It Puts the Statistics in the Data Science

Data science is a trendy buzzword.

That doesn't mean I am not interested in it, though.

I'm reviewing my statistics by walking through this tutorial, which will soon be a book 'Statistics Done Wrong.'

I am finding it really helpful.  It highlights several common pitfalls of interpreting statistics.  The language is approachable and clear.

Yaaay!!!

Nobels for Chinese Scientists Next Year?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/oct/01/nobel-prizes-asian-scientists-us

According to the Guardian article, Chinese scientists will start getting more Nobel prizes. Since Nobel prizes are usually given for decades old research, this would actually be pretty impressive. Perhaps the Chinese research community will start getting more prestigious. It is generally scoffed at by the American research community these days.

In other random news. The Chinese made an animation of the launching of their space shuttle and used "America the Beautiful" in the soundtrack. Chinese people are so funny.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/30/china-launch-america-the-beautiful

Promoting Mundane Science

http://rael.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/very-old-site/Mundane_Science.pdf

After Darwinism

Lynn recently introduced me to the ideas of Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris. She is a biologist who presents a framework for science that motivates the transition to environmental sustainability. The most interesting part of her talk was that Darwinism only describes the adolescent stage of human society development. After that, there must be cooperation to create a sustainable ecosystem.

I think she mischaracterizes entropy, though. Entropy is orthogonal to destruction vs organization. It is simply going from a higher energy state to a lower energy state. If you build something, like a house, you are adding organization, but you are putting a lot of energy in, so the entropy of the whole system is still increased, although the entropy of the house itself is decreased. The sun decreases entropy on the earth, but in the scope of the universe, entropy is still increased. It seems like people who talk about sustainability and ecology really like talking about entropy. I don't really get it.

Scientists Finally Standing Up For Themselves

Leading scientists condemn 'political assaults' on climate researchers

This is interesting and exciting because one of the things that came out during the panel talk about communicating about science was that scientists need better PR and they need spokespeople.

Young Brains Have Problems

There was a really good segment this morning on the teen brain.

It turns out

the nerve cells that connect teenagers' frontal lobes with the rest of their brains are sluggish. Teenagers don't have as much of the fatty coating called myelin, or "white matter," that adults have in this area.

No wonder! That explains why I feel much less insane and at the mercy of my own moods. I guess that's what "maturing" really is.

The Moon

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Yes it was really amazing the first time, but what would be the purpose of going again? Well, proponents say that we need it because it was so exciting the first time, and we need more excitement to unite the nation behind a common purpose. I'm all for the advancement of science, but I also know that the first time we had the space program, much of the science and engineering community became focused on this mission because that is what it takes. Clearly, if that much engineering resources are going to be devoted to more space exploration, there will be less, especially brainpower, for technological breakthroughs in energy, green manufacturing, etc.

On the other hand, if more space exploration means less R@D for making weapons, that would be good. Plus, any inventions may eventually be cleared for civilian use and perhaps could be a breakthrough for sustainable living. I'm not sure what they do with waste in space, but they certainly have to make do with fewer resources.

When is now?

Now or never. Article on the perception of time passage.

Maybe Alicia Got a Job

at the Broad Institute, heh heh

Large Hadron Collider

Hey, that thing is Geneva is finally done and they ran their first test yesterday/today.

Information Week article

This has been another installment of "I was listening to NPR today..."