We’re in Paris for a week. See last week’s post for information about the A380 we flew. Here are five French scientists we’d like to meet while we’re in France, if only they were still alive. These scientists represent the kind of thinking we appreciate, thinking outside the box and searching for novel connections. Marie Curie (1867-1934) Okay, she was a naturalized French citizen, but … Continue reading Five French Scientists
[Keep reading about science writing at Lofty Ambitions HERE or use the tag cloud in the right sidebar.] The Best American Essays 2012, Series Editor Robert Atwan Even those nonfiction writers who focus on science are often interested in the essay form regardless of the topic covered. And science writing makes its way into this annual collection of the best nonfiction from periodicals, which was edited … Continue reading Writing in General, and Science Writing in Particular: Annual Anthologies (3)
FOR ALL POSTS ON SCIENCE WRITING, click HERE or use the tag cloud in the right sidebar. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012, Series Editor Tim Folger This anthology is divided into six sections, each representing a different area, a different subject matter. Of the 23 essays, five are written by women. That low percentage is at odds with our experience at the … Continue reading Writing in General, and Science Writing in Particular: Annual Anthologies (2)
The Best American Science Writing 2012, Series Editor Jesse Cohen This collection is a wonderful mish-mosh of essays, from novelist and physicist Alan Lightman’s explanation of the multiverse in “The Accidental Universe” to Charles C. Mann’s investigation of “The Birth of Religion.” If you have the least bit of interest in science writing—and definitely if you’re trying to break into the field of science writing—this … Continue reading Writing in General, and Science Writing in Particular: Annual Anthologies (1)
Also see Part 1 of “Science Writing at AWP 2013.” We like to keep busy at Lofty Ambitions, but attending an AWP panel that is comprised of Pireeni Sundaralingam, Alan Lightman, C. Dale Young, and Sandra Alcosser tends to make one pause, get a little introspective, and ask, “Could I be working just a tad bit harder?” Three of the four panelists are writers who … Continue reading Science Writing at AWP 2013 (Part 2)
M. G. Lord is a cultural critic, journalist, and the author of Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, and The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice. Since 1995, she has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review and the Arts & … Continue reading Guest Blog: M. G. Lord
On October 30, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a secret document mandating that the United States maintain and develop its nuclear weapons arsenal. Just four years later, on this same date, the Soviet Union detonated the largest explosive device ever, Tsar Bomba. The estimated yield was 50 megatons, which is almost one-and-a-half times the power of the combined yield of the two bombs detonated … Continue reading On This Date: Five Notable Events
In the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the bridgekeeper asks three questions, much like the security questions now used for credit card accounts. What is your name? Lofty Ambitions. What is your quest? GRAIL. What is your favorite colour? According to Crayola, America’s favorite color is blue. We suppose this bridgekeeper’s question calls for a separate post on color and the light … Continue reading GRAIL: Another Lofty Quest (Part 1)
“Jet lag,” muttered one of his friends, “long trip from California. Really mucks you up for a couple of days.” “I don’t think he’s been there at all,” muttered another. “I wonder where he has been. And what’s happened to him.” ~Douglas Adams, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish In our blog anniversary post (click HERE for that one), we tried to make … Continue reading Last Chance to See (Part 12)
If you want to start with Part 1 of “Radioactivity and Risk,” click HERE. This post is part of a loose series, most of which were regular Wednesday posts that unfolded in the wake of the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. We include the whole list at the end of this post. Here is “Radioactivity and Risk (Part 2)”: One of the risks every astronaut … Continue reading Radioactivity and Other Risks (Part 2)
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