Boy, that was a busy weekend at Marina Square.
As always, it’s a jaw-dropping experience to see and hear the various misconceptions of natural scientific phenomena coming from the general public. Although there were a few pleasant surprises when some parents were able to explain what was going on at the various activity stations to their kids (and getting it right in the process!). Promoting scientific literacy is an uphill battle, but hey, that’s what partly keeps us scientists employed.
Random overheard remarks during X’periment:
Person on the Street (PotS), looking at stress patterns with a polarizer: Can you see auras with this?
X’perimenter: Kids come in two varieties: the deer-in-headlights, and the know-it-all.
Another X’perimenter: I don’t think I’m going to have kids after this.
Various bystanders at the F1 simulator: Woman driver alert! (and variations thereof)
Young boy to younger sister: Don’t worry if you can’t finish the puzzle, they’ll give you a prize anyway.
PotS, looking at brine shrimp: Boy-boy, come look at the germs with the microscope!
PotS: Is this a recruitment fair?
Me: Yeah, we’re trying to get the young kids to go into science and engineering careers when they grow up.
August 25, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Saw your comment in Uncertain Principles, which was linked from In the Pipeline. Just a hello from a fellow Singaporean scientist. Don’t usually see Singaporean science blogs! Happy scienceing!
August 26, 2008 at 1:23 am
Hi andrew, thanks for dropping by!
Yes, not too many Singaporean science blogs around…yet. Why not start one and join the fun?
August 27, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Yes, join us!
August 27, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hi there LH. I guess the community here is small, I saw your blog mentioned in caustic soda/acid flask some time back
I find it difficult for junior scientists, especially not in academia to write blogs. It’s too much data out there for a prospective employer to mine and take out of context.
If I blog about some stupid mistake I made in the lab, the wrong viewer might think I’m plain incompetent. If I talk about some interesting reaction I did (even if it were from the literature, and appropriate sections were replaced with “R” groups), the wrong reader might think I’m a blabber mouth about to unwittingly broadcast our research goals to the world on a dull work day.
In the end, I just write in Wikipedia. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-free technique. There aren’t too many contributors, and it should be easy to pick me out.
August 28, 2008 at 2:50 am
“Hi there LH. I guess the community here is small, I saw your blog mentioned in caustic soda/acid flask some time back”
Yes Andrew, the science’o sphere in Singapore is less than ten-strong and not growing. In fact it is slowly dwindling – due to poor readership, bloggers switch to talking about politics or give up altogether.
“If I blog about some stupid mistake I made in the lab, the wrong viewer might think I’m plain incompetent. If I talk about some interesting reaction I did (even if it were from the literature, and appropriate sections were replaced with “R” groups, the wrong reader might think I’m a blabber mouth about to unwittingly broadcast our research goals to the world on a dull work day.”
Those are valid concerns. I think most science blogs, including Lab Rat’s and mine, discuss curious science news, bizarre research and personal insights within the blogger’s broad area of interest. Even senior scientist bloggers like PZ Myers or Larry Moran don’t talk about details of work.
“In the end, I just write in Wikipedia. There aren’t too many contributors, and it should be easy to pick me out.”
I’ll check it out. Cheers!
August 28, 2008 at 4:31 am
What LH said – science is so broad that there are many things to talk about; it doesn’t have to be focused on the science that you actually do. I find it interesting to read about lab techniques and tricks, for instance, even if it’s got no direct link to my own work.
Latest developments, especially in fields other than my own, are fun to read about as well; often blogs are my main source for these, as it’s not possible to check out the 1000+ journals out there.
Then there’s always the good ol’ fallback – ST and other local media science journalism bashing.
September 1, 2008 at 1:40 am
Once in a while I read your blog, I don’t claim to understand everything you write abt but this one was entertaining. Blog on!