Reünie studievereniging GeoVUsie 20 november 2010
Archive for the ‘Science: Chitchat’ Category
Post in Dutch: Reünie GeoVUsie
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Daniel Pink, on 21st-century tasks
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010Carrot-and-stick approach not only often does not work, it often does harm when it comes to 21st-century tasks. This has been known – and been ignored – for many years.
21st-century tasks require creative thinking. Cognitive skills. The carrot-and-stick approach is more suitable for mechanical skills.
Mastery, autonomy and purpose. THAT is the real secret of the gaming approach. It is NOT in the “rewards” themselves, it is in the mastery they stand for.
Reunion GeoVUsie (post in Dutch)
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010Reünie studievereniging GeoVUsie 20 november 2010
TED has come to Amsterdam
Monday, July 12th, 2010If you didn’t know that yet and are based in the Netherlands, follow this link.
What does science mean to people?
Saturday, July 10th, 2010Stereotypes… Just as the world wants movie stars to produce drama and glamour, it wants scientists to stick to their stereotypes too. Don’t think so? Let’s do a quick survey.
(By the way, did you notice some of the media’s comments on the recent cheering at CERN? Duh!)
Time, and motivation
Sunday, June 13th, 2010Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg. It’s a presentation by Professor Philip Zimbardo.
And this one – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc – on motivation, by Dan Pink.
Muon neutrino changing into tau neutrino:
observed today
Monday, May 31st, 2010
See this page, with a fun video in which Paola Catapano explains the findings:
http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1268443 which you can download, too.
Chilean engineering: Building for earthquakes
Friday, May 21st, 2010Rodrigo Mujica is clearly proud of the work he and his colleagues do at VMB in Chile, and rightly so. VMB is an engineering company with a staff of 40 to 50 and it specializes in building for earthquakes. Quake-proof construction. Yesterday, Rodrigo gave a presentation at the University of Portsmouth. Foster and Partners had invited Rodrigo to give a presentation at its headquarters in London, and that is how Rodrigo happened to be in the neighborhood.
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You can either continue to read this blog post or go to the edited and updated version on the SmarterScience web site: http://www.smarterscience.com/vmb-seismic-engineering.html
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One of the first things Rodrigo Mujica showed us was a video taken by a surveillance camera on the 12th floor of a building that was at quite some distance from the epicenter. It was impressive.
YES YES YES Craig Venter has done it!
Thursday, May 20th, 2010I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
Oldie but goodie: Richard Feynman on textbooks
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Excerpt from “Judging Books by Their Covers” which appeared as a chapter in “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” (published in 1985 by W.W. Norton & Company):
http://www.textbookleague.org/103feyn.htm
Vintage published my 1992 copy of the book. I also have “What do you care what other people think?”, “Tuva or Bust”, QED – the strange theory of light and matter” and “The character of physical law” as well as James Gleick’s book “Genius”.