Salamin - Science

Misconceptions

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:08:53 -0700

Sometime ago, I asked Aya if she knew exactly what kind of work we do. Turned out that she didn't. So I told her: "We're scientists. You know, I do experiments everyday, just like the experiments we do at home. Tatay does stuffs on the computer. We're both hakase." Hakase (??) refers to someone who holds a doctorate. Aya knows this word because she watches Powerpuff Girls on TV, so I thought I'd use the word to give her an idea. In the cartoon series, the girls refer to Prof. Utonium as "hakase."

Aya laughed out loud and said: "Eh? Hakase si Tatay? Ikaw rin? Pano ka naging hakase eh babae ka?" (What? Dad is a PhD? And you too? How could you be one when you're a woman?)

Thanks a lot to the people who created Powerpuff Girls. You've inadvertently given my daughter the erroneous idea that for someone to be called Dr. or hakase, that someone has to be a man. But for now, I'll reserve my rants about gender issues in another blog entry.

I couldn't forget that incident, because it illustrated perfectly how many of our misconceptions could start early on in our lives, no thanks to the crap that we are inevitably fed by the media, friends and families, the very environment we grow up in. The images we see on TV or movies are very powerful in influencing our perception of so many things. (Image taken from www.tv.com)

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Science Blog, Anyone?

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:44:37 -0600

Bahay Kubo Research is getting revitalized.

After years of languishing on the Internet, the site is rejuvenated with a new design, new sections, and get this, a blog. Eh? Filipinos blogging about science? You got that right!

I invite you to hop on over to BKR and check out the site. As of now the blog itself has nothing much - but we sure hope that that will change soon enough. And please help spread the word to Filipinos who are into science and technology, research and development, academe or industry, to join us in this new portal. There is so much we can learn from each other. This medium is an excellent place to start spreading and promoting our ideas.

Ipakita ang galing ng Pinoy sa agham!

The Making of a Scientist - Part Two

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:20:35 -0600

Here is part two of the series.

Q: Did you have a chance to work as a research assistant?
Not as an RA, but as a graduate student. The only difference between an RA and a graduate student? The grad student does not get paid. The work is usually performed as part of the graduate thesis.

Q: Did you attend any special programs or schools that nurtured your interest in science?
The special science class in high school which I attended was the only one I could cite as one of those institutions that nurtured my interest in science.

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The Making of a Scientist - Part One

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:26:30 -0600

I found this interesting article from the DOST website, entitled "The Making of a Scientist." It's interesting for me because 1) it featured Filipino scientists, and 2) the said scientists were all women, and 3) I personally know one of them. Dr. Maricor Soriano, one of our former colleagues when we were still at National Institute of Physics, also happens to be a very good personal friend of ours, and of course Baggy's former labmate at the Instrumentation Physics Lab.

Among other things, the article made me realize how important it is for scientists to let other people have a glimpse into what made them into what they are today. I realized that there may be someone out there who may even be inspired to take up science as a career.

It's not a dead end, nor just an exclusive path for the ultra-genius. I think some of you may still be harboring the notion that science is reserved for the highly intellectual but emotionless individuals. Those who care not for anything else except the noble pursuit of knowledge. Well, it may be true for some, but not for all. I know several Filipino scientists who came from humble beginnings, people just like you and me. They just took the path less traveled.

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Haro, Paro!

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:54:00 -0600

Question: What do we and former Japan Prime Minister Koizumi have in common?

Answer: Except for the obvious observation that we held the same the "Mental Commitment Robot" named "Paro," none.

Of course, there are dozens of these babies, and it's quite unlikely that we held exactly the same Paro unit as PM Koizumi did, but can you tell the difference?

Who or what is Paro, actually?

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What a Happy Fusion!

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:39:03 -0700

There was a time when I thought I could be an artist. And indeed, for a while, I thought that that dream was lost, until I found my inspiration again. So I started tinkering with the AFM (atomic force microscopy)-acquired images of the films I have deposited, and found that indeed, nanostructures can be wonderful materials to work with. Just use your imagination!

The opportunity to showcase my "work of art" finally came.
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Beyond Belief

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:17:00 -0700

"In Place of God"

Can secular science ever oust religious belief - and should it even try?

This is the title of the article I recently read at the New Scientist, 18 November 2006 issue, pp. 8-11. This article highlights the key points of a quaint symposium in La Jolla, California entitled, "Beyond belief: Science, religion, reason and survival" hosted by the Science Network, a science-promoting coalition of scientists and media professionals convening at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Unfortunately the article is not available at the NS website. I tried searching for it on the internet, and voila! - someone has managed to put the entire article in his blog. You can find the link here . Those who wish to hear more of the debate can access the following url: www.newscientist.com/podcast.ns .

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Science as Art

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:21:52 -0700

If I hadn't become a scientist, I would surely have ended up as an artist. My dad was a painter, you see. He did all the paintings that are now on display in our house. As young children, he taught us how to draw, sketch, and paint. I never did quite as good in oil painting, but I did have some successes with watercolor and pastel. Daddy had quite a collection of art books, and it was with excitement and wonder that I perused through those pages containing various works of arts. I joined several poster-making contests and won some awards, too.

But alas, an artist I did not become. Still, I'm an art lover. I still wish that I could find the time to work on a few art projects. Someday, maybe.

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Musings on the article "What makes a good PhD student?"

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:50:47 -0700

While browsing through copies of old Nature volumes in the library, I happened to read an article titled, "What makes a good PhD student?" I was intrigued.

I am way past that point, having graduated about 7 years ago (my, has it been that long?). Honestly, I am not at all sure that I've gotten the most out of my PhD experience - for sure, half of the time I was struggling with the language barrier and trying my best to fast-track my learning of all the new tools at my disposal. The other half, well, I was trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do with my life (I had musings like, do I really need a PhD? Why do I punish myself like this?).

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Publish or Perish

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:38:00 -0600

The only true measure of one's scientific output is for it to be published. Publish or perish - it is so very true. As doctoral students we were pressured to publish in order to graduate. After we graduated, guess what, we are pressured all the more to publish because that's what we are supposed to do. Got a paper published? Great, now work on another one. It's a vicious cycle. The goal is to publish for the sake of publishing. If your work is not peer-reviewed and published in an international journal, it goes to waste. No easy way about it.

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Hyperbolic Geometry, Anyone?

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 24 May 2005 07:59:15 -0600

Two weeks ago I was finally able to finish Sagan's 'Cosmos' book. I had immensely enjoyed myself reading that book, in spite of the obviously political propaganda (all for a good cause, of course) painted by the author towards the last chapters. I am all for space exploration - by all means let's bring all our resources together to launch space vehicles to 'widen our horizon.' But I do not agree at all that the plight of human beings on this earth are any better, neither are the children of the world today living any better than their ancestors. I think of the 9-11 tragedy, the continuing war in Iraq, the recent Asian tsunami, and I shudder. The book was written in 1981, a few years after the successful launching of Voyagers 1 & 2 - and way before all these global disasters ever happened.

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Superstitions vs Science

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 07:39:12 -0700

Sounds like cliche, but all day long I've been thinking about how science and technology changed the way we think and regard things. Everyday I work with lasers and x-rays and all that "hi-tech" stuff, subjecting each hypothesis to rigorous experimentation and careful measurements. This is my world, my own sphere where observations can be made by controlling and varying parameters. But for me science is more than a subject; it is a way of life. Thus it is inevitable for me to "think" science in virtually every aspect of my existence. Perhaps the very reason why I am such a skeptic.

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Ponderings on the Evolution vs Creation Debate

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 07:47:19 -0700

I love the days when all I do is sit in front of my apparatus while growing thin films--the extra time affords me the opportunity to catch up on my reading. This week I found myself re-reading "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan. I think I was halfway through this book sometime or the other.

In Chapter II, entitled "One voice in the cosmic fugue," Carl Sagan described the events from the Big Bang which gave birth to the universe as we know now, then to the possible events which sparked the existence of the first living things on earth, the Cambrian explosion which led to the eventual proliferation of life on this planet. "Evolution is a fact, not just a theory," he wrote.

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