Recently in Science, General Category

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the Soviet satellite that shocked America into a cold war battle for space supremacy. Already, the news media are examining the anniversary from all angles. I typed "sputnik" into A Google News' search engine and retrieved 327 articles and blog posts. Expect to read even more about Sputnik 1 (pictured) and the golden anniversary this weekend.

Several of the articles I skimmed look back at the Sputnik launch on Oct. 4, 1957, as a pivotal moment in U.S. history, perhaps as defining a moment for the space race as Pearl Harbor was for U.S. involvement in World War II.

The fact that the Soviets beat us into space was a blow to our collective ego. But it -- as Pearl Harbor 16 years earlier -- was a clarion call for us to get our act together and rally around the cause of beating our cold war adversaries to the moon. It was, as The New York Times puts it, a time When Science Suddenly Mattered, in Space and in Class. Times reporter Cornelia Dean writes:

For many, Sputnik was proof that American education, particularly in science, had fallen behind. Scientists and engineers warned Congress that the cold war was being fought with slide rules, not rifles. In response Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in 1958, providing, among other things, college scholarships and other help for aspiring scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Meanwhile, some of the nation’s eminent scientists were collaborating on new ways to teach high school physics, biology and chemistry.

These days, the cold war is ancient history, the U.S. is not investing in science and technology as it should, and the head of NASA thinks China will be on the moon before we ever return. But if the 50th anniversary of Sputnik 1 teaches us anything, it is that, given the right cause, vision and national leadership, we can pull together and achieve something great.

It's been a while since we've scoured our blogroll to see what's going on in the world of science, technology and education beyond the virtual borders of the Visions blog. Turns out there's some interesting stuff out there. Here are five:

• Lame. Very Lame. Worst James Bond gadgets ever. Sometimes even the best innovators -- like Bond's pal Q -- miss the mark. Remember radioactive lint or the revolving sofa that swallows whoever sits on it? Link via Wired's Gadget Lab.

• Our favorite science librarian (outside of UMR, of course) concludes a thoughtful, occasional series of posts about the future of library science and what his job will be like in 10 years. Considering that he began this project in June 2005, I guess it's more about what his job will be like in eight years. Either way, it's an interesting exercise -- trying to envision the future -- and all of us ought to take some time to put a little thought into the future of our careers, crafts and professions.

• One of the main challenges of science writing, according to nOnoScience, is "inaccessibility to useful information." A cautionary note to my fellow PR flacks: "The primers, which may be in the form of press-releases and abstracts are not only grossly under-informative, but in most cases frustratingly teasing."

• Virtual tennis, anyone? Just in case you aren't hearing enough about Second Life, read Second Life, Second Sport, about a tennis game on the virtual courts of a virtual Wimbledon.

• Good vibrations. Future Feeder introduces the haptic clock, a program that conveys time through a sequence of vibrations. "Perfect for meetings, lazy people, and people who trying to break the addiction of pulling out their cell phone to check the time." It might also make a pretty cool gadget for James Bond.

It's pretty obvious that Gene Doty, chair of our department of English and technical communication, has a deep interest in poetry. He is, in fact, a poet himself. He specializes in the writing of ghazals (such as For Rose, a 30th Valentine, which is especially nice), and he publishes the works of other ghazal poets and writers on his website, The Ghazal Page. (Ghazal is pronounced guzzle.) But Doty is also interested in science, and he's written some reflections about a couple of books on science and poetry on his blog.

Doty's latest post discusses some of his recent reading in the area -- namely, Mary Midgley's Science and Poetry -- and contrasts it to Richard Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow. (Dawkins has been in the news more recently for his book The God Delusion.) Doty refers to Midgley's book, published in 2000, as "a rejoinder of sorts" to Dawkins' earlier work.

I say "of sorts" because it isn't clear to me that Midgley has read Dawkins carefully or really understood what he says. There's very little discussion of poetry or quotations of poetry in her book, where Dawkins discusses poetry and quotes a lot. (He's especially fond of Keats.)

There's more good stuff -- about science, poetry and mainly ghazals -- on Doty's blog (which he writes under the "nom d'web" of Gino Perigrino). It's worth a read. He's no science expert, but "has always been fascinated by science and read nontechnical books about physics and evolution especially, as well as technical books on linguistics, information theory, and semiology," so he brings a well-informed lay perspective to the subject. If you're interested in more discussion about science and poetry, Doty promises to blog about Aldous Huxley's Literature and Science, "which," he says, "looks promising."

Biological sciences student Scott Perdue is one of three student-bloggers reporting from the Bahamian island of San Salvador. Here's his latest dispatch, from a Friday (May 18) snorkeling excursion.

There’s a whole new world under the sea. Of the nearly 20 biology students who went on the trip, every single one was certified back in the States and dove here in San Salvador. The SCUBA portion of the trip has come to a close, and what a rough ride it has been.

Most of use divers were recently trained, by our beloved Scuba Bob, in the UMR pool and Quail Run Divers’ Quarry in Rolla. We soon found that our training in Rolla had prepared us for everything but rough seas.

Prior to the trip, we made reservations for half the group to dive on Wednesday and half on Thursday. When we woke up Wednesday morning to a rainy day, we expected to drive up and be rescheduled. To our surprise, we went out amidst the pouring rain. Bad idea.

Our series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas continues with a note from Amanda Conigliaro, a geology and geophysics student, who writes about "the perfect Bahamian day" of Friday, May 18.

Today couldn’t have been a more perfect day. We woke to the warm shining sun in a cloudless sky. We began the day with visits to the inland lakes, We visited Storr’s Lake, first, where we got to see mangroves and stromatolites. We also visited Pigeon Creek, Big Salt Pond and Little Salt Pond.

The afternoon was the highlight of the day. We took a boat ride out to Bird Island, Iguana Island, and snorkeled in Gaulin’s reef. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but the reef dive was spectacular. On the reef we saw parrotfish, barracuda, triggerfish, sea fans, sea anemones, and tons of coral. The water was crystal clear and calm allowing all the life on the reef to easily be seen.

We ended the day with a visit to the local bar to relax and tell stories about all the splendor that we’ve seen. The day ended with fun and laughter. A perfect end to the perfect Bahamian day.

Visions staffers may get weekends off, but our intrepid bloggers on the Bahamian island of San Salvador -- Amanda Conigliaro, Tara Gosnell and Scott Perdue -- all stayed busy over the weekend writing about their latest academic adventures on that island. First up is Gosnell, an English and technical communication major who, along with her fellow English students, spent time on Friday teaching similes and metaphors to some local schoolchildren.

May 18, 2007: Lost on a One-Road Island

Today was the English trip to the elementary school. It was also the first completely sunny day we've had. We rode out in a full-size van with a door that threatened to open while driving and windows that had to be propped open by hand. We dropped off one of the biology girls at the medical clinic along the way, but we passed by it so we had to turn around.

The school consisted of several trailers with grade levels posted on the doors. We split into two groups; one for 3rd grade and one for 6th grade. All the younger students were happy to see us, and the grades that we didn't visit were disappointed we didn't stop by.

While your favorite bloggers take a Thanksgiving break, you might want to check out some other science-related reading. Here are a couple of sources for your perusal:

1. Discover's 25 greatest science books of all time. Many of the classics are there. (How sad that I've only read one of the top 25 -- Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- and only two of the honorable mentions -- The Lives of a Cell, by Lewis Thomas, and Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. See what a journalism education'll get you?)

2. The 100 Greatest Science Books, a list in progress from the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology. Readers are encouraged to nominate their own favorites.

Both lists come courtesy of Confessions of a Science Librarian, who has more to say on the subject of science books.

A little understanding of physics could get you out of a speeding ticket. At least it worked for 20-year-old Gavin Matthews, who used "schoolboy science" to beat the rap in Wales.

Convinced of his innocence, he wrote off asking for photographs of the incident and used the classroom formula 'speed equals distance over time' to prove he was travelling at 44.8mph in the 50mph zone. ...

"The photographs show the back of my car and the white lines at the side of the road. The second photograph shows that it was taken 0.5 seconds later by which time I had moved five white lines along."

He remembered from school you could calculate speed if you had the correct distance and time. He said he looked on the internet and found an official website stating that lines on the motorway are spaced two metres apart.

"That meant I had driven 10 meters in 0.5 seconds or 20 meters per second. That works out at precisely 44.8mph."

Via Curious Cat.

Here's the thing: After the time changes, like it did recently, I drive around for half a year with the wrong time on my car clock. Also, I get extremely frustrated at 2 a.m. (3 a.m. if you look in my car) on Christmas Eve when I'm trying to put together some stupid toy that's supposed to transform from a radio telescope to an easy-bake oven and back. And don't get me started on all the cell phones and blackberries and crap gadgetry that people in airports are constantly monitoring in order to make themselves feel important (What ever happened to quietly reading the Wall Street Journal?). But, then, I am an idiot.

This brings us to World Usability Day, which is tomorrow. The St. Louis Science Center will observe the day (which is devoted to fostering a better relationship between high tech companies and the people who actually use their products) with a digital alarm-clock setting competition and some hands-on displays and other stuff. John Warmbrodt, a UMR graduate student in information science and technology, will demonstrate a video game called “Journey to the Wild Divine," which is operated via a device that detects the heart rate and respiration of the player. Instead of using a joy stick or keyboard, players control events in the game by consciously changing their nervous system activity. How's that for user-friendly? More on World Usability Day.

Seriously. This explains a lot.