April 2012
30 posts
“Sheckley’s stories operate as irresistible language-artifacts, like extended...”
– from Jonathan Lethem and Alex Abramovich’s introduction to their selection of Robert Sheckley stories, Store of the Worlds, out May 1, 2012. (via nyrbclassics)
Sheckley stories, out tomorrow
Song of the week: Frank Turner, photosynthesis,... →
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Last Man on Earth stories at Project Gutenberg
The Coming of the Ice, G. Peyton Wertenbaker, AMAZING STORIES, June, 1926
The Most Sentimental Man, Evelyn E. Smith, Fantastic Universe August 1957
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In theoretical physics we discover that all our laws can be written in mathematical form; and that this has a certain simplicity and beauty about it. So, ultimately, in order to understand nature it may be necessary to have a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. But the real reason [for scientists to study mathematics] is that the subject is enjoyable, and although we humans cut...
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The rigged life science career lottery. →
Genome navigation 101 in a bacterium, at The Finch and Pea.
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Yes, the quality of the biomedical community is rapidly deteriorating, and once those who earned their stripes in the 70’s and 80’s retire, those who came into science when the culture was much healthier, we’ll likely be in bad shape:
But Dr. Fang worries that the situation could be become much more dire if nothing happens soon. “When our generation goes away, where is the new...
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Ludwig Boltzmann, entropy and good music, courtesy of the F&P DJ, Dr. Marie-Claire Shanahan.
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Everything you wanted to know about the Legendre Transform (PDF). It’s cooler than you realized.
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A Different Stripe: Gray Flannel Armor by Robert... →
nyrbclassics:
“My name is Thomas Hanley, and my case history is of particular interest to anthropologists, sociologists, and students of the bizarre. In its humble way, it serves as an example of one of the more obscure mating customs of the late 20th century. To begin with, I own several gray flannel suits…
I can’t wait for the NYRB Sheckley volume to arrive in 2 weeks…
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Latest issue of Back to the Hugos: Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake.
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Was trying to explain to my 12-yr old Star Wars addict what space opera was„ stumbled across the 5 greatest space operas - with comments it’s the 100 best space operas.
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Skeptically Speaking » #158 Reef Madness →
Marie-Clarie of Boundary Vision talks to David Dobbs about Darwin vs. Agassiz and what makes scientific theories good.
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Bruce Alberts in Science says biology is not easy:
Graduate schools have become increasingly enthusiastic about recruiting outstanding students with strong backgrounds in these fields to address challenging problems in the biological and biomedical sciences. This is an important trend, except that too often faculty mistakenly assume that learning biology is easy, leaving these very talented...
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The new science book club schedule at the Finch and Pea. Our first pick, for May, is Turing’s Cathedral.
Rereadings: The Inheritors by William Golding →
The Guardian considers one of William Golding’s great 50’s sci-fi novels
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NOAA: 15,000 heat records demolished in the warmest March on record.
Of the more than 1,400 months (117+ years) that have passed since the U.S. climate record began, only one month, January 2006, has seen a larger departure from its average temperature than March 2012.
Here in St. Louis, March was enough summer for me - I’m ready for fall again.
Only you can prevent cancer... →
My apologies to Smoky the Bear.
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How did I not know about this before? The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction - completely accessible online. Yet one more vortex that will suck up hours of my time online…
fibonacci of fire →
Josh Witten shows way math is always cooler with fire.
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The Last Man on Earth Blog →
The blog is apparently no longer active, but it’s got some great stuff on this subgenre of post-apocalyptic fiction.
Math Madness →
March Madness may be over, but you can still enjoy Josh Witten’s post-tournament Math Madness.
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Chris Mooney on the Republican Brain: read the article and then check out his new book.
Conservapedia really captures just about everything wrong with right-wing thinking:
“Relativity has been met with much resistance in the scientific world,” declares Conservapedia. “To date, a Nobel Prize has never been awarded for Relativity.” The site goes on to catalogue the...
