Monthly Archives: March 2010
surprising science
My friend and fellow science writer Sarah Zielinski has a nice blog over at the Smithsonian magazine website, Surprising Science – today’s post is about how people used to argue against extinction the way they argue against evolution today. The … Continue reading
how to find an earthquake
Over the weekend, a friend of mine from college asked, via Facebook, how geologists know where an earthquake was. To quote: Hey Helen, would you please write a blog explaining how geologists can tell where an earthquake’s epicenter is? Are … Continue reading
last three quizzes
When I first started freelancing full time, a friend of mine was like, hey, I need some freelance work. You can write quizzes for me. And I was like, oh, I don’t know, quizzes? I’ve never written a quiz. And … Continue reading
songs about the elements
A week or so ago I went to a party that was organized around singing the Pirates of Penzance in someone’s living room. It was a great party, and it reminded me of this excellent song, to the tune of … Continue reading
invented languages
I just finished a thoroughly entertaining book about made-up languages: In the Land of Invented Languages. It’s by Arika Okrent, a linguist who’s interested in people’s attempts to create languages, mostly perfect languages that will eliminate ambiguity, be easier to … Continue reading
infographic video
Someone I used to work with at National Geographic just drew my attention to this totally cool music video – it tells the story of a woman’s day through infographics: It’s by the company H5, whose video Logorama just won … Continue reading
museum tourist: human origins hall
The National Museum of Natural History’s newest permanent exhibit opens tomorrow: a hall about where humans came from. It traces our evolution through the last few million years, from ape-like critters to today. I went to the press preview this … Continue reading
happy pi day
It’s March 14 – get it? 3.14? Happy Pi Day! In honor of this day, surely you’d like to visit the Science Channel website and take my pi quiz from last year.
three more quizzes
I just remembered to go looking for my last batch of quizzes, and they were there! Wahoo! Here are three to entertain you for now, and I’ll post the last three later. Tell your friends. A mosquito researcher once told … Continue reading
superheroes in the newspaper
The Washington Post ran a little blurb recommending Science’s podcasts – particularly the entertaining ones, like the superhero one. Which was by me! Woohoo! Here’s their piece.