Read Science!

Conversations about Science Communication and Communicating Science

Sep
22

S10:E01, “Big Chicken” edition, with Maryn McKenna (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 22 September 2017

Streamed live on 20 September 2017.

Industrial chicken farming, antiobiotic resistance, and the future of both were on our minds, and in our conversation, today when we talk with Maryn McKenna, author of Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. The word “incredible” seems almost inadequate to describe the stories she tells.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Sep
22

S10:E01, “Big Chicken” edition, with Maryn McKenna (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 22 September 2017

Streamed live on 20 September 2017.

Industrial chicken farming, antiobiotic resistance, and the future of both were on our minds, and in our conversation, today when we talk with Maryn McKenna, author of Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. The word “incredible” seems almost inadequate to describe the stories she tells.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Sep
22

S09:E06, “Not A Scientist” edition, with Dave Levitan (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 22 September 2017

Streamed live on 5 September 2017.

Oh, those crafty politicians! Are they all the same? In this episode, Joanne and Jeff speak with journalist Dave Levitan about his book, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science. Lots of current topics (with quite a bit of climate change represented) flash by as we shed light on all the ways that politicians prevaricate about science and scientific results.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Sep
22

S09:E06, “Not A Scientist” edition, with Dave Levitan (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 22 September 2017

Streamed live on 5 September 2017.

Oh, those crafty politicians! Are they all the same? In this episode, Joanne and Jeff speak with journalist Dave Levitan about his book, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science. Lots of current topics (with quite a bit of climate change represented) flash by as we shed light on all the ways that politicians prevaricate about science and scientific results.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
10

S09:E05, “Curiosity” edition, with Mario Livio (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 10 August 2017

Streamed live on 9 August 2017.

Curiosity is something we value here at “Read Science”, and today we talked about it with Mario Livio, author of Why? What Makes Us Curious. We heard stories about Richard Feynman, learned about theories of curiosity, what it is and how it happens in the brain, talked about exciting curiosity in science communication, and the role curiosity has in overcoming fear of the unknown. We also guarantee that no cats were harmed in the making of this episode.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
10

S09:E05, “Curiosity” edition, with Mario Livio (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 10 August 2017

Streamed live on 9 August 2017.

Curiosity is something we value here at “Read Science”, and today we talked about it with Mario Livio, author of Why? What Makes Us Curious. We heard stories about Richard Feynman, learned about theories of curiosity, what it is and how it happens in the brain, talked about exciting curiosity in science communication, and the role curiosity has in overcoming fear of the unknown. We also guarantee that no cats were harmed in the making of this episode.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
05

S09:E04, “Incredible Stories from Space” edition, with Nancy Atkinson (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 5 August 2017

Streamed live on 4 August 2017.

NASA’s robotic exploration mission were our topic today as we talked with writer-about-all-things-space and editor of “Universe Today” Nancy Atkinson about her book, Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos.

Martian rovers, a Pluto flyby, photos from Jupiter, voyages to asteroids, unforgettable photos from the Hubble Space Telescope–we talked about all those amazing things, and more.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
05

S09:E04, “Incredible Stories from Space” edition, with Nancy Atkinson (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 5 August 2017

Streamed live on 4 August 2017.

NASA’s robotic exploration mission were our topic today as we talked with writer-about-all-things-space and editor of “Universe Today” Nancy Atkinson about her book, Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos.

Martian rovers, a Pluto flyby, photos from Jupiter, voyages to asteroids, unforgettable photos from the Hubble Space Telescope–we talked about all those amazing things, and more.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
03

S09:E03, “Gallery of the Infinite” edition, with Richard Evan Schwartz (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 3 August 2017

Streamed live on 27 July 2017.

We haven’t talked much about math so far on “Read Science!”, but with this episode we got down to serious business and went directly to Big Numbers and Infinity — and beyond!

Our guest was mathematician Richard Evan Schwartz, author of Gallery of the Infinite, Really Big Numbers, and You Can Count on Monsters, his remarkably informative yet playful graphical books about numbers, big numbers, and lots and lots of numbers. We discussed numbers and art and his penchant for making drawings to explain these ideas. We also learned more about the “Infinite Chicken” and “Rational Crocodile”. It’s good to be reminded that math can be this much fun.

Look for his books at your library or at the American Mathematical Society’s bookstore:
http://bookstore.ams.org/#search?schwartz?page=0

For more about “Inkscape”, the vector-drawing program Rich uses to create his images, or to download a free copy, visit their official website: https://inkscape.org/en/.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

Aug
03

S09:E03, “Gallery of the Infinite” edition, with Richard Evan Schwartz (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 3 August 2017

Streamed live on 27 July 2017.

We haven’t talked much about math so far on “Read Science!”, but with this episode we got down to serious business and went directly to Big Numbers and Infinity — and beyond!

Our guest was mathematician Richard Evan Schwartz, author of Gallery of the Infinite, Really Big Numbers, and You Can Count on Monsters, his remarkably informative yet playful graphical books about numbers, big numbers, and lots and lots of numbers. We discussed numbers and art and his penchant for making drawings to explain these ideas. We also learned more about the “Infinite Chicken” and “Rational Crocodile”. It’s good to be reminded that math can be this much fun.

Look for his books at your library or at the American Mathematical Society’s bookstore:
http://bookstore.ams.org/#search?schwartz?page=0

For more about “Inkscape”, the vector-drawing program Rich uses to create his images, or to download a free copy, visit their official website: https://inkscape.org/en/.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

May
20

S09:E02, “Living Sunlight” Edition, with Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 20 May 2017

Streamed live 10 May 2017.

We finally got to talk again about science books for children, this time about the “Living Sunlight” series of books by award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, Molly Bang, and Dr. Penny Chisholm, a biological oceanographer at MIT.

We had a fun and lively time looking at pictures, talking about how kids look at pictures, the importance of cyanobacteria, and who is that kid that keeps showing up in the books’ illustrations. There are four books (so far) in this delightful and informative series: Living Sunlight (about photosynthesis), Ocean Sunlight (phytoplankton), Buried Sunlight (fossil fuels), and Rivers of Sunlight (ocean currents). And we’ll let you in on a secret: they make good reading for adults, too.

For more information about the series, visit their website: https://thesunlightseries.com/ .

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

May
20

S09:E02, “Living Sunlight” Edition, with Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 20 May 2017

Streamed live 10 May 2017.

We finally got to talk again about science books for children, this time about the “Living Sunlight” series of books by award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, Molly Bang, and Dr. Penny Chisholm, a biological oceanographer at MIT.

We had a fun and lively time looking at pictures, talking about how kids look at pictures, the importance of cyanobacteria, and who is that kid that keeps showing up in the books’ illustrations. There are four books (so far) in this delightful and informative series: Living Sunlight (about photosynthesis), Ocean Sunlight (phytoplankton), Buried Sunlight (fossil fuels), and Rivers of Sunlight (ocean currents). And we’ll let you in on a secret: they make good reading for adults, too.

For more information about the series, visit their website: https://thesunlightseries.com/ .

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

May
07

S09:E01, “Mindshift and Learning” Edition, with Barbara Oakley (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 7 May 2017

Streamed live 28 April 2017.

“Read Science!” began its fifth year with guest Dr. Barbara Oakley, the leader of one of the largest online classes (MOOCs), “Learning How to Learn”, and author of “A Mind for Numbers” and her latest, Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential.

While Mindshift was the centerpiece of our discussion, we covered a lot of ideas related to learning, how to learn, and the benefits of being a life-long learner.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

May
07

S09:E01, “Mindshift and Learning” Edition, with Barbara Oakley (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 7 May 2017

Streamed live 28 April 2017.

“Read Science!” began its fifth year with guest Dr. Barbara Oakley, the leader of one of the largest online classes (MOOCs), “Learning How to Learn”, and author of “A Mind for Numbers” and her latest, Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential.

While Mindshift was the centerpiece of our discussion, we covered a lot of ideas related to learning, how to learn, and the benefits of being a life-long learner.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.

May
07

S08:E06, “Family Genes: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” Edition (video)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 7 May 2017

Streamed live on 5 April 2017.

On this episode of “Read Science!”, Jeff and Joanne welcomed two authors of recent books to talk about genetics and genomics as they relate to our families of origin and our children. Bonnie Rochman is the author of The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have Kids–and the Kids We Have, and Joselin Linder is the author of The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance Into a Hopeful Future. We tackle some of the big questions about the future of genetic engineering when it comes to humans, and we learn about what it’s like to be part of a family with its own genetic mutation.

Like “Read Science!” on Facebook to hear about upcoming programs, easy links to the archive, and news about RS! guests: https://www.facebook.com/ReadScience/.