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Understanding science stuff
Comrades,
I didnt have a good upbringing, so I am not familiar with science stuff. It baffles me. Is it possible to make these subjects fun - physics, biology etc. - just to learn new facts and not for academic purposes?
Thanks,
Elysian
Sure, why not??Just check out youtube videos, they always help me understand sciences, especially biology with the 3d videos..
Science itself can be very interesting. Don't rely on teachers & professors though. Some of them can be alright, but a lot of them will make the experience a complete drag.
There's tons of science-related stuff on the Internet - especially YouTube.
yeah absolutely -- there's a lot of folks who are really good as "popularizers" of science. One that comes to mind is Bill Nye, who had a show that was aimed more for children, but then there are folks like Neil Tyson who goes around on all sorts of shows talking about science stuff. He also hosts PBS' Nova scienceNOW which, honestly, I'm not very familiar with.
But yeah there's a lot of good sources to learn science from. Nova makes good documentaries besides their scienceNOW show, magazines like Popular Science, Scientific American, Discover (not familiar with this one but folks I know rave about it), etc. etc. etc.
And from time to time, there are very good, very accessible books you could look into -- in particular Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time
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If you are going to do practical academic scientific work you are going to need to understand analysis, combinatorics, topology, graph theory, and many other mathematical subjects.
However, if you just want to want to learn facts then you can forgo this. There are plenty of free documentaries and videos which explain scientific concepts in a simple and easy absorb manner.
I had almost no interest in science until I watched Carl Sagan's Cosmos documentary.
You can watch the entire series on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...C&feature=plcp
Excellent documentaries! I love this series and they're coming out with new ones soon..
Anything in specific? Natural Selection/Evolution maybe?
I would watch this series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q76jw0ZB9hA
Then some Donexodus2 videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL0tmb3Evhc
If you want to see something that isn't so rushed but a bit longer you can watch this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcjgWov7mTM
That's just to explain natural selection. Then you'll want to learn about other things such as genetic drift and mutations, which I think is in the series anyway, but if you want "evidences" you can see this link at talkorigins.
Science in and of itself is always fun. The sheer size, mysterious and often bizarre nature of our universe makes it much more magnificent than any holy book would have us believe. As long as you have the will to learn you shouldn't worry too much.
I know you were (are?) religious and its nice to see you're keeping an open mind.
Last edited by Zealot; 10th March 2012 at 04:04.
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I second the recommendation of NOVA, I like that show. I watched an hour long program they showed last night about economics and the 2008 Wall Street crash, it was really interesting. Which is a great feat, seeing as how the subject of economics makes most people want to blow their head off with a shotgun.
"Win, lose or draw...long as you squabble and you get down, that's gangsta."
Yes, they are. It's being produced by Seth MacFarlane and a couple others, Neil Degrasse Tyson is hosting it. Only problem I see with it is that it's going to air on FOX.
Also you might want to consider doing, and not just learning, about science. For example, you can purchase a telescope and see what constellations you can identify - even cooler is looking at Saturn and Jupiter. Watching how Jupiter's moons orbit around and predicting where they'll be a month from now is pretty neat.
On the micro-scale, you might be interested in some games that are out there - http://eyewire.org/ - which maps the neurons in the eye, and http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca/ - which works on aligning DNA sequences. You'll learn a ton through these activities.
百花齐放
-----------------------------
la luz
de un Rojo Amanecer
anuncia ya
la vida que vendrá.
-Quilapayun
http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rc...K16UpX4au8sSDA
Elysan if you have space why not breed some poultry or wildfowl. Observe their behaviour, that's how Konrad Lorenz started before becoming a leading world figure in his field. Put food on the plate, fresh eggs for breakfast.
I'll echo MarxShmarx a second hand telescope has made Wifey the family expert on the heavens. We are blessed here with nil light pollution, eclipses, meteor showers are all observed and shared with neighbours who join our little band of star gazers. One night we even turned the scope earthwards and observed local cops taking a bribe from illegal loggers, in their massive truck.
Last edited by dodger; 12th March 2012 at 08:46. Reason: youtube configure
Night has one thousand eyes
Stephen Hawking has already had a mention, but I'd recommend The Universe in a Nutshell over A Brief History of Time as an introduction to modern physics and cosmology. Even if you don't read all of it, you can learn a lot just from looking at the pictures.
I think it's cool that it's going to be on Fox, it means it will reach a wider audience.
"I'm anti-Republican and Democratic / if they self destruct that's anti-climactic"
We'll have to put up with commercials every ten minutes though.
If you want to learn about astronomy, search (and subscribe to) this channel > http://www.youtube.com/user/tdarnell?feature=g-user-u
If your looking for astronomy/ physics stuff i'd highly recommend Prof Brian Cox's programs Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, he's remarkably good at explaining things in real terms and without any graphs etc They're visually very beautiful as well, combining amazing locations all around the world with real images of other planets and galaxies.
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Why the hell are you asking about learning science on a revolutionary leftist forum?
I think most of us here like science anyway.
''Science is interesting, if you don't agree you can fuck off''
There are a great deal of many popular science books. You could try to look up that genre on Amazon. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything goes through the history of science and stuff, giving insight into personalities and scientific concepts, etc.
There are also several magazines that present scientific topics in an easy to read manner such as Science and Focus. Also, there's the National Geographic.
