9.29.2009

Why You Need This... Wait, Why I Need This

Science matters. Really.

In a recent culmination of coincidences, involving (A) finally getting a "girls in science" blog together, (B) NPR's recent Science Friday, and (C) a Geomorphology lecture on the importance of good science writing, I suppose you can consider this post somewhat of a Mission Statement.

My hopes for a successful science blog were seeded a little over a year ago, when I realized just how inaccessible "good" science was to the public - and I'm not talking about what's available on the Intrawebs. I was finally starting to zealously answer that incessant "Mom" question (you know, "Hi honey, how was school?") with all the fantastic little geology nothings that I was learning, and consequently realizing just how little my parents knew about relatively simple Earth processes. And it certainly wasn't because they weren't able to understand, it was simply due to a lack of exposure.

Yes, there IS the 'net. People have found a way to translate all of the technical jargon of an experiment's abstract into deliciously juicy writing. It's true! Science blogging communities have found a wonderful niche here, oft read by a majority of, oh yeah... other science bloggers. Not to mention there is only so much material you can believe as truth from a blogger, myself included. The goods are kept out of reach from the average humanoid, with the most credible and groundbreaking magazines - like Nature and Science - dipping their slimy little fingers into your back pockets (a one-year subscription costs $199 and $109, respectively).

In short, I'm hoping to bring your blog experience to some variantly equivalent plane. We will be sticklers about including good references, try our dangdest to argue only fact-based opinions, and above all, spend all day hoping that some small part of this sparks your science plugs.

On the NPR show, Sheril Kirshenbaum mentioned that, "there was only one Carl Sagan." And GOSH YES is she right.

2 comments:

  1. Great idea. Do we get to meet the "girls in science"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank u Stacy.
    You have now turned me into an internet-lover. Thanks for inspiring the access to knowledge to women all around the WWW. Science rules and TV drools. -Carin

    ReplyDelete