Science Lush

Science Online 2013: Science Comics

One of my favorite sessions this year at Science Online was the session moderated by Maki Naro (@sciencecomic) and Kate McKissick (@beatricebiology) on Distilling Ideas: Communicating Science With Comics. The discussion ranged from creative issues to copyright scandals to suggstions of work to check out. And in true Science Online fashion, the entire room became involved in the discussion, offering suggestions and commentary.

In a conference that focused a lot on words, it was a change of pace to talk about how a limited word count can actually help get an idea across. Tom Swanson, who did physics cartoons when he was in grad school, pointed out that this is something he often needs to explain when people pitch him ideas. After all, if it takes someone a full two minutes to explain an idea, it's going to be too complex to work in a short comic. However, when the just right words are paired with a specific image, science comics can be an efficient, powerful way to deal with hot button issues such as climate change.

Videomaker Henry Reich from Minute Physics said that he loves getting suggestions for things to explain, but not how to explain them. He said, “My job is figuring out the how part.”

And that's where the fun comes in. The majority of science comics tend to fall into two distinct categories: inside jokes for those scientists and those that educate or explain scientific concepts or ideas to the general public. Naro said that he gets inspired by everything from Neil DeGrasse Tyson tweets to articles to social issues, although most of his comics end up being about biology and space because that’s what he’s interested in.

At a time when it takes just a second to copy something and post it, all the artists in the room expressed the importance of getting permission to use their work and proper crediting. McKissick has a very clear policy posted on her blog about people using her work: 

Can I use your stupid drawings and say they're mine?

No, you can't do that.  However, you can share my stupid drawings as long as you credit me and this website. 

Wait, why do you say your drawings are stupid?

Either I'm a connoisseur of self-deprecating humor, or I'm horribly insecure. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

However, she recently found that her “Amoeba Hug” comic had been posted elsewhere, and someone else had been given credit for it. She got in touch with the site and asked that it share her original piece and properly credit it. Because someone at the site had essentially redrawn her comic, they did not have the same view of copyright and at first refused to remove it. Eventually, they took down the erroneously credited piece, but not without a lot of effort on McKissick's part.

Here's the first panel of McKissick's original:

And here's the "original" posted by the site without permission and with erroneous crediting. As you can see, it's pretty clear it's a copy of McKissick's work. 

Reich has had similar experiences with people downloading his YouTube videos, and then re-uploading them onto their own channels so that they could make money off of the advertising placed in the videos. One extreme example includes someone in Germany actually redoing his drawings and the voiceover in German with zero attribution.

Something else that became clear as we all were furiously scribbling down suggestions of work to take a look at was that there’s a need for some sort of science comic aggregator. There are certainly lists and blogrolls, but these aren’t really an efficient way to discover and browse science comics; a more robust database that the public can contribute to and that can be sorted by topic would be ideal. Any volunteers out there? Anyone need a challenge for a hackathon? 

If you’re interested in checking out more science comics and comic-oriented publications, here are some of the suggestions that came up during the session. If you want to search for more nuggets from the session on Twitter, look for #sciencecomics.

-Lauren Redniss’s graphic biography Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout. From The New York Times review: 

The electricity in “Radioactive,” however, derives from the friction between Ms. Redniss’s text and her ambitious and spooky art. Her text runs across and over these freewheeling pages, the boundaries between word and image constantly blurring. Her drawings are both vivid and ethereal. Her people have elongated faces and pale forms; they’re etiolated Modiglianis. They populate a Paris that’s become a dream city.

-xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

-Trinity: A graphic history of the first atomic bomb.

-Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth. From the Amazon description:

This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the great Ludwig Wittgenstein. But his most ambitious goal—to establish unshakable logical foundations of mathematics—continues to loom before him. Through love and hate, peace and war, Russell persists in the dogged mission that threatens to claim both his career and his personal happiness, finally driving him to the brink of insanity.

-odd todd's animations for an NPR story about carbon and climate change.

 

 

The Lush List: 1/8/2013 - YouTube Science

For years, YouTube got a rap as the place to watch cats on keyboards and stupid people tricks. Funny? Absolutely. Smart? Not so much. However, there are a number of YouTube creators who are now making savvy, entertaining videos about or inspired by science...and I'm not just talking about obvious choices like snippets from the TED Conference.

Over the last several weeks while prepping for the International Academy of Web Televison Awards, which honor the best in online programming, I fell down the rabbit hole of YouTube browsing far too often. Here are just a few of the folks worth checking out. Pieces range from the educational to the wacky to the lovely...

SciShow

This YouTube channel is from creator Hank Green,who is heavily involved in several different YouTube endeavours, including executive producing The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a sassy online modernized adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Green has a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a master's degree in Environmental Studies, and the segments on his SciShow channel explain both basic and more involved scientific concepts. Green's casual, entertaining delivery helps the information he delivers about topics ranging from fracking to dark matter to biofilm go down easy, allowing even the science novice to walk away feeling like he or she understands something new. 

 

UltraSlo

This one's for those of you who like pretty pictures. UltraSlo features the work of Emmy Award winner Alan Teitel, who with his UltraSlo Studio, creates cool slow-motion videos of nature, explosions and random things like (false) teeth falling into a glass. Many of the videos have a psychedelic quality to them, such as this one of a humming bird, so this is the channel to check out when you feel like chilling for awhile...

 

Rhett and Link
This award-winning duo comprised of life-long best friends Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal has created or been featured in over 500 web videos, including sketches, non-scripted reality pieces and music videos. In 2009, they were musical correspondents for the Science Channel's BRINK. The wrote songs and made music videos for three episodes, including "Hello (The S.E.T.I. Song)."

Sick Science

I always wanted a science teacher like Steve Spangler. He's done a lot of things - he's a science writer, teacher, and toy designer - but you're probably most familiar with his work with candy. Yep, he's the guy who dropped Mentos into a bottle of soda and created a cultural phenomenon in the early days of online video. Luckily, he's got a whole YouTube channel, as well as a website, dedicated to bringing more wacky experiments to the public.

   

And if you feel like taking a walk down memory lane, here's the original September 2005 Mentos geyser video:

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The Lush List: 12/4/12 Curiosity Video, End of the Universe and Space's Neighborhood Watch

STILL CURIOUS?

If you've forgotten just how inspiring the Curiosity Rover and those responsible for her journey are, take 5 minutes to watch this lovely piece created by director/photojournalist Dan Winters, editor John Aldrich and sound designer/composer Shervin Shaeri. With narration from key members of the MSL team, including Adam Steltzner, Miguel San Martin, Ann Devereaux and Allen Chen detailing their personal feelings about the rover, it's a lovely, visual journey through the life of Curiosity thus far.

Here's my favorite quote from the piece, which encapsulates the sense of connection between the engineers and scientists who birthed Curiosity, but now only get the occasional phone call or pic from their kiddo far, far away:

"We get to see her in images that she takes of herself, but we won't ever touch again and we won't ever be able to fix her again." 

Mars Rover Curiosity from Mutant Jukebox - Music & Sound on Vimeo.
Photography Credits: NASA JPL, Dan Winters, David Robertson, Travis Smith

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH FOR SPACE?

NASA has a little problem...there are about 500,000 pieces of hazardous space junk orbiting the earth, and there's no trash collector scheduled for the route anytime in the near future! This debris includes spent rocket stages, defunct satellites and fragments from other spacecraft that are the result of erosion, explosion and collision, and it threatens current peacekeeping and combat satellites, as a collision between a piece of the space trash and a satellite could release more than 20,000 times the energy of a head-on auto collision at 65 mph.

So what's a government agency to do?

DARPA has created SpaceView, "a space debris tracking project that provides amateur astronomers with the means to make a difference....The vision behind the SpaceView program is to provide more diverse data to the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a U.S. Air Force program charged with cataloguing and observing space objects to identify potential near-term collisions. SpaceView hopes to achieve that goal by engaging U.S. amateur astronomers by purchasing remote access to an already in-use telescope or by providing a telescope to selected astronomers. When a telescope that is provided by the program is not in use by the SpaceView program, DARPA will provide its use for astronomy and astrophotography." 

So in other words, if you're located where they need you to be, you might get to time-share some equipment, qualify for some fancy upgraded hardware or even receive some minor financial compensation. And of course, there's that satisfying undercover-superhero-feeling that comes from quietly saving the Earth!

Interested astronomers may learn more about the program and sign up at www.spaceviewnetwork.com. Participants will be selected based on geographic location and access to a permanent site for a telescope, among other criteria.

COLBERT'S INTELLECTUAL HYDROPLANE: BECOMING MASSIVE!

Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll hungout with Stephen Colbert last week while promoting his new book THE PARTICLE AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE: How the Hunt for Higgs Boson Leads us to the Edge of a New World.

In between Colbert's jokes about jetpacks and teleportation, Carroll attempts to explain what exactly the Higgs Boson is and why it's important.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sean Carroll
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

 

Science Lush 08/21/12: Historical Science Chicks, Curiosity's Laser and the Art of Botany

Science Chicks From History

I stumbled across the Tumblr Science Chicks From History, which is pretty much exactly like it sounds: a blog dedicated to women from science history. Sweet and simple, each entry features a brief description of a lady scientist, usually partnered with an accompanying image. It serves as a lovely introduction to a group of scientists, mathematicians and technologists you may want to know more about.

I'm particulary intrigued by Aglaonike, cited as the first female astronomer in Greece, and Hypatia of Alexandria (350? - 415 AD), the first historically noted female mathematician. She sounds like a pretty cool chick: 

She dressed in the clothes of a scholar instead of women’s clothes and drove her own chariot. Hypatia was murdered in the streets of Alexandria by a Christian mob after being accused of witchcraft and godlessness. Her writings were destroyed when the Library of Alexandria was burned.

As a member of a classical theater company, I've spent a lot of time in imagined worlds populated with ancient Greek gods and goddesses. But these women clearly had some real-world powers of their own which enabled them to perservere in learning and teaching at a time when science was truly a man's occupation.

Fire It Up! Curiosity's Laser Zaps Her First Target 

"Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
GOLDFINGER

Ok, let's be honest - lasers are just cool! It's fun to watch stuff get blown up, plus they come in awfully handy when trying to destroy the world (yes, I watch a lot of superhero movies). Luckily, Curiosity is on a benevolent mission, so when the Mars rover fired up its laser for the first time on August 19th, she had the best of intentions. Her target for this first test? A fist-sized rock called "Coronation." Here's what went down:  

The mission's Chemistry and Camera instrument, or ChemCam, hit the fist-sized rock with 30 pulses of its laser during a 10-second period. Each pulse delivers more than a million watts of power for about five one-billionths of a second.

The energy from the laser excites atoms in the rock into an ionized, glowing plasma. ChemCam catches the light from that spark with a telescope and analyzes it with three spectrometers for information about what elements are in the target.

The technique has been used in a variety of extreme environments here on Earth, including inside nuclear reactors and on the sea floor, but this is the first time it's been used to explore an object on another planet.  ChemCam was developed, built and tested by the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and research agency, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

This composite image incorporates a Navigation Camera image taken prior to the test, with
magnified insets taken by the camera in ChemCam. The circular insert highlights the rock before
the laser test. The square inset is further magnified and processed to show the difference
between images taken before and after the laser interrogation of the rock.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP

 

 The Art of Botany: Call for Entries

The Canadian Botanical Association/L'Association Botanique du Canada (CBA/ABC) 49th Annual Meeting and Conference, which is being held June 2013 in Kamloops, BC, will feature an "Art of Botany" show highlighting  how art supports botanical research and learning about plants. The idea for this exhibition grew out of a collaborative relationship between an art instructor Ila Crawford and a botany instructor Lyn Baldwin at Thompson Rivers University.

In this article by Baldwin and Crawford, which appeared in the March 2012 Edition of the CBA/ABC Bulletin, each gives her take on the relationship between art and science.

Here's the official submission information:

Art and Science: Drawing and Botany

Artists and Botanists are invited to submit work that responds to the assertion that “art inhabits the teaching and practice of botany, and conversely botanical subjects and scientific methods have a legitimate place in teaching and practicing art.” The exhibition, "Art and Science: Drawing and Botany," will present an array of work that facilitates discussion about integrating art with science and science with art. Specifically this exhibit will include work that explores questions about the perceived boundaries between art and science, and will add to a growing synergy between art and botany. Many scientists, and specifically botanists, incorporate art practices as part of their own research, and many artists explore the realm of botany in their practice.

Invited: Artists, botanists, and groups of artists and botanists working on special projects (10 or more individuals)

Submissions: Three maximum for individuals; one per member for group submissions. Only original work will be accepted, no reproductions. Sketchbooks will be accepted. Only digital images will be accepted for the jurying process.

Entry Fee: $10 per registration ($10 covers up to three works)

Deadlines: Individual submissions (March 29, 2013), Project-based submissions (January 15, 2013)

For additional information about digital submissions, artist’s statements, insurance and more, visit Art and Science: Drawing and Botany.

 

 

 

 

The Lush List: 06/25/11: SETIcon, Science of Hangovers and Juicy Brain Photos

SETIcon II
Just what is it about CA and the 'Cons? VidCon starts on Thursday in Anaheim, Comic-Con is right around the corner in July in San Diego, and this past weekend, the SETIcon II hit Santa Clara. And just what is SETIcon? As explained on the event's website:

SETIcon brings together innovative scientists, science fiction authors, space and science artists, space lovers, and the curious and adventurous everywhere for a 3-day public celebration and exploration of space, real science, technology, imagination, and science education.There is no other event in the world like SETIcon that explores space and the human imagination through the lens of real science, attracting global interest and participation. This is not a science conference with technical lectures (SETI Institute scientists lecture all over the world). Instead we’ll bring together scientists with authors and artists to celebrate science and exchange ideas around space exploration and our place in the cosmos. SETIcon will create a new channel of discussion between Earthlings where real science and imagination will meet.

I'm all for increased discussion amongst Earthlings about that sweet spot where science & creativity meet! Unfortunately, I couldn't go myself, so what's a modern girl to do? Absorb some of the conference vicariously via Twitter, YouTube and the blogosphere.

If you search for #Seticon on Twitter, you'll find some nuggets from the conference. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Jenny Ryan @tubebananas: If I can inspire others to do science thru sci fiction & dreaming, then my work has not been so silly as it seems -Robert Picardo #SETIcon

Camilla Corona @Camilla_SDO: Doug Vakoch: Humans are very visually oriented. What if other life forms rely on other senses? #SETIcon #AlienLanguages

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust: Doug Vakoch: what we read into any extraterrestrial message will say more about us than about them. #SETIcon

Marimikel Charrier @Marimikel: People see space as for rocket scientists & billionaires. We need to change that & show how space affects us all. - @maejemison #SETICon

Now, if all these tweets have got your jonesing for more detailed coverage, take a few minutes to read Rebecca Boyle's post on PopSci about the event, where she uses sentences with more than 140 characters to describe it.

...hundreds of space enthusiasts and science evangelists came together to ask questions, buy and wear awesome T-shirts, and talk with breathless, uninhibited glee about the crazy science that keeps them up at night. Luminaries like Frank Drake and Bill Nye, along with planetary scientists, “Star Trek” actors and educators, filled two days of talks. Topics included antagonistic aliens, panspermia (“planetary spit-swapping happens,” SETI scientist Dale Andersen said), robot rights and the 100-Year Starship. It’s the only convention, as one person said, where people will be glad to tell you which of Saturn’s rings is his favorite, or which extremophile is the best.

She goes on to talk about the abundance of science tattoos; the environment created by the unique mix of science professionals and enthusiasts; and folks who have changed jobs midway through life to make careers out of their curiousity about space exploration.

The Seti Institute, the organizer of the event, is supposed to eventually post videos from the sessions on its YouTube Channel. Note to self: bookmark channel for future viewing when I need a break from cute kitty videos and Epic Rap Battles of History: Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking.  

The Hangover Explained
The fact that you missed SETIcon II driving you to drink? Well, if you're going to imbibe, at least do so with the understanding of how the alcohol will affect your body. Y'all know I love creative science vids, so check out this smart-board animation piece from ASAPScience: WHAT CAUSES A HANGOVER?  

       

There's more video fun from creators Mitchell Moffit (@mitchellmoffit) and Gregory Brown (@whalewatchmeplz) on their YouTube channel, including HOW TO SEE OR HEAR THE BIG BANG. They have a fun presentation style, and ridiculously good handwriting.

In addition to the vids, there's an interesting argument in the comments on the BIG BANG piece about the show MINUTE PHYSICS and whether or not ASAPScience is a rip off of it. MINUTE PHYSICS has been on my list o'things to watch for quite awhile now, so I figured this was a particularly appropriate moment to check it out (hey, if I'm actually writing about YouTube videos, then watching them can't be considered procrastination, right?). 

There's definitely a shared visual style here. Is it a rip off? An homage? Or as commenter keepcalmcarryon1939 writes of ASAPScience:

Should we shun Neil deGrasse Tyson because Brian Greene was popular for trying to engage the public in science first? Or shun Brian Greene because Bill Nye did it before him? Or maybe we should shun Bill Nye because he liked to talk about science, even though Carl Sagan had his own television show way before Bill Nye did.

It's not about about who did what first. The important thing is that so many people are interested in talking about science. And that, friends, is really spectacular.

The science nerdling in me agrees - the more engaging ways we have to talk and learn about science, the better. However, the artist in me wonders if I might be a bit ticked off if I felt someone had copied or borrowed my unique take on how to explore science...even if the "borrower" explicitly stated that I had been an inspiration for their creation. Would I feel flattered? Or like calling my lawyer? Thoughts?

[Source: Thanks to The Daily Dot for bringing ASAPScience to my attention].

Wellcome Image Awards 2012

OK, this one's not for those with a weak stomach. The Wellcome Image Awards, from the Wellcome Trust, were presented on June 20th in London. The winner is a photo of a living human brain. Robert Ludlow took it during a surgical procedure on a patient with epilepsy. And while I'm usually somewhat squeamish about such things, I found myself gazing at the photo for longer than I would have thought my delicate sensibilities could handle, amazed at its vibrancy. I'm so used to seeing dull, lifeless brains floating around in jars (um, yes, I watch a lot of sci fi)...was incredible to see the living brain captured in all it's glory, looking so JUICY!

So just what are these fancy awards all about? Says the Trust's website:

Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images and a member of the judging panel, said: "The Wellcome Image Awards are unique in that the winners are chosen for their scientific and technical merit as much as for their aesthetic appeal. They offer people a chance to get closer to science and research and see it in a different way, as a source of beauty, as well as providing important information about ourselves and the world around us."

Credit Robert Ludlow,Wellcome Images
Intracranial recording for epilepsy. Surface of human brain in situ

You can see the entire collection of photos at WellcomeImageAwards.org, including my two other favorites: a striking shot of caffeine crystals and a very cool pic of connective tissue removed from a human knee.