Science Cheerleader

Winner: Bart Leahy. Congratulations! Your Science Cheerleader T-Shirt is on its way. Bart was the first to respond to this post in which readers were challenged to read science fiction books and report back on what “real science” was learned. See here for Bart’s reply. 

Loser: ME. I’m off to a theme park today–hooray!–where I will sneak away for one hour to participate in a conference call with scientists. Ok, the real reason I’m a loser is because I’m SO excited to be part of this call. Leaders in the world of science will talk about the findings of their poll showing voters (us) support candidates who are committed to advancing science and technology on a range of top-tier election issues. But I ask you: is that true? Does a candidate’s commitment to advancing science and technology factor in to your voting decisions? Let me know. Give me something to work with.  (more…)

Pop quiz. Of 30 wealthy nations, where do our 15-year-olds rank in average science scores?

a) 1st
b) 8th
c) 13th
d)17th

How about in math scores?
a) 1st
b)10th
c)16th
d) 24th

If you guessed “d” both times, you’re right. 

Assuming this pattern carries across to other age groups, and not just 15-year-olds, what do you think the federal government should do to prepare K-12 students for the science and technology driven 21st Century? Currently, most education issues are handled by state and local policy makers. The Feds take a hands-off approach. Clearly, this approach isn’t working.

So, what do you think the President and Congress should do to fix the current state of affairs? I’d like to hear your thoughts.  

I’d also like to hear how my Congressional candidates would reply to that and six other questions a team of science organizations just announced. And they’ve made it really easy for me, and you, to do so.

In the words of the ScienceDebate 2008 team (which now includes me as their director of public engagement): (more…)

Yesterday, like thousands of other people, I returned home from Washington, D.C. wrapped in the comfort of an Amtrak train.

Somewhere close to Baltimore, MD, the conductor announced, “Due to the excessive heat, we will be 15 minutes delayed at every stop.”  

I couldn’t help notice the confused, annoyed expressions on the faces of my fellow commuters. “What the [beep] does the heat have to do with the train?” I overhead one ask. I had to refrain from quipping, “I heard the trains unionized recently.  Now they’re authorized to take a 15-minute nap for every hour of working in excessive heat.”  I had the good sense to realize that comment would flop (as it just did).

I also realized this: Had the conductor elaborated on the reasons for the heat-related delays, the passengers would have learned a bit about science, politics and the benefits of being an informed citizen. May I elaborate? Dream a bit? (more…)

Go ahead. Let it go. Unload the memories of telling your mom: “Why do I have to study this stuff? I’m never going to use it!”  Forget the dated science textbooks with the tea-stained pages and that huge, impossible-to-memorize elements chart Mr. Priestly showcased at the front of the room.  

It’s time to start with a clean slate.  Let’s begin here, on this page, together.

Science is something every single person deserves to experience in its most fascinating forms. Unfortunately, it often becomes entangled in politics, trapped in the net our complicated education “system,” or dissed entirely by the media (our conduit to world events).

As a first step on our journey of reintroducing ourselves to science, I am providing two excellent essays from authors who are far more articulate than I am. (Don’t worry, they are short articles.)

This one appeared last week in The New York Times. It’s written by Brian Greene, founder of the World Science Festival. It is a terrific reminder of what science meant to us, as young children–before we started school–and what it should mean to us today, as adult citizens. So logical, so simple and so very hopeful.

This article digs a bit deeper. It appears in the current issue of Liberal Education (don’t let those words scare you off). The author, James Trefil, provides a concise, critical review of how science is wrongly taught in schools and he suggests a better way forward. Note his emphasis on people like us–citizens who could be more engaged in science policy discussions but aren’t, in part because they/we lack a basic foundation of a few science facts.  I am planning to interview Trefil so we can figure out what it is we, as adult citizens, need to learn, but didn’t learn in school.  And how this new-found grasp of basic science can enrich our lives.

…and, together, we kick off the World Science Festival, this morning at Columbia University during a world-class Science Summit. Really, no joke! I’m included among the “125 leaders from science, business, government, media, and academia who will explore how today’s scientific discoveries will shape tomorrow.” (Columbia’s homepage news.)

(I did have to squirrel my way into this invitation. Finally, the old cheerleading uniform came in handy.)

“The 21st century will be shaped by science,” said Brian Greene, co-founder of the World Science Festival and professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University. “From the enormous challenges we face and opportunities we have available, science will be the critical driver. To make informed decisions, we need a general public that is not put off by science; rather, the public needs to be excited by science and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.”

The Festival seeks to transform the public perception of science by producing high caliber, entertaining and thought-provoking programs–for five days throughout New York City–that make science exciting, accessible, compelling, and inspirational. That’s Brian’s stated goal for the World Science Festival. A terrific goal and one we should all support.  

I hope I have an opportunity to share some thoughts with Brian and the 123 other leaders in the room. Engaging the public in science is critical and helps us make better decisions, particularly when it comes to science policy decisions. But we need authentic opportunities to inject our values and opinions into important discussions of science and science policy.  Let the public, us, displace the lobbyists. Scientists and policy makers can and should do more to trust the public’s desire and capacity to participate in real science activities and discussions. I’ll bring the empirical data with me just in case they don’t believe me.

Speaking of trust, if they haven’t already yanked the mic from my hands, I might suggest that we need more reasons to trust science in spite of the recent abuses by government and industry–and some scientists–covered in this book which I’ve read, and this new one I have yet to read, among many other publications. Depressing stuff, really.

Let’s move back to the happier, more optimistic approach, shall we? The World Science Festival!

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I just watched the movie Iron Man, for the second time. Entertaining, albeit sobering, reminder that our own nation’s superior advances in technology–in this case, weapons technology–can be hijacked by friends or foes and, eventually, used against us. Keeping our weapons out of enemy hands is a problem for the Department of Defense to worry about. I’ve got my own “technology trust issues” I’d like to vent about.

Let me start with my  touch screen cell phone. Formerly known as my trusted companion. Keeper of my diary, confider of private discussions. My personal assistant for goodness sake. For no good reason, “it” has turned against me. Randomly dialing people, exposing my conversations for all the world to listen in on. Sneaky thing does this when I least expect it. Like when I’m damning to hell the speeding cab driver, talking to myself, or whispering my sins to Father Mark in the confessional box. 

My phone has more commands and function buttons than my ridiculously over-engineered cable TV remote control. Still I have yet to locate what must be a simple “lock” or “please do not call anyone without my permission” request. Working on it.

Technological applications have the ability to betray insects, too, as it turns out.  Even the smartest of bugs: cockroaches. This New ScientistTech article explains how a matchbox-sized robot can “infiltrate a pack of cockroaches and influence their collective behavior.” The robot can “persuade a group of cockroaches to venture out into the light despite their normal preference for the dark, for example.” 

(Note to self: borrow that little robot to march the menacing mice out of my house and into an open flame.)
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Recently, I came across the Technically Speaking website, which takes a look at the benefits and challenges of developing a more tech savvy citizenry. The website is a project of the National Academy of Engineering whose mission it is to “promote the technological welfare of the nation by marshaling the knowledge and insights of eminent members of the engineering profession.”

I invited Greg Pearson, a senior program officer at the National Academy of Engineering, to share his insights about public engagement in science and technology. He agreed. (Thank you, Greg!) So today, I present to you the Science Cheerleader’s very first exclusive–hooray!  

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Being plastic on the outside is tacky.  But plastic on the inside might be a killer. 

A couple of weeks ago, the National Institutes of Health sided with an independent scientific panel expressing concerns about some possible effects of bisphenol A –an ingredient in plastics–on the brains of fetuses, infants and young children. 

Bisphenol A is found in practically everything we use on a daily basis from reusable food containers, to plastic baby bottles to the interior linings of soup cans. 

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Go Pennsylvania citizens! Way to let Governor Rendell know you want and deserve to be heard on matters of science policy. In this case, the labeling of organic milk. And, thanks to your uproar I am all the wiser about the growth hormones injected into cows, their proven harmful effects on cows and suspected threats they pose to humans. (And who knew? Because milk is not tested for the growth hormone, any milk producer can claim their milk is “free of added hormones.”)