From the category archives:

Communication

Graphically comparing 523 scientwists’ Twitter stats

by Andrew Maynard August 24, 2009

Following on from yesterday’s update on my quest to track science influence on Twitter, I’ve posted a bubble-chart of the August “influence stats” for all 523 scientwists in David Bradley’s list over at Many Eyes. Using the chart, you can quickly explore the number of followers, secondary followers, social capital and a handful of other [...]

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Science influence on Twitter – August update

by Andrew Maynard August 23, 2009

It’s the middle of August, and time for my regular two-monthly update on science tweep influence on Twitter. Back in April I posted data on three indicators of “influence” for ~400 science-focused Twitter users – based on David Bradley’s list of “Scientific Twitter Friends.” This is the third update of the indicators – the second [...]

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TED talks future-tech

by Andrew Maynard August 20, 2009

I‘ve just posted a series of five attention-grabbing talks on future technologies from TED (the Technology, Entertainment, Design conferences) over at Mashable, where I contribute the occasional guest blog.  If you are more interested in the transformative power of technology than the latest gizmo from Apple, you might want to check them out.  Speakers include [...]

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TED talks science – 5 classic science talks, plus a couple of bonuses

by Andrew Maynard July 22, 2009

The internet is littered with videos of science lectures and science talks – witness the recently posted “100 Incredible Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists” for instance.  But it’s not easy to sift through the tedious, the impenetrable and the down right boring, to arrive at a core of science talks that really are worth [...]

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Experiments in science engagement – the exquisite corpse!

by Andrew Maynard July 14, 2009

Tim Jones has just posted a video of a new science engagement technique he’s working on over at his blog Zoonomian.  I was so impressed with the result that I asked his permission to post it here also. Before explaining what this is, take a look at the video – it’s ten minutes long, but [...]

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Questions

by Andrew Maynard July 12, 2009

When I was a kid, I was told by my physics teacher that there’s no such thing as a stupid question.  Clearly, he hadn’t been to enough scientific meetings! Actually, it’s a philosophy I’ve adhered to pretty closely over the past thirty years.  If someone wants to expand their knowledge or understanding, the fewer barriers [...]

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Engaging the public on nanotechnology

by Andrew Maynard July 7, 2009

Following up on my last post – Geoengineering the planet with nanotechnology ice-cream? – here’s a short video Zoe Papadopoulou and colleagues put together on The Cloud Project from my visit in June: Get the Flash Player to see this content. var params = { ‘allowfullscreen’: ‘true’, ‘allowscriptaccess’: ‘always’, ‘wmode’: ‘transparent’ }; var attributes = [...]

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Geoengineering the planet with nanotechnology ice-cream?

by Andrew Maynard July 5, 2009

Scientists and engineers have their moments. But it they are hard pressed to beat art students when it comes to sheer audacious creativity. Earlier this year I received an email so intriguing I couldn’t help but follow up on it. The email was from Zoe Papadopoulou, an MA student at the Royal College of Art [...]

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Nanotechnology on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour

by Andrew Maynard July 2, 2009

Just a quick post (at least, as far as the text goes). Last week, I had the pleasure of appearing on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour with Kristen Sanford and Leo Laporte. The conversation covered nanotechnology from every conceivable angle. I should have known with Leo’s opening question – asking what I thought of [...]

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Confluence: Where communication, coupling and control collide

by Andrew Maynard June 26, 2009

Part 7 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century Yesterday, I listened to respected economists discussing geoengineering; gave a Skype interview on nanotechnology from the comfort of my own home; and watched as reactions to Michael Jackson’s death spread through virtual web-based communities.  Twenty years ago, when Jackson was at [...]

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Science influence on Twitter – June update

by Andrew Maynard June 23, 2009

Back in April I posted data on three indicators of “influence” for ~400 science-focused Twitter users – based on David Bradley’s list of “Scientific Twitter Friends.” Intrigued to see how these Tweeps’ influence evolves over time, I will be updating these data periodically. In this first update (aided and abetted by @ruthseeley – thanks Ruth!), [...]

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To tweet or not to tweet – social media and the scientific meeting

by Andrew Maynard June 3, 2009

Should live tweeting and blogging from scientific meetings be controlled? Back in May, Daniel MacArthur – a researcher and blogger – wrote a number of on-the-spot blogs on the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Biology of Genomes meeting.  By all accounts a number of people were tweeting and blogging from the meeting.  But Daniel had [...]

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Vote for science

by Andrew Maynard June 2, 2009

At least, vote for your favorite science blog post!  Voting is now open on the the 171 (yes – 171!) blog posts nominated for this year’s Quark award for science – being run by 3 Quarks Daily…

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Time to vote for your favorite science blogs

by Andrew Maynard May 26, 2009

Science bloggers sometimes have a tough time being heard through the incessant chatter and endless distractions endemic to the web. Which is a shame, as there is a wealth of top-knotch writing out there to be digested and enjoyed, if only more people knew about it.  The good news is that a new award from [...]

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Nanotechnology: From nano-novice to nano-genius in 13 steps

by Andrew Maynard May 26, 2009

Back in April, the folks at the PBS station THIRTEEN asked me to answer 13 questions on nanotechnology and the environment for their website feature Green Thirteen.   The questions ended up covering most of nanotechnology – what it is, what it’s good for, what the downsides might be, and how we might overcome potential problems [...]

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Wolfram Alpha – Should have called it Deep Thought!

by Andrew Maynard May 16, 2009

Last night, Stephen Wolfram threw the switch on Wolfram Alpha – a ground-breaking… no, make that game changing… “search engine” that computes answers to questions rather than simply drowning you in a torrent of possibly-relevant web pages.  Itching to give it a whirl, I asked some of my friends on Twitter to suggest some questions [...]

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The long shout

by Andrew Maynard May 13, 2009

In the long run, does art trump science? Lateral communication—sending information from point to point around the world—is so fast and efficient these days that we tend to take it for granted.  But how good are we at passing information forward in time—what you might call longitudinal communication?  If we wanted to send a message [...]

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Culture clash: Take the 2-second two-cultures poll

by Andrew Maynard April 28, 2009

A 2-second distraction in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of CP Snow’s Two Cultures lecture:  Take the two-cultures poll (below), and see how your answer aligns with those from others: (If you can’t see the poll, click here) Now you’ve pressed the button and seen the results, here’s the background: On May 7th 1959, [...]

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Nanotechnology in motion: the good, the bad and the.. just plain weird?

by Andrew Maynard April 25, 2009

How many good nanotech videos have you come across?  Chances are, you’ll be struggling to name more than one of two.  But over the past few weeks there have been a few posted on the web that are worth watching.  These three in particular mesh together rather nicely to tell a story of nanotechnology’s potential, [...]

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Science influence on Twitter

by Andrew Maynard April 22, 2009

This is by way of a quick follow-on to yesterday’s post on the number of people on Twitter  following science-focused users.  As was pointed out, just logging the number of followers someone has on twitter is a poor indicator of either success or influence.  So, spurred into action, here is a rather more sophisticated analysis [...]

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As Twitter users skyrocket, how are the science tweeps doing?

by Andrew Maynard April 21, 2009

Earlier today, David Bradley over at ScienceBase announced that his growing list of “Scientific Twitter Friends” has hit the 400 mark.  Given the recent explosion in Twitter use, I was intrigued to see how these science-types are faring in the brave new world of on-line communication, 140 characters at a time. This is a bubble [...]

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Creating order from disorder – the YouTube Symphony way

by Andrew Maynard April 15, 2009

I was skeptical – really skeptical – that the folks doing the mashup could pull it off.  But I was wrong.  They managed to create something in virtual space that is quite possibly unique, and that is most definitely greater than the sum of the parts. I’m talking about Tan Dun’s just-released YouTube “Internet Symphony”. [...]

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Twitter: changing your perspective on reality, 140 characters at a time

by Andrew Maynard April 14, 2009

13 “Twits” Who Will Change Your Perspective on Reality Back in the days when Twitter was a mere slip of a social media service—around four months ago by my reckoning—it was a byword for meaningless web-chatter and banal exchanges.  But the service is growing up rapidly —not only in the number of users (which is [...]

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Communication: Science and technology in a connected world

by Andrew Maynard April 7, 2009

Part 3 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century I’m fascinated by the power of communication.  The idea that someone’s perceptions and actions can be changed by information received through sight, sound or touch, is rather profound.  Even more so is the idea that, through exchanging information and ideas, people [...]

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