redondo Beach, CA; Milford, MI, and South Windsor, CT taking top honors. More than 500 teams from 30 countries competed. FIRST founder, inventor Dean Kamen, presented awards to winning teams, joined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. (Obama, Kamen [...]
Yes, it’s total military propaganda. But it’s also a pretty innovative approach to getting people — young people especially — excited about science. LabTV, a component of the National Defense Education Program’s website, focuses on scientists and engineers working in the U.S. Dept. of Defense, giving teachers, students, and science geeks a look at what’s [...]
The New York Times has a nice article and great set of photos on voluntary, apparently sane modern “recluses.” Who have beer and computers and stuff. (This guy brews his own for trade.)