Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of June 30

With the July Fourth holiday on Friday, most shows are on repeats.  But many of this week’s repeats qualify for mention here.  Tonight (Monday) you can catch Esther Perel’s recent appearance with Stephen Colbert, where they discuss her research on infidelity.  On Wednesday The Late Show re-broadcasts the latest appearance by kid scientists, and earlier in the day you can catch The Talk‘s tech expert Chi-Lan Lieu.  We close the week on Friday with Dr. Richard Besser (ABC medical reporter) on The View and Jimmy Fallon’s tech expert, Joshua Topolsky visiting his program that night.

The only live broadcast of note (which was likely pre-taped) is on Thursday’s Live With Kelly and Michael.  Science Bob makes a rare-ish East Coast appearance.

I’m still (always, really) behind on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  The latest content I missed in advance was this segment from The June 10 edition of The Colbert Report.  It covers the recent story of a computer program passing the Turing test – convincing over 30 percent of judges that it was actually human.  The show then doubles-down in this segment about an android (really just a torso, since if there actually was a full-size android, the story wouldn’t break on The Colbert Report).

The Blog Is Knocking On Wood

As happens more often than not, I failed to note a blog anniversary on the actual date.  Last Sunday marked 5 years of Pasco Phronesis (I’d been on the now-defunct Prometheus group blog since January 2006).  I was too busy meandering the woods of southwest Pennsylvania to do much about it.  Thinking about it over the past week I’ve noted how things have felt about the same in the last 12 months.  Though there has been some shifting in the top-viewed posts (this will be #2231 in this venue), none of the top four were added in the last 12 months.

• Newton’s Third Law of Funny
• Is Marriage By Skype Legal? Should It Be?
• Gorilla Glass – The ‘Real’ Transparent Aluminum?
• Can Thermodynamics Be Funny?

This quartet (and its predecessors) serve as an excellent reminder that the posts I might value don’t correlate to what seems popular.  If I’m inclined to chase views, it would seem that I should chase the cultural topics more than I normally do.  But the top two posts are leading by a large margin, which suggests that I can’t effectively predict what will be monster hits – at least ahead of time.

Ideally, I would like to do this as the main job, and not an interesting sideline.  But looking at the economics of online publishing, what I write isn’t likely to capture the kind of ad revenue or subscription interest that would be sustaining.  Unless I’m willing to chuck it all and commit everything to this.  There may be days where I feel like it, but I’m not there…yet.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and for providing feedback in whatever channel you like.  There is a blog email up at the top left if you’d rather not post a comment, and you can always Tweet @p_phronesis.  Let’s close with a science-ish video from the Muppets (and yes, it’s sponsored, check out that product placement).

Now Available – The Experiment Of The Month Club

Subscriptions services have enjoyed a bit of a boost in recent months, and the trend has extended to science experiments.  One such service is Agent Ribbit, the brainchild of Courtney Sperlazza, a medical researcher who is homeschooling her kids (H/T STEM Connector).  Dissatisfied with the science materials she was able to find, she decided to create her own.  The experiments are designed for children ages 5-9, and there are add-on activities for children 3 and under.

If you sign up for Agent Ribbit, you can customize your subscription for the size of your group, and choose 1, 3, 6 and 12 month lengths.  The company is just starting its shipments with a box on epidemiology, so I’d encourage you to be patient.  It’s also worth noting that these kits aren’t limited to classrooms and home-schooling scenarios.  Any parent or older sibling interested in doing something with a younger child could benefit from the boxes.

(If there are similar services out there, especially for other age groups, I’d love to hear about them.)

We The People Streamlines The Process

We The People, the White House petition platform that helps demonstrate how well people understand the separation of powers in the United States, announced a change in how it collects signatures.  The website had required those who signed and/or initiated petitions to establish an account before contributing.  That is no longer the case for signing.

This does not mean that commenting can be anonymous (insert NSA joke here about how it probably never was anonymous).  Signing will require a name, email address and zip code.  Those who want to start a petition must still have an account, which requires the same information as signing.

For what it’s worth (some are generally skeptical of the impact of such online petitions), there have been nearly 350,000 petitions started on the website since November 2011.  There have been over 14.4 million users, and over 21.2 million signatures, in the same time period.

PCAST Mixes Oceans, Nanotech and Microbial Resistance In Next Meeting

The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) will hold its next public meeting on July 11 in Washington.  (For whatever reason, it seems lately that the Federal Register is a more reliable source on meeting information than the PCAST website.)  The meeting will take place between 9 and noon Eastern time, and will be webcast.  Those seeking to attend in person need to register.

While no agenda is presently available, the Federal Register notice indicates that the Council will discuss two reports in progress and hear from one panel of experts.  The reports in progress involve nanotechnology (likely the latest evaluation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative) and antibiotic resistance.  PCAST will hear from speakers on the topic of oceans policy.  Perhaps Beth Kertulla, the new director of ocean policy for the White House, will be one of the speakers.  While the Administration was recently in the news for expanding several ocean sanctuaries, I suspect the panel may be more focused on how the Implementation Plan for the National Ocean Policy (the Obama Administration is the first to establish a National Ocean Policy) is proceeding.  But that’s just mildly informed speculation.

California Jumps On The BRAIN Wagon

Many of the scientists who proposed the national BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research Through Advancement of Innovative Neurotechnologies), and several members of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health on the BRAIN program are at California institutions.  California has also established, in part due to a voter initiative, a state institute to support research in stem cells and other regenerative therapies.

So it’s news, but perhaps not surprising, that California has officially started Cal-BRAIN (California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations in Neuroscience) (H/T Nature News).  Required under a law passed earlier this year, Cal-BRAIN is a project of the University of California system, with the University of California, San Diego in charge.  The state set aside $2 million for the effort, which is to establish a blueprint for university and industry participation in the program.  The law specifically states that a goal is to have an industrial investment matching the state investment in Cal-BRAIN.  It also requires a technology transfer program and web presence for Cal-BRAIN.  The University of California has yet to determine how much it will invest in the project, but that should be announced soon.

Lethal Lab Safety Could Get You Community Service

That’s the message you might take from the recent announcement of a deferred prosecution agreement reached between the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran.  The agreement resolves the criminal charges Harran faced resulting from the death of research assistant Sheharbano Sangji.  She died in January 2009 as a result of burns suffered in the lab in December 2008.  UCLA reached a settlement agreement with the District Attorney back in 2012.

For the most thorough coverage, go read what Chemical and Engineering News has been writing on its safety blog since at least 2010.  Their reporting deserves wider readership and recognition – if for no better reason than to help shame some people who seem to think Harran is getting a raw deal.

The agreement requires Harran to perform community service in the L.A. Hospital, pay $10,000 to a burn center, and teach organic chemistry courses to incoming college students from inner-city schools for five years.  For all this Harran avoids a trial, and admits no wrongdoing.  This press release from UCLA suggests Harran will continue to run a lab.

If you’re upset at this, like Sangji’s family is, I don’t blame you.  It certainly seems like a slap on the wrist.  For better or for worse, Harran was up on charges of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards.  This would be harder to prove than simple negligence, and might have prompted the District Attorney’s office to settle.

But it’s hard – at least on a visceral level – for me to accept that the best way forward is to keep Harran around running a lab as a cautionary tale.  Time may prove me wrong, but given the consequences of the kind of rigor his lab applied to safety, this might be a situation where a second chance isn’t reasonable. 

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of June 23

In repeats this week, you have a chance to (re)visit the time where Jack White fascinated Jimmy Fallon with his recording booth.  Neil Young cut two songs during the course of that show, which will run again Tuesday night.

This week in new stuff, Edie Falco, who plays Nurse Jackie on the eponymous program, sits down with Stephen Colbert Tuesday night.  On Wednesday Andy Serkis, the fellow who portrays many animals and creatures on film via motion capture, visits Conan.  He’s in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which premieres next month in theaters.

In related news, the June 4th editions of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report had segments on science matters without specific guests.  Jon Stewart analyzed the phenomenon of Republicans stating their lack of scientific credentials.  Stephen Colbert had fun with the study that suggested hurricanes with female names were not taken as seriously as those with male names.  On the June 18th edition of The Late, Late Show, Craig Ferguson mentioned that night’s episode of Through the Wormhole in his monologue.  It was a throwaway joke related to that episode’s topic – is the ocean a superorganism?  He also talked a bit about flying cars.

But the biggest missed content relates to Doctor Oz, recently called before Congress about products he has endorsed on his television program.  John Oliver was far from the only person to talk about it on his program, but nobody spent nearly half their program on the topic, expanding the discussion into the whole supplement industry and its efforts to dodge regulation.  Oliver and his staff at Last Week Tonight are working to distinguish themselves by covering what other programs won’t (or won’t cover at length).  Given how well science and technology are covered these days (and how often the topics have shown up in the first 8 episodes), I think it’s a safe bet that Last Week Tonight will appear more weeks than not in these posts.

 

Ever Wonder What Schrödinger’s Cat May Have Thought?

Sure, it was a thought experiment, but I’m sure some people expected there to be an actual cat in the box Schrödinger used for a thought experiment on superposition.  I don’t think Sarah Donner is in this group, but she’s released a song that aims to capture what that cat might be thinking.

The cat’s not happy.  Sure, that’s not a surprise, really, but Donner put together a lovely short tune and produced this video at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

The song, The Rebuttal of Schrödinger’s Cat, is part of Donner’s latest album, That Is A Pegasus.  Science occasionally features in some of her songs, but more as inspiration than as subject matter (if that makes any sense).  You can get Donner’s music (electronically) via her Bandcamp site, and more tangible versions on her website.

The National Science Board Gets Some New Faces

The 24 member National Science Board has members with staggered terms.  Every two years 8 positions are up for appointment (Senate confirmation used to be required for all members).  Earlier this week the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced who six of the new members will be.  I’ve listed them below with their academic training.  More information on each new member is available via the NSF announcement.

John L. Anderson – chemical engineering
Roger N. Beachy – agriculture
Vicki L. Chandler – plant biology
Robert M. Groves – sociology
James S. Jackson – social psychology
Sethuraman Panchanathan – computer science

Based on the list of desired experience circulated last year, I know that at least Dr. Beachy (who helped found the National Institute of Food and Agriculture) and Dr. Panchanathan address specific areas on the list.  How well the other members address that long list may be easier to determine once the new members attend their first Board meeting in August.