Category: Eureka

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 10: Anagrams. Oy.

Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. From Judge Starling Tumblr post linked in text.

The final step of the scientific process is to share your results with others, and that’s the step where things are most prone to breaking down. Countless great discoveries have been delayed or temporarily lost because the people who made them were more concerned with protecting “their” secrets than with sharing new knowledge with the… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 10: Anagrams. Oy.

Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist: Release Day!

SteelyKid and The Pip demonstrate the steps of the scientific process.

Today is the official release date for Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist, so of course there are a bunch of exciting things happening: — There’s a short excerpt at the Science of Us blog from New York Magazine. This is a chunk of the Introduction, about how scientists are smart, but not that smart. —… Continue reading Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist: Release Day!

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 9: Newton’s Bodkin

The page from Isaac Newton's journal where he described using a needly to poke the back of his eyeball. From the Cambridge University library.

I tooke a bodkine gh & put it betwixt my eye & [the] bone as neare to [the] backside of my eye as I could: & pressing my eye [with the] end of it (soe as to make [the] curvature a, bcdef in my eye) there appeared severall white darke & coloured circles r, s,… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 9: Newton’s Bodkin

Eight Things You Need to Know About Science

SteelyKid and The Pip demonstrate the process of science.

Copies of Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist have been turning up in the wild for a while now, but the officially official release date is today (available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Powell’s, and anywhere else books are sold). To mark that, here’s some stuff I wrote about the core message of the book,… Continue reading Eight Things You Need to Know About Science

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 8: The First GMO

Modern corn compared to its genetic ancestor, teosinte. Image from NSF.g

This entry doesn’t have a fictionalized story both because I’m on vacation, and because I don’t think there’s a single dramatic turning point in this particular story. It’s probably one of the most impressive human accomplishments of the last umpteen thousand years, though, and definitely deserves a place in any rundown of wonders of science.… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 8: The First GMO

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 7: Apocryphal Empress

Women preparing silk, painted around 1100 by Emperor Huizong of Song; from Wikimedia.

Following on yesterday’s story of transformative discoveries starting by accident, we’ll jump from the Middle East to the Far East for the probably apocryphal story of the Empress Leizu (also sometimes referred to as Xi Lingshi) who is credited with the discovery of silk around 2600 BCE. One of the many versions of the story… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 7: Apocryphal Empress

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 6: Party in Mesopotamia

Borne of the flowing water (…) Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag, Borne of the flowing water (…) Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag, Having founded your town by the sacred lake, She finished its great walls for you, Ninkasi, having founded your town by the sacred lake, She finished its great walls for you… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 6: Party in Mesopotamia

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 5: Philosophers in the Sun

Portrait of Eratosthenes, from Wikimedia.

“More wine?” “Hmm? Oh, yes, thank you. Sorry, I was–” “Thinking about mathematics, I wager. Prime numbers was it?” “No, just distracted. It’s this blasted heat.” “It is the longest day of the year.” “Yes, but normally not so hot.” “Especially here. You think this is hot, visit me in Syene sometime. You think it… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 5: Philosophers in the Sun