Smithsonian Magazine Musuem Day

Saturday, September 25 is Museum Day.  Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Media in which participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket.  Museums participating in this event in our area include the Adler Planetarium, Museum of Contemporary Art, and more.

Read more and get your free pass at http://tinyurl.com/2dbzfel

Dance in order to explain your research? Yes, why not?

Here’s an idea:  See if your English instructor or your Speech / Communications instructor would allow you to dance in order to explain your research.

You see the American Association for the Advancement of Science has put on the third annual Dance Your Ph.D. competition wherein a Ph.D thesis is explained with a dance routine.

Here is one of the finalists.   Enjoy.

Selection of a DNA aptamer for homocysteine using SELEX by Maureen McKeague

(found via Boing Boing)

The risks of using Wikipedia as a source

If you use Wikipedia, please be aware that there are risks to using it as a source (not even counting the risk of upsetting your teacher, who requested that you use it sparingly, if you use it at all).

So says science Journalist Steve Silberman, by way of  Rafe Colburn of r3c.org

If you’re curious about the historical context for the TV series The Pillars of the Earth, Wikipedia is an outstanding resource. On the other hand, if you’re writing a news story about outbreaks of infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria in hospitals, you shouldn’t rely on what you read in Wikipedia. Science journalist Steve Silberman writes about how spurious information sourced from Wikipedia is pervasive in stories about acinetobacter, and why that bad information could cost people their lives.

A look at the news and events happening in the Libraries at Waubonsee Community College