Fred Bortz's blog
Just as I decide to start tracking Peak Oil for my blog comes this twist from an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, headlined "From rigs to riches?"
If your school regularly invites visiting authors, or even if it doesn't, here's an opportunity too good to be passed up.
Instead of inviting a fiction writer, consider having a scientist who writes true stories.
Because of the science and technology content, you might even get local industry to pick up the tab!
I'm sure the usual arguments will surface about Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after today's announcement that they are sharing the Nobel Peace Prize.
I'm not going to get on the same old merry-go-round with this, but I've found a blog where the early discussion, at least, is balanced and interesting.
I've been spending too much time in long discussions about other people's blogs.
Besides, I'm getting tired of the same old subject matter.
An anonymous reader, probably an adolescent, recently posted this new comment on a posting from several months ago.
the comment i have about science is that some of the things are intresting and some aren't. i think we should jazz the science classes up some more or at all.
Some people might dismiss this as the grumblings of a typical teen. But since I write for that age group, I understand what he or she is talking about.
Tomorrow, October 4, 2007, marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik.
It changed my life and the life of all Americans who are old enough to remember the event.
I got the following from my undergraduate classmate and friend, Larry Sulak, who is a former chair and distinguished professor of physics at Boston University.
No matter what district you live in, if you agree with Larry and me that we need more people in Congress who understand science, read on.
As a scientist who has morphed into a full-time writer, I care deeply about both the substance and communication of science to the general public.
I'm sure American University Communications Professor Matt Nisbet shares my concerns, but I have to admit a rather large degree of discomfort with his advocacy of an approach he calls "framing science."
THE SCIENCE SHELF NEWSLETTER
News about the Science Shelf archive of book reviews, columns, and comments by Fred Bortz
Issue #23, Back-to-School 2007 edition
All right, I admit it. The title is intended as "hype," but neither one of these events, a fireball in the skies over New Mexico and a book talk about the history of Physics in suburban Pittsburgh, is a mere "flash in the pan."
I heard self-styled "Skeptical Environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg talking about his new book, Cool It on NPR's morning edition today. He accepts the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the Earth is warming due to human activities, but he argues for slower changes in policy than I think are needed.
Rediscover Physics through the lives of ten remarkable individuals as yours truly, Science Blogger and author Fred Bortz, speaks on "Ten Decades, Ten Physicists: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century" on September 19, 2007 at the Monroeville (PA) Public Library from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Ever since I wrote Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel in the "Women's Adventures in Science" series for middle graders, I have been following Heidi's work.
This year is particularly interesting for her as an expert on the ice giant planets. Uranus is approaching its once-in-42-Earth-years equinox, which is leading to a number of interesting opportunities for observation, including the first-ever chance for people to see its rings edge-on.
Hurricane Dean is now officially among the top ten strongest Atlantic storms ever measured. Even more telling, six of the top ten have occurred during the past ten years.
I've added two titles to my Science Shelf book review archive:
The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You by Mark Buchanan;
and
A Contract With The Earth by Newt Gingrich and Terry Maple.
I've also got some interesting titles in my to-review stack.
Click "Read more" for the full update.
