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Have science, will travel

Home to the finest science shows this side of the Big Bang performed by the two best science guys in this (or any other) universe. Have science, will travel.

Filtering by Category: Philosophy

Man of Random Science: Do Dogs Dream?

Last week, just as I was drifting off to sleep, my dog Rowdy made a weird noise. He was almost barking, but not quite. It startled me awake and, adrenaline slightly pumping, I was more alert when he then did it a second time. It was a weird noise, something like "berf." Like he was trying to bark without opening his mouth. I realized that he wasn't dying, nor had he heard an intruder downstairs. He was barking in his sleep.

Any of you who have pets, dogs especially, have probably noticed something like this. Dogs pretty regularly start twitching their legs while they sleep, or even moving them as if they're running. Our reaction is always "Aww, he's dreaming!" Well, that was my reaction the night of the berfs. But it got me wondering: do we really know if dogs dream? And how much do we know about it if they do?

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Pi Day Post-Mortem

Another Pi Day has come and gone, and this one was a little extra special because it was the once-in-a-century date when, at 1:59:26 AM and PM the date was 3.1415926. People celebrated by baking and eating pi pies, posting pictures on Facebook of pi pies, and generally being gleefully punny. On Pi Day people often celebrate the world's favorite irrational number but, and I think this is a missed opportunity, we rarely talk about it past its significance as a homophone for a delicious dessert. I aim to rectify that here and now, so ready yourself for a big heaping slice of pi!

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Man of Random Science: The Spectrum of Scientific Inquiry

As someone who has been, for years now, essentially a professional Science Guy (not nearly on the level of Bill Nye, of course, but a man can dream) it might surprise some people that my background is not actually in hard science. In fact, neither is Aaron's. We both have oddly parallel histories when it comes to college education. Both of us have degrees in philosophy. Both of us later went back to undergrad for second degrees, mine in anthropology and his in music. Both of us went into informal science because of a deep love and appreciation for science and the scientific method even if our formal schooling wasn't in hard science. We're living, breathing examples of what we preach: that science is for everyone, whether or not you studied it specifically in school.

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Constant Science: Data by Disney

Happy Monday, people! Sorry I missed last week; life got in the way, but Aaron made up for it with a great take on science-themed webcomics (Link mildly NSFW). Today I bring you a quick lesson in a common fallacy in reasoning that prevents you from thinking scientifically: cherry picking your data. I decided to use pop culture as my point of reference instead of something overly technical and, well, I think it works pretty well. See for yourself by clicking through.

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Why Science?

Not that long ago, I had a kid ask me what my favorite thing about science was. I had to think about it for a minute. I mean, it's not an easy question. Science put humans on the moon and has shown us the depths of time and space. With a little applied chemistry, you can create all sorts of spectacular and safe (for us professionals, anyway) pyrotechnics. Hell, science gave us the technology to create Fallout 3.

After consideration, though, I gave him the answer "My favorite thing about science is that, when I think like a scientist, I'm better at knowing true things from false things." That may seem self-explanatory, but I think it bears a bit of unpacking.

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