From PhD Comics.
So very true.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
08 April 2009
15 October 2008
Well educated supervillains
I was watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory today ("The Codpiece Topology") and one of the characters raises an interesting point about super villains. He was listing evil villains in comic books like Dr. Doom and Dr. Octopus, when he went on to say:
"It's amazing how many supervillains have advanced degrees. Graduate school should do a better job of weeding those out."I guess I had never thought about super heros and super villains in that context before, but people over on Everything2 did about 8 years ago. They compiled an even larger list of supervillains with advanced degrees:
One commenter made a very interesting point:
"The phenomenon of over-educated supervillains, equally prevalent in horror fiction and comic books, goes back at least as far as the Victorian archetype of the Mad Scientist - people who worshipped the false god of the intellect, often violating taboos in their ungodly pursuit of knowledge. Usually these villains were doomed to be destroyed by their own creations, but often would instead be slain or overthrown by courageous heroes of no exceptional intellect, but stout Christian hearts. The triumph of Good over Evil was therefore also a triumph of the spirit over the intellect."It is unfortunate that scientists are often shown as morally corrupt and used to demonstrate the potential perils of putting all your faith in the power of technology and pursuit of scientific knowledge. But in the end, it's not their science educations that make them evil, it's their actions. Luckily, scientists don't always get a bad rap, well educated superheros exist too, Iron Man and Professor X for example.
The roll of "evil scientist" can also be pretty funny. Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog is a great modern example of the well educated supervillain. Or, want-to-be supervillain in this case.
If you know of other supervillains with advanced degrees, post them in the comments below.
13 October 2008
There will be oil
I saw an episode of Good Eats this weekend ('There will be oil') with cooking oil as the topic. Alton Brown explains the chemical structure of oils, including what is meant by saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated, by making them out of balloons!
Definitely worth a watch, the balloon action begins at minute 2 in the video below. The black balloons represent carbon atoms, and the hydrogen atoms are the yellow balloons.
25 July 2008
Food Detectives with Ted Allen
I just saw an add on the Food Network tonight, they have a new show premiering Tuesdays at 9pm - Food Detectives with Ted Allen (it appears they're having a sneak preview Sunday at 11pm). You might remember Ted Allen as the foodie on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Popular Science Magazine provides the science. From what I've seen, it looks like a cross between Myth Busters and Good Eats (You can watch a trailer here). I'm looking forward to the first episode!
19 July 2008
Captain Planet
My post about the platypus t-shirt reminded me of the cartoon "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", as 5 kids from around the world would combine their powers to summon Captain Planet (with an awesome green mullet). Throughout the series they mainly fight villains that pollute the earth and give tips on how you can save the planet at the end of episodes.
I found the first Captain Planet episode over on Youtube and in it the villain starts drilling for oil in a wildlife sanctuary which looks to be in Alaska, given the wildlife. Despite being made in 1990, this sounds a lot like President Bush's desire to look for oil in Alaska. I'm sure most of the environmental issues dealt with in Captain Planet are still issues today, 10 years later.
(This is part 1/3, the other parts can be found here)
I remember watching episodes in school for teaching purposes, I hope they're still being used in some aspect today. Internet searches seem to indicate that Boomerang still airs episodes, but I don't get fancy cable channels like that, so here's hoping for a DVD box set. Although for younger kids, I still think Its a Big Big World is a wonderful introduction to science and exploration.
08 April 2008
Seeing Green
Anytime I turn on the TV these days, it seems every other commercial is another company touting how "green" (environmentally friendly) they are. I'm all about taking steps to becoming more green, and think this is an important movement (The Daily Green has this to say on 5 easy steps you can take to become more green). So, here's a mash up of comments on various commericals I've been seeing lately about green products.
I like that the green initiative is gaining awareness, yet at the same time, it seem a little wrong to have companies make green product claims just to change consumers' images of their product(s). Right now Wal-Mart is airing several commercials about how by buying certain products you can become more environmentally friendly. I think the ultimate messages are good ones, like stop buying individual bottled waters and instead just refill containers or that one should buy concentrated laundry detergent to save on packaging waste, but in the long run it's really just about increasing sales (the blog Wake-up Wal-Mart has this to say about the CEO's ultimate motives). Sears is also advertising extensively the peddle energy efficient appliances.
Home and Garden Television (HGTV) has yearly "dream home" giveaways and this year they've changed it to the Green Home Giveaway. Basically, these homes are designed to feature and entice us to buy certain sponsors' products, and that's really all the Green Home is doing too. I went to their website hoping to see what environmentally friendly products they were using and why they are good for the environment. However, this educational aspect requires some hunting to find on their site, but they do have this article addressing the various green aspects of the home, and a page full of videos about creating a green home.
I've been using plant-based, non-toxic Method cleaning products for a couple years now. But even Clorox (the company that advertises that I should put my children's toys into large buckets of bleach - don't get me started on this one) is getting into the act and has developed a line of green cleaning products, called Green Works, that "must come from renewable resources, be biodegradable and free of petrochemicals." What I don't see on the Green Works website is any mention of the packaging, if it is recyclable or made from recycled products. Having just scrubbed my toilet this morning with toxic smelling cleaner, I think buying either Method's or Green Works' new toilet bowl cleaner is definitely in order (while using my reusable shopping bags to carry them home of course). I can also stop having to buy rubber gloves to protect my skin.
26 March 2008
Elephants Filming Tigers
I am always amazed at how smart animals are.
The BBC is airing a series called "Tiger - Spy in the Jungle" and in order to get good close up shots of secretive tigers, they trained elephants to carry cameras. Humans have trained elephants to do many tasks, but camera wielding is a new one on me. They also had motion sensing cameras set up to look like rocks and logs. Again, the animals were smart and were totally not fooled, you can watch videos of animals (tigers and monkeys) investigating the cameras over here.
This is set to air on BBC One this week, but I really hope this makes it to American TV as well. David Attenborough and tigers and elephants, oh my.
07 February 2008
Green Porno
I was watching Sundance tonight, and between programs they had an interview with Isabella Rossellini and her new short films called Green Porno. She basically dresses up like insects and also uses paper mache to show how these insects copulate. The first 3 episodes are premiering at the 2008 Sundance Festival. I'm waiting for these to make it to the internet. Meanwhile, you can watch the video below for the interview and some sneak peaks.
03 February 2008
Puppy Bowl
So, it's Super Bowl Sunday - which for me does not involve watching men run around in pads and spandex, but instead I watch a different kind of bowl - Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.
If you haven't ever tuned into Puppy Bowl, this year is the 4th year, it features hours of puppies playing and frolicking on a field that looks like a football stadium. And not to be outdone by the actual Super Bowl, it also has a kitty half-time show, that features playful kittens and confetti.
Watching the puppies this year got me thinking about the evolutionary significance of play and why are young animals so active. A quick Google search provided me with two good summary articles on this topic.
So what exactly is play in animals? According to John Byers and Marc Bekoff:
"Play is all motor activity performed postnatally that appears to be purposeless, in which motor patterns from other contexts may often be used in modified forms and altered temporal sequencing."Perhaps not a factor in domesticated animals like puppies, but playing takes valuable time and energy from developing young, so play must also serve some beneficial purpose for it to be present in a majority of mammals and some birds. It seems that animals are most active when their brains are developing most rapidly - stimulus via play helps create new neural connections. The energetic movements may also help muscle tissue mature.
Play also allows young to practice behaviors they will need as an adult. It seems there are 4 rough categories of play: locomotor play (juveniles moving in ways that mimic adult animal actions), predatory play (juveniles practicing hunting behaviors), object play, and social play (which can safely teach young the skills they will later use in aggressive social behaviors and may also strengthen social bonds between group members). Watching the puppies play tug of war, I can see how this mimics the action of ripping meat off bones. And it is always entertaining to watch kittens stalk and attack felt mice.
So, if you've missed the Puppy Bowl this year, no worries, Animal Planet has a few videos on their site that will tide you over until next year (you can always pretend you've taken an interest in animal behavior and are conducting "research").
30 January 2008
Child stars that turned into math/science geeks
For my return to blogging, I'm going to "steal" a blog entry from Eastern Blot, well, I'm going to link to it here and give a summary below. She has a interesting blog entry about child actors who've gone on to careers in math and science.
I watched a fair amount of TV as a child, and I knew that Winnie (Danica McKellar) from The Wonder Years was a mathematician but I just learned that Blossom (Mayim Bialik) from the TV show Blossom is getting a PhD in neuroscience. Both of which are shows I watched in the early 90s.
I also am a fan of The Shining, and it turns out that Danny Lloyd, who plays the child Danny in the movie, is actually a biology professor.
Less shocking than ethnobotanist models, but I'm glad to see not all child stars get pulled into stereotypical lives of drugs and shame.
19 December 2007
It's a Big Big World
"As they accompany Snook and his pals on adventures and investigations in the World Tree, kids will experience science, not as just a collection of facts, but as an exciting process of discovery. Viewers will see characters who are excited about science, who look for answers to the scientific puzzles they encounter, and who follow the steps and methods of scientific investigation. Through the stories of individual characters, kids will learn about different animals - how they live, grow, and change. The series will also introduce children to geography, providing them with a basic understanding that the world is bigger than their immediate surroundings and a sense that they are an important part of a larger community."
The episode I watched had a variety of science topics - they talked about sap (and how if kids had eaten syrup on pancakes they had eaten tree sap) and how the various animals ate in different ways. One of the characters is an old turtle, and they mentioned that turtles have been around for a really long time, before even dinosaurs.
I was impressed. Good job PBS, I'll watch again.
29 November 2007
Wrestling Global Warming
Continuing my theme from last post on professions you (or at least I) don't associate with science and biology, we now have a wrestler who is getting the message out on global warming.
My department's seminar speaker for this week was Dr. William Schlesinger, president of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Listed in his CV, as Dr. Zoe Cardon pointed out during the seminar, was his impact on WWE Smackdown champ John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) and his thoughts on global warming.
“Global warming’s real,” JBL declared. “If [America wants] to be the economic powerhouse of the future, we have to make sure that this environment stays in tact. I don’t mean to sound like a leftist tree-hugger, but this is simply the fact.”(quote taken from this article)
Not only is JBL a wrestler, but he is an investment banker and hosts his own radio show featuring segments like Tramp-of-the-week and Bonehead-of-the-week. But mixed in with that he talks about politics and had Dr. Schlesinger on to talk about global warming. If you're so inclined, you can listen to a clip of the show here if you scroll down to Feb. 10, 2007.I doubt many scientists are really getting their message out on the importance of global warming to fans of WWE Smackdown, but I'm glad at least JBL is helping to spread the word.
Ethnobotanist model?
"Elisa continued her wacky shenanigans by closing her eyes and turning her back when her model was changing and camera talking that she didn't want to touch him, as her boyfriend was the only male she was comfortable using her organic methodology of design on. Which made it seem sexualized in a manner I am not sure she was aware of, as her model nervously told her he was interested in Ethnobotany and she rapturously told him "keep talking!". Um. Awkward?"A model who is also an ethnobotanist!? The model is Conner, pictured to the right, and ethnobotany is the study of plants and their relationships with people and cultures. I'm sure female grad students everywhere are shaking their heads and wishing he had gone to grad school instead.
27 November 2007
All hail the banana
So, I've been getting the most visits to my blog via people searching for Alton Brown and Good Eats. So, it seems only fair to my "fans" to talk about an episode I saw recently - Top Banana.
One thing I love about Good Eats is that they always tell you about the history of food - in this case did you know slipping on banana peels isn't just a cartoon standby?:
"About a decade after they [bananas] came into this country, they became very popular street foods. Since there were very few trash cans in urban areas, most people just gave them a fling. [flings skin off camera, we hear a man slip, yell, and fall] So many city dwellers were either injured or killed in banana related accidents that the peel became the poster child for the growing litter problem in America. Ironic, don't you think?"(Transcript courtesy of the Good Eats Fan Page)
And unlike avocados that I blogged about previously, I also learned that bananas are one of the few fruits always picked green and allowed to ripen off of the "tree" (banana plants might look like trees but have no woody tissue and are therefore just large herbs). They actually taste best that way.
For more history of the banana, you can watch the first 10 minutes of the episode below - if you don't mind that the sound is slightly out of sync that is.
25 November 2007
Humans and Dinosaurs
Hope all of you in the blogosphere had a happy Thanksgiving!
A tradition of mine is to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving as a spectator sport - Americans are crazy and are willing to stand in hour long lines just to save $10.
At first, I must admit that I was upset that kids might get the wrong impression that humans and dinosaurs ever lived at the same time. However, with a name like Imaginext I can see why the scenario of humans and dinosaurs living together might be a fun thing for kids to imagine.
It turns out, however, that creationists think that this idea isn't just good fun, but rather that the Bible tells them humans and dinosaurs lived together. If you google "humans and dinosaurs" the first several hits are all from creationist websites. Instead of linking to any of these sites, I'll direct you to this blog entry instead that extracted some real gems on the topics of the Bible and dinosaurs. The fact that the old testament mentions dragons and that some people think this is the end all source of information just cracks me up.
13 November 2007
Intelligent Design on Trial
I just finished watching Nova's presentation of "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial". I thought it was done very well, and if anything, this program should be shown in biology classrooms.
For those who missed the program, Nova will be making the show available on the internet in a few days on their website.
The part I found the funniest was that in drafts of Of Pandas and People, "creationists" got changed to "cdesign proponentsists" — a transitional fossil of text showing the link between creationism and intelligent design.
I remember when my sister was starting high school biology a few years ago - I asked her if they would be learning about evolution. It turns out the policy of the Vacaville public school district in CA was just to ignore the controversy and skip evolution all together (perhaps this has changed by now). Maybe that is the ultimate goal of the religious groups against the teaching of evolution, if you cause enough trouble, eventually people just start avoiding the topic.
It also makes me wonder about religious individuals that just refuse to listen to the evidence in support of evolution. Not only that, but threaten the lives of people trying to get evolution taught in schools. That they feel the need to fight so hard just makes me think they know their cause is unfounded.
07 November 2007
Entomological origins of Pokémon
I just read a pretty interesting blog entry about Pokémon, which turns out is a series first started by an amateur entomologist. I can't say I ever paid much attention to the Pokémon themselves while my sister used to watch the cartoon, but it turns out that some Pokémon undergo metamorphosis in biologically real ways. I'll post some pictures below, taken from the Pokémon website.
For those who didn't read the blog entry I linked to, the cicada nymph-like Pokémon (Nincada) later emerges as an adult cicada (Ninjask) and its molted skin (Shedinja).
Who knew that Pokémon could also be (somewhat) educational?
24 October 2007
Scientists in Sitcoms?
My previous post about Friends got me thinking, are there other sitcoms that have scientists as characters? If you know of one, let me know via comments.
I think doctors, lawyers, and police officers are overrepresented, especially doctors.
...
A Google search revealed that the BBC is now filming "Lab Rats" a sitcom about a university research lab. You think that will ever make it to BBC America?
I also discovered that CBS has a sitcom about physics grad students, called "The Big Bang Theory" - I'm tuning in this Monday (it also appears that you can watch episodes over at CBS's website).
Evolution among Friends
I don't like to work in silence, so I often have the TV on in the background. The other day a re-run of Friends came on, and what do you know, they were talking about evolution.
Ross, for non-watchers of the show, is a scientist who studies dinosaurs, and during the episode he tries to convince Phoebe, the resident skeptic, that evolution is a scientific reality. Thanks to the countless people out there obsessed with Friends, a transcript of the episode "The One Where Heckles Dies" exists, so I'll paste in the relevant parts below the fold...
PHOEBE: I'm sorry, but sometimes they [the recently deceased] need help. That's fine.
Go ahead and scoff. You know, there're a lot of things that I don't
believe in, but that doesn't mean they're not true.
JOEY: Such as?
PHOEBE: Like crop circles, or the Bermuda triangle, or evolution?
ROSS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. What, you don't, uh, you don't believe in
evolution?
PHOEBE: Nah. Not really.
ROSS: You don't believe in evolution?
PHOEBE: I don't know, it's just, you know...monkeys, Darwin, you know,
it's a, it's a nice story, I just think it's a little too easy.
ROSS: Too easy? Too...The process of every living thing on this planet
evolving over millions of years from single-celled organisms,
too easy?
PHOEBE: Yeah, I just don't buy it.
ROSS: Uh, excuse me. Evolution is not for you to buy, Phoebe.
Evolution is scientific fact, like, like, like the air we
breathe, like gravity.
PHOEBE: Ok, don't get me started on gravity.
ROSS: You uh, you don't believe in gravity?
PHOEBE: Well, it's not so much that you know, like I don't believe in
it, you know, it's just...I don't know, lately I get the
feeling that I'm not so much being pulled down as I am being
pushed.
(knock at the door)
CHANDLER: Uh-Oh. It's Isaac Newton, and he's pissed.
....
ROSS: How can you not believe in evolution?
PHOEBE: Just don't. Look at this funky shirt!
ROSS: Pheebs, I have studied evolution my entire adult life. Ok, I
can tell you, we have collected fossils from all over the world
that actually show the evolution of different species, ok? You
can literally see them evolving through time.
PHOEBE: Really? You can actually see it?
ROSS: You bet. In the U.S., China, Africa, all over.
PHOEBE: See, I didn't know that.
ROSS: Well, there you go.
PHOEBE: Huh. So now, the real question is, who put those fossils there,
and why?
...
ROSS: Ok, Pheebs. See how I'm making these little toys move? Opposable
thumbs. Without evolution, how do you explain opposable thumbs?
PHOEBE: Maybe the overlords needed them to steer their spacecrafts.
ROSS: Please tell me you're joking.
PHOEBE: Look, can't we just say that you believe in something, and I
don't.
ROSS: No, no, Pheebs, we can't, ok, because--
PHOEBE: What is this obsessive need you have to make everyone agree
with you? No, what's that all about? I think, I think maybe
it's time you put Ross under the microscope.
ROSS: Is there blood coming out of my ears?
...
PHOEBE: Uh-oh. It's Scary Scientist Man.
ROSS: Ok, Phoebe, this is it. In this briefcase I carry actual
scientific facts. A briefcase of facts, if you will. Some of
these fossils are over 200 million years old.
PHOEBE: Ok, look, before you even start, I'm not denying evolution,
ok, I'm just saying that it's one of the possibilities.
ROSS: It's the only possibility, Phoebe.
PHOEBE: Ok, Ross, could you just open your mind like this much, ok?
Wasn't there a time when the brightest minds in the world
believed that the world was flat? And, up until like what, 50
years ago, you all thought the atom was the smallest thing,
until you split it open, and this like, whole mess of crap
came out. Now, are you telling me that you are so unbelievably
arrogant that you can't admit that there's a teeny tiny
possibility that you could be wrong about this?
ROSS: There might be, a teeny, tiny, possibility.
PHOEBE: I can't believe you caved.
ROSS: What?
PHOEBE: You just abandoned your whole belief system. I mean, before, I
didn't agree with you, but at least I respected you. How, how,
how are you going to go into work tomorrow? How, how are you
going to face the other science guys? How, how are you going
to face yourself? Oh! That was fun. So who's hungry?
RACHEL: I am. Let me just get my coat.
---------
Phoebe makes a pretty elegant argument at the end there - so scientists, as the Rosses of the world, don't cave in the face of evolution doubters. While our understanding of evolution may be evolving, it is the only possibility that currently explains a large body of scientific evidence.
(except if maybe you're a Pastafarian and believe that an invisible and omniscient being called the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe in one day)
19 October 2007
TV versions of evolution (and creationism)
Here is this week's video:
Someone out there also seems to be paying attention when animated sitcoms mention evolution and creationism, and spliced together this video comparing them. The Simpson's version of evolution is pretty awesome, and fairly comprehensive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
