science | Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: The FONSFAQ Science Project: prompts

dingsi started it with the Germany FONSFAQ /Masterlist here), and here it is:

Frequently (Or Not So Frequently) Asked Questions About Science

What do people want to know about all kinds of science fields? Feel free to ask questions on basic or not-so basic Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Medicine, Geology, and so on! Whether you want to know how DNA mutates, how nuclear fission works or what we know about the pleacebo effect, just post a comment.

And if you know enough about one of the prompts, claim it and write an entry on it during the next few weeks. I know we have many scientists and interested laypeople on Dreamwidth, so let's get tose together!

Directions:

1. If asking a question, make the subject "PROMPT: [short summary of prompt]", so I can index them in this entry
2. If claiming to answer a question, make the subject "CLAIM"
3. When you have written your entry and posted it to your journal or this community or whereever you like on Dreamwidth, post a comment with a link to the entry in the comment thread. I will post a masterlist of answers sometime next week and update it regularly.

If you are not sure whether you will get around to answering something, don't worry - there is no direct need to claim anything.

Also, if you have a subject you'd really like to write about yourself, don't be shy and just post a comment with "CLAIM: [short summary of prompt]" yourself. The more entries, the better.

Any more questions, just ask!

Prompts

Biology

cesy: Next big thing in biology

Computer Science

snowynight: Cutting-edge computer science

General

vacillating: Scientific theory

Medicine

yvi: IVF

snowynight: Recent develoments in gentic therapy

Scientists

yvi: What got you into science

holyschist: What do you want the public to learn about science

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

What do you think is likely to be the next big advance in biology? Where is the field heading, and what is the exciting new research coming up?

What are current techniques used in in vitro fertilisation?

A general questions to the professional scientists here: What got you into science and why are you staying?

A general question to any science nerds, professional or non: if you could get the public to understand one key thing about your field or science in general, what would it be?

(My answer will be biased towards my field of specialty, namely genomics and genetics, but I have Opinions. :D)

Taxonomists really don't change names of organisms just to frustrate you!

Honestly, I don't know. I've been a science geek/nerd for as long as I can remember. I had a Science Club when I was 6 years old! and it really did have an entrance exam

It's as much a part of who I am as breathing (or teaching).

ETA: Why do I stay? It's fun!

Edited 2011-04-23 03:47 (UTC)

No, that's just why they name birds after their least obvious field marks!

will you post it here or in your own account?

bwahahahaha!

My very favorite story like that of All Time has to do with stinkhorn fungi.

There was a Married Couple (Mycologists) and he'd been stepping out on her. She described a new species of stinkhorn .... and very tiny species of stinkhorn and named it in his honor .....

I would like to know at least one cut-the-edge development in computer science, especially in programming.

I would want to know about the newest development of genetics therapy.

What is the scientific method, in your opinion, and are there any areas of human experience to which it is not applicable?

Supersymmetry, string theory and "beyond the Standard Model" are all very different concepts.

I have no real concept of what any of those are! I would read that post. :D

I can do that! Well, on a day when I am awake and processing information.

May I please claim:

Outreach/Teaching
Communicating science effectively with school-age and adult audiences

Chemistry
Introduction to chemical dynamics

Environmental science
Geoengineering: Should we?

Sure. I might have to go and look something up but will do one.

The post will appear on my journal and I'll edit this comment or post a second reply with the link.

Edited 2011-04-28 08:41 (UTC)

I notice there's a whole lot of confusion in the mainstream media when scientific results are published; people don't seem to know how to interpret findings, or what a lot of the terms mean (standard deviation, causation versus correlation) or how a GOOD study should be set up (placebos, double-blinds, possibility of influence by other factors such as corporate sponsorship, how many subjects should be used to get a reasonably accurate result, how data is collected) or what to look for when something is probably sketchy (sample size, lacks citations from other research, data comes from surveys, ...?) and common flaws found in many studies (same as "sketchiness indicators"?).

As you can tell, I know some of these things, or at least have vague memories of them from school, but not enough to really write the entry!

This prompt might benefit from multiple answers, in fact -- I'm pretty sure that a reasonable number of subjects could be "10,000" when studying mice or corn plants, but "50" when studying people with heart murmurs... likewise it's probably silly to give a placebo to a cat, but sensible to a human. (At least if it's a drug study. If it's a study of, say, allele frequencies in population X, it's not going to be at issue at all.)

I often wondered what scientists - the kind that work at universities and do research - actually do. They teach, surely they have a lot to read (sooo many journals), they have research projects etc., but I can't imagine what a "normal day" looks like. I'm most interested in social scientist, but any kind/in general would be great.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: The FONSFAQ Science Project: prompts

PROMPT: Next big thing in biology

Prompt: IVF

Prompt: What got you into science?

Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

CLAIM: Next big thing in biology

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

Re: Prompt: What got you into science?

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

Re: CLAIM: Next big thing in biology

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

Prompt: Computer science

Prompt: Genetics therapy

prompt: scientific method

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

Re: Prompt: What do you want the public to know about science?

no subject

CLAIM: Computer science

PROMPT: interpreting study results (for beginners)

Prompt: Normal workdays