A few of us got together in a Google+ hangout to talk about the intersection between science, race & media. We filmed the video below as a response to a Loop21 Twitter chat on race & media in which there was very little discussion about science.
The group features Dr. Caleph B. Wilson, Dr. Danielle N. Lee, journalist Jamila Bey, and myself. Unofficially known as the Dark Sci, we plan on pushing the conversation forward regarding the communication of science to a broader audience.
The good old USA has decided to enact legislation that no one wanted to enact. In awesome doomsday terms, it's known as the sequester. It doesn't really make sense to me - but apparently our government couldn't decide whether to focus budget cuts on entitlement programs or revenues, so they just decided to cut everything! Unfortunately, that everything includes science and tech.
One of my favorite quotes is from Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the former director of the National Institute of Health. He states that the sequester will set back medical science for a generation. He answers one common defense of the sequester, which is that scientists can just go work for private industry.
That’s ridiculous. That’s the most ridiculous, caveman statement I’ve ever heard. That’s not the way science works. Science works with bright young people who are attracted to science. David Baltimore had the Nobel prize at 35 for a discovery at 27. Today he wouldn’t even get a grant from NIH. The average age for grant recipients is 38 or 39. Research is an investment, it’s not an expense.
Research institutions will get less money, which means less research being done. Charles Bolden of NASA has outlined how the cuts will affect the U.S. space program with a loss of $51 million, which includes delaying and/or canceling several projects that will lead to the return of manned spaceflight.
My hope is that we get our house in order and squash all of the politics and beef between the House and the Senate. Until we do, our country will continue to suffer.
While the rest of the world was worried about an asteroid that had no chance of colliding with the Earth, a meteor actually entered the atmosphere above Russia. Thank god it did not impact the ground, but the sonic boom still did plenty of damage. Most of the damage was due to shattered glass that injured over a thousand people. Since light travels much faster than sound (think about thunder and lightning), people saw the meteor streaking through the air and were shocked when the massive sonic boom came later, shattering windows and causing alarms to trip. That's what we know.
But before we knew this, we had no idea if there would be more injuries, or even fatalities. Yet people still flooded social networks with their "cool" and "amazing" photos and memes. I won't link to any here.
I am strongly against posting images of something that we don't yet know the outcome of. I noticed the same thing - people posting images of things with offensive captions and memes - even dwhen we knew of massive fatalities. This occurred during other natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake, the Indian Ocean tusnami, Hurricane Katrina.
I realize that we are living in a real time news world, but I think we should at least give some time when the damage assessments are out before pictures are shared.
For further reading, New Scientist has a great post on the basics of asteroids, meteroids, meteors, and meteorites.
President Barack Obama waits as he is introduced for an event honoring the recipients of the 2011 National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation, in the Blue Room of the White House, Feb. 1, 2013. A bust of Christopher Columbus is seen at right. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama highlighted science in this week's State of the Union, and he also answered questions during a Google+ hangout today. Talk about taking science and technology to a new level!
One part of his speech caught my attention:
"Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s; developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries ten times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race."
The height of the Space Race was the goal to land a man on the moon in the 60s. That's five decades ago! It's a shame that we haven't reached that level of R&D. It doesn't necessarily have to be for one solid goal as it was for the space race, but we do need to invest in our own infrastructure to build the next generation of scientists This covers everything from schools to neighborhoods to making college affordable.
Obama also referenced this during his Google+ hangout when he was asked if his daughters take interest in science. He spoke about how they need the encouragement from the system - parents, schools, other students - so that they know that they can achieve. Increased levels of investment can make sure that this will happen.
And of course, the President is doing this while talking live ... over the interwebs ... to regular citizens ... tech overload.
There was a great segment on diversity in science on the Melissa Harris Perry show this weekend. Topics include the Doc McStuffins Disney cartoon which promotes women in science, and the involvement of the Girl Scouts with STEM. The guests include Dr. Aletha Maybank, Anna Maria Chavez, Christianne Corbett and Danielle Moodie-Mills.
One quote that stuck out for me was As Mooide-Mills says , "Be visible and be fabulous!" There are many times that minorities that are underrepresented in science get discouraged because they don't say examples of people that look like them teaching in their schools or being popularized by the media. And those that are - such as Neil Degrasse Tyson - can be seen as "exceptions". The visibility of women and Blacks within science well help us all push things forward. That's one of the reason why I created this site
More about the We Are Doc McStuffins movement is covered in this MSNBC piece.
If you find yourself singing Doc McStuffins' "Time For Your Checkup" song, don't blame me - it's infectious!
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Michelle Obama also made a key point that scientists are not unreachable goals that are only intended for those with the resources - everyone should be able to achieve it.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
