Via Alex, WNYC’s Radiolab podcast features a wonderful commencement address by Robert Krulwich to the Caltech class of 2008, making the case for the importance of telling stories about science to the general public.
This fits in wonderfully with what I said last week about science popularization. He comes at it from a different angle (and make an explicit connection to the evolution/ creationism debate, which I was avoiding), but it’s the same basic argument.
And, as a bonus, he has a good NPR voice, suitable for helping get a slightly fussy infant to go to sleep…
I was at that commencement address by Robert Krulwich to the Caltech class of 2008. Caltech’s my alma mater; I live about 5 miles away; I’m a big fan of Robert Krulwich. It was one of the best talks on any subject that I’ve ever heard anywhere. And my Caltech colleagues, and their sometimes non-scientific families, seemed to overwhelmingly agree.