For our first meeting of 2015 I thought it would be great to start off talking about some of the online science-related happenings. I briefly mentioned how science is becoming more popular in social media. People like Bill Nye and Neil Degrasse Tyson are quite often in the headlines defending or promoting science, but there are a lot more people out there doing the same thing, and they are gaining in popularity on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (this is particularly important for reaching children and young adults). Click here to see a document with a list of great physics and math technology and web resources (including YouTube channels, educational websites and other teaching resources). I personally recommend the YouTube channels Veritasium, Smarter Every Day, Brainscoop and SciShow.

I also discussed a webcomic called xkcd, which contains humorous science/math/programming content. The warning label on the website reads:

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Randall Munroe, the creator of the website, has written a book called What If – Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. In this book Randall answers absurd questions such as ‘Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?’ using science and math. The book is witty and quite interesting – I recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour and a love of science. I own a kindle/pdf version of the book and would not mind sharing it with anyone who is interested.

The last thing I talked about was a new children’s book coming out (it was in fact a book I backed on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter). The book is called Augie and the Green Knight and it is an adventure story about a scientifically precocious young girl in a world of fantasy. The book is meant for children, but it is written for people of all ages. Here is a link where the author talks more about the book. I also own the pdf for this book and can share it with whoever is interested.

Davor Egersdorfer

Email: davoreggy@gmail.com