Category Archives: Education

Useful things for teachers of biology (and other subjects)

taking choices back from technology: David Imus’ old-fashioned new map

Slate recently had a story by Seth Stevenson on Oregon mapmaker David Imus, who spent thousands of hours painstakingly crafting a two-dimensional wall map of the US. While yet another schoolroom wall map might sound like a complete nonstory, Imus’ … Continue reading

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Dr. House vs. Car Talk: Diagnostic Showdown

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

Holiday gift ideas for the BioE reader

It’s almost Cyber Monday! In our household, we do our shopping online, mainly because when we go to the trouble of renting a car, we have experiences like we did yesterday, when we were ticketed for lingering a full 32 … Continue reading

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Book reviews, Books, Conspicuous consumption, Design, Education, Ephemera, Frivolity | Comments Off

Sneeze In Your Sleeve!

I’ve had the sniffles now for a few days, and as always, I feel self-conscious about where my germs are landing. This little tutorial combats wayward nasally-propelled microbes with the Sneeze-In-Your-Sleeve strategy. Very amusing – and it suggests another possible use for the tentacle arm.  … Continue reading

Posted in Biology, Education, Frivolity | 3 Comments

Because science teachers don’t get enough respect

FYI: AAAS will award a $1,000 prize this year to a high school science teacher, for “leadership in science education”. Candidates must be nominated by their chairs or administrators, and must complete an application by March 2: Entries must be … Continue reading

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Visualizing science: Steve Miller

Protein #324, 2003 enamel, silk-screen on paper Steve Miller The protein-inspired art of Steve Miller in turn inspires Visualizing Science: Image-making in the Constitution of Scientific Knowledge, a cool-sounding symposium to be held next Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at Rose … Continue reading

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I’m a fro-elly-what-what?

Jason at Cephalopodcast.com challenged me to visit this site, sponsored by the New York Zoo, to create my “wild self.” It’s like one of those flip books where you mix and match body parts. As a biologist, such egregious phylogenetic … Continue reading

Posted in Biology, Blogs and Blogging, Education, Frivolity | 2 Comments

Wired Science on PBS

AC Gilbert chemistry set, 1922 From Wired Science on PBS Tonight is the premiere of a new PBS science series, Wired Science. My fear is that, as with so many other science programs, it will be the kind of staccato, … Continue reading

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The biology is only as good as the labs

I winced in sympathy at this account, “A biologist in Nigeria”, by Dave Ng (The World’s Fair) of his experience teaching a genetics course. The conditions were simply awful. But I’m afraid any non-biologist readers won’t understand how awful – … Continue reading

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A batch of biology education links

The Science of Addiction Time Magazine Graphic by Fielding Cage and Joe Lertola • Time currently features a solid non-specialist article on the biology of addiction, including some nicely executed web graphics showing brain structures (above) • These little “Brain … Continue reading

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