My alma mater, CalTech, requires undergraduate communication training

by shonk

Do Scientists Want (or Need) Media Training?
[Via The Intersection]

Tomorrow at MIT, I’ll be giving a four hour “boot camp” on science communication to a group of graduate students and other interested parties. The session begins with an overview of the “theory” of science communication–why we must do it better, what the obstacles are, and how a changing media environment makes it much tougher than it was during the era when the dude at right was so popular (the same era when the dude at *top* right was about to deregulate the media…).

Then, the session goes into a media “how to”–rules for interacting with journalists, media do’s and don’ts, and an overview of various key communication “technologies,” such as framing. Finally, it ends with a role playing in which the scientists get to try out their chops in a Colbert-style interview, and see if they can stay on message while traversing the very rockiest of media seas.

I get the sense there is an increasing demand for this kind of training, which is often not provided in the standard science graduate curriculum. The hunger seems especially strong among the younger set of scientists.

Why? Well, consider the write up for another all day sci comm boot camp I did at Princeton …

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Something I noticed recently when I was going through some CalTech material – it is now a requirement for graduation of most students to complete a class dealing with both oral and written presentation skills. While each option has its own class, mostly working at writing or presenting technical papers for that specific discipline, anyone can take the Humanities version which is described thusly in the catalog:

En 84. Writing Science. 9 units (3-0-6), third term. Instruction and practice in writing about science and technology for general audiences. The course considers how to convey complex technical information in clear, engaging prose that nonspecialists can understand and appreciate. Readings in different genres (e.g., magazine and newspaper journalism, reflective essays, case studies, popularizations) raise issues for discussion and serve as models for preliminary writing assignments and for a more substantial final project on a topic of each student’s choice. Includes oral presentation. Satisfies the Institute scientific writing requirement and the option oral communication requirement for humanities majors. Instructor: Youra.

So there is now an opportunity for undergraduate scientists to get some real training before graduate school. This is important and I am glad that CalTech makes this sort of training an requirement.

Depressing updates on oil spill

by DVIDSHUB

Oil Spill Update
[Via Deep Sea News]

Today marks the 1 month anniversary since the blowout, explosion, and the death of 11 on Deepwater Horizon drill rig.

1. The First Brown Pelican covered in oil dies at Louisiana refuge
2. More haunting photographs of oil on Louisiana marshes
3. U.S Government orders British Petroleum to put all Gulf oil spill data on Internet
4. Florida has just 10 days to prepare for the first signs of the oil spill off its coast, if NOAA projections correct.
5. Want to see even more photographs of oil covering beaches and sealife?
6. Jean-Michel Cousteau speaks out on dispersants
7. Too expensive and timely. This is the reason why the cement seal was never checked

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This is a few days old but the pictures are riveting. The oil in the marshes is tragic.

And the story (#7) of why no cement bond log was run will be a major point of investigation:

BP hired a top oilfield service company to test the strength of cement linings on the Deepwater Horizon’s well, but sent the firm’s workers home 11 hours before the rig exploded April 20 without performing a final check that a top cementing company executive called “the only test that can really determine the actual effectiveness” of the well’s seal.

They really wanted to get the rig off the wellhead. It was costing them money every minute. So they apparently made the decision to forego the on test that would prove the cement bond was complete. They had everything there to do the test, the right crew with the right equipment.

Looks like a very bad choice of penny wise and pound foolish. Eleven people died and we have the continuing destruction. Someone should be held accountable for that poor decision. Perhaps a couple of murder charges, manslaughter or reckless endangerment charges brought against the company men who made this horrendous decision.

This whole thing reminds me so much of the Challenger debacle. Company middle managers work to overrule engineers for expediency’s sake.

The Challenger link is more than just that. It appears that an O-ring may have been responsible for the well blowing up. The absence of an O-ring allowed oil and gas to get past the cement job:

“It looks pretty on paper, but you can’t accomplish that successfully and have a good cement job,” said Tom McFarland, a cementing consultant from Marrero who has decades of experience cementing oil wells. “The chance of getting a good cement job on that is nil.”

McFarland said the diagram indicates the space was completely open to the reservoir of oil the Deepwater Horizon had just tapped, and he is convinced that is why the well blew.

O-rings do us in again.

The high tech world in 3 paragraphs

by nDevilTV

“Microsoft—in a nutshell—is a company that had one successful product that we are all beholden…”
[Via Marco.org]

“Microsoft—in a nutshell—is a company that had one successful product that we are all beholden to—that then used that capital to buy other people’s products and ruin them. They are not bad people, but they do stab their friends in the back. Also, they are a bunch of nerds, which is probably why they have never managed to produce a decent interface.

Google—in a nutshell—is a company that had one successful product that we are all beholden to—that then used that capital to buy other people’s products and ruin them. They are not bad people, but they do stab their friends in the back. Also, they are a bunch of nerds, which is probably why they have never managed to produce a decent interface.

Apple is a company that produces amazing, human-usable products. I love them for the same reason I love any such company, and I forgive them their eccentricities because their products are so amazing. They make decisions that I’m told are bad for me, yet I don’t see that reflected in their products as I use them.”

- Mike Lee (via caseyliss)

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I do not expect Apple to allow Google to do the same thing as Microsoft. One key point is that Apple has always been focussed on making products that people want to use. in order to maintain revenue. The others are focussed on strengthening their one successful product ad infinitum in order to maintain revenue.

Apple should use this in an ad!

by Richard Gayle

iPad + Velcro (with video)
[Via MacDailyNews]

Two of mankind’s greatest inventions, together at last…

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What an incredibly inventive video. No words but it gets so much across. NOthing else compares wot the iPad plus Velcro.

Nice goof on a Sunday

If Gandalf recited the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme
[Via Boing Boing]

Hunter Davis puts his powers of mimicry to very good use: here he is imitating Ian McKellen in full Gandalf, reciting the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air themesong.

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This is incredible good, with just the right embellishes at the right moment. While Davis has done some other good ones, I had not realized there was such a subgenre of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air performances. Check out this one by Neil Young as done by Jimmy Fallon.