Halp!
I’m going to do an interview with James Zimmerman from Minnesota Atheists next week. He wants to talk science, which I’m super excited about, and he’s asked me to come prepared with some resources that I can list for adults who want to learn more about science.
Not like that’s a HUGE areas or anything.
I’ve got my personal favorites, but they’re mostly centered around medicine and biology. I’m definitely going to mention the Science Museum of Minnesota and their Social Science program, and I’m going to get a plug in for the upcoming SkepTech conference in April. And I thought I’d ask for some help from you all. If you’d be so kind – what are your go-to places – physical locations, special events, open-source learning/classes, websites, TV shows, social media outlets, etc – for your various interests? General science resources are good, but if you’ve got any resources for specific fields that you think really shine, I’d love to hear about those too!
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mobius
February 28, 2013 at 00:57 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
They are a bit dated now, but for a basic understanding of various areas of science I have always enjoyed Isaac Asimov’s books on the subject, such as Asimov’s Guide to Science and his Understanding Physics series. Asimov was a prolific writer and covered a host of subjects. He wrote books on the basics of nearly any field one is interested in.
Ben Zvan
February 28, 2013 at 05:03 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
NPR’s Science Friday is usually good. iO9, despite being a science fiction blog comes up with some great science articles.
mikmik
February 28, 2013 at 05:54 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
ScienceDaily, Scientific American blogs, Starts With a Bang are three favourites. mobius: great idea. I like Broca’s Brain, A Demon Haunted World, Dragon’s of Eden, all by Carl Sagan. Lastly, Skeptical Enquirer Magazine.
I still like going to the library and just browsing the science section.
mikmik
February 28, 2013 at 05:55 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Dragons, sheesh
chezjake
February 28, 2013 at 09:19 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Alas, on the very day when John Wilkins has announced that he will no longer be adding new posts to his Evolving Thoughts blog (but not removing any content), I’d like to recommend his ongoing (for the past several years) listing of Basic Concepts in Science blog posts from all over the web. It’s a great resource, and I hope tht someone can step up to help maintain it.
http://evolvingthoughts.net/basic-concepts-in-science/
Michelle Los
February 28, 2013 at 09:23 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
In order to prep for grad school & just explore my general science interests, I’ve been taking courses through coursera.org. They are free & from well-established universities – and cover all topics, not just the hard sciences. And they’re no joke – the Intro to Human Physiology course I’m in right now is intense – awesome, but intense. You don’t get college credit, but given that they are free, I think that’s fair.
Kevin
February 28, 2013 at 09:54 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wow. Talk about a broad subject.
I couldn’t earn my living without PubMed, but it’s not a science resource that I would recommend to the lay public.
I guess Science Daily is a good resource on the interwebs. Though it occasionally suffers from the “he said, she said” style of journalism where any research report is subjected to instant criticism whether or not the critic has read the research paper or not.
Bruce Gorton
March 1, 2013 at 06:43 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
PloS One. It is, in a word, free.
Michael Brady
March 1, 2013 at 13:22 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Other than Nova on public television and real books my popular science resources are pod casts and blogs. Details here http://eclecticbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/02/biodork-asks.html
Brony
March 1, 2013 at 13:49 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Pubmed, Google, Blogs, and Wikipedia
The trick is knowing how to make them work for you. The most important thing that I have ever written is an attempt as distilling how to do this down to two pages.
http://www.ponychan.net/chan/dis/res/68830.html#68858
mikmik
March 2, 2013 at 00:27 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I think LiveScience.com is an excellent site for reading science that is entertaining and light. For people not used to academic pursuits, or having an overly intellectual approach, it is a great place to get immersed and spend hours reading. I get lost for much too long there at times!
http://www.livescience.com/ – “This site explains the latest research on the planet, from human biology to the animal world and the forces of nature.”
maxdwolf
March 22, 2013 at 20:20 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
The science media site like Live Science and Science Daily are good starts for hearing about basic research. But when something catches my eye I usually try to follow up by finding some expert science commentary from relevant blogs and sometimes expand my basic understand from some basic online source. Yes, it often is Wikipedia