Man of Random Science: Future Shock

After the huge success of last week's post about my top 5 science moments of 2014, I figured while any shlub can look backwards, it takes a man of vision, a man of courage, indeed, a man of SCIENCE to look forward into the murky mists of the near-future and bring you the Top 5 Science Thingies of 2015. 

5. Unexpected Discoveries for New Horizons: Just beyond the orbit of our long-lost ninth planet, New Horizons will discover a curious gravitational anomaly. On the say-so of famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, it will be declared a wormhole and immediately Matthew McConaughey will be sent through it. While no real science will be achieved, everyone involved will agree it creates a nice visual spectacle.

The spacecraft utilized will be a slightly modified Lincoln Navigator.

4. Vaccines Cause Everything: Medical science will be turned upon it's head as it is discovered that vaccines are responsible for fatally weakened immune systems, autism, asthma, male-pattern baldness, communism, the polar vortex, and the cancelling of Firefly. Unfortunately this information will be heeded too late and the majority of the world's vaccinated population will be wiped out by a virulent strain of gonnosyphilerpemeningococcalaids. The survivors will gather in somber yet smug celebration only to be decimated by tetanus infection caused by bad quinoa.

She was the sole voice of reason.

3. Stephen Hawking is a Fraud: After the wormhole debacle beyond Pluto, it will be revealed that esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking is actually comedian Andy Kaufman, who successfully faked his death in 1984 for the sole purpose of perpetuating the most obtuse and long-running joke in history. Furthermore, the physics world will be rocked again as it is revealed the entire concept of a "black hole" is just an obscure butt joke.

2. The Vantablack Affair: Shortly after the New Year, the miraculous new material "Vantablack" (mentioned in Dazzling Don's last video) will indeed be used to make clothing. It will be a huge hit among the nation's disaffected youth subcultures. However, not realizing the dangers of absorbing nearly 100% of all available light energy, the first sunny day of Spring will cause massive spontaneous combustion events. Not a Hot Topic will be left standing.

AND FINALLY.......

1. HOVERBOARDS: Yup, hoverboards. It's finally time. Hover. F-ing. Boards. The revolution started in 2014 with the magnetic model, and the invisible hand of the market just took over from there. Who cares about a post-vaccine wasteland full of burning goth kids when we finally have the hoverboard the prophecies foresaw back in the dark ages of 1989? Nobody, that's who. And no one even minds we all have to dress like this.....

Classy.

Science Talk: "Ebola: Threat or Menace?"

Happy Monday, fans of science and things that explode. Today we're bringing you the inaugural video in our "Science Talks" series of video blogs, where we talk science that isn't exactly amenable to exciting, theatrical coverage on a big stage. I decided to start all topical and stuff and talk a bit about Ebola and why it's not really anything you need to worry about if you live in the United States. We've got ideas for further videos in this series but if there's a topic in science that confuses and enrages you and you want us to try to break it down to something simpler, let us know by dropping it in the comments. Click through for the video!

Aaron's TEDxSpokane Talk

A couple of years ago, when we were both working in the education department at Mobius Science Center in Spokane, Washington, Aaron was invited to give a talk at the local TEDx conference. He chose to speak about why science education is important to the world and why it's his passion personally. If you want to skip to the video, click through and scroll down, but I wanted to add something to it first. Both of us feel the same passion for science and science education. People often act surprised and delighted when they find out that informal science is my full-time job and has been for years. Some of the comments they make have led me to believe that there may be this general idea going around that only dedicated scientists can really, truly love and understand science.

Well, we are proof that people who aren't full-time scientists can love and understand science. We do what we do because we want everyone else to feel the same way we do. There's a lot of talk about jobs in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields and those are important. But the world needs accountants, sewer inspectors, pig farmers, musicians, hairstylists, crab fisherman, police officers, and, well, I think you get my point. All of those people have the same potential to fall in love with the universe, to see the grandeur of the cosmos in the sweep of Saturn's rings or the metabolism of a plant cell, as a PhD-holding scientist. Science isn't a job to do; it's a massive, crazy, and yet somehow majestic body of knowledge and, more importantly, it's a way of looking at the world so that we arrive at the most accurate knowledge possible. It's a process of becoming continually, incrementally, less wrong in how we view the universe through the controlled collection of high-quality evidence. And that body of knowledge, that process, is utterly invaluable, universally applicable, and available to everybody. It's just that not everybody realizes it.

We do what we do to help people make that leap. To become scientists without becoming scientists, so to speak. Everyone who has ever looked at something in the world and wondered about it has already taken the first step; we exist to extend a helping hand forward.

But I digress. Aaron says it better than I can in his presentation, titled "How to Be Absolutely Fascinating with Nothing But a Bucket of Dirt."