Category Archives: Science in culture & policy

Because science is all up in everybody’s business, whether they know it or not.

I love it when Robert Krulwich agrees with me!

Posted on March 16, 2012 by cicada

NPR science correspondent Robert Krulwich, he of the oh-so-familiar voice, quoted me/BioE in a sciart blog post yesterday about “Magnetic Movie,” a short film by the artistic team of Ruth Jarman and Joseph Gerhardt. Here’s the original BioE post quoted … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Data Visualization, Film, Video & Music, Science, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

Conservation photography as social change

Posted on March 3, 2012 by cicada

A few days ago, Sheril told me that I had to watch an amazing short film by Neil Ever Osborne. The video is ~20 minutes long, so I wasn’t able to find time until this morning, but I highly encourage … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Education, Film, Video & Music, Photography, Science in culture & policy, Science Journalism | Comments Off

Its brain is the Enlightenment! Its gut is the Gothic Novel!

Posted on February 18, 2012 by cicada

Ward Shelley’s “History of Science Fiction” seems almost exactly like what you’d get if xkcd’s Randall Munroe illustrated the anatomy of a snail-cephalopod hybrid. Sweet! Via Hungry Hyaena.

Posted in Artists & Art, Littademia, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

What “science as science” can offer us – or not

Posted on February 18, 2012 by cicada

This fascinating essay by Marilynne Robinson, “Reclaiming a Sense of the Sacred,” is a thoughtful and insightful piece of writing. But unfortunately, as noted by my friend Jacob, it completely fails to distinguish science from scientism (or, I would hasten … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Littademia, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy, Words | Comments Off

Metaphors of Neurobiology: A neuroscientist-artist explains his work

Posted on February 11, 2012 by cicada

Required reading: this essay by Pablo Garcia-Lopez on the interaction between neuroscience and the arts: My work as an artist is directly inspired by my experience as a neuroscientist. I completed my PhD in conjunction with the Museum Cajal, working … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Medical Illustration and History, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

Pretty bones; hollow phrase

Posted on February 6, 2012 by cicada

LIFE magazine may be no more, but the LIFE website still has lovely archival eye candy including these b/w photos, circa 1950, of skeletons and bones. Says the website, Seen in a certain light, and photographed for LIFE by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Medical Illustration and History, Photography, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

“Jesus is God’s Atomic Bomb,” and other lyrical classics

Posted on February 3, 2012 by cicada

Conelrad’s fascinating cold war culture jukebox, Atomic Platters, offers lyrics and historical context spanning several decades of popular atomic-themed music. Many of the songs unsurprisingly convey a sense of unprecedented, un-romanticized astonishment and awe. Consider the following gem:

Posted in Education, Ephemera, Film, Video & Music, History of Science, Science in culture & policy, Yikes! | Comments Off

Chipotle saves spherical pigs from Science

Posted on January 1, 2012 by cicada

If one of your New Years’ resolutions is to eat healthier, more sustainable food, contemplating the evils of industrial food production and re-reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma might help you reach that goal — and you might want to post this … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Conspicuous consumption, Ephemera, Film, Video & Music, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

Dr. House vs. Car Talk: Diagnostic Showdown

Posted on December 27, 2011 by cicada

A clever little article in JAMA, written by Gurpreet Dhaliwal, suggests that diagnosticians should admire not House, MD, but rather NPR’s Car Talk mechanics, Click and Clack: Car Talk, like most forms of technology and media, offers advantages and conveniences … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Film, Video & Music, Science in culture & policy, Science Journalism | Comments Off

SF/F as a lens for looking at the law

Posted on November 1, 2011 by cicada

As Arthur C. Clarke once put it, technology is — at some sufficiently advanced tipping point — “indistinguishable from magic”.  An interesting question that follows from that realization is this: how big a difference is there, really, between the law … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Film, Video & Music, Gender Issues, Littademia, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off