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Friday, February 6, 2009
My thing for books....
You may wonder what it is with me an books. There are so many
bibliophiles out there, aren't there? Several years back, I started a subscription to The Week. One segment each issue asks a famous person to list their five most recommended books. I ran with that idea
and began to collect lists from my students at the end of each spring semester and compiled them. You can find past
listings on my bioengineering course website. It's only fitting then that I would move
along to reviewing science books, since that is primarily what I enjoy. I'm sure you've seen (or will on those
student lists) that I read fiction as well, just not as much. My
latest project is to now collect from the people I've reviewed (and other science communicators), some of THEIR favorite
science books! They are so pleased to share! Some overlap with mine, so that makes me happy. I hope to find an
efficient way to list all of this. Also,
I received from Dr. Istvan Hargittai, an index of scientists he included in his Candid Science books. THAT will be on the Famous Scientists page as well
as near his review. Hop over there and see if you recognize any names! I
am currently reading Microcosm by Carl Zimmer and wondering why oh, why have I deprived myself of his works all these years?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A few unbelievable things....
First, check out this posting on Bad Astronomy showing a very unusual icicle. I decided to comment, pointing out that cells, too, can exhibit some interesting shapes. (And yes, my handle is "Sciencegoddess". A student once sent
me a link for an online nerd quiz. I did very well and was proclaimed a "Science God". Obviously this
was the wrong gender, so I modified it. As I bragged around to friends and family that I was a "Science Goddess",
they thought it was a fabulous nickname for me and it stuck. Only wish I had some goddess-like powers.) Sciencegoddess Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I’ve got a few cool images in a lecture I give. http://www.bioen.illinois.edu/courses/bioe202/syllabus.html (ppt presentation 8a) (tried to find them on google to link–no luck) One is of stem cells forming the shape
of Italy AND Sicily on it’s dish of support cells. Was the cell culturist Italian? Or did that person just eat Italian
food? Oregano and basil in the culture media? There is also a “famous” image of some white blood cells
with their nuclei spelling USA. Yes, the answers truly are inside you, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! Unfortunately,
to find them out, you need to bleed, then fix and stain and then use a microscope. Then the chromatin in a nucleus
making a smiley face. That organism was happy that day, I guess- before it met it’s untimely end so that picture could
be captured! And second, I am reading through
Principles of Regenerative Medicine by Anthony Atala (big name in tissue engineering), Robert Lanza (pioneer in tissue engineering), Jim Thomson (human embryonic
stem cell founder) and Robert Nerem (another TE pioneer). It is a 1450 page tome. In the introduction, Dr. Atala
indicates that this book was "to be the primary resource for scientists, clinicians, teachers, students and
the public at large in the area of regenerative medicine." I think not quite. That
is very generous of him to assume the public at large would refer to this book and be able to comprehend it to any appreciable
extent. And I doubt I will review it... I really
need to write that book on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for the layman. I'll do it this weekend.  Kindly, Joanne
Monday, February 2, 2009
I'm on a fab science site!
This is a little exciting....my post about Death from the Skies! by Philip Plait is now on his Bad Astronomy site! Yes, this is the best science blog for 2008 and 2007. I feel
so honored. Check it out!! I think I've recovered from cell non-growing fiasco.
I think the bottle I used to mix the media and cells in was contaminated somehow. I came in this morning and there were
NO cells in the flasks for the students, so relying on the stock dishes had the TAs make, I quickly seeded new ones. Just
goes to show anyone can have anything go wrong. Back
to the lab! Kindly, Joanne
New video posts
Mon, February 2, 2009 | link
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I'd LOVE to hear
about YOUR favorite science
teacher or a favorite science moment! |
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