tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post5311561378248808857..comments2024-03-24T17:01:24.541-04:00Comments on Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Neutron star collision detected and other top science stories of 2017Pinku-Senseihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-54146123328762918832017-12-27T18:22:28.715-05:002017-12-27T18:22:28.715-05:00You're right about most, in fact nearly all, m...You're right about most, in fact nearly all, mad scientists. They are using technology or medicine to gain power, money, or fame, not advance knowledge. All of the "mad scientists" in comic books and James Bond films qualify. The exceptions are the mad scientists from very early in science fiction and horror. Victor Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll were testing out hypotheses and had their experiments succeed in horrifying ways. Since "Frankenstein" is the strongest candidate for the first science fiction story, that means that the archetype is tied up with the genre, even if it is not common today.Pinku-Senseihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-16482432930849103772017-12-27T18:07:21.613-05:002017-12-27T18:07:21.613-05:00technology, medicine, and engineering are not scie...<i>technology, medicine, and engineering are not science</i><br /><br />I like <a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/01/mad-scientists-are-actually-just-mad-engineers/" rel="nofollow">this posting</a> which makes a similar point, about the stereotypical movie "mad scientist". Of course medical <i>research</i> is science; applied medicine (treatments) is biological engineering/repairs, even if people don't like to think of it that way.<br /><br />The withdrawal from the Paris accord is "science news" in another sense, I suppose -- news of the authorities' attitude about science. As, say, the arrest of Galileo would have been science news if we'd had these lists back then.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm glad Cassini made the list. A triumph of science <i>and</i> technology.Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-91206141106481931132017-12-27T17:15:31.905-05:002017-12-27T17:15:31.905-05:00The conflation of science and technology is a topi...The conflation of science and technology is a topic I bring up every semester in nearly all of my classes. I point out that, contrary to popular perception, technology, medicine, and engineering are not science, although all of them are science-based. I also admit my contribution to this confusion during my time as a writer for Examiner.com. My most read stories were about medicine and technology, not pure science, so I was rewarded for writing about them.<br /><br />That's an interesting point about mice and humans. We may already have those mutations in us.<br /><br />Notice that the eclipse didn't show up in Science Magazine, which was about scientific value, not popular interest, or New Scientist, which is based in the U.K. The eclipse wasn't visible there.Pinku-Senseihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-66278462763755623862017-12-27T06:50:22.184-05:002017-12-27T06:50:22.184-05:00The fact that gene editing has reached the point o...The fact that gene editing has reached the point of actually being used with humans will probably turn out to be the most consequential on these, in the long run. Of course (like many of these) that's actually technology rather than science, but it's common these days to conflate the two.<br /><br />I'm always a little dubious about anti-aging breakthroughs involving research on mice. Humans live so much longer than mice anyway, I wonder if we're just re-discovering improvements that evolution has already made in our own species.<br /><br />I doubt the eclipse would have made the list if it weren't for the fact that it attracted so much public interest, and I'm not sure most of the public even viewed it as a science-related event, although things like that are always teachable moments.Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.com