Dr. Steven Schlozman

This week we talk with Dr. Steven Schlozman, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Lecturer in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Schlozman talks to us about his start in teaching, his recent book “The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse” and how to use zombies to teach science.

Links:

• The Zombie Autopsies
• “The Zombie Autopsies” (Amazon.com)
• Steven Schlozman Profile at Harvard
• George Romero Continues Undead Obsession with ‘Zombie Autopsies’
• Potential of a Zombie Attack Considered by Guest Speaker (the Utah Statesman)
• A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology
• Inside Zombie Brains: Sci-fi Teaches Science (CNN)
• The Neuropsychology of Zombies (Boston.com)
• Essential Zombie Films
• The Walking Dead, AFC

More Links:

• Zombiecows.com
• “Drunken Bird Day” - Cedar Waxwings
• Science and Entertainment Exchange
• Cocktail Physics
• Episode 28: Who Watches the Watchmen
• Episode 40: Being Sean Carroll
• Firefly (no sound in space)

The Zombie Autopsies Book Trailer

Zombie Autopsies 101 from Daniel Lagin on Vimeo.

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Dr. Eugenie Scott

As science educators are increasingly reporting attacks on climate change education, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is announcing that they will also be defending climate change science in public school science education.  Join us as Dr. Eugenie Scott explains this new initiative for NCSE by adding climate change to their portfolio in defending good science education.

Links:

• National Center for Science Education
• “US Teachers Offered Support for Climate Change Lessons” (the Guardian)
• Episode 15 – Expelled Exposed
• NCSE: “A New Poll on Evolution and Climate Change”
• NCSE: “Teachers Feeling the Heat Over Climate Change”
• Dr. Eugenie Scott Interview with “Flock of Dodos” filmmaker Randy Olson, October 2010 (YouTube)
• “Plate Tectonics is a Hoax!”

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Links

• Science/AAAS
• Science Magazine Editors
• Subscribe to Science (K12 Teacher Membership Requires verification of teaching status)
• 2011 Breakthrough of the Year
• “HIV Treatment as Prevention” (Science Abstract)
• “HIV Treatment Dramatically Prevents Heterosexual Transmission” (Science Insider)
• Hayabusa Mission Website
• “Australopithecus sediba May Have Paved the Way for Homo“ (AAAS News Release)
• “Malaria Vaccine Meets (Modest) Expectations” (Science Now)
• Laser Mosquito Killer (YouTube)

Science/AAAS cover art courtesy of Science/AAAS.  Readers may view, browse, and/or download material for temporary copying purposes only, provided these uses are for noncommercial personal purposes. Except as provided by law, this material may not be further reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, adapted, performed, displayed, published, or sold in whole or in part, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Featured image courtesy of lead author, Dr. Myron Cohen.

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Marcus Wohlsen

For the last episode of 2011, we talk with journalist and author Marcus Wohlsen.  Wohlsen is a science writer for the Associated Press who has received abundant praise for his recent book “Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life.”
Listen to the episode as Wohlsen talks about his book, the underground community of “biopunks” and how you might hack your biology curriculum.

Links

• “Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life” on Amazon.com
• “Biopunk” On Facebook
• Biocurious
• DIYBio
• “Biopunks Tinker with the Building Blocks of Life”, NPR
• “DIY ‘biopunks’ want science in hands of people”, USA Today
• openPCR
• Dale Carves a Turkey with Wikihow
• Winter Solstice for Wisconsin

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Dr. Eric Plutzer

This week we discuss evolution education with Dr. Eric Plutzer, co-author of “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom” – a recently published article in Science Magazine.  Dr. Plutzer discusses the paper, and what the results reveal about how much evolution is actually being taught in biology classrooms across the nation.

The Cautious 60:

The cautious 60% may play a far more important role in hindering scientific literacy in the United States than the smaller number of explicit creationists. The strategies of emphasizing microevolution, justifying the curriculum on the basis of state-wide tests, or “teaching the controversy” all undermine the legitimacy of findings that are well established by the combination of peer review and replication. These teachers fail to explain the nature of scientific inquiry, undermine the authority of established experts, and legitimize creationist arguments, even if unintentionally (Berkman and Plutzer, “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom”, Science: 28 January, 2011).

Links:

• Dr. Eric Plutzer, Penn State
• Defending Science Education in the Courtroom, but not in the Classroom, Science (January 28, 2011)
• Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America’s Classrooms (Amazon.com)
• Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America’s Classrooms (Google Books)
• Bad Science Education in the U.S. (Pharyngula)
• NCSE (National Center for Science Education)
• NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers)

Direct download: LOL59.mp3

This week we talk with Dr. Marie Studer (EOL Learning and Education Director) and Mr. Bob Corrigan (EOL Product Manager and Acting Deputy Director) to learn about the EOL, how to participate in the project, and how it can be used in the classroom.

E.O. Wilson on Saving the Earth (TED):

EOL Links

• The Encyclopedia of Life
• The Encyclopedia of Life (E.O. Wilson, 2003)
• Navigate (learn how to navigate EOL, search for content, customize your experience, explore pages, and where to find background information)
• L+E Website
• EOL Podcasts
• NameLink
• CoolIris
• Encyclopedia of Life images (Flickr)

Links

• Aaron’s World
• NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical
• “A Bacterium that Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorous” (Science)
• It’s Not Arsenic-Based Life (PZ Myers’ Pharyngula)
• Silicon-Based Life?
• Brian Updates His Textbooks

This episode was prompted by a comment in episode 49:

I coach the Ocean Sciences Bowl team (Lake Sturgeon Bowl is the regional) at my High School. We listen to Ocean Gazing while setting up or buzzer system at the beginning of our meetings. Check out the bobbing and bowling episode from last February to hear our team as one of the features. I also like to listen to the Encyclopedia of Life’s “One species at a Time” podcast (also called Podcast of Life). Both podcasts are hosted by Ari Daniel Shapiro who also does some NPR work.

Direct download: LOL54.mp3 (42 minutes long)

Daniel M. Carchidi and Dr. Natalie Kuldell

This week we talk with Daniel M. Carchidi (Publication Director) and Dr. Natalie Kuldell (instructor) about MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW).  OCW is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content, open and available to the world.

How do you learn science? Join the conversation at www.laboutloud.com to share your favorite classes, media sources, or other ways to learn about science.

Links

• MIT OpenCourseWare
• OCW Highlights for High School
• OCW Consortium
• Dr. Natalie Kuldell
• Dr. Kuldell’s OCW Courses
• Dr. Kuldell’s OpenWetWare
• BioBuilder

Direct download: LOL53.mp3

Griff Jones

Griff Jones is an award-winning science teacher plucked from teaching high school to work with UFTeach – a program with the University of Florida designed to increase the quantity and quality of secondary mathematics and science teachers.  Griff was also selected to work with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to make two videos about understanding the science behind car crashes: Understanding Car Crashes: When Physics Meets Biology & Understanding Car Crashes: It’s Basic Physics.  Griff talks to us about the videos, the IIHS, and their many resources for science teachers.

Make sure to visit Griff and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at the 2010 NSTA Conference on Science Education in Philadephia.

Links:

• (IIHS) Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
• IIHS Vehicle Ratings
• IIHS Videos: “Understanding Car Crashes: When Physics Meets Biology” & “Understanding Car Crashes: It’s Basic Physics”
• 50th Anniversary crash test video: 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air & 2009 Chevrolet Malibu
• 2010 NSTA Conference on Science Education in Philadephia
• UFTeach
• Griff Jones – UFTeach Biography (pdf)
• Griff Jones – Products from Science Kit
• ‘Galileo’ Subs for Instructor in UFTeach Lab
• UF Today: Two former high school teachers show their college students how to teach math and science. The first lesson is to have fun

From Paul G. Hewitt, the developer of the “Conceptual Physics” curriculum and author of the best selling text book by the same name: “The video “Understanding Car Crashes: It’s Basic Physics” and accompanying teacher’s guide are wonderful. The pacing is excellent, the coverage fascinating, and most importantly, the physics is correct. It’s a first rate teaching package. I give it five stars!” (www.iihs.org/videos/default.html)

Direct download: LOL44.mp3

Nicholas Wade

This week we talk with Nicholas Wade, author and science writer for the New York Times.  Nicholas talks with us about his new book (The Faith Instinct), recent science breakthroughs and what to expect in the coming year.

Links:

• Articles by Nicholas Wade from the NY Times
• nicholas-wade.com
  
• Wikipedia Entry on Nicholas Wade
• The Faith Instinct (on Amazon.com)
• Before the Dawn (on Amazon.com)
• An Interview with Nicholas Wade from PLoS Genetics
• An Interview with Nicholas Wade from the Scientist
• Listen to our Interview with Nicholas Wade about his book “Before the Dawn” (from our previous podcast: Periodicity)
• See Nicholas Wade on The Colbert Report

Direct download: LOL41.mp3

Sean Carroll (physicist) and Sean B. Carroll (biologist) talk to us about their respective science fields, science education and being Sean Carroll.  (NOTE: Scientists displayed below in alphabetical order)

Links:

• “Sean” data from Wolfram Alpha
• “Sean Carroll” Google Search
• Sean Carroll on Google News

Sean B Carroll

Sean B. Carroll (biologist)

• seanbcarroll.com
• Sean B. Carroll’s Lab
• About Sean B. Carroll
• HHMI Investigator Bio
• Remarkable Creatures – NY Times Column
• The Science of Evolution (video from the New York Times)
• What Darwin Never Knew (PBS)
• “Year of Darwin” You Tube Video
• Lecture Video from Q2C Festival
• Sean B Carroll at Scientific Commons
• Sean B Carroll Author Page at Amazon.com
• Lab Out Loud, Episode 2: Sean B. Carroll
• Lab Out Loud, Episode 26: Stories of Evolution
• Sean B. Carroll on Resurrecting the Extinct
  (60 Minutes – 01/10/10)

Sean M Carroll

Sean M Carroll (physicist)

• Preposterous Universe
• About Sean Carroll
• Sean M Carroll at Caltech
• Sean M Carroll (Wikipedia Entry)
• Blog / Cosmic Variance (Discover Magazine)
• Upcoming Book: From Eternity to Here
• Textbook: Spacetime and Geometry
• Lecture Video from Q2C Festival
• Lecture Notes on General Relativity
• Cosmology Primer
• Video Lecture on DVD: Dark Matter, Dark Energy
• Sean M Carroll at Scientific Commons
• Sean M Carroll Author Page at Amazon.com

Direct download: LOL40.mp3