Category Archives: General science and engineering interest

Beautiful Data: The Art of Science Field Notes | Wired Science | Wired.com

That science has benefited immensely from technological advances in the last few decades, or even the last century, is a fact. But one research tool that many scientists would argue need not be improved is the handwritten field notebook.Learn more about the art of scientific field notes and illustration in the new book Field Notes on Science & Nature, edited by Michael Canfield.Even as powerful digital cameras and high-definition video recorders have enabled scientists to capture more visual data than ever before, there’s something about a drawing that cannot be captured digitally. And the act of making and annotating an illustration itself can help a scientist better understand a subject better.The new book Field Notes on Science & Nature, edited by Harvard University biologist Michael Canfield, makes a compelling case for the value of scientific journals and field notebooks and contains some beautiful and impressive examples of the craft.

via Beautiful Data: The Art of Science Field Notes | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Math advisor family tree

Just as retirees scour FamilyTree.com for evidence that they’re descendants of famous people, mathematicians are diagramming who their adviser was advised by, who their adviser’s adviser’s adviser was, and so forth. This nerdy pastime has been formalized on the Mathematics Genealogy Project website, run by North Dakota State University. There’s some scientific usefulness to this—a team at Northwestern used the database to discover that more mentoring corresponds with higher publication rates.

via Math Masters Trace Their Intellectual Lineage | Magazine | Wired.com.

XVIVO

Welcome to XVIVO Scientific Animation.Everyday, scientists are discovering and inventing things that no human has ever seen before. Our mission is dedicated to making these discoveries visible, understandable and compelling. We look forward to learning about you, your product, your science and your story. Working together with you and your team we can create an elegant, accurate and inspirational work of science animation.

via XVIVO.

Featured as a TED talk

Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine

Free online access to the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine:

answer questions; do math; instantly get facts, calculators, unit conversions, and real-time quantitative data and statistics; create plots and visualizations; and access vast scientific, technical, chemical, medical, health, business, financial, weather, geographic, dictionary, calendar, reference, and general knowledge—and much more.

via Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine.

TED 2011: How a Hedge-Fund Manager Became Isaac Newton | Epicenter | Wired.com

TED 2011: How a Hedge-Fund Manager Became Isaac Newton | Epicenter | Wired.com.

Mastery learning

I have changed my teaching style to use the principles of mastery learning for a few years now. It needs to be the new normal way to teach. Some subjects are easier to do this with than others and other skills are more complex but it is the right direction.