Episode 51 – Science We Can Blog About
Rhett Allain
This week we discuss our favorite science blogs and talk to Rhett Allain – an Associate Professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. Rhett discusses science teaching and his popular blog Dot Physics, at www.wired.com/wiredscience/dotphysics.
What science blogs do you follow? Join the conversation at laboutloud.com to share your favorite science blogs and websites.
Want to setup an RSS Reader? Read “Setup an RSS Reader” or and watch Google Reader in Plain English (below):
Our Favorite Science Blogs (in alphabetical order):
- Bad Astronomy (Discover)
- Big Blog Theory
- Cocktail Party Physics
- dy/dan
- Extreme Biology
- Fake Science
- Geek Dad (WIRED)
- Gray Matter (Popular Science)
- The Loom (Discover)
- Periodic Table of Videos
- Pharyngula (Science Blogs)
- Remarkable Creatures (NY Times)
- Sceptical Chymist (nature.com)
- Twisted Physics
- Wired Science
Our Blogs:
- dalebasler.com (Dale)
- BaslerCast (Dale’s Class Blog)
- explodingsink.com (Brian)
- bartelements.com (Brian’s Class Website)
Direct download: LOL51.mp3
The Children’s Museum of Houston has a pretty good video blog with O Wow Moment videos by Mr. O, hands-on activities for elementary school kids to explore science. It’s at http://www.cmhoustonblog.org.
I have a simple site that I use for my students to start springboard activities with them that led into our lessons/labs/etc. It gives them a sounding board, they can share their opinions with me and their peers, and it gives them the ability to use their “text-speak” to express themselves. Out of the 111 students that I teach, I regularly get about 85% completion, which is better than most asignments. It’s not worth as much point-wise, but I make sure it’s just as important.
There are a few great science blogs I’ve been following for the past couple of years. Ethan Siegal blogs over at http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/. His posts are an absolute must read. This is probably my favorite blog, because of the information rich, yet highly readable posts.
Also, Fasier Cain, co-host of the Astronomy Cast podcast maintains a cosmos-oriented blog at http://www.universetoday.com. This blog is frequently updated, and is basically my go-to blog for astronomy news.
Finally, I feel like reddit should get a shoutout. Even though it’s not actually a blog, it’s still got news items, usually with great commentary. http://www.reddit.com is a community based news site where users can submit news stories, or questions. Those links are then discussed by all other members. Submissions can be voted upon, allowing (usually) the most interesting stories to get the most attention. There are multiple sub-reddits covering just about everything you can find on the internet. It’s a wonderful place to find news stories I might not have otherwise heard about.
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