Laurel Massé

One united theory

If any, if even one, of my science teachers in elementary school had been able to communicate their delight in science, to show there is joy and beauty in science, and that gravity is not grave...

Well, then. Who knows?

Thank you, Tim Blais, for giving us this A Capella Science video. Viewers, watch past the end to see links to Tim's other projects. And thanks, Canada!

 

                          

 

Wonder Sunday, courtesy of Science Friday

As Madeleine L'Engle once pointed out, there is a big difference between visible/invisible and seen/unseen. I believe that's why we don't see the kingdom of heaven though it is among us, and why Mrs. Peel is tippy-toe puffy-tail bouncing sideways across the room like a Halloween cat right now toward something I wouldn't know is there.

"We're behind the eight-ball,” says marine biologist Roger Hanlon, “if we think the world looks like how we see it. There's much more information there, and other animals see it very differently."

Here's why he said that:

Thank you, ScienceFriday.

Here endeth the lesson.

Or does it?

What a tangled Web we weave...

There is a terrific article by Nicholas Carr on the subject of the brain, the Web, and memory in the most recent issue of Wired magazine. In it, he gives very good explanation of the mental process that dog trainers call "latent learning", which is the process of moving information from working memory to long-term memory, a process all too easily interrupted by distractions. He also suggests serious reasons to consider the up- and down-sides of the way the Internet is changing our brains.

He writes: The Internet is an interruption system. It seizes our attention only to scramble it.

Interested? Go read the rest here. Before you get distracted.

a tear in the fabric

My dear friends, there is shocking and confusing news from Blacksburg, VA, where 33 people died today at Virginia Tech.
I taught there a few years ago, invited by Professor Daniel Schneck to lead a workshop in improvisation for his engineering students.They were shy at first, and then they sang, and danced, and were so inspiring. The university was lovely, idyllic. We were in Norris Hall, the engineering building, the same building that is and forever will be the scene of today's tragedy. Haunted.
I ask you to offer whatever rituals are yours everyone involved: the victims, their families, and the community of Virginia Tech, and Blacksburg. And for the police, and the shooter. Everyone.
We don't know, we don't understand.