58 posts · 50,390 views
I am currently a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis. By profession a scientist... by passion a writer. http://fromthelabbench.tumblr.com/
From The Lab Bench
58 posts
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- June 23, 2012
- 11:43 PM
- 453 views
The Gatekeepers of Sunlight
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Managing the amount of energy from the sun that enters our planet's atmosphere may well be the only saving grace we have left from global warming. But that doesn't mean that what researchers call solar radiation management is any less controversial in scientific and public spheres.
... Read more »
David Keith. (1992) A serious look at geoengineering. Transactions, American Geophysical. DOI: 10.1029/91EO00231
- May 15, 2012
- 09:48 PM
- 434 views
A Planet Under Pressure, and Why Gender Matters
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
“I believe we want a world that is pro-poor, pro-development, and pro-environment.”
So said Bina Agarwal, Director and Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth at Delhi University, India, at the Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference in London – an international conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge. At the conference, Bina expressed her concern for food security and forest protection in light of global climatic changes, calli........ Read more »
Bina Agarwal. (2000) Conceptualizing Environmental Collective Action: Why Gender Matters. Cambridge Journal of Economics. info:/
- April 6, 2012
- 03:02 AM
- 482 views
Old News for Carbon Dioxide, New Threats for Climate Change
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
100 parts per million. That was all the carbon dioxide, a colorless, odorless gas, that was required to end the last ice age. An article in Nature Magazine this month confirms what many scientists have been agreeing upon for years: that CO2, anything but a harmless gas when released into the atmosphere, is a major driver of climate change. Watch out gas-guzzling SUVs and ‘dirty’ fossil fuel industries…... Read more »
Shakun, J., Clark, P., He, F., Marcott, S., Mix, A., Liu, Z., Otto-Bliesner, B., Schmittner, A., & Bard, E. (2012) Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature, 484(7392), 49-54. DOI: 10.1038/nature10915
- April 3, 2012
- 01:35 PM
- 557 views
Discuss Science, because it Matters.
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
What is interpersonal discussion, and why does it matter for citizen participation in both politics and science? According to McLeod and colleagues, interpersonal discussion is discussion that occurs in interpersonal networks. The degree to which an individual is involved in interpersonal networks is defined as his or her discussion with neighbors of community problems and frequency of getting together with other people and friends living nearby. But how does dialogue translate into political pa........ Read more »
Binder, A. (2009) Routes to Attention or Shortcuts to Apathy? Exploring Domain-Specific Communication Pathways and Their Implications for Public Perceptions of Controversial Science. Science Communication, 32(3), 383-411. DOI: 10.1177/1075547009345471
- March 28, 2012
- 09:29 PM
- 553 views
Origami Goes 'Nano'
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Origami, from ori meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper", is an ancient Japanese art form. But DNA Origami? It's origami gone molecular- and nano-scale. DNA origami can be used to make super-cool three-dimensional shapes out of nanoparticles with rather 'light-ning' results. Anton Kuzyk and colleagues have used DNA origami to guide gold nanoparticles to self-assemble into helical 3-dimensional structures… similar to the ‘curly’ structure........ Read more »
Kuzyk, A., Schreiber, R., Fan, Z., Pardatscher, G., Roller, E., Högele, A., Simmel, F., Govorov, A., & Liedl, T. (2012) DNA-based self-assembly of chiral plasmonic nanostructures with tailored optical response. Nature, 483(7389), 311-314. DOI: 10.1038/nature10889
- March 25, 2012
- 01:33 AM
- 539 views
Got Frames? Why How We Frame the Environment Matters
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
As George Lakoff points out, framing is everywhere in the news. Coverage of environmental issues and global climate change is no exception. Whether global climate change is framed as a pollution and deforestation problem caused largely by factory farming and animal agriculture, a lack-of-nuclear-power problem, a “dirty coal” vs. “clean coal” problem, a “action = damage to our economy” problem, or a language – “climate change” vs. “globa........ Read more »
Lakoff, G. (2010) Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 4(1), 70-81. DOI: 10.1080/17524030903529749
- February 12, 2012
- 01:45 PM
- 560 views
The Chimp that Could (almost) Talk
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
“Wouldn’t it be exciting to communicate with a Chimp, and find out what it was thinking?” – Professor Herbert Terrace
I watched Project Nim tonight, an intriguing and emotional film about a scientific project that, to many, meant much more than scientific findings – the story of a chimpanzee taken from its mother at birth, raised like a human child, and taught to communicate using sign language.
... Read more »
Terrace, H., Petitto, L., Sanders, R., & Bever, T. (1979) Can an ape create a sentence?. Science, 206(4421), 891-902. DOI: 10.1126/science.504995
- February 1, 2012
- 01:12 AM
- 642 views
Solar Cells as Easy as Inkjet Printing
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Imagine if making solar cells, which harvest light from the sun to produce energy, was as easy as sending this blog post to your inkjet printer.... Read more »
Wang, W., Su, Y., & Chang, C. (2011) Inkjet printed chalcopyrite CuInxGa1−xSe2 thin film solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 95(9), 2616-2620. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2011.05.011
- January 26, 2012
- 11:25 PM
- 562 views
Speed Matters: Human Genome Sequencing with a Nano-Mechanical Twist
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Imagine genome sequencing technologies that approach the speed of that seen in the movies, in the futuristic film GATTACA, for example. In the future, a person need only wait a few minutes for important information to be retrieved from their genes for purposes of medical diagnosing and disease prevention. Nanotechnology, the science and technology of objects in the range of 1 billionth of a meter, may be just the key to upping the ante in DNA sequencing speed and accessible personalized medicine........ Read more »
Jiahao Wu, Rattikan Chantiwas,, & Alborz Amirsadeghi, Steven A. Soper, Sunggook Park. (2011) Complete plastic nanofluidic devices for DNA analysis via direct imprinting with polymer stamps. Lab on a Chip, 2984. info:/
- January 23, 2012
- 10:33 AM
- 531 views
Climate Change vs. Science Mumbo-Jumbo? an Online Poll
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Alright bloggers, it's up to you now. Climate Change: a serious issue, or Science Mumbo-Jumbo? Take this poll, you decide!... Read more »
Druckman, J., & Bolsen, T. (2011) Framing, Motivated Reasoning, and Opinions About Emergent Technologies. Journal of Communication, 61(4), 659-688. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01562.x
- November 23, 2011
- 02:35 PM
- 426 views
Marching with Allergies
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
I have been living with allergies for 26 years now...
And yet after all of that time, I still have so much to learn about why my body reacts so violently to watermelons, cats, and dust-mites...
But what causes this apparent 'march' from one type of allergy to the next? Why do children with symptoms of eczema often grow into additional allergy symptoms, including hayfever and asthma? ... Read more »
Paige K Brown. (2011) Atopy: Marching with allergies. Nature. info:/10.1038/479S14a
- October 12, 2011
- 12:59 AM
- 727 views
Governing [SCIENCE] with the News
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
If the media can provide "citizens with the information necessary to make informed political evaluations, hold elected officials accountable, and understand contemporary policy debates," why can't the media do the same for science? ... Read more »
Bruce Alberts. (2010) Policy-Making Needs Science. Science, 330(6009), 1287. info:/10.1126/science.1200613
- September 22, 2011
- 12:01 AM
- 591 views
Public Engagement with Science: What it Means
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
"Simply trying to educate the public about specific science-based issues is not working. We need to move beyond what too often has been seen as a paternalistic stance. We need to engage the public in a more open and honest bidirectional dialogue about science and technology." - AAAS Chief Execture Officer Alan Leshner, Science 2003
... Read more »
Borchelt, R., . (2008) Engaging the scientific community with the public - communication as a dialogue, not a lecture. Science Progress, 78-81. info:/
- September 3, 2011
- 07:33 PM
- 1,061 views
Storms Inside Storms: How Hurricanes Spawn Tornadoes
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
As Tropical Storm Lee makes landfall over the Louisiana coast and moves inland into southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, primary concerns include extensive flooding and damage from looming tornado weather. Tropical cyclones, or hurricanes, actually produce conditions amenable to tornado genesis.... Read more »
McCaul, E. W., Jr., D.E.Buechler, S.J.Goodman, and M.Cammarata. (2004) Doppler radar and lightning network observations of a severe outbreak of tropical cyclone tornadoes. Mon. Wea. Rev. info:/
- September 3, 2011
- 04:00 AM
- 872 views
Tropical Storm Lee Approaches
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Classes have started, and summer is coming to a close. We know what that means: it is hurricane season down in the Bayou. Talk about needing to be prepared and have a plan for potential dangerous situations. ... Read more »
Holland, G.J. (1993) "Ready Reckoner" Chapter 9, Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting. WMO/TC-No. 560, Report No. TCP-31, World Meteorological Organization. info:/
- August 26, 2011
- 01:42 AM
- 1,045 views
A Whole New World: My Beginnings as a Student of Journalism
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
This week, I started graduate classes for the first time as a student of Mass Communications at the LSU Manship School. Yahoo!
Thus begins my jump from a PhD in Biomedical Engineering to an advanced degree studying science journalism!
... Read more »
PH Longstaff. (2005) Security, resilience, and communication in unpredictable environments such as terrorism, natural disasters, and complex technology. Center for Information Policy Research. info:/
- August 7, 2011
- 02:01 AM
- 583 views
NanoArt: Truly Extra-Ordinary
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Art at the scale of 1/1,000,000,000 (1 billionth) of a meter, where materials can act and look very differently than they do in the macroscopic world that we see around us.
... Read more »
Powell, D. (2011) Matter . Science News, 179(7), 10-10. DOI: 10.1002/scin.5591790710
- August 7, 2011
- 02:01 AM
- 561 views
NanoArt: Truly Extra-Ordinary
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Art at the scale of 1/1,000,000,000 (1 billionth) of a meter, where materials can act and look very differently than they do in the macroscopic world that we see around us.
... Read more »
Powell, D. (2011) Matter . Science News, 179(7), 10-10. DOI: 10.1002/scin.5591790710
- August 7, 2011
- 02:01 AM
- 801 views
NanoArt: Truly Extra-Ordinary
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Art at the scale of 1/1,000,000,000 (1 billionth) of a meter, where materials can act and look very differently than they do in the macroscopic world that we see around us.
... Read more »
Powell, D. (2011) Matter . Science News, 179(7), 10-10. DOI: 10.1002/scin.5591790710
- August 7, 2011
- 02:01 AM
- 565 views
NanoArt: Truly Extra-Ordinary
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
Art at the scale of 1/1,000,000,000 (1 billionth) of a meter, where materials can act and look very differently than they do in the macroscopic world that we see around us.
... Read more »
Powell, D. (2011) Matter . Science News, 179(7), 10-10. DOI: 10.1002/scin.5591790710
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