Auto-Tune and the trajectory of fads

This intelligently done history of Auto-Tune is wonderful for several reasons. First, it has a simple, elegantly executed story arc, where it describes the trajectory of a fad from introduction to over-exposure to parody/remix and finally to a new equilibrium. And it discusses these concepts in a clear and entertaining way.

Know Your Meme: Auto Tune (featuring “Weird Al” Yankovic) from Rocketboom on Vimeo.

Second, Auto-Tune is a great example of something that was created for one purpose but finds a new life in a completely different discipline. The technology was created for analyzing seismic signals in petroleum exploration before being applied to music. It is amazing what can come from working with people of diverse backgrounds, and having a broad appreciation of the world. Group work is important.

Third, in touching on parody, it brings up an issue that adolescents, in particular need to understand; parody is not just a cheap joke, it has something important to say. It uses humor to address significant issues:

While making fun of something is easy [mockery], parody requires a study of both technique and form, before creating its own recontextualization.

Third, the overexposure stage of fads and memes is something everyone should be aware of. The meme infiltrates so many aspects of the culture that it becomes irritating. As a Middle School teacher I see it primarily in the language my students use. By introducing this concept to my student, we now have a common language for talking about at least one type issues in the classroom.

Finally, equilibrium. An important concept in natural and social science, the concept is neatly encapsulated in how the fad starts off small, overshoots and gets smaller but does not disappear as there remains some lower level of use.

UNICEF cartoons on Children’s Rights

Cartoons

In looking for appropriate resources on Children’s Rights, I found some neat little cartoons from UNICEF in Flash and RealPlayer formats.

Some other simple UNICEF material:

Periodic table trivia

Picture periodic table of the elements

This online periodic table by Theodore Gray has pictures of all the elements. Some are in pure ingots or crystals, others in example applications, and some in ore form. What I find most interesting is there is a bit of trivia about each element when you hover over its picture. Also, the images of the noble gasses shows the colors they emit when excited with electricity (e.g. neon lights), which is kind of cool.

The Big Bang

Good blogging style, like good presentations, should be multi-modal. On the internet we’re limited to text, images and sound/video so we do the best we can. I tend to be text oriented so I try to add an image to each post. In an earlier post on how science works I snagged an image by cédric sorel that he contributed to Wikipedia.

Artist's impression of the Big Bang. By cédric sorel: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_bang.jpg

Each time I see this interpretation of the Big Bang I am astonished once again. The textures give the impression of a three-dimensional cut-away, and the detail in the spiral galaxies swirling away from the center just pulls my attention like a strong magnet lines up iron filings.

The image is in the public domain and a high resolution version can be found on the Wikimedia Commons page (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_bang.jpg).

How science works

Artist's impression of the Big Bang. By cédric sorel: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_bang.jpg

Science progresses from failure. When experiments don’t work, we often learn more from why they did not work than if they had given us the results we expected. Frequently, it is how scientists deal with this adversity that results in advances in science.

We build models of the world, but by definition these models are incomplete. They are only metaphors for the actual world. When our models fail, we learn, and we expand our models.

Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson won the Noble Prize for Physics for discovering the background noise left by the Big Bang. They only did so after spending a year trying to figure out why their radio telescope kept giving them too much static for them to use for their intended purpose (to map the universe’s bright stars).

Silk

How to make silk using the traditional method, by the American Museum of Natural History.

I’ve loved Barry Hughart’s novel, “Bridge of Brids” from the first time I read it a number of years ago. It is the story of a peasant boy, Number Ten Ox, who, with the assistance of the drunken sage Master Li, has to save the children of his village by unraveling the mystery of the powerful Duke of Chin. Not only is it beautifully written, with a poetic story arc and engaging characters, but it also has a wonderful description of initial stages of the silk making process, even though the book describes itself as, “A novel of an ancient China that never was.” The descriptions of Chinese traditions are accurate and detailed enough that you learn a lot about the country. Pulling apart what is historically accurate and what is fiction makes and interesting challenge but is not too difficult.


Spider silk from Madagascar.

Evolution and drug resistant bacteria

Superbugs. When the environment changes, those fortunate organisms who are better adapted to the new environment will live longer and produce more offspring than those that are poorly adapted. (The Chrysalids, is a great book that encapsulates this principle in a powerful coming-of-age story.)

When it comes to bacteria, some small fraction of any strain of bacteria infecting you are, because of random genetic mixing, more resistant to the antibiotics you may be taking. This is why your doctor often makes you to take the antibiotic for a few days after the symptoms are gone; to kill those last most resistant bacteria cells.

Unfortunately, not everyone takes the full course of antibiotics, and some bacteria cells are extremely drug resistant. Over the years since the discovery of penicillin about a century ago, bacterial cells resistant to penicillin have been surviving and reproducing, so that there are now strains of bacteria that are resistant to the drug.

Fortunately drug researchers are developing new antibiotics all the time. When your doctor prescribes one antibiotic and it doesn’t work, they can usually prescribe another that will work because a bacteria strain that has an immunity to one drug might not have an immunity to another, especially if the other is a very different type of drug.

Unfortunately, some bacterial strains have developed that are resistant to a lot of different types of drugs (according to the World Health Organization), and these bacteria are responsible for thousands of deaths in hospitals around the world each year.

Norway has come up with one promising solution; don’t use as many antibiotics. Instead of treating every, or even most colds with antibiotics, their doctors take a wait and see attitude. They prescribe other medicines that reduce the symptoms, the coughing and runny nose, and let the body’s immune system deal with the bacterial infection. And it is working. In Norway, they are able to use penicillin varieties that would not be effective in other countries.

Without the overuse of antibiotics, drug-resistant strains of bacteria are not as competitive as other strains that commonly infect people. Without antibiotic overuse the superbugs aren’t so super after all. So, using less antibiotics means fewer infections with drug-resistant strains.

It’s a bit as if, somewhere in the forests of India, one tiger was born that was much, much better at hiding from and attacking people than the ordinary tiger, but it was smaller than other tigers. Ordinarily, this “supertiger” and its genes would probably die out because it would not be able to compete with the other tigers to reproduce. However, when people start hunting tigers, the supertiger survives better and passes on its genes. Now we have alot more supertigers and a lot more people are being attacked. All because people started killing the tigers.

Evolution is a fascinating process with such a multitude of complicated interactions. I also recommend that students read the introduction to the Origin of Species. It is truly an example of beautiful science. The language is challenging but, I think, worth it.