I've been so excited about this book since I first heard that Rebecca Skloot was writing it!! I was more than ready for a popular book about cell culture called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Imagine the honor when Rebecca asked me to preview an early copy to check for scientific errors! (only found one tiny one!) It is a marvelous read! It is almost impossible to encapsulate how this book has something for everyone and highlights not only the history of cell culture, but the history of ethics in dealing with patients: informed consent, patent rights and more! It is also a story of humanity and family. I loved, loved, loved this book. I only recommend books that touch me, that have good messages and good science and communicate their ideas in an understandable way. This book does all that and more. The writing style is breezy and easy to follow.

I did my book review in my cell culture room for effect and I talk about immortal cell lines. 

A couple of other bits of news. I have joined the University of Illinois iGEM team as an advisor and general cheerleader. Once the team is chosen and the Wiki is opened you will be able to follow our synthetic biology team as they create something amazing from pieces of DNA called BioBricks that are inserted into and expressed in E.coli. This is very amazing. Past projects have allowed bacteria to smell like mint or pineapple, to flash different colors and to develop film. The possibilities are endless! The project will be presented and judged against teams from all across the world at MIT in October. Stay tuned! 

So, you all know of the Nobel prizes, right? Right around the same time, Improbable Research gives out the IgNobels. What fun way for scientists to (hopefully) laugh at themselves. Another way to know that some of us don't take ourselves all that seriously is to be inducted into the The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists! I'm pleased to say I am a member! I'm excited.

And if your hair is less than flowing or completely absent, they have the counterpart called the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists!

Until next time, 

Kindly, Joanne

One day I was wondering what the difference is between Quick Dry nail polish vs. Long Wearing nail polish? What do they add that's different to influence these properties?

I'll get to those differences in a second. Overall, it is difficult to determine exactly since nail polish ingredients seem to be somewhat proprietary, at least in terms of precise proportions. 

As I was looking into this, I happened to discover that a very fun piece of material used in cell biological labs and a staple of magicians everywhere, nitrocellulose, happens to be the main ingredient. I could not possibly imagine the reason for this, so investigated further.

What resulted is the following video where I explain the flammability properties of nail polish. Not only is nitrocellulose quite flammable, but so are the solvents used to give nail polish the ability to dry quickly-they evaporate quickly precisely because they have a low boiling point and thus low flashpoints! By definition this makes them flammable!

Flames begin at about minute 3, skip to there if you don't want to know what nail polish and pregnancy tests have in common. After that is a silent time lapsed portion demonstrating mass loss of nail polish due to evaporation. Also, it seemed appropriate to add a blooper reel at the end!

Oh look, I'm imitating a chipmunk!

I was hoping to compare the evaporative properties of both the quick dry and the long wearing, expecting the mass loss of the quick dry to be, well, quicker. My results were inconclusive, but I feel I need to design the experiment better.

I thinking that the quick dry nail polish may initially go on in a very thin film, so evaporation can happen more quickly. Many resins and plasticizers would be diminished in order for that to happen. Since resins and plasticizers add to the long wearing property, often quick dry nail polish chips sooner than the long wearing version.

It seems I have a follow up project.

Now, onto something a bit more serious. In what may be the most unfortunate convergence of events, Fall 2009, and in particular, the course covering my most beloved topic of histology has the dubious distinction of being the arduous semester I've experienced as a university instructor.

• My father passed away. I buried him a week before classes began. The grief was overwhelming and nearly paralyzing,

• I was in charge of another course that I would not normally have simultaneously.

• And in a complicated series of political and administrative decisions based on assigned personnel, I was required to change how the course was run in less than a week's time.
  

Overwhelmed by bewilderment and sorrow, the choices I made for delivering the information were less than optimal for student learning. I take full responsibility on that level. My normal personableness and concern for student learning took a temporary backseat to pressing family matters.

I wish I could take the semester back, and give these students the excellent material this course is known for providing. I feel for them and their annoyance in having to learn the material in a less than excellent manner. The course is undergoing significant changes and will return to top notch shape by Fall 2010. I expect no less from myself as someone whose affection for the material is unparalleled.

On a more cheerful note, tomorrow, I will share with you about a most phenomenal book. If you've resisted getting a popular science book until now, this one is one I think you should make the effort to obtain.

 Kindly, Joanne

For someone who has a side hobby of trying to destroy gummy bears in scientific ways, I like that other people have found sweet ways to display science!

First, a recent find is Not So Humble Pie,  curated by a "typical nerdy biological anthropologist turned stay at home mom and baker of sometimes strange goodies". Look at what she makes!!!

I LOVE the creativity and the execution. Lab mice models (PETA cannot be upset about these!) I wonder what she was testing the LD 50 of? And DNA gel electrophoresis cookies! Just amazing. She has petri dishes, a containment suit and a few other common biological models employed including zebra fish and Drosophila melanogaster. Many of us sciency geeks from the Science Online conference have inundated her with ideas for other amazing science cookies. Personally, I'd like to see all 6 different types of blood cells baked to scale!

Don't forget to see her "Science Cookie Roundup" I am such a fan!

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Artist Kevin Val Aelst takes everyday items and gives them a scientific twist. I just fell in love with everything from a QT interval shaped part in someone's hair to an apple bitten out of to demonstrate the globe

Who knew mitosis could be so delicious?

How can I not love a FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) chromosome map replicated in gummy worms?

And despite the grotesqueness of viewing already been chewed gum (ABC), the digestive tract is quite clever. And don't ask me if gum stays in the digestive tract for seven years, I have no idea. (But I doubt it!)

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Now that you've consumed so many calories just by viewing this post, be sure to exercise them off. Sports is a great way to do that. With the Winter Olympics coming up soon, wouldn't it be awesome if you knew the science behind the games? As you can guess, you are in luck! 

You will want to check this out! NBC has a page called Olympic Science

Overall I think the videos are good, but felt there could be a bit more explanation, including actually DEFINING angular momentum and other such terms, but I'd say this is a good series if you have some basics in your pocket!

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For those of you with a more avant garde taste in things, the next photo is definitely edgy. Mind you I am not recommending this to anyone, just sharing an amazing nerdy way to get 32 corset piercings down your back--in the shape of DNA! I can only imagine it would be difficult to sleep or sit with this arrangement, but hey, I totally appreciate the "science" of it!

Are you ready to say "ouch"?

I know I wouldn't be one to sport such a thing!

I didn't add a link to this image, but it originally came from a site called 'Deviant Art'. Go there at your own risk. Some of the images are amazing, but may be questionable depending on your sensibilities.

Until next time! 

Kindly, Joanne

This past weekend was the 4th annual Science Online conference. It was a marvelous experience and I met so many amazing people, all of whom want to share science with the world!

I wish I could recount all of the people I met, so no one feels left out, but I fear it is nearly impossible. One of the most startling things that happened repeatedly was people coming up to me and saying either "Joanne!" or more tentatively "Joanne?" :) I suppose I'm recognizable by my videos. I was left trying not to look too quizzical when trying to figure out who was addressing me, but always pleased when they would say "I'm "so and so" on twitter" and I had the flash of recognition.

I met and also saw from afar several authors of popular science books. I think I will just list them for simplicity sake:

• Rebecca Skloot, Author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , due out February 1 with my review right around that time, too!
• Carl Zimmer, author of Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life (Vintage) and other very amazing books on biological topics. I must've told him three times I wanted him to sign my book, but never got around to it. Yes, I reviewed it!
• Tom Levenson, author of Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist , which I have on my kindle (which he signed, right alongside David Sedaris!)
• Michael Specter, author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives (Hardcover) and keynote speaker for the conference. I DID remember to get the book signed by him!
• David Dobbs, author of Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral whom I saw but didn't have chance to be introduced.
• Scott Huler, author of the upcoming book  On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work due out May 11.  I had lunch with him on Saturday (and a lovely bass playing student named Princess) I was thrilled to receive a galley copy of this book!
• Eric Roston, author of The Carbon Age: How Life's Core Element Has Become Civilization's Greatest Threat who apparently has some inside connection with Michael Faraday and offered to introduce us!
  
• Felice Frankel, whose book, No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale, I purchased while there, already pre-signed. 
• Sheril Kirshenbaum and Chris Mooney, authors of  Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future
• Sheril has a book coming up next year called The Science of Kissing. I think that one might do ok! Again, completely missed opportunities for signatures.
• Henry Gee, author of Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome
• Jennifer Ouelette, author of several books including The Physics of the Buffyverse By the way, her husband Sean M Carroll, has a book From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time which just came out a few weeks ago and is sitting in my pile to read!
• Vanessa Woods, author of the upcoming release Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
• An author who was supposed to be there but could not make it was Maryn McKenna, whose book Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA is due out in March.
• We also got a book in our gift bags called This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future edited by John Brockman
  

I hope I didn't miss anyone, but surely I did!

Before I go further, let me first point out a great mash-up photo/vid collage done by teacher Stacey Baker who brought several of her high school students who use many new technologies and programs in their science work to share with us at the conference! Their presentation was just fabulous! I love to see articulate, intelligent teens who can teach me something! I will try to post vids of their talks as I find them. You will be as impressed as I was.

You might look at this picture and wonder, who is that incredibly fortunate fellow to be surrounded by all of us ladies? This smart man is Russ Cambell, communications officer for Burroughs Wellcome Fund in North Carolina (did you know that NC has a very high number of science bloggers? I learned that this weekend!) He knew a good opportunity when he saw it. Surrounding him, from left to right are Darlene Cavalier (science cheerleader), Kirsten Stanford (Dr. Kiki), Rebecca Skloot (author mentioned above) and myself. Make no mistake, the four of us gals are out to tell anyone about science if they are willing to listen!

My Ignite Talk on Saturday night went well, although I was trapped behind a podium and the lighting was not optimal for a video, so I recorded my talk and placed it on youtube. You can watch that HERE It starts off sounding a bit syrupy, but improves as you go along. You are missing the legs and the great red shoes, but maybe in your future is a photo for full effect.

I will work on getting my reminiscence of science popularizers in a format that can be loaded on youtube or on this site. I have a lot to say, so I believe it deserves its own blog post.

I left the conference with plans to return with longer and more involved sessions that will probably be done in collaboration with some of the people I met this year. I have some ideas on a session about creating science videos and one expanding on my "Characteristics of Science Popularizers", possibly discussing international portrayals of science on TV as well.

Hope you found something to your liking to read on this list! I will talk more about my visit to Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in a few days.

Until then,

Kindly, Joanne

I rarely look at the stats on the visits to my website, but one day a few months ago, I discovered that other than the front page, my most visited page is The Science of Beauty page. I created it more as a second thought, really. Since it seems that people are curious about what scientists might have to say about beauty and beauty products, I decided to up my repertoire of presentations in that regard. My "Chemistry of Mascara" video is one of the most viewed. In response to this demand I've made a video about the science behind Botox. I discuss the bacteria that makes the very potent neurotoxin and how it affects the body and then the medical and cosmetic usese behind it. The presentation is a screen captured powerpoint presentation with my voice narration composed primarily of images. Thanks to the youtube 10 minute rule, I had to break this video up into several portions in order to make it easier to upload.

The tutorial is about 25 minutes long in its entirety. Think of it, half of a typical lecture. You're getting off easy.

I have plans in the future for discussing the science of tanning and sunscreens. The body is so elegant and incredible in the way it has designed self protecting and healing mechanisms. I am continually in awe! I hope to still create on comparing quick dry vs. long wearing nail polish. In that one, I have plans to set something on fire. It should be quite exciting. That all being said, I hope you will be patient until I can put those together.

I conducted another poll on twitter last week, and am still working on the write-up of the results. I would like to express my gratitude to those who contributed their opinion on the "underdogs of science", people who were overlooked for their discoveries. An easy trend that appeared is that the so called "underdogs" were either of the wrong class or gender and therefore their findings were ignored. It could also have been that their findings were so unique and ahead of their time that they could not be accepted at the time.

In the meantime, I am working on my Science Online presentations and completing other little tasks to prepare for the NEXT semester which begins immediately upon my arrival back from the conference in January!

Until next time,

Kindly,

Joanne

I ran across a youtube video comparing the relative sizes of planets and stars with respect to the moon. Thought you might like to see it!

Let's add this other fabulous imagination video. What if the earth had rings like Saturn? How would that look from your town? I had NEVER considered this possibility before. I'm certain it took a bit of math to get the perspective right, but it is worth it! Also, you can review a bit of geography and enjoy one of Franz Schubert's most famous compositions! Check it out! The video did not go into all possible ramifications of having rings (like shadows blocking sunlight to vegetation) but this is phenomenal nonetheless.

 I absolutely wish I could embed this image to the website, but can't so you'll have to link to the page. Go there, it is worth it. It is a comparison of objects from the size of a coffee bean down to the size of a carbon atom. This means you'll see the paramecium, an antibody and many other tiny objects in between, just by moving the cursor underneath the image!

First, I want to acknowledge my very clever friend Jeff Shaumeyer at Scienticity. He cares very much about the level of science knowledge each of us should possess. To this end, each year he challenges us to read three science books and prove it by reviewing them on the website! Click here to find out more!

If you are thinking, "I'm just a regular person, how can I be involved in science?" Well, it's quite easy: you become a citizen scientist. I have done some citizen science via a program formerly in Illinois called Forest Watch where a group of us were trained to identify and count plants, measure trees and monitor invasive species for data collection. I've also participated in the incredibly fun BioBlitz which raises awareness about local biodiversity!

Darlene Cavalier at Science Cheerleader has many great ideas and even some basic science tutorials you can enjoy and learn something from. We have discovered that we have a lot in common, starting with the fact that we have a slightly unconventional background. She was a Philadelphia 76er cheerleader and I, of course, was a professional model. The similarities don't end there. I am currently doing my book reviews in collaboration with her and her "squad"!

You may not be aware that I am on the advisory panel for the International Young Scientists Journal. This is where young people can publish results of their own independent research. It is written, edited and published by young researchers ages 12-21. Did you work hard and follow all the guidelines of science, setting up controls, taking data, and presenting it for a science fair project and then...that's it? Would you like to have a better sense of what it takes to get your work published? It is the perfect next step!

This journal is free to view and to publish in. Issue 7 is ready for viewing! Also, they are looking for articles for a special nanotechnology issue, so if you have something to contribute, please do so!

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

I've added a new page to this site, basically listing some of the beliefs that form the foundation of this site.

The main purpose of this site, as I see it, other than being a place to put my musings about science in a giant file folder everyone can see, is to hopefully spark interest in science. Either I hope it will maintain an interest that is already there or it will spark a latent curiosity that had been lost to a poor science experience at some point in one's life.

And, one more book review for you. This is a book by Amy Alkon that isn't a science book, per se, but definitely has elements of science throughout. It is clever and humorous! Check out her book I See Rude People: One Woman's Battle to Beat some Manners into Impolite Society

(fair warning, it does have some "colorful" language that I don't mind reading but am not in the habit of using. Also, depending on your sensibilities, her website may not suit your style)

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

Today is the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm Sweden. If you catch this post in time, then you can watch it LIVE here. Or probably watch it later when you have a chance.

Every once in a while I will catch an image on the web that someone has used to demonstrate a scientific concept very succinctly. Sometimes I will see one that I can use myself. As an instructor, I have a great interest in pedagogy, which essentially can be defined as "strategies of instruction". I've attended courses and discussed these matters with other instructors and have read books on the topic (such as What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain), but overall,  it has been an intuitive exercise. How one instructs others ultimately comes from who you are and your objectives for teaching. It is about understanding how people learn and grappling with the difficult material to make it easier to transmit to others so they understand. Some learn better through images, some through sound, some through movement and touch. I will implement as many of these aspects into teaching as possible. Mostly, though, people respond to an instructor who is truly enjoying themself!

Here are a couple of images for your enjoyment and possible accidental learning pleasure!

I want to give credit to someone for this image, but I don't know who originally labeled it. The image is titled "Igneous Cats".

Remember that there are three classifications of rocks:igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous are the ones that are formed from hot magma. I'll let you look the other ones up yourself.

Mafic is the term used for those rocks with heavier elements. "Ma" comes from the word "magnesium" and "fic" comes from the lating word for "iron" These rocks, such as basalt, are usually dark in color.

Some igneous rocks, to match the cats. In order: mafic (basalt), intermediate (diorite) and felsic (rhyolite) igneous rocks

Felsic rocks have fewer heavier elements and tend to have more silica and oxygen making them a lighter color, such as rhyolite or granite. "Fel" comes from the word "felspar" and "sic" is supposed to represent silica. 

Felsic rocks are more purified forms of mafic rock and because the change over process is slow, it should come as no surprise that there are intermediate stages!

Let's leave geology and move on to genetics! I have run many Illinois State Science Olympiad competitions in this field, and like all biologists, know a thing or two about this topic.

First some background. Recall that sections of DNA can form groups that code for a specific protein, for instance one that determines your hair color. These groups are called GENES. A gene is like a recipe. Your mother and your father both contribute recipes to you, which they inherited from their parents. Let's choose cake recipes for example. Your mom's recipe may call for more cocoa and your dad's for more vanilla or butter. Variations in the recipe for the same protein are called ALLELES. When one recipe wins out, that is called the DOMINANT recipe (allele) and the unused one is called RECESSIVE. But, let's say you can take the best (or worst, for that matter) ingredients from both to make something in between (and possibly better), this is called CODOMINANCE.

Here is an image I ran across several months ago. I think it is darling, but most importantly, it expresses the genetic concept of CODOMINANCE in inheritance.

If clothing patterns were inheritable (and thank goodness it isn't--most children would not want to dress like their parents.) imagine if the dad's alleles were dominant and the mother's were recessive for shirt stripes. What would the little child's shirt look like?

 I'd be thrilled if you shared your images that don't seem like they are science but succinctly demonstrate a scientific concept!

One more thing. You will keep that recessive recipe (allele) and might pass it along to your children. That recipe might be "better" than your partner's, and then it will be dominant again, or it can be combined and be codominant!

Isn't genetics grand?

Finally, the Large Hadron Collider is finally up and running, and has even broken energy records for colliding particles together. Sometimes particles are accelerated and focused with magnets and smashed into a stationary object. The particles that fly off are detected and lost energies calculated. It is complex and fascinating. But, as a rule of physics, if you send two speeding objects colliding into each other, you essentially double the energy of the impact, and that is the purpose of a "collider". The Large Hadron Collider is colliding tiny beams of protons at high energies to see what those are made of. There is so much to learn an understand about the whole process. I am grateful for authors like Paul Halpern, a master at making science understandable (he wrote "What's Science Ever Done for Us: What the Simpsons Can Teach Us About Physics, Robots, Life and the Universe") who has written a book to help us understand the world's largest science experiment to date--Collider. I reviewed his book in this video. You will also see a pop-up book about the experiment called Voyage to the Heart of Matter.

As most of you know, I am on twitter (also Facebook, youtube and LinkedIn --and a few other places if you care to connect). I have met some of the most amazing science communicators in this forum. I am also pleased to say I have an enthusiastic science fan base, even among people I wouldn't expect to be so. My following is growing and I am enjoying the interaction I have online. I've learned a lot about science, about expressing oneself succinctly and wisely and about what really turns people on to science!

The other day I noticed a buzz about people creating a "tweet cloud", a way for people to look at what they have been saying over the course of a few month. I read those of others with fascination and decided to have one done for me. Here is the result.

I am pleased to report that my top three words are "Thanks, Science, and Books". The thanks makes sense because I am very grateful and extraordinarily flattered that I have so many followers who have a fascination with science and are willing to give so much attention to science!

Science: that's so obvious, it almost hurts! Books, of course, because I am thrilled to share about popular science books that are available. At least I try.

Not a surprise to see video, blog, scientists, tissue engineering, students, stem cells and of course, gummi bears.

 And, if you want to follow me on twitter, please do so. I'm @sciencegoddess. If you have science, geek, nerd or something similar in your bio, you're guaranteed a follow back!

I have a new gummi bear video for you. Like you may have heard, sometimes science happens by accident and not design, and that's what's happened here. I was hoping to make my gummi bear more conducive to current by soaking it in salt water and (duh) I made it shrink and made the salt come crashing out of solution to form crystals. See the end results here in this video and consider giving it a try at home. I will post some info on the Gummi Science page!

It is exam time here at U of I, but I have much to share with all of you and will try to get a few more posts up very soon.

Until next time, 

Kindly, Joanne

When Bora Zivkovic, Online Community Manager for the open access journal PLoS ONE, invited me to consider presenting or moderating at the upcoming Science Online 2010 conference, I was a bit stumped at what I could possibly present to a large group of other science communicators.

Options I considered:

1) How to make a video book review. Hmm, not that hard, at least not how I do it-- 1) think about what I loved about the book, 2) turn on the camera 3) smile and chat away.--so nothing to share in that regard, really.

2) Making science fun for the next generation (or other innocent bystanders) A lot of people do this well and I don't exactly have a formula. I think I have a whimsical and meaningful approach to presenting science. My videos are essentially me speaking from my years of science experience, remembering what I really love about it and sharing it! I'm not sure I can teach that directly, as it seems to come straight from who I am deep within as a scientist and educator.

On that note, here is my latest gummi bear science video. In my mind my audience members were numerous high school and college students who might whine about keeping those lab notbeooks and taking multiple measurements. Indeed, it can be a drag, but these things are ESSENTIAL!

No gummis were harmed in the making of this video, although they might have been bored waiting for their turn!

At a loss, I pondered, "Could I do one of those Ignite Talks?" Sure, 5 minutes with my powerpoint slides advancing automatically every 15 seconds, why not? But on what topic?

Then I thought, I have such a fascination and affection for scientists, almost to a distraction, I could talk about them! But how to make it interesting?

Imagine a sophisticated, intelligent and alluring woman. She's a perfect lady, graceful and worldly, highly conversant in all topics of intellectual interest, yet amazingly feminine and approachable. She's dressed for a romantic evening out on the town in something elegant and possibly slightly inviting. Her hair and make-up are achingly, perfectly fabulous. She probably smells great, too.

And if all of the imagined characteristics of this woman weren't incredible enough, consider that this woman could tap into time travel in order to work alongside and converse with scientists from the past and discover intimate, little known details about them.  Who would be in her "little black book"?

So that's where I am at. I will pick a few from "my" book, highlighting my "treasured ones": their discoveries and personality traits and a scientific truth that each one embodies. (It's ok if your experiment does not find what you were looking for initially!). And, no cowards, cads, liars, rascals or egomaniacs need apply! (well, maybe a little rascally will be ok).

How does one get to see this? Unfortunately (for you) the conference is all full. However, I believe there will be video, which I will post. Now you need to just wait two months.

I'll discuss my other demonstration for SciOnline 2010 later, after I find myself a good video editor (which may be me after all is said and done).I'd like to leave you now with a very cool young lady, Caroline Moore, who is the youngest person ever (at age 14) to discover a supernova. I love that she is articulate, smart, and delightful and I'm glad that she is pursuing many different options for her future!

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

I am very excited to learn of Anthony Atala's amazing acheivement of creating a fully functional rabbit penis after 18 years of work.

The ability to recreate new bone, cartilage, muscle, blood and other types of connective tissue takes a lot of patience and a strong understanding of how the body puts itself together in embryogenesis and repairs itself after injury.

If you visit Gizmodo, you can see their weeklong series called This Cyborg Life.  All of this is fascinating from a Biomedical Engineering standpoint. I am most interested in the two tissue engineering articles, but do take the time to look at all of them.

Gallery of organs being engineered at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Article about Artificial Skin (Organogenesis Corp.)-this is about scale up production of a tissue engineered product

Remember to keep up with BioBusinessTV's updates as they release new segments of Stem Cell Review.  I am posting links to the same on my Stem Cell/Tissue Engineering page.

I have been remiss in linking to some kindnesses from others in the form of interviewing me for their podcasts. In case you want to check them out, here you go.

Science Chat's Sean interviewed me this summer while I was getting ready for GAMES 2009. He wanted to talk to me about the use of Beauty for Science Communication. You can listen to a slightly nervous me say "you know" many many times here. Scroll down to Episode 1. I'm halfway or so through, if I remember. What I learned from this is I am slightly uncomfortable talking about my appearance, but I recall enjoying my chat with Sean.

Evadot's Michael Doornbos caught me for an interview about "Inspiring our kids in science"...and for me, the best way to inspire others is to be excited about it yourself. Don't forget to check out other interviews on his site.

That's enought excitement for now.  

Kindly, Joanne

It is almost impossible to believe that just one day after I post Stephen Colbert's hilarious take on the supposition by physicists that time traveling particles are sabotaging the start up of the Large Hadron Collider, that a bird, dropping a piece of bread onto a piece of machinery at the LHC, has caused a minor incident. Visit the story as told by PopSci with a "reenactment photo!

I am experimenting with this brief bi monthly science recap video format. MyFoxIllinois.com is featuring these for the time being as well (thank you!). If feedback is positive, I will consider doing more, mainly time permitting. As always I am very happy to talk about and share science, even if it is not from my field, per se.  

32 More Exoplanets discovered. Visit SpaceFellowship to learn more.

Exoplanet atmosphere may contain some important organic molecules. This is the second exoplanet as such discovered just this year! Read more here.

We'll be keeping an eye on the world's largest science experiment at the LHC. You can learn more here on Wikipedia.

Microglia in mouse brains stimulated by inflammatory mediator (Interleukin 6) can eat (phagocytose) amyloid plaques such as those found in Alzheimers. Read more at PhysOrg

Embryonic stem cells become the precursor to sperm and egg. Hope for infertility. Read more from US News and World Report

World's Oldest Spider Web found Entombed in Amber. More from Everything Dinosaur

Spiders eating blood engorged mosquitoes have opposite sex attracting scent. More from Science News

Laser creates new memories in fruitflies. Here's NewScientist's take on it!

Wait. Eating junk food makes you want to eat MORE junk food? Yep. And scientists have looked into the brains of rats to see what happens! Gorge yourself silly with more info on this at Science Daily

And, if you are student and need help studying your science, might I suggest any of the "Manga Guides" from No Starch Press? Get a sneak peak at one here. You will notice that I am now in collaboration with Science Cheerleader as she wanted a book reviewer and I really like what she does for outreach.  

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

Stephen Colbert can be incredibly smart and funny. I really enjoy when he presents science because he has the facts spot on and takes a great twist with it all. You end up learning and laughing at the same time!

Yes, the Large Hadron Collider should be up and running soon! I have two books I will review together soon enough. Collider by Paul Halpern and Voyage to the Heart of Matter: a pop-up book about CERN

Are you ready? Science Hilarity! The second video features physicist Dr. Brian Cox.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Big Bang Theory
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Brian Cox
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I have recently taken to "curling up" with my Kindle DX.

"How can that possibly be the same as curling up with a book?!" exclaim some.

"I could never give up books." "I love how they smell, how the pages crinkle beneath my fingers." "I like to have something to hold."  have been the proclamations of others.

That's perfectly ok! I love books, too. My office and my home will attest to it. Publishers send me lovely, colorful jacketed books hot off the presses and it feels like Christmas everytime I go to the mailbox. I get high when I visit a bookstore and try very, very hard NOT to hug the entire shelf full of science books or attempt to not sprawl out on the ground to start reading as if I were seven years old again. I love books, no doubt about it!

Personally, I like bending the book open to make the spine nice and soft so the book opens flat--much to the chagrin of non-spine benders (and I know you are out there!!)

However, it is not the actual object of the book that enthralls me most. For me, it is the language and ideas in a book that hold my attention and affection. Hence, I have absolutely no problem reading an e-book like my Kindle or listening to one on audio.

I recently obtained my Kindle at the advice of author Barbara Oakley. She sold me on it by showing me the luxury of free sample chapters, the immediacy of a downloaded book, the fact that I can carry thousands of books in just a few ounces!

To add to it, the books are a touch cheaper via Kindle, although, unlike the upcoming Nook from Barnes and Noble, I can't share books with my friends. Ahem, new feature, please Amazon!

The font and number of words per line can be adjusted to suit your reading style. I think this is not only a great feature for people with eyesight issues, but you can figure out at what size you read best in order to optimize your reading experience!

Have you ever tried to read a book on a treadmill or elliptical machine? It is nearly impossible as you have to keep your hand up on the book in order to prevent the pages from turning by themselves, but look!

I even up the font size to make the text easier to follow while moving! All I have to do is press a button to change the page. Genius.

E-ink is not like a computer screen with rastering and backlighting. It can be read quite well even in bright sunlight (and one can't say that about the reflective pages of books). It does need an overhead light in the dark, but that makes it similar to a book.

Even more enchanting is that Amazon bought out Audible.com, of which I am a member, and I can dowload my audiobooks onto the Kindle. Yes, it has decent speakers and a place to connect your headphones, too. What this means is that you can play MP3 loaded music while you are reading. Wow. It also has a demo mode where you can connect, although slowly, to the internet. Not too shabby, as long as I keep it charged!

I also enjoy the convenience of dowloading pdf books and documents and putting them straight onto the Kindle. Now this does not allow you to change the font, but it has been a feature I have used numerous times. I even have Claude Bernard's "Principes de Médecine Expérimentale", in French, to read!

One drawback to the Kindle: Where does an author sign it?  As it turns out I bought a gelskin for the back of my kindle and when I saw the hilarious (and also gracious and kind) David Sedaris recently, I had him sign the gelskin. You can see his signature to the left. My 10 year old saw Sedaris' comment and said "Did he think you were dead before?" Cute!  Anyway, now I can just peel off the gelskin and put it in a scrapbook and get a new one for the next author!

Since I am a big believer in multitasking (a roommate once asked if I ever just "sit"! The answer is "yes, but not often!), I love audiobooks. I've mentioned this before in video book reviews that I will often listen on long drives, while painting, in the lab or while sewing. I notice I really absorb a lot of material auditorily. You might want to give it a try, especially if you are not very efficient at reading with your eyes. I'm a big believer in doing what works for you and not doing something if it will annoy the heck out of you. If you only want to read books and think the Kindle or audio steals from your experience, I have no designs on convincing you otherwise!

Speaking of audiobooks, I listened to The Age of Entanglement on audio and LOVED it. I had a brief email conversation with author Lousia Gilder. I thanked her for having it available on audio, and she shared some interesting information about creating an audiobook:

"The audiobook was an unexpectedly fun project. The reader, Walter
Dixon, called me with a list of 200 words (mostly names) that he
didn't know how to pronounce. At first I thought, how silly, these are
easy! Bothe, Itha, I had been pronouncing in my head for 8 or 9 years
but suddenly realized I had never heard any other person actually say
them, and I was probably totally wrong (we've agreed that, by analogy
with Bethe, which I did know how to pronounce, that Bothe must be
"BOAT-ah" and Itha "EAT-ah"). Then other complexities are what accent
should you use? i.e. "Einschtein" like the Germans (and as he would
have said it) or just "Einstein"? Lots of tricky decisions. I called
German friends and relatives, and he called the German Consulate, and
the French Consulate, etc. I haven't listened to the result yet, but I
thought he was terrific (nice voice), and it was fun to deal with all
the complexities of moving from reading silently to reading out loud."

I am always learning new things from the authors, either through their books or by conversing with them. You can see Louisa on   bloggingheads.tv when you have a chance! 

So there's my two cents. Find your favorite way to absorb a book and do it today!

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

If you follow me on twitter (I'm @sciencegoddess this name is spelled out in elements courtesy of Theo Gray--try it for yourself), you may be aware that I conducted a poll about my fellow tweeter's favorite elements! I very much want to extend a warm thank you to @chemingineer for this fabulous idea! I even got a little notice by Nature.com for this poll. This video shows the results!

Below is a table of the data collected, arranged by # of votes and then by element number in that group.

My favorite element by name is Tellurium (which also happens to be Theo Gray's favorite name!). By cool features, my favorite is Gallium and by importance to my line of work, my favorite would be Carbon, of course! 

And now, time for some fun, fun, fun videos about the elements!

Don't forget to check out PeriodicVideos on Youtube-excellent source for videos about ALL of the elements

Oxygen- this is about the most adorable video I've ever been introduced to!

This is the promo for Theodore Gray's book The Elements. It includes a beautiful rendition of Tom Lehrer's Periodic Table of Elements Song!

"Chemical Party" is one of the best chemistry videos ever demonstrating how different elements get along. 

If you love science and fun songs to go with it, you are surely aware of the group They Might be Giants.  Here's their song called "Meet the Elements"

I also did a book review of Theo Gray's new book.  If you recall, I posted one about his other book Mad Science! You can see the current review here.

Whew! This was a bit of work, but I am happy to see such a large number of people so excited about science!!

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

You will pardon a placeholder post for just a little bit as I am trying to coordinate both loading a video reviewing the excitement that October 2009 has brought and the information you need to pursue the information further.

This information is further elaboration of this video which you may have followed from another site:

We met Ardipithecus ramidus on October 1! For more information, I am sending you to Carl Zimmer's site, The Loom, with Discover for more.  You can count on Carl for excellent writing and well researched information.  If you are into tatoos, don't forget to click on his Science Tatoo Emporium

Saturn has all the fun with new adornments in the form of a newly discovered ring made of particles of dust so fine that infrared imaging was required to see it! I enjoyed this video about this new ring. If you prefer to read,then visit Space.com for more!

NASA sent a probe called LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) to the moon to search for water, presumably in the form of ice! The best place to find out more is to visit NASA's website!

Ah, the Nobel Prizes. They stand out as the most prominent recognition for scientific investigators, although there are many others. Every year, there is some controversy or another, whether it is concern that someone was overlooked or perhaps new categories should be recognized. Regardless, it is always fun to imagine the representative of the Nobel Prize committee waking up the lucky recipients with a phone call.

This year, these phone calls went to:

Medicine and Physiology "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase" 

Physics "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"

and "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor"

Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"

I shall elaborate more on these in a while! thanks so much for your interest in science!

Kindly, Joanne

I am happy to present to you two new book reviews. I had originally filmed them in a video together, but found it to be way too long, so I edited them apart without adjusting some of the wording, so watching one individually may be just ever so slightly confusing!  I am now doing my book reviews in conjunction with Science Cheerleader because I like what she does in her outreach activities to the general public and, well, she wanted a book reviewer! Eventually my reviews will feature her logo on them, so watch for that and don't forget to visit her site!

The first review is of the book by new author, Louisa Gilder, called The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics was Reborn

I haven't forgotten about the excitement that each October brings: The first being my birthday (yay!) that I just happened to discover is shared with the amazing and classy Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist who appears regularly on NOVA!  Even more momentous are the announcements of the Nobel prizes in Medicine/Physiology (which fell on my birthday this year), Physics and Chemistry. Check back again soon for those announcements.

Until next time, 

Kindly, Joanne

Each year, college level instructors receive a list of things that incoming freshman may not have ever been exposed to during their life.  I recently discovered one without consulting a list.  Most of my students have no idea who Carl Sagan, the great astronomer and popularizer of science was, as they were maybe 5 or 6 years old when he left this planet way too early. There is a video going somewhat viral on youtube these days.  It is an "autotune" composition from some segments of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series and decided to introduce my students to Carl Sagan via this video.  Carl Sagan had an incredibly lyrical way of speaking and embodied an immense wonder and appreciation for the entirety of the cosmos and for science in general. He wrote many amazing books, and even won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Dragons of Eden. I honestly believe the man could not compose a bad sentence. I could listen to him speak all day. In fact, his 13 episodes of Cosmos on Hulu are available for viewing.  Of course, one can also pick up on of the several dozen books he published, including Contact, the book that became the movie with Jodie Foster after he passed away.

This video also features Stephen Hawking, whom, thankfully, my students did recognize.  The song turns out surprisingly beautiful because they are able to use Sagan's elegant prose in the vocoder to it's full effect.

An honest admission, I almost turned off the video early on because the first part was a little strange, but just wait, it gets better!

You may also be interested in Carl Sagan's speech on "The Pale Blue Dot" and see why he is so respected as a communicator, philosopher and humanitarian.

And finally, for today, one more video. This one is much more related to what I do day to day.  I will post the entire series as they are released.  This comes from BioBusinessTV and is the first in a series of ten videos about Stem Cells.  So far the first one looks great and features academic and industry researchers and executives speaking candidly about what stem cells are and their potential to be used in regeneration and repair of disease and injury.  Very well done.

You may watch the Stem Cell Review part 1 video HERE. 

That should've kept you busy for about 25 minutes.  Excuse me while I go plan my Carl Sagan Halloween costume.  I promise pictures and maybe a video. Don't worry, I will be perfectly respectful of this great man! I know he inspired MANY multitudes of current scientists to pursue their careers.  I know I'm a fan.  I guess you can call me a "Cosmos-girl"!

Until next time!

Kindly, Joanne

As I mentioned in a previous post, my father's recent illness and passing wreaked havoc on my ability to finish any of the many books I had started to completion. I have every intention of getting fully back to my reviewing hobby!  I was fortunate to have one book that could hold my attention during this time and that was a very special sneak peek at Rebecca Skloot's upcoming book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  The main reason that this topic, about the first immortalized human cell culture line (HeLa cells), was able to captivate me is that it is so intimately related to my day in, day out work here at U of I.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the human interest storyline as well and I am confident that it will also be a satisfying and enlightening read for everyone else. Essentially, I am highly recommending that you go out and BUY that book as soon as it comes out. In fact, you can pre-order and I think that's a smart idea, too!

 I just had the opportunity two review two very, very fun books.  Any science/math lover will really get a kick out of them.  The Math Book by Clifford Pickover and The Geek Atlas by John Graham-Cumming

You will be happy you checked these books out!

I also made another gummy bear video about digesting them in the protease trypsin.  It is a bit long, but I think I cover many salient biochemical concepts with respect to the functioning of enzymes.

Until next time! 

Kindly, Joanne