This from a correspondent: “I suspect that science makes scientists happier than it does other people.”
Science
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Photo by slgckgc (CC BY 2.0)
It’s no place for grown-ups
“I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration
of a flock of wild birds.”
Image by Les Meloures (CC BY-SA 3.0)
There’s much more going on here than play
Years ago, when my children were young, we lived for a year in London, not far from the famous Harrods department store. A favorite family outing was a visit to the toy department. While the kids busied themselves with dolls, trains, scooters, and skip ropes, Dad focused on the construction sets.
Photo by Al Soot on Unsplash
What most everyone knew in 1492
When I was a kid I had a picture book about Christopher Columbus. One page showed a Spanish galleon sailing off the edge of a flat Earth.
An abandoned schoolroom in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster • Photo by Mick De Paola on Unsplash
The threefold sins of science
It’s time for scientists to pay their dues, says Dai Rees.
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
To the know-it-alls: Baloney
In 1933, to celebrate its own centenary, the city of Chicago hosted a world’s fair celebrating a “Century of Progress” in science and industry. The official guide book quoted the poet Whittier: “And step by step, since time began, I see the steady gain of Man.”
Image by Finn Årup Nielsen (CC BY 4.0)
Bite-size factoid: Scientists hunger for fame
We are a nation of snackers. We take our sustenance, physical and mental, in bite-sized bits. We crave instant gratification.
Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam"
Let the poets and artists teach us what science can’t
Quick. Give a brief definition of PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Now do the same for ESP (extrasensory perception).
Mus musculus (Public Domain)
Will the day yet come when lab mice strike back?
Coming soon to a theater near you: “Attack of the Killer Transgenic Microchip Mice.”
W. W. Denslow illustration from "The Wonderful WIzard of Oz" (1900)
To light the fire of science, start with some fantasy and wonder
Every year about this time I am asked by friends and colleagues to recommend good science books for kids, to fill the remaining hollows in Santa’s pack.