December 2009

Can you be killed by a bullet falling from the sky?

December 29, 2009

A pertinent question to ask as we approach New Years’ Eve.  The answer is, as is so many things, “it’s complicated.”  According to the Straight Dope, the answer is “it depends.” When an object falls, there are two main forces on it — gravity, and air resistance.  Air resistance depends on how fast something is [...]

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Great selection of science blogs

December 28, 2009

I’m recently enamored with the blog from ASSETT (Arts & Sciences Support of Education through Technology) at the University of Colorado — they have great short posts on different technology tid-bits for use in the classroom. Recently, they’ve had a selection of science blogs, along with detailed synposes of what you’ll find on each blog. [...]

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Why people make stupid decisions: Behavioral Economics

December 15, 2009

One of the things that’s puzzling to anyone, and especially us logic-oriented scientists, is how people can look at strong evidence and seemingly ignore it.  They go with their gut, or what they think they know, instead of the data staring them in the face. This is the basis of a huge amount of work [...]

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Science cliche’s to chuck down the black hole

December 10, 2009

The National Association of Science Writers has a nice news feed now (check it out at http://www.nasw.org/, though the RSS feed isn’t obvious — ask me if you want it).  So, here I’m reposted a repost of a Wired article on Five Atrocious Science Cliche’s. Think that it’s time that we found a silver bullet [...]

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Misconceptions about misconceptions

December 3, 2009

I’ve got a new podcast posted, this one with my esteemed colleague Valerie Otero of the University of Colorado at Boulder.  She tells us why she thinks that the idea of student “misconceptions” is very dangerous — and gives us a new way to think about student ideas in the classroom, and some activities to [...]

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Holiday gifts for geeks like me

December 1, 2009

Got a geek in your life who’s aching for something cool?  Here are a few ideas: Giant Microbes are always a hit.  Many  years ago, my housemate gave me the common cold.  I eventually gave it to my boyfriend (now my ex).  No word yet on whether he’s recovered.  At least I didn’t give him [...]

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