Now this would make a cool project for a science fair:

He was nominated for a Nobel Prize. I don’t care about any of this. Shafik won my heart by publishing a paper in European Urology in which he investigated the effects of polyester on sexual activity. Ahmed Shafik dressed lab rats in polyester pants.

There were seventy-five rats. They wore their pants for one year. Shafik found that over time the ones dressed in polyester or poly-cotton blend had sex significantly less often than the rats whose slacks were cotton or wool. (Shafik thinks the reason is that polyester sets up troublesome electrostatic fields in and around the genitals. Having seen an illustration of a rat wearing the pants, I would say there’s an equal possibility that it’s simply harder to get a date when you dress funny.)

[Here's a post that I started about 2 years ago and probably will never finish - which is a shame because it would've been a good one....]

I always look forward to the Science Fair because …

…. rant about baking soda volcanos

…. rant about the winner is a model

…. discussion about benefit of helping kids

…. follow-up post about constructionism

… a bit about Jazz’s piano teacher

He doesn’t…

Dylan was telling me last night how he is looking forward to doing chemistry. I was the same at his age, but I soon learned that physics was much cooler.

These days, it’s biology that excites me.

I only wish I understood it a little more.

How come they don’t have science education programmes like this over here?

Both Tom and Jeff sent me links to Ted talks last week. I just watched Jeff’s one:

We Must Win The Oil End Game

It’s must see-TV. Even if you are not interested in oil or science or politics, go watch it.

Watching Tom’s one now…

Oh! Hai!

Every now and then something finds exactly the right spot on my funny bone and I laugh and laugh and laugh. There something about Absurdist Humour in the Monty Python (“Where is that fish?”), League of Gentlemen (”Those are local things. For local people.”), Not the Nine O’clock (“Ball? Or Aerosol? Neither. It’s for my armpits.“) tradition that makes my cheekbones hurt once I start laughing. The way they layer silly on sophisticated on silly on sophisticated and on and on and on until you lose track of which layer you are at and eventually it doesn’t matter because your cheekbones hurt.

I fully understand that most people either don’t get it or don’t find it funny - but I do. I expect there is a gene for it. My son has it. My wife doesn’t.

The lolcats craze started with I can haz cheezburger? and reaches the very pinnacle of silly intertwined with sophisticated with its oh hai!s and its buttsecks and its lolrusses wiv no bukkits and its PENIS GOES WHERE? and I can’t get enough of it.

The latest advances in the lolcats art are pushing the envelope of silly sophistication. Try on Lolcatsbible (the whole bible translated into Kitteh Pidgin) for size:

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.

2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1

6 An Ceiling Cat sayed, im in ur waterz makin a ceiling. But he no yet make a ur. An he maded a hole in teh Ceiling.7 An Ceiling Cat doed the skiez with waterz down An waterz up. It happen.8 An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has teh firmmint wich iz funny bibel naim 4 ceiling, so wuz teh twoth day.

9 An Ceiling Cat gotted all teh waterz in ur base, An Ceiling Cat hadz dry placez cuz kittehs DO NOT WANT get wet.10 An Ceiling Cat called no waterz urth and waters oshun. Iz good.

Lolscience balances out the religion with some quantum physics and philosophy. (WARNING! It’s very obscure!):

kthxbai!

What would America be like if science were permitted to inform decision making, and if scientific issues that concern the world’s future were a natural part of a broad national conversation?

The campaign to have a presidential debate focussed on science is gathering steam.

It’s unrealistic to expect candidates to actually know anything about science but, surely, it’s not unrealistic to expect them to know the importance of science, or how science works or how science should inform policy?

It’ll never happen of course because so many of the republican candidates (and their constituents) are anti-science…but…we can dream…

It makes me wonder: Who was the last president who was not a lawyer or a general?