The lab course I am teaching at Coker College does not have access to the newest and fanciest equipment for microscopy imaging (nor should it*). If your drawing skills are not up to snuff, however, a smartphone camera, a steady hand, and a bit of patience can provide a useful substitute for standard light microscopy.
My daughter’s Caroline Herschel costume is not late for Ada Lovelace Day. We were simply traveling too close to the speed of light relative to the rest of y’all.
Picture was taken at ScienceSouth’s NASA Saturday public viewing after a “fancy dress” birthday party.
Ellyn Weiss, Unidentified Specimen, Wax and Pigment
Concepts of time and change center the work of three artists in a show entitled Density Fluctuations that opened yesterday at the American Center for Physics in College Park, MD. The exhibition features work inspired by physics and biology by Shanthi Chandrasekar, Stephen Schiff and Ellyn Weiss in a variety of media. Chandrasekar, who studied physics before becoming a painter, explores the differences in the understanding of time as expressed in science and myth. Stephen Schiff morphs photographs, starting with images of nature and multiplying them and reconfiguring them like cells to create new, complex geometries. Ellyn Weiss uses layers of wax and pigment to create her imagined versions of creatures discovered by science as layers of ice melt. The intriguing shapes of her sculptures hint at unknown species of animals or strange mineral deposits. Together, the work of these three beguiling artists in approaching such heady topics is sure to provide plenty of food for thought.
Density Fluctuations is on display at the American Center for Physics until April 2015. More information is here.
Mike Eisen makes an excellent point about NIH Director Francis Collins’ recent claims:
But what really bothers me the most about this is that, rather than trying to exploit the current hysteria about Ebola by offering a quid-pro-quo “Give me more money and I’ll deliver and Ebola vaccine”, Collins should be out there pointing out that the reason we’re even in a position to develop an Ebola vaccine is because of our long-standing investment in basic research, and that the real threat we face is not Ebola, but the fact that, by having slashed the NIH budget and made it increasingly difficult to have a stable career in science, we’re making it less and less likely that we’ll be equipped to handle all of the future challenges to public health that we’re going to be face in the future.
You can make a better case about the direct impact of funding cuts with the shrinking budget CDC Public Health Preparedness Funding, as Judy Stone notes over at Scientific American.
Last month, Ethiopia opened its first science museum, at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. From the news article:
Minister of Education Shiferaw Shigutie said on the opening ceremony that the museum levels up students understanding for science, and as a result contributes for the industry led economic policy of the nation to be followed in the near future.
The Addis Ababa Science and Technology University president Dr. Tarekegn Tadesse said for his part that students at all levels can make use of the museum with the center, for upgrading their knowhow in science.
Here’s a news segment about the opening. It’s mostly not in English (apart from a vox pop, and the words “science” and “museum”) but you can get some glimpses of what it looks like, although it’s mostly shots of people milling about at the opening reception, and a long shot of the entrance.
It sounds like the museum will be focusing on outreach to students, which is great! A few years ago, Ethiopia also launched a science academy.
Would love to see some better images of the museum, though!
The Finch and Pea 