Popular Science magazine (online)

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The internet has revolutionised the way in which information is propagated to the mass audience, creating a communication web which encompasses the whole world. As a result, Newspapers, Magazines, Television Channels etc all have an associated website through which communication can continue, and Popular Science Magazine is no exception. I had a look through their website, to determine how effective and indeed engaging the site was.

My overall impression of the website was very positive, as it is well presented and entices you to have a look around. The home page includes their top articles from each of the different sections; How2.0, Science, Aviation and Space & Technology, as well as a PopSci blog section which instantly caught my eye. Navigation through the website is very simple, with the articles are clearly laid out in their respective categories. The articles themselves are from a varied range of topics, and in my opinion pitched at the right level for lay persons to understand. Links are available for further understanding on the topic.

I particularly liked the blog entry based on Laser tagging and graffiti technology (pictured), which enabled a building in Rotterdam to be used as a massive Etch-a-Sketch board.

Aminur Rahman

The Last Word

Everyweek in the New Scientist magazine I always end up skipping straight to the ‘Last Word’ column. The ‘Last Word’ is a small section of the magazine in which scientist from across the world try to answer questions from members of the public. These can vary from intelligent questions which are quite difficult to answer such as;

Why is it when two people walk together they often subconsciously start to walk in a synchronised manner?

To highly amusing, silly questions such as;

Why is snot green?

The highlights of the ‘Last Word’ column were, last year, made into a highly successful book aptly named ‘Does anything eat wasps?’ This was so well received by the general public that the follow-up ‘Why don’t penguins feet freeze?’ has just been released.

Even though these books are presented in a light-hearted and jovial manner I believe they actually represent a very good piece of science communication and further aid the publics understanding of science.

Why? One might ask. It is precisely this type of informal scientific writing which intrigues those who relish wit, insight and scientific curiosity, yet may not want to read the complex, and sometimes slightly boring articles in the New Scientist or Nature. These books are definitely a ‘wise, weird and wacky compendium that is guaranteed to amaze, inform and delight.’

Chris McLeod

Cosmopolitan

Even Cosmo has started to science communicate! Imagine my surprise when a quiz in the December 2006 issue with the headline “What sex is your brain?” turned out to have nothing to do with, well, what you expect of Cosmo!

The gregarious claim that men and women’s brains are “completely different” was supported by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen from the University of Cambridge. He asserts that women are “geared up for empathy” whereas men have “excellent spatial awareness.” Interestingly within the introductory paragraph to the quiz lies a contradiction. Men and women supposedly have different brains, but the Professor’s research concludes that “only 50% of each sex have the brain type that corresponds to their gender,” hence the quiz. In this article you can take the quiz to find out whether your brain is more male or more female, even though your sex should determine that already.

While I acknowledge that Cosmo readers may not be the most intellectual bunch, I wonder if such a huge contradiction went unnoticed by them. If women can have male brains and if men can have female brains, is there really such a thing as a male or female brain?

Why did I buy Cosmo? The free bag matched my shoes. My brain is male, in case you were wondering.

Noora Husseini