Science Lush

The Lush List 9/8/14: AxS Festival, Marjorie Prime at the Taper and Planets at the Hollywood Bowl

While technically the summer isn't over for a few weeks, there's that back-to-school feeling in the air. Perhaps that's the reason there are all sorts of exciting science-infused cultural happenings popping up!

Marjorie Prime

This year the Mark Taper Forum kicks its season off with the play MARJORIE PRIME by playwright Jordan Harrison. Directed by Les Waters, the play will run from September 10th – October 19th. I’m intrigued by the Taper’s description: In the age of artificial intelligence, how do you compute the reality of loss and keep your loved ones from becoming a distant memory?

Jeff Ward, Lois Smith, Lisa Emery and Frank Wood on the first day of rehearsal for MARJORIE PRIME. 
Photo by Craig Schwartz, courtesy of Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. 

In addition to the compelling subject matter, I'm also excited to see this play because the cast features one of my favorite actresses, Lois Smith. I’ve been lucky enough to see her do some amazing theater, and she's been in a ton of classic films (her first part onscreen was in EAST OF EDEN!), but she may be more recognizable to newer audiences from her roles in TRUE BLOOD and MINORITY REPORT. In an interview in the Playbill for the show, she was asked what about Harrison’s play resonated with her the most:

“The way he deals with memory and with family and in a way, eternity. There is a certain delicacy about it. [The characters] are, like a piece of music or a book, in terms of human endeavors, they are human inventions, trying to encapsulate meaning. Just the delicacy with which he tackles something. I’d never seen that before."

The Planets: An HD Odyssey

If you didn't get enough of the heavenly bodies on International Observe the Moon night this past Saturday, the Hollywood Bowl is giving you a grand second opportunity on Tuesday, September 9th. Images from NASA and JPL rovers and satellites, as well as computer-generated graphics of the Mars landing, will accompany a performance of Holst's PLANETS. The suite has seven movements, each named after a planet and its corresponding astrological character:

1. Mars, the Bringer of War (00:00 - 07:21)
2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace (07:22 - 15:59);
3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger (16:00 - 19:51);
4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (19:52 - 27:49);
5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age (27:50 - 36:31);
6. Uranus, the Magician (36:32 - 42:14)
7. Neptune, the Mystic (42:15 - 49:01).

And if for some reason you're not awed by what you see onscreen, all you have to do is tilt your head back and look up at the sky. I can't wait for this evening of beautiful music under the stars! Now I just need to figure out what kind of picnic to pack...

Conductor: Andrè Previn & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

AxS Festival 2014: Curiosity

So, so excited about this two-week festival taking place in Pasadena, CA, from September 19th - October 5th. AxS [ak-sis], produced by the Pasadena Arts Council, "explores the nexus of artistic and scientific inquiry, promoting experimentation and cross-fertilization between these disciplines."

So what does that mean exactly? A whole bunch of really cool events that merge science with architecture, new media, visual art, music and theater, along with some super-smart, creative people having conversations about it all. You can check out the full schedule; below are a few of the events I'm particularly looking forward to.* For specific date, time and ticket info for each of them, see the individual event pages. 

• EVELINA DOMNITCH & DMITRY GELFAND/ LUCKY DRAGONS: Amsterdam-based art-science artists Domnitch and Gelfand will join experimental music group Lucky Dragons for performance, science and art, live music,video projections and collaborative sound art. Domnitch and Gelfand’s 10,000 PEACOCK FEATHERS IN FOAMING ACID uses laser light to scan the surfaces of soap bubble clusters. Unlike ordinary light, the laser’s focused beam is capable of crawling through the micro and nano structures within a bubble’s skin. When aimed at specific angles, this penetrating light generates a large-scale projection of molecular interactions as well as mind-boggling phenomena of non-linear optics. Bubble behaviors viewed in such proximity evoke the dynamics of living cells (the lipid membranes of which are direct chemical descendants of soap film). And then for a deeper dive into Domnitch and Gelfand's process, head to QUANTUM SENSITIVITY:A Talk with Domnitch & Gelfand, at which the artists discuss their immersive works which merge physics, chemistry and computer science with uncanny philosophical practices. Addressing the very thresholds of scientific insight, these endeavors explore the slippery frontier where quantum behavior arises on a human scale. 
  
  
• MARKO PELJHAN: Arctic Lab: A trip to see the glaciers is on my bucket list, so this project caught my eye. Artist/scientist Peljhan will discuss the Arctic Perspective Initiative, an art/science/tactical media project focused on the global significance of the Arctic geopolitical, natural and cultural spheres. And did I mention that Peljhan has also been the flight director of ten parabolic experimental flights in collaboration with the Microgravity Interdisciplinary Research initiative and the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, creating conditions for artists to work in alternating gravity conditions? Fascinating stuff I'd like to hear more about.
   
• SOL PATH: Having been on site as part of the NASA Social program for the Curiosity landing, I still feel an affinity for all things rover-related. Sol Path was inspired by the exploratory path that the Mars Rover takes over the course of a Martian day and developed in residency at JPL. It explores the intricate interactions between an Earth-bound team of explorers and a robotic space lab as it searches for signs of life. By composer/cognitive scientist Bruno Louchouarn, with live performance by viola soloist Brett Deubner and immersive multimedia platform by Adam Larsen.
  
  
• Pasadena Arts Council has commissioned arts collective Machine Project to re-imagine the Pasadena landmark Gamble House through a variety of interactive events. I think my favorite on the list is POETS IN CLOSETS, where poets read a single poem to one audience member at a time in the Gamble House’s walk-in closet. It’s like a literary twist on 7 Minutes in Heaven. Or what I like to imagine might be a lost scene from Downton Abbey.
  
  
• COPENHAGEN: I was lucky enough to see the original Broadway production of Michael Frayn’s Tony-award-winning play in which German physicist Werner Heisenberg and Danish physicist Niels Bohr (and Bohr’s wife Margrethe) meet in 1941 to debate physics, politics, love and betrayal, while cautiously dancing toward the detonation of the fission bomb. In this special presentation from theater company A Noise Within, the always engaging Caltech physicist and author Sean Carroll offers an engaging, pre-show mini-lecture on the origins of the universe, and the cast will do a post-show discussion on the themes of the play.
  
  
• ALICE THROUGH THE WORMHOLE OR WHAT’S THIS WONDERLAND UP TO? You all know I’m a sucker for good theater, so not surprising that I’ve chosen to highlight not just one, but two theatrical endeavors from the festival. This is described as a work-in-progress of a wild, original musical take on Alice through the Caltech Universe.
  
  
• KPCC will be hosting several events in conjunctinon with AxS at the Crawford Family Forum, including MAKERS: WOMEN IN SPACE. This segment of the six-part PBS documentary series from Executive Producers Dyllan McGee & Peter Kunhardt profiles the impact women have had over the past 50 years. Following the film, Joanne Griffith will interview Rev. Dr. Bear Ride on the life and legacy of her sister, the late Dr. Sally Ride — the first U.S. woman in space.   

*Event descriptions that accompany my comment provided by AxS.

 

 

 

Baba Brinkman: Darwin and the Life of a Rap Troubadour

When it comes to topics for hip hop, science isn't usually first on the list. But this year when I attended the Science Online conference, one of the morning Converge sessions featured a performance by Baba Brinkman, creator of The Rap Guide to Evolution. Brinkman's electric energy immediately woke up the sleepy (slightly hungover) room, and catapulted us into the day as he got the audience to joyfully consider how the process of "Performance, Feedback, Revision" applies both to science and art.  

Brinkman calls himself a "rap troubadour," and finds inspiration in everything from The Canterbury Tales to evolutionary psychology. I was curious about how the writer/performer has managed to meld the worlds of hip hop and science, so I tracked him down and convinced him to answer a few questions for me about how an English Lit guy ended up writing songs about natural selection, who he might like to work with in the future and what it's like to try to find rhymes for "Darwin." 

His show Evolutionary Tales: A Hip-Hop Theatre Cycle, presented by Soho Playhouse Inc., opened Off-Broadway at the Player's Theater on  May 31st, 2013, and runs through June 23rd, 2013. The cycle is comprised of three different shows - The Rap Guide to Evolution, Ingenious Nature and Canterbury Tales Remixed. If you're lucky enough to be in the NYC area during the run, visit www.evolutionarytales.com for tickets and information. 

 

Photo Credit: Tavakoli Photography

You have a Masters in Medieval and Renaissance English Literature, and your thesis drew parallels between the worlds of hip-hop music and literary poetry. How did you get the idea to correlate these two seemingly very different forms of communication? 

I was reading the Canterbury Tales for a class, and I recognized it as a masterpiece of rhymed storytelling, a lyrical chronicle of the lives and power struggles of diverse characters, young lovers, bitter rivals, villains, heroes, murderers, adulterers, kings and beggars; the tales are rich with metaphor and symbolism but also a gaudy circus of sex and violence. At the same time I was listening to albums by Nas, the Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Big Pun, and Slick Rick, and I recognized their songs as... exactly the same thing.

Given your lit background, doing a hip-hop version of Canterbury Tales seems to make sense. The idea for The Rap Guide to Evolution had its seed in a suggestion from Dr. Mark Pallen, author of The Rough Guide to Evolution. What was your initial reaction when he presented you with the challenge to "do for Darwin" what you had done for Chaucer? 

My initial reaction was excitement and enthusiasm, with an undercurrent of anxiety. In literature there's a wider range of acceptable poetic license when re-telling a story, but with evolution there are serious pitfalls. If the story is misconstrued it can easily shade into pseudo-science, but at the same time I needed room to be playful and entertaining. Dr. Pallen is an experienced exponent of evolution so he helped me toe that line.

Tell me a bit about your process once you decided to take on the project. How much did you know about Darwin? What kind of research did you do? 

When I started the project I had read a few books by Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins and E O Wilson, so I was familiar with the broad sketch, but the challenge was to create a story with a human face, so it was like a treasure hunt. I was looking for areas of overlap between evolutionary science and human experience, and I found them in the writing of David Sloan Wilson, Steven Pinker, Geoffrey Miller, Sarah Hrdy, and by re-reading the big three I started with to draw out the jewels. Mostly it came down to applications of evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution or "memes". Between those two concepts, you can connect evolution with virtually everything humans do and care about.

You are first and foremost an entertainer, not a scientist or science journalist. When writing, how do you balance scientific accuracy with what may be necessary for theatricality?  

I have an easy benchmark. I imagine myself being "peer-reviewed" by an expert scientific audience after the show, questioned as to what my exact meaning and intention was, and I give myself as much poetic or creative license as I feel I could reasonably defend in response to that audience. In reality, the show has been performed in front of many such audiences, and I have made significant changes in the spirit of "Performance, Feedback, Revision".

"Performance, Feedback, Revision."

Lyrics and performance: Baba Brinkman.Dir Felix Harrison. Music: Nokz from Tehdit. Animation: Dave Anderson. 

 

What scientific term has been the most challenging to find a rhyme for? 

"Darwin" is actually a very difficult word to rhyme on its own. That's why I usually combine it with other words, for instance by rhyming "Storage Container" and "War of Nature" and "Darwin Hater" and "Fornicator".

Tell me about the inspiration to make the show not just about evolution via a hip-hop delivery, but also about the evolution of hip-hop.

I suppose the evolution of hip-hop would be the elephant in the room if I didn't talk about it. There's also something theatrically potent about being in front of an audience and telling them, in real time: "Your response to everything I say determines my fate, if not causally then at least probabilistically. How likely am I to thrive or to go extinct as a performer? That depends on what happens in this moment." It makes people realize that the power of cultural evolution, which is very similar to artificial selection or domestication, is in your hands at all times, as a consumer, as a citizen, and as an audience member. 
 

  

"Natural Selection" - The Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos.

Lyrics and performance: Baba Brinkman. Music: Tom Caruana. Dir: Felix Harrison. Animation: Tommy Nagle.
Supported by The Wellcome Trust. 

I believe that scientists and artists have a lot in common when it comes to the creative and scientific processes. What - if any - similarities have you noticed as you've traveled down this road of creating science-oriented theater? 

Both artists and scientists are driven by the search to capture the non-obvious. There is serious creativity in the design of incisive experiments, and there is definitely a science to the orientation of attention that drives the performing arts.

Who are your biggest musical influences? Who's on your dream list of future collaborators? 

Nas, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, Tim Minchin, Homeboy Sandman, Slick Rick.

You call yourself a "rap troubadour." What does that mean? How is it different than a traditional rapper? 

I suppose the only difference between a rap troubadour and a traditional rapper is that the former is fully aware of and oriented towards the rich global history of storytelling as a universal characteristic of the human species, a function of the irrepressible instinct that we have to make and consume narrative. The latter is also a practitioner of the craft, but is more oriented towards the present historical moment. I'm certainly not the only one to view rap this way, however; K'Naan also seems to get it. 

K'Naan performing 'Wavin' Flag'. 
A remixed version was Coke's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World cup. 

 

What's been the most surprising or meaningful reaction you've gotten to the show? 
  

This was posted as a response on my blog:

Dear Mr. Brinkman,
 

I am a US Soldier deployed to the Kandahar region of Afghanistan in support of the war the we are currently fighting in Southwest Asia. My wife recently sent me a care package that contained the Rap Guide to Evolution Revised. It is amazing! I listened to to it straight through 3 times! My favorite track is “Worst Comes To Worst”. I have been speaking out against organized religion for years. I can’t wait to share this conversation starting album with my Soldiers. Thank you for this great work of art. I look forward to sharing your gift with everyone around me.

 

 

 

 

The Lush List: 8/14/12 - Language Intelligence and Curiosity Rover Update

Reading List: LANGUAGE INTELLIGENCE by Joe Romm

I stumbled across a review from John Cook on SkepticalScience.com for this new book written by physicist and Climate Progress blog editor Joe Romm. When the title of a book includes the phrase "Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln and Lady Gaga," you know there's something intriguing going on inside the covers (and no, I don't mean shenanigans between Lady G. and the three gentlemen).

LANGUAGE INTELLIGENCE is about rhetoric, the art of verbal persuasion. Back in Shakespeare's day, rhetoric was a key part of an education. I've had the good fortune to study Elizabethan rhetoric with master teacher Armin Shimerman. It's amazing how once you start to explore the various rhetorical devices utilized by the Bard, his work comes to life in a completely new way. Incredibly useful for an actor.

While rhetoric is no longer required study, it makes complete sense that a blog dedicated to "getting skeptical about global warming skepticism" would find a book about persuasive communication to be an important read. Understanding how to, as Cook puts it, "[harness]  the power of language to craft compelling, memorable and emotionally engaging communication," is a very useful skill. Cook's thoughts on how scientists might apply the information in the book to their work caught my eye, and that's what made me want to call attention to it on ScienceLush:

For science communicators, I believe the most important lesson is the use of metaphors. Scientists are trained to think in the abstract while in general, people think in metaphors. It’s a “Scientists are from Mars, people are from Venus” kind of thing. People conceptualize and make meaning of the world using analogies and metaphors, which transform the abstract into the concrete. Consequently, we take more notice of messages and remember them better when metaphors are used.

I'm a perfect example of an audience that's hungry for good science metaphors. As y'all know, I'm not a scientist, I'm just intensely interested in science, how it affects our understanding of the world around us, and the areas where science and creativity co-mingle. I love plays, art, music, etc. that have been inspired by scientific discovery, and I constantly find myself wanting to dig deeper, to really understand the theories behind the creative work. Therefore, I'm extremely grateful to those who can communicate about science using metaphors in such a way as to help me feel like I've cracked the code and gained some small measure of understanding about the topic at hand.

I'll be adding LANGUAGE INTELLIGENCE to my list o'books to read this summer. In addition to helping one decipher Shakespeare and rebut those who deny climate change, I have a feeling that a better understanding of rhetoric might come in awfully handy during a presidential election year...

 

Cartoons, Sex and Music

While I'm talking about science communication, I wanted to draw attention to this post from science illustrator Emily Coren on Nature.com's SoapboxScience guest blog. She writes about the connection between the public's understanding of science, their resulting support for it, and the key role that plays in the funding of the work. Her suggestion:

Use mass media to communicate science to the public. We have science research generating vast amounts of new information about our world, and an entertainment industry producing huge volumes of content that is consumed by the public collectively creating our culture. Why not start pairing them to work together?

She includes examples such as "Yakko's Universe" from ANIMANIACS and this totally nutty cartoon about Narwhals, and then calls for "science placement" in television shows, much like product placement. I'm excited about the organizations and creators who are already actively engaged in the fusion of science and entertainment, such as The Science & Entertainment Exchange, which is dedicated building a bridge between science and the Hollywood community. YouTube also provides an outlet for the meshing of science and entertainment, with channels such as SciShow and MinutePhysics.

 

Curiosity Update: Surface Operations Begin

This update on the Curiosity rover from MSL engineering operations team member Jessica Samuels uses a combination of animations and some of the amazing pictures that have come back to update us on what's gone down so far and what's up next for our favorite rover.

 

During my NASA Social adventure, Samuels spoke to us about what the first month or so of Curiosity's life on Mars might look like. The first priority would be making sure Curiosity was healthy and that all systems were in order, followed by loading the new software that would turn Curiosity from a flying machine into a surface chemist. Samuels anticipated that they'd really get into the science of the mission about a month after landing. 

Samuels also talked with us about the team's plans here on Earth for coping with the sliding Martian day. For the first 90 days, aka "sols" of the mission, the team will be on Mars time, following the Red planet's 24 hour, 40 minute long day. This means that eventually their Earth days and nights will be reversed. In addition to coffee, survival mechanisms include heavy blackout curtains in the surface mission control area. And of course, there's an app to help keep track of the time! Alas, you won't find Mars Time in the iTunes store - it's only for internal mission use.

 

The Lush List: 7/5/12: Higgs Boson, Mysterium Tremendum and Internet Celeb Commercials

Higgs Boson Sweetly Explained

Big news in the science community this past week about discovery of the Higgs boson particle [general readers may be more familiar with this as "The God Particle,' a term that raises the hackles of many scientists]. While the folks at CERN, the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), are being cautious and saying it's too soon to know for sure, the discovery is exciting physicists around the globe.

And just what is this li'l particle that's making them jump for joy? As THE NEW YORK TIMES describes it:

According to the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is the only manifestation of an invisible force field, a cosmic molasses that permeates space and imbues elementary particles with mass...Without the Higgs field, as it is known, or something like it, all elementary forms of matter would zoom around at the speed of light, flowing through our hands like moonlight. There would be neither atoms nor life.

So yes, it's a big friggin' deal!

Still lost?

For those of us who want to know more but don't have a string of letters after our name or spent most of science class flirting with the guy behind us, Guardian science correspondent Ian Sample explains what a Higgs boson is, how Cern physicists are looking for it, and why it matters if they find it. And he does it all with very sophisticated tools: ping pong balls, sugar and a cafeteria tray. After watching, I wasn't sure if I should go bake cookies or dig out my set of paddles and get ready to serve...

 

The Grateful Sounds of the Universe

I am definitely NOT a Deadhead. In fact, my musical taste (or lack thereof) could almost be described as the complete opposite of the Grateful Dead: Jersey rock (think ROCK OF AGES soundtrack), Top 40 dance tunes and Broadway musicals. However, when I read this post on Open Culture about Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's latest project, I finally found a set of tunes for which I'd be willing to take a road trip.

On his new record MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM, Hart used "cosmic sounds" composed in outer space to create the tracks. As described on the site:

To make music like this, you need some unusual collaborators. Hart went to NASA, Penn State, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working with scientists like George Smoot, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics with John C. Mather. They helped convert light, radio waves, and other electromatic radiation into sound waves that Hart and his band could put to musical use.

For a sampling of "the songs our universe sings," you can watch below in the recording of the Madrone Studios performance in San Francisco on 4/4/12. Gotta love it when a musician kicks off his set explaining that the piece he's about to play is based on "the sounds of the sun and some very deep star clusters."

Just have to give a shout out to Open Culture, which has the tagline "the best free cultural and educational media on the web."  They constantly point me to coolness that I find myself wanting to share with y'all. If you like what I write about here, they are definitely a site to check out.

 
Internet Celebs in Commercials

As you may remember, I'm a big fan of well-done commercials (especially when I see them online instead of in the middle of my favorite TV programs). All sorts of creatures have been utilized in the selling of things, including scantily clad celebrities, gekkos, and funny ladies with headbands dressed in all white. But lately, internet-age celebs have been cropping up in commercials. And I don't mean YouTube stars - I mean the folks who actually created YouTube.

London agency Albion made this film for Code Club, a startup that teaches children coding after-school. In the spot, three savvy kids interview prospective employees for Code Club, including Tim Berners-Lee, YouTube founder Chad Hurley, Skype's Niklas Zennstrom and Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane-Fox, founders of LastMinute.com, among others. And they're not exactly impressed...

The spot reminded me of the ad from Best Buy which debuted during the Superbowl. It features the inventors and Silicon Valley folk who are behind li'l things like the camera phone, Instagram and Square. It's quite a change from their 2011 Superbowl campaign, which featured Justin Bieber and Ozzie Osbourn. 

 

 

The Lush List: 05.23.11: Zombies, Portal 2 & the Fracking Song

1. PORTAL 2: THE VIDEO GAME THAT MAKES YOU THINK

Confession: I am not into video games. I realize this takes my geek status down a notch, but c'mon, I've got enough other things that should qualify me...like my love of science...which in this case, boomerangs right back into video games with Portal 2. The New York Times' review of the game  describes it as "The achingly brilliant new game from the Valve Corporation that wrings more fun out of physics than all of the shoot-’em-ups in the world."

Reviewer Seth Schiesel says the key to the game is that it helps the player to undersand the beauty of physics without the pesky math that often gets in the way.

...the brain seems to understand this science at a basic level. Gently toss a ball to a dog or a small child, and he or she will catch it without the faintest conscious understanding of acceleration, momentum and gravity. Throw the same ball as hard as you can, and that dog or child will try to defend against it or dodge, instinctively understanding complex calculations of velocity and potential impact.

With Portal 2, it's not a ball but rather a portal ray gun that is the player's toy of choice as (s)he attempts to escape what the game describes as a "funhouse of diabolical science," complete with robots, shifting wall panels and some very cool boots. Intrigued? Here's a look at the TV launch ad; for more videos, check out the official game site. This might just be the game that turns me into a player...

 

 

2. EVOLUTION VIDEO COMPETITION

Here's the scoop on a video contest from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). Application deadline is Friday, June 10, 2011.

 Submit your best evolution-themed video for screening at this year’s Evolution meeting!

The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) invites scientists of all stripes — graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty — to enter the first annual Evolution Video Competition. To enter, please submit a video that explains a fun fact, key concept, compelling question, or exciting area of evolution research in three minutes or less. Entries may be related or unrelated to your own research, and should be suitable for use in a classroom (K-12, undergraduate, graduate…your choice). Videos should be both informative and entertaining. (In other words, no taped lectures or narrated Powerpoint presentations!) Animations, music videos, and mini documentaries are all fair game. To enter your video, please complete our online registration form.

[Via @Sheril_]

 

3. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, ZOMBIE STYLE

With natural disasters such as the recent Missouri tornado becoming all too common, everyone should have an emergency kit ready to go, and an agreed upon emergency plan that has been reviewed by all family members. However, when you're not caught in the eye of the storm, taking the time to put these things together often claims a very low position on the priority list.

Enter the Center for Diseases Control's (CDC) Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Guide, a cheeky exploration of how the CDC would handle a Zombie outbreak. Turns out that just as with hurricanes and earthquakes, having an evacuation route and a list of emergency numbers is key when the Zombies show up.

[via Gawker via Instapundit]

 

4. THE FRACKING SONG

At last year's Sundance, I was horrified when I saw Josh Fox's documentary GasLand and learned about the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Not familiar with the topic? For an intro, check out My Water's on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song), a project spearheaded by NYU journalism student David Holmes. 

 

For a behind-the-scenes look at how the project came about, check out Mallary Jean Tenore's piece "From Schoolhouse Rock to 'The Fracking Song,' Explainers as 'acts of empathy.' " 

[via @BoraZ]

The Lush List: 4/30/10 - Cape Wind, BP Oil Spill, Iron Man Science and Music for the Lab

1. CAPE WIND
After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government has finally approved the nation's first offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod. According to an article in The New York Times, the approval is just the first step in launching the the project, dubbed Cape Wind, which has been the subject of great debate. Those supporting it include the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Governor Deval Patrick. Benefits cited include the creation of a renewable source of clean energy, as well as the jobs the project would bring to the area.

Those on the other side include Senator Scott Brown (R), environmental groups such as the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and the coastal Wampanoag tribe, which requires unobstructed views of the sunrise for sacred ceremonies. Reasons for opposition include increased energy costs to consumers, possible violations of current environmental regulations and concerns about how the farm will affect the beauty of the area and the tourism market. Others are not thrilled that the a private developer, Cape Wind Associates, is in charge of the project.

If you like your story told in images, for more background on the endeavor from a pro-farm p.o.v., take a look at "Cape Wind Project: Everything You Need to Know," on The Huffington Post. If you're a text fan, read the NY Times editorial supporting the project. For a look back at some of the history of the opposition to Cape Wind, read this piece from GRIST, which focuses on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s problems with the project.

2. EARTH DAY OIL SPILL
While the benefits for Cape Wind have stirred debate, no one can argue that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from the explosion on a BP offshore oil rig last week is a tragedy. The estimated rate of spill was originally estimated at 1,000 barrels a day, but has now been upgraded to 5,000 barrels (more than 200,000 gallons). Here's an update from Democracy NOW! on the situation. One of the saddest lines from the report: "The clean ocean has become a thing of the past in that region for the future."

3. SCIENCE OF IRON MAN
We could really use a superhero right about now to help with the situation in the Gulf, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen. Perhaps the closest we can get at the moment is heading to the multi-plex to catch IRON MAN 2, the latest installment of the Marvel franchise. For a look at the science behind the suit, check out Marvel.com's piece by Ryan Haupt, who holds two Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Geology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and co-hosts the podcast "Science...sort of."

Shameless plug: I also did some looking into the story of Iron Man, though my exploration was decided less scientific. I had the verrry fun job of hosting Marvel's Red Carpet coverage of the Hollywood premiere of the film. You can check out my interviews with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, ScarJo, Don Cheadle and more here.  

4. 10 SONGS FOR SCIENCE NERDS
This week for your listening pleasure, Flavorwire has compiled a virtual mixtape for, in their words, "those of you who maybe spent a little too much time in the chem lab, who cheered for Weird Science’s Anthony Michael Hall as if he were one of your own, and who still might have a poster of the periodic table on your bedroom walls." The collection is a mix of usual suspects such as "She Blinded Me With Science" (Thomas Dolby) and "Weird Science" (Oingo Boingo), as well as more obscure choices like performance artist Laurie Anderson's "O Superman (For Massenet)."

The Lush List: 10/19/09 - Eye Candy

Over the past several days, I've stumbled across several fantastic vids and pics, some old, some new. I'll let the images speak for themselves.

1)Symphony of Science: "We Are All Connected"

From melodysheep's YouTube note (full lyrics avail there):

"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

[found my way to this via Andrew Baron on Magma, who found it via Sam Lehman]

2)Gorgeous pics of Antarctic icebergs

Inhabitat.com has some incredible images of icebergs featuring stripes and beautiful blues taken by Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen on a research ship 660 miles north of the Antarctic. Apparently, the pics made the rounds via email, which skipped my in-box, so glad to have a chance to see them featured here.

3)A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...

The Department of Energy honored 10 of this year’s best scientific visualizations with its annual SciDAC Vis Night awards, at the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing conference (SciDAC) in June, and Wired.com has showcased them for our viewing pleasure. Warning: If you live in Southern Cali, you might not want to watch the simulation of  a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault...

First Fridays @ the Natural History Museum: Darwin & Plants and Animals

Last night I attended First Fridays, a monthly event at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. A fusion of science and culture, the evening featured DJ’s, discussions and live bands, not to mention booze and tasty vittles.

First stop, the African Mammal Hall, where we ate dinner in front of the antelope display while listening to The Phatal DJ and DJ Kutmah spin in front of the elephants. Definitely a different experience than the cafeteria meals in the basement I was forced to endure on school trips to the Museum of Natural History in NYC!

Next we headed up to the "Darwin's Evolution" discussion with Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent and the forthcoming Crow Planet. She explored the life of Darwin using little known-letters, diaries and notebooks. Cute and peppy, she clearly has a love for Darwin and his birds...so much so that she told us a story about her husband feeling like there were three people in their marriage: Haupt, her husband and the Father of Evolution.

We had mainly come to First Fridays to see Plants and Animals, the Montreal band that would be playing later in the evening (check out the cool pics below from photographer Sal Rodriguez). The Darwin chat was a bonus. Having no idea what to expect from the event, I didn’t know if Haupt would have an audience. Therefore, it was very cool to walk into the Hall (there were more animals, but I don’t remember from which continent or time period), and see a packed room. Not only were all the seats filled, but people were lounging on the floors, drinking wine, totally digging the Darwin chat.

Couple of things Haupt shared which I found especially interesting:

• Darwin’s notes were full of self-deprecating humor. According to Haupt, “Like Charlotte Bronte making fun of herself.” I’ve heard Darwin compared to many things, but never Ms. Bronte...
• It’s a myth that Darwin was the official naturalist for The Beagle, the ship upon which  he sailed to the Galápagos Islands. He was actually invited along as a companion by Captain Robert FitzRoy, who was quite depressed. Being a Captain was lonely business, and the previous captain had shot himself, so FitzRoy thought it best to take along someone to keep him company.
• Darwin was Fitzroy’s fourth choice for the journey (hmmm, I can’t imagine why his first three choices turned him down...2 years on a boat with a melancholy leader...fun!). But according to Haupt, both Darwin and FitzRoy loved Jane Austen, so the Captain couldn’t have been too disappointed.
• The original voyage was supposed to last two years, but lasted almost five. Darwin spent most of his time on land exploring. He actually only spent about 18 months on the boat, which was probably a good thing, given that he suffered from perpetual seasickness.
• Darwin was originally studying to be a clergyman, and started off as a creationist.

We snuck out of the Haupt chat a bit early to head downstairs to find a good spot to hear the band. The sound in the hall was a little muddy, but overall we loved the show. Was great to hear them in such an intimate venue, though petite folk like myself beware: get in early so you can get a spot near the front or else you won’t be able to see anything.

When we emerged back out into the main lobby, the line for the bar snaked all the way around the dinosaur skeleton and people were already waiting to get in for the next band, The Little Ones We ducked into the Gem Hall for a look at the sparkling, shiny crystals and geodes. I’ve always been fascinated by rocks (did I mention I have a sand collection?), so I would have been into the exhibit no matter what, but wandering amidst the gemstones late at night with the sounds of a DJ floating was pretty friggin’ cool. In general, being in a museum at night always gives me a teeny illicit thrill because of reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler a gazillion times as a kid. 

We called it a night at about 9:30pm, but clearly, others were just getting started. So often we bemoan the lack of culture in Los Angeles. First Fridays proved that there are unique cool things to do in LA – you just have to be willing to share your evening with a dinosaur or two.

Photo credit: Sal Rodriguez

Police Concert: Set List

Went to the Police concert on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. Wretched traffic on the way in due to some imbecile's idiotic decision to close one of the stadium gates. I've never seen so many irate, white, 40-year-old Lexus drivers!  It put us all in a crappy mood, but luckily the music soon erased all memories of gridlock.

I could get analytical about the concert, but who am I to criticize the band that can get 55,000 Angelenos to sing "De Doo Doo Doo" in unison?  It was a blast to see the Police live, Sting is still as hot as ever, and here's what they played: 
1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices Inside My Head
5. When the World is Running
6. Don't Stand So Close to Me
7. Driven to Tears
8. The Bed's Too Big Without You
9. Truth Hits Everybody
10. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
11. Wrapped Around Your Finger
12. De Doo Doo Doo De Da Da Da
13. Invisible Sun
14. Walking in Your Footsteps
15. Can't Stand Losing You
16. Roxanne
ENCORE #1: King of Pain, So Lonely
ENCORE #2: Every Breath You Take, Next to You