Tag: Science
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The Golden Rule
Listened to a video about a potential candidate for National Science Advisor where Dr. David Lewis mentioned his belief in the Golden Rule will help him in the job. Thankfully, he stated it immediately after just as I was thinking, “Wait, which one?” Whoever has the gold, makes the rules. Wizard of Id Do to others…
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My Five Star-Rated Books Read in 2016
So, out of the many books I read this prior year, here are the ones I gave five stars. To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science by Weinberg, Steven Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction in Life and Markets by Brockman, John The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Isaacson,…
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Review: The Martian
The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was lovingly written by an obvious space nerd. Weir explains large amounts of science and engineering in a very accessible format. As only a true space nerd would do, there are lots of jokes and puns. Not everyone will like them, but they…
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TED Talk: Equal Parts Science and Magic
The unity of science and religion is an important concept in the Baha’i Faith. They are two sides of the same coin. One side looks ahead with faith. One side looks backwards without faith. One is impatient while the other is deliberately slow. Where the two agree is the sweet spot of true knowledge. There…
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TED Talk: Finding planets around other stars
How do we find planets — even habitable planets — around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new planetary systems. With new techniques, they may even find ones with the right conditions…
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TED Talk: Battling Bad Science
From TED’s About This Talk: Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they’re right? Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre shows us, at high speed, the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry. If…
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Feynman Flower
There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts. Richard Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think?
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Cull and Surrender
This clip from an NPR article, The Sad Beautiful Fact That We’re Going To Miss Almost Everything, resonated strongly with me. I feel like there are too many books to read in order to read them all. Now, everything gets dropped into our laps, and there are really only two responses if you want to…