at the interSeCtion
sheril | March 23, 2009Today, we move to our new home at Discover Blogs: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection
While we have immensely enjoyed being a part of Scienceblogs, we've decided together that it is time to move on. Our tremendous thanks go out to Seed for hosting The Intersection since 2006 where we've been honored to share the network with such an esteemed community of bloggers--many of whom have become good friends.
While we're excited to join Carl, Phil, and Sean, it is a bittersweet decision as we will miss the Sb 'family' tremendously. Of course, we will never be far--the blogosphere has no…
sheril | March 23, 2009Every now and then we plan something big and today's no exception so check back this afternoon...
sheril | February 13, 2009Thanks so much to everyone for thoughtful emails and comments. I'm back home and reading them has definitely been helping with recovery :)
Chris and I also want to wish our readers a very happy Valentine's Day...
cmooney | February 13, 2009Folks, it has been a really rough time for Sheril--she may or may not tell the full story herself, but suffice it to say that she has been hospitalized for several days and has only recently been allowed to come home, and this unfortunate turn of events has prevented her from attending the AAAS meeting in Chicago, where she was set to headline at the high profile "Science of Kissing" panel on Valentine's Day.
That's a very sad missed opportunity; but luckily, Sheril has also done a freelance article for New Scientist about the same subject, which has just come out and which you can read here…
cmooney | February 11, 2009This is a post simply to ask for comment on my last three (here, here, here) as a kind of genre exercise. Each post has been about my new foray into studying the history of science here at Princeton and testing out what it's like to be a student again. (The most insane kind of culture shock, is the short answer.)
Anyway, this is a very different kind of thing for the Intersection, although certainly not outside of its mandate. And so far, I like the response it has generally prompted. But I don't have to blog about the history of science for the next three to four months...it's just a…
cmooney | February 11, 2009I'm posting this on Sheril's behalf, as she is in the hospital right now:
Dear readers and friends in and out of the blogosphere,
I am extremely appreciative for so many emails during the past week. Thanks for offering your guestrooms, travel recommendations, and road trip advice. Thank you for invitations to speak at universities along the way and participate in dinners and happy hours. I am very glad to know so many thoughtful people follow our blog and have been happy to hear from several old friends I did not realize were readers.
Last week I also began getting emails from many planning…
sheril | January 28, 2009
By the time this post publishes, I'll be on the open road somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific. I'm leaving NC a couple months to circle the states for meetings, talks, and some fun along the way. Stopping soon at UT Austin before heading west to USC where I'm looking forward to catching up with Clifford. Then up Rt. 1, and Chicago by the AAAS annual meeting for the Valentine's Day Science Of Kissing symposium. Eventually, hitting up the northeast for a few weeks before looping back to Durham. I'm bringing this dandy little camera called The Flip along for the ride, so while…
sheril | January 26, 2009While Chris is overhead somewhere flying to New York, I want to remind readers to tune in and watch him on The Colbert Report tonight! He'll be discussing the 'war on science' and how the Obama administration can fix it.
And for those who just can't wait until then, here's Chris on The Daily Show to tide you over:
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Chris Mooney
Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview
Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video
sheril | January 24, 2009
In two days, my favorite co-blogger will be appearing on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss the 'war on science' and how the Obama administration can fix it. With the nation abuzz over the stimulus package, melting ice shelves, and new cabinet appointments, it's a timely subject, no?
Chris has already shared some ideas at Slate.com and during his recent Bloggingheads diavlog with Carl Zimmer. It's also a topic and we explore comprehensively in Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future.
So with a lot more to come, tune in Monday night!
sheril | January 15, 2009Lots of folks have been asking us about our forthcoming book, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future and we're happy to report that the product description is finally available at Amazon:
Climate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation--many of the most urgent problems of twenty-first century require scientific solutions. And yet Americans are paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to science; 46 percent of Americans believe that God, not evolution, created life on earth; the…
sheril | January 14, 2009Because he's too humble to blog it, I hope readers will join me in congratulating Chris for being honored tonight by American Meteorological Society, the nation's leading professional society for those working in the atmospheric and related sciences. Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming has won the 2009 Louis J. Battan Author's Award.
Mooney's book is being honored as "an accurate and comprehensive overview of the evolving debate on the impacts of global warming on hurricanes that illustrates the complexities of this significant scientific problem." The…
sheril | January 12, 2009
It's no coincidence that our forthcoming book, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future is due out at around the fiftieth anniversary of C.P. Snow's famous lecture entitled "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution." As Chris explained last week at Science Progress, Snow's delineation of the broad disconnect between the scientific and humanistic ways of thinking has resonated powerfully across the last half century, and describes a problem that's very much still with us. And with that we reveal a bit more about a theme of our narrative--as we'll continue to…
sheril | August 22, 2008
Thanks for your patience as we write and get set for a great line up next week...
sheril | July 28, 2008We've invited some excellent 'intersection personalities' to contribute here while we devote necessary time to completing our book. While we'll continue posting on politics, science, culture, and storms, our first guest is ready to make his debut tomorrow...
Introducing Philip H.
A coastal fisheries oceanographer, Philip left the boat bound life for ocean policy work in our nation's capitol. He is an LSU graduate, and thus nearly impossible to reach during college football season (though rumor has it he sometimes comes up for air when he runs out of snacks). Philip is also a newlywed,…
cmooney | June 13, 2008I have probably been remiss in not doing this post sooner.
You may have noticed that Sheril and I are not blogging with our regular frequency these days. There's a reason: We are, as we've announced previously, working on our book, which is going to consume us for much of the summer. I still plan on tracking hurricanes in the Atlantic this summer/fall, and Sheril will have much to say about marine biology, our scientific workforce, and other matters that interest her.
But still, we do expect posting frequency to be lower, at least until we say otherwise. We apologize for the downturn, but…
sheril | May 19, 2008Buongiorno readers! One revolution ago, I began a journey I certainly didn't anticipate... For a week I was to 'guest host' this Scienceblog called 'The Intersection' while Chris was away in Italy. And so began my first post:
And then something unexpected happened--I never left. And nothing's been the same ever since!
So on this day in May, I'd like to thank readers for contributing to the ongoing discussion, providing thoughtful perspective, and keeping me on my toes as I've wandered down the rabbit hole into cyberland.
Most of all of course, thank you Chris for bringing me here,…
cmooney | April 24, 2008You may have noticed that things have been a little wild here on the blog lately, argument and comment-wise. To calm things down, we've decided that all comments from now on will be moderated. This is actually going back to the way we used to do things. If comments are not on point, respectful, and intellectually serious, they do not belong. Ad hominem attacks, etcetera, won't be allowed. The general principle is that we encourage speech here, but not speech that lowers the quality of discussion for everyone else. Furthermore, please remember that commenting on this blog is a privilege, not a…
sheril | April 9, 2008We spent the past couple days together in our nation's capitol with lots to discuss including some exciting news you'll find out Thursday followed by our upcoming BIG announcement...
Let's just say over the past year, we've noticed we not only work well together, but also have a habit of coming up with interesting ideas collaboratively. And of course the best part is we have a lot of fun in the process.
So stay tuned, keep an eye to the blog, and very soon we'll be able to share our plans with readers!
cmooney | April 8, 2008Gee, this sounds scarily familiar....not that I have experienced anything like the kind of health problems these bloggers seem to to have incurred from the insane 24-7 lifestyle. But I too have been sucked in many, many times by the obsessiveness of it--and then stepped back and found myself wondering if that obsessiveness was entirely healthly.
sheril | March 18, 2008
..is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
1917-2008
Arthur C. Clarke, writer and futurist, predicted many of our technological breakthroughs with uncanny accuracy while maintaining humility and a sense of humor.
'I've never predicted the future, or hardly ever. I extrapolate. Look, I've written six stories about the end of the Earth; they can't all be true!'
As the NYTimes describes, he was a writer of 'scientific expertise and poetic imagination'.
In an interview with The Associated Press, he expressed no regret at not having traveled in space, adding he arranged to…