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Science. And food.
Nov. 18th, 2005 02:02 pmAmerica's views on science are bizarre at best. On one hand, we are fighting outbreaks of virulient anti-science as fundamentalist creationists Intelligent Designers try to take over schools. Kansas has redefined science to permit for supernatural explanations of physical evidence. (Charles Pierce has written a brilliantly stinging Esquire article called "Greetings from Idiot America" about this.)
But on the other hand, this is the country that adores real science, and rewards it with vast amounts of attention on the most pervasive media we have. Science shows rule. Not just on the science and Discovery networks, but in every area. Alton Brown, darling of the Food Channel, is a scientist. For the children there was Bill Nye The Science Guy, plus Beakman and Jax used to have a Sunday strip as well as their show.
Even fictionalized science is hot stuff - we keep CSI at the top of the ratings and its offspring in the top 10. CSI may deal with sensationalist crimes, but the underlying science is always there and it's always real and it's almost always explained so that everyone in the viewing audience can "get" what's going on and how they determined what happened. No other show, not even the forensics fiction, has had the ratings or the social impact that CSI has.
Because let's face it - science is cool!
Which is a very long and somewhat tangential leadup to this link - The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles. Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars—it's not easy to improve the world's most popular toy. Yet the success of one inventor's quest to dye a simple soap bubble may change the way the world uses color
I love their descriptions of the testing and the failures... and the picture is really worth 1000 words!
Had to pass that one on.
( As for the food... )
But on the other hand, this is the country that adores real science, and rewards it with vast amounts of attention on the most pervasive media we have. Science shows rule. Not just on the science and Discovery networks, but in every area. Alton Brown, darling of the Food Channel, is a scientist. For the children there was Bill Nye The Science Guy, plus Beakman and Jax used to have a Sunday strip as well as their show.
Even fictionalized science is hot stuff - we keep CSI at the top of the ratings and its offspring in the top 10. CSI may deal with sensationalist crimes, but the underlying science is always there and it's always real and it's almost always explained so that everyone in the viewing audience can "get" what's going on and how they determined what happened. No other show, not even the forensics fiction, has had the ratings or the social impact that CSI has.
Because let's face it - science is cool!
Which is a very long and somewhat tangential leadup to this link - The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles. Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars—it's not easy to improve the world's most popular toy. Yet the success of one inventor's quest to dye a simple soap bubble may change the way the world uses color
I love their descriptions of the testing and the failures... and the picture is really worth 1000 words!
Had to pass that one on.
( As for the food... )
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