Science fair winner leaves college without award
The boy and his father left Albright College and headed for home following the Reading-Berks Science & Engineering Fair, believing the lad had not received any awards. But, when his mother went to pick up the project the next day and saw an award and certificate along with her son’s work, Hamburg Area School District sixth-grader Jonathan Gesicki was informed of a vastly different outcome. Read more on The Hamburg Area Item
Science Café looks at climate, energy
OMAHA – Climate change and energy needs are the topic of the next Omaha Science Café on Wednesday evening at the Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St., Omaha. Read more on The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil
Computer science team places fourth in competition
Butler computer science students placed fourth out of 28 teams at the Carnegie Mellon Spring Programming competition in Pittsburgh March 25 and 26. Read more on The Butler Collegian
“To the influence of this Book we are indebted for the progress made in civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future”. – Ulysses Grant (President, 1869-77, of the U.S)
The Bible has been acknowledged over the years as covering every subject of human knowledge and need now and forever (Finis Dake, Bible scholar); as one incomparably so various and full of concentrated wisdom (Herbert Hoover, President, 1929-33, of the U.S); and as the first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention (John Quincy Adams, the second President, 1797-1801, of the U.S).
Science as the study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world and society agrees with scriptures at the end of the day if thorough observation and quality experiment is carried out. Until the findings of science confirm the truth of scriptures, science is only mid-stream, yet to find anchor. To understand nature the best recourse is the God of Nature who has spoken twice: through nature and through His Word (the Bible), and both align perfectly. Galileo (1564 – 1642) and Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), two earliest scientists knew this. For Galileo, with his groundbreaking feats in astronomy and physics, the scriptures cannot lie, only the interpreter of it may. And for Francis Bacon, author of modern scientific reasoning: induction, and hence seen as father of modern science, there are two indispensable books – the book of nature and the Bible. TRUE SCIENCE AFFIRMS BIBLE Indeed, all the conclusions of science between 600 BC and 200 AD – regarded as the first age of science – that are still relevant today agree with scriptures.
And between the early Egyptians and Babylonians the abiding feats reached in mathematics, metallurgy, anatomy and astronomy stay in tandem with the laws of creation as found in the Bible. The Babylonians may have given us the true measurements of the lunar and solar cycles, the exact tracing of the paths of the planets, the divisions of the circle into 360 degrees and the designation of constellations, e.g the Zodiac, but all confirm scriptures as given to Moses, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, John and others (except, of course, the perverted and satanic angle of astrology and horoscope).
Sir John F. Herschel (1792 – 1871), the British astronomer who mapped over 525 new nebulae and star clusters told all ages: “all human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths that come on high and are contained in the sacred writings (the Bible)”. It is worth recalling that John Herschel, who incidentally invented a method of photographing on sensitised paper, was the son of Sir William Herschel (1738 – 1822), who himself brought home the bacon when he developed a new kind of reflecting telescope, and struck a feat when he discovered the planet Uranus (1781) and mapped well over 2,500 nebulae and star clusters, aside producing a theory of binary star systems and determining the movement of the solar system through space. When men such as John Herschel with such intimidating family scientific record speak, who is one quack scientist in your clime, with their ill-equipped laboratories dotted with gimcrack instruments, to advance the contrary view, feign atheism, and question the veracity of the Bible?
All human discoveries only confirm the truth of scriptures! Science, from the Latin word scientia or its more basic root of scire, means to know. It connotes, understandably, the attempt to know or to explore the unknown; to make it known. In other words science invents nothing but tries to make known (systematic knowledge and organization of verifiable sense experience) what has been there. In this sense science cannot contradict what has been and until it confirms what is, it remains a sailing boat in deep waters. William R. McGrath in A Bible Treasury (1981) said the obvious when he said, “there is hardly a physics textbook of 50 years ago which is not now hopelessly out of date because the former theories have been proven wrong and new theories are being invented all the time to try to explain the new observations about nature. Yet the marvellous thing about the Bible is that it is always up to date and practical and appropriate while yesterday’s science textbook ends up in the trash”. And until science “touches” what is, we would agree with Martin H. Fischer (1879 – 1962), the German-born US physician, that “all the world is a laboratory to the inquiry mind”. At any point science agrees with scriptures inquiry ends.
Recorded in the Bodelian Library, Oxford and signed by 800 scientists of Great Britain is this statement: “we, the undersigned … desire to express our sincere regret that researchers into scientific truth are perverted by some in our own times into occasion of casting doubt upon the truth and authenticity of the Holy Scriptures. We conceive that it is impossible for the Word of God written in the book of nature, and God’s Word written in Holy Scriptures, to contradict one another … physical science is not complete, but is only in a condition of progress”. This is the truth or fact that the mathematician David Hilbert was inadvertently alluding to when he said that the measure of success of a scientific paper is how many other papers it makes irrelevant. Lewis Wolpert, professor of biology, as Applied to medicine, University College, London, fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, recipient of the Michael Faraday Award for the Public Understanding of Science and author of the very influential The Unnatural Nature of Science agrees, in this regard, with Hilbert, when he said: “we all ultimately disappear from the literature, because our work is incorporated and it is gone and forgotten, I’m afraid. It really is a very strange process”. The German physicist, Max Planck (1858 – 1947) puts it this way: “a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it”. At that point it has, no doubt, aligned with scriptures, for all scientific truth aligns with scriptures hence they endure.And so then, the inquiring goes ad infinitum until a proper chord is touched, and that chord is in scriptures: in “Thus saith the Lord”! Scientific exploration that takes the Bible as compass gets to safest of shores.
BIBLE AND FINDINGS OF SCIENCE
The Scripture (every jot and tittle of it) is incontrovertible just as it is infallible. Its account should be believed and taken hook, line and sinker. Just only some few years ago medical science was able to tell us life is in the blood. Moses told us that long, long ago: “… for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof …” – Leviticus 17: 14. It is only in this computer age we are being told that one day or so could not be accounted for in the life of our world, a fact (or secret) Joshua and Hezekiah were privy to many centuries ago as you can see in Joshua 10: 12 and Isaiah 38: 8. It is now that science noticed that our earth rotates, a fact Job knew thousands of years ago (see Job 38: 12-14 where verse 13 refers to the axis and 14 says: ‘it is turned as clay to the seal’ which is the figure of the potter’s wheel). It is great finding today to discover that the earth is just rotating out there in space. Job knew that long ago: “He stretched out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26: 7).
Meteorologists may have discovered the water circle today but Solomon knew that long ago: “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again” (Ecclesiastics 1: 6, 7). What news it was to discover that the atmosphere ‘weighs about fourteen pounds per square inch at sea level’. In Job 28: 25 God showed long ago that the air could be measured: “To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure”. Who cannot see the hydrologic cycle in Job 36: 27-29 which literarily reads: “For he draweth up the drops of water, they distil as rain from the vapour (mist) thereof, which the clouds (skies) pour down and drop upon man abundantly. Yea, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, the thunderings of His pavilion?”
Science has today agreed with Jeremiah 33: 22 that, “THE HOST OF HEAVEN CANNOT BE NUMBERED” when it told us that there are well over 100 billion stars in our own galaxy, and even just as there could probably be billions of galaxies out there in space. Today, science says that the material universe we can behold and all matter in it is made up of little, invisible things called atoms which in turn are made up of smaller particles and that these smaller particles are made up of yet smaller particles which cannot be seen even by electron microscopes but can only be guessed. Whatever difficulty they may have will disappear if they know as we know that: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”. THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN WERE NOT MADE OF THINGS WHICH DO APPEAR!
Science has agreed with what the Bible said about man being “fearfully and wonderful made” (Psalm 139.4) when it revealed for instance that the body consists of various chemicals – iron, sugar, salt, carbon, iodine, phosphorus, lime, calcium, and others – about 98 ¢ worth. The body has 263 bones; 600 muscles, 970 miles of blood vessels; 400 caps on the tongue for taste; 20,000 hairs in the ears to tune in to all sounds; 40lb. jaw pressure; 10, 000, 000 nerves and branches; 3, 500 sweat tubes to each sq. inch of skin or 40 miles long; 20, 000, 000 mouths that suck food as it goes through the intestines; 600, 000, 000 air cells to the lungs that inhale 2, 400 gallons of air daily; and a telephone system that relates to the brain instantly any known sound, taste, sight, touch, or smell. The heart beats 4, 200 times an hour and pumps 12 tons of blood daily (Finis Dake). David knew more than that thousands of years ago, and he knew too that it is only God that could have done that and, so, did not only acknowledged Him as the Maker but gave all honour and worship to Him.
This writer joins McGrath and others to offer scientists another clue from God’s own Word: The great heaps and piles of fossil strata could only have been laid down by the violent combination of water and whirlwind of Noah’s flood; the sea-beds found twisted and turned into mountain tops could only have happened by some vast upheaval turning the sea-beds into mountains and the mountains into sea-floor; the many remains of quick frozen ancient animals in ALASKA and SIBERIA, some dashed into pieces and others piled helter-skelter on top of each other in layers with the very TROPICAL PLANTS still in their mouths that they were chewing when tidal waves and instant ice storms overwhelmed them “can only be explained by a vast flood combined with the tilting of the earth’s axis to alter the seasons”.
Today, many see the planets representing a jig-saw puzzle that could possibly be fitted together! Right as they may be they need know that everything began in the Scriptures. What many know is that God confused the tongues of men when He scattered them after their Babel affront, but most do not know that about the same time or a little after that God also divided the united (physical) earth into continents thereby separating men from men even further. This is what I mean: “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided…” (Genesis 10: 25). So that we don’t miss the point, many years after, 1Chronicles 1: 19 repeated that: “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided…”
Time and space would fail us to represent the thousand and one ways science (true science) has echoed the truth and veracity of Bible; and that, of course, is the only purpose of science, true science. Indeed, enduring findings of science can only exclaim with David: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; …” (Psalm 8:3). Yes, true science at the end of the day would readily concur, again, with David: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (Psalm 19: 1-6). GOD MADE IT ALL!
Only God, the “Supreme Being of unimaginable power, wisdom, and glory” (Finis Dake) can create the world, the material universes. He did create our solar system and the trillions of solar systems, our galaxy (the Milky Way) with its roughly 400 billion stars (suns) and the starry space with its estimated 100 billion galaxies with their near certain figure of 40 sextillion (40, 000 million, million, million) stars or suns out there in space. God in Genesis 1: 1 (in the dateless past) created them all. God made it all: heavens (Psalm 8: 3; 19: 1; 102: 25; Isaiah 40: 12 etc), planets (Psalm 8: 3; Isaiah 40: 26; 45: 12; 48: 13 etc) all things (Proverbs 26: 10; Colossians 1: 15–18; John 1: 3; Ephesians 3: 9, etc). God made it all, be it the North Star or polestar (the bright star in the constellation Ursa Minor), the Great Nebula (the galaxy nearest ours, the Milky Way) or the faintest and farthest galaxy as captured by our telescopes, from where light could travel to our planet in 400 light years, 700, 000 light years and 500, 000, 000 light years respectively! God created ALL THINGS. The Book of Job alone could be the foundation and guide Cosmology (9: 5-8; 26: 7; 36: 32; 37: 18; 38: 4,8-12,16,39-41; 39: 1-30; 40: 15-24), Astrology (9: 7,8; 38: 7,31-33), Geography (21: 29; 23: 8,9; 26:10) and Meteorology (1: 16-19; 9: 8; 27: 20,21; 36: 27-29,32,33; 37: 1-6,9,10; 38: 12-14,19,20,22,28,29) need to safely forge ahead.
Job tells us in Job 9: 1–12 that the mountains, earth, suns, stars, heavens and constellations are of God. In verse 9 we read: “which maketh Arcturus (a name having to do with the Great Bear – a constellation in the northern hemisphere) Orion (the constellation otherwise called the Giant, and it is said that the space in the sword of the Giant alone is about 2 trillion, 200, 000 billion or 2,200, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 times larger than the sun) and Pleiades (the name given to the 7 stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus) and the chambers of the south (suspected to be the “abode of the stars of the south or that division of the stars in the southern part of the heavens)” – Finis Dake. We must say with Amos (Amos 5: 8): “seek Him that maketh the seven stars (or Pleiades) and Orion …” God did all that in the dateless past, Genesis 1: 1: “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” – NIV, NKJV etc. It is the fact of nature represented in Genesis 1: 1 and by Job, Jeremiah and others that scientists have just found out when they tell us the earth is been here for some million (or billion) years. Yes, Adam (or modern man) has been here for only about six thousand years, but the earth certainly predates Adam. We desire that for a subject matter another day.
FALSE SCIENCE IS CONFUSION
Science without God or science that denies Him is false science. But science subject to God and The Holy Bible (His only Word to GUIDE MAN) is a servant to mankind. That is what drives humanity positively ahead and to its desired place. Science without God is tyranny and tyrannical to men because it ruins humanity at the end of the day because, in the first place, it is false. While true science dissolves doubts and necessarily affirms scriptures (The Bible), McGrath (1981) says false science ministers or raises questions which it cannot answer. Hear him: “Science without God pretends that man is his own god but only makes him act like a devil. It was German ‘science’ which invented ‘higher criticism’ of the Bible and robbed an entire nation of morality and faith. What was the result? The ‘scientific’ Germans murdered millions, lay Europe in ruins, scientifically practiced genocide, burned human beings in gas ovens and drew off their fat to make soap, used their hair to stuff army cushions, and conducted ‘scientific experiments’ with living slaves as guinea pigs”.
He reminded that ‘Scientific Marxism’ in Russia and China massacred tens of millions, enslaved other millions, tried to exterminate religion, and ended up preaching atheistic dogmas “so intricate and incredible that only a secret police inquisition and constant ‘purge’ kept the people subjugated by terror to them”. False science is atheism. So called Scientific Marxism is false science. Evolution is another typical false science. God’s Word says: “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘there is no God’… ” (Psalms 53: 1). Dake thinks atheism is proved to be absurd by: the existence of the universe; the constitution of the body, soul, and spirit of man; the innumerable living creatures in existence (each one so perfect and intricate as to make all chance of its coming into existence automatically, an impossibility); the character of God’s works; the preservation and government of all creation (to think that all things came into existence and are being governed by themselves is folly); its ungodly mockery; its powerlessness to help a man to better himself and others; its degrading and immoral influence; the vastness of its unproved claims; and the renouncing of it by its followers in times of affliction and death. He says Sir Francis Newport, Voltaire, Tom Paine, David Hume, Altamont, Ethan Allen and Thomas Hobbes were atheists who among other atheists pleaded for mercy from God and regretted their atheism in their dying hour. Actually, it can take only a seriously demonised man to be so deluded to say God is non-existence. For those so-called atheists who later changed their minds and went to God their Creator in repentance and asked for forgiveness in Christ Jesus well!
The way our own Tai Solarin died may not afford him the opportunity to renounce or recant his atheist position. When Solarin lived this writer gave him the opportunity to retract and think like one created by God when he wrote him (Solarin) to reconcile with his Creator through the only Saviour of the world: Jesus Christ. In his reply he held to his grossly and damnable skewed resolve. Today Solarin cannot even do a rejoinder to this work: and that reminds me that there is God and tells me too that Solarin has long gone to meet, give account to, and receive reward from that God who put him on this earth in the first place. The Bible has said truly, as always: “yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3: 4). Too late for Solarin to make amend, but the Naiwu Osahons in our clime can embrace reason while breath they still have. Back to the foolishness that is evolution!
By the way, which is really easier to believe between the Bible (What God said and of which we attempt here to touch the iceberg) and evolution theories which McGrath summarises thus: supposedly the world originated by the accidental collision of two suns accidentally passing in space, and accidentally or by chance a gob of hot matter was torn off, and accidentally after a few million years cosmic rays fell on some water that had by chance formed on this new planet, and by chance the cosmic rays caused an atom of dead matter to become an atom of living matter ,and by chance this multiplied and became millions of cells and by chance these cells turned into little germs and the germs became amoebas and the amoebas became plants and the plants became animals and the animals became man, all by CHANCE or ACCIDENT! I ask: Is ‘evolution’ not the peak of fantasy and satanic confusion? I think it is.
Be it what it calls cosmic evolution or organic evolution, evolution theorists do not deny the first cause. They begin with matter or substance already in existence and believe in primitive nebulosity and powers possessed by molecules (Dake) but cannot fantasise further, that is, how does this (the matter or substance already in existence) came into existence! Do not forget, of course, the fantasy that is the so-called big-bang theory! This is why it is not difficult to agree with McGrath that, while true science brings certitude and is in harmony with the Bible, false science raises questions and multiplies doubts and exalts human reasoning and theory above God.
THE BIBLE AND CIVILISATION
We have said already that the purpose of science at the very best is to echo what is already there in THE BIBLE. Science that has the Bible as compass and anchor is the science that has served the world.At the end of the day true science would have purposefully or inadvertently fallen in line with The Book to drive society positively forward.
That is why Western civilization has owed much to Christianity. Indeed, D. James Kennedy would rightly tell you that modern science grew in only one milieu – Christianity. John Brooke, an Oxford University professor and Jerry Newcombe would even tell you that modern science is a gift from Christianity: what with Blaise Pascal (1623 – 62), Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727), Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867), Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791 – 1872), Matthew Fotaine Maury (1806 – 1873), Louis Pasteur (1822 – 95), Joseph Lister (1827 – 1912) and innumerable others who gave us civilization! All, leading scientists of this age, they were ardent Christians with rare reverence for God and His only Word: the Bible. Indeed, while Blaise was to dedicate much of his life and writings to persuading free thinkers, so-called, of the truth of Christianity, Newton – the foremost scientific mind of all time – would say that the solar system comes from an intelligent being called God.
Mention must be made of Mark Finley’s book: Prayer Makes a Difference, where he revealed that medical research has shown a wonderful and startling positive relationship between prayers and healing of patients. God is in control, His Bible, the safeguard and compass! We cannot but agree therefore with Ulysses Grant (1822 – 1885), the 18th President of the United States (1869 – 1877) that to the Bible we are indebted for progress in science and civilization and to it we must look for our guide in the future.
That is to say, the ‘future’ dimension is critical in the whole matter. God did not only make all things, He and the heavens do rule – Daniel 4: 25, 26. And if God created and rules He sure has a purpose and direction. AND AN OMNISCIENT GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD AND GRACIOUS TO LET US INTO HIS MIND AND WHAT LIES AHEAD. HE HAS THUS GIVEN US THE BIBLE! God rules beyond now; He rules and governs eternity; God has the world’s trend and future wrapped up in Scriptures. He that knows the end from the beginning has told us the way and course of this world. The safest thing in the entire world to do is “to search out the Scriptures”, and that is even Bible admonition. Just as evolutionists don’t know how the world began, they don’t know beyond the now! They cannot even fantasise!
AND GOD’S TWO GREAT SIGNS
Besides nature; the unquestionable truth of creation by a Divine Being called God; the submission of the findings of true science to the truth embedded in Scriptures; and the great civilised impact The Bible has on the world; there are many other proofs of the existence of God and of the Bible being His only Word to man. But we shall here visit only two: Israel and The Church. The miracle that is Israel and the sign that is ever Jewry wherever they are found and, of course, the way they have survived in a very hostile world for several thousands of years now only has divine explanation, and which explanation we see running through the pages of The Book of Life.
And then, the Church! The great wonder of the Mustard Seed – its growth, uniqueness and resilience in an antagonising world with several gates of hell, who can explain! And derived from that is the truth that degenerated men are being regenerated and made righteous or made to conform to the image of God, and that through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ (the Head of the Church) on the Cross of Calvary.
Israel and the Church are divinely planted here on earth. They point to the glorious fact that God is not only up above but rules in the affairs of men. But more than that: These two plantings of God (ISRAEL and THE CHURCH) are supposed to show the world that there is eternity, which of course, is governed by God. Israel and the Church represent, as it were, God’s preparatory stage to bring men into eternity with Him, Adam having failed. God used Adam to populate the earth that now is. The world became so corrupt that Abel, Enoch and Noah were the only highly spoken-of and, or recorded faithful between Adam and Abraham.
In Abraham God decided to make a new deal. He will use Abraham through the promised child, Isaac, and Jacob the beneficiary of that great and perpetual promise, and which promise was finally consummated in Jesus Christ, THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD, to populate and govern (along side the faithful before Abraham, and the Church) the coming world that will never end, under the Headship of Jesus. A time is coming when, through Jesus Christ, all living Israelites shall be saved and that is besides all resurrected faithful Israelites.
Israel is that sand on the seashore that cannot be numbered shown and promised Abraham by God. The Church is those innumerable stars shown and promised Abraham by God. Israel and the Church are planted in time and grow into eternity. They are the plantings of God and He is watching over them. There is nothing any man; any satanic concert and confederacy can do to stop that. Men can only do well for themselves if they come to God’s Christ (Jesus, the Man of Calvary) while there is still time. That is the only guaranty now to partake in that Abraham’s perpetual promise, that we see in Israel and the Church today but sure to be ushered into eternity with God. That is the only solution, failing which is inviting eternal damnation: And the Bible is incontestable and infallible in all matters: from creation to eternity.
Of the Bible (and hence by extension, the Church) Napoleon Bonaparte is most instructive on several scores when he said: “the Bible is more than a book: it is a living being with an action; a power which invades everything that oppose its extension”. That must be food for thought for all self-proclaimed enemies of Jewry and the Church. As we approach the end of time, we just hope Jacque Chirac and those after him will allow the greatest Frenchman ever to inform and educate them about the Bible; and that is parenthetical!
The more of the Bible pages scientific minds and governors and potentates peruse the better will be the nations and the more of its truth you and I imbibe and of its author, Jesus Christ, we know and become, the better is our station beyond civilization: eternity.
Eferovo Igho is a Nigerian political scientist and had postgraduate training in journalism. A media consultant, he is a secular and Christian writer. He has been extensively published by leading Nigerian dailies including the old Daily Times, The Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Independent and by regional and community papers, and had an op-ed column stint with Daily Independent. As a Christian writer he has also been equally widely published and had a Christian column stint with the National Daily Mirror and Niger Delta Inquirer (the latter now off the streets). Igho is member and contributing author to great media websites. His secular and Christian works have been greatly syndicated; just as his research work in science, astronomy, space science (with Bible illuminating the way) has been published by leading science groups such as NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (in Science), Scientist of the Year, SCIENCE BLOGG, Lois Bigham, Telescope, Galaxy Science/Magazine Back Issues Online Now, and many others.
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One need not make any extensive surveys of different media to provide evidence for this failure. It is enough to see how sports has managed to gain more coverage in various media over the last few decades vis-a-vis science. One may argue that this is so because there are always some sports events occurring all over the world which naturally draw the attention of media. But contention here is that scientific activity, scientific community and laboratories all over the world can also be turned into what are called ‘media events’ if enough pains are taken by science communicators to achieve this status for science. First and foremost it will require the maximum cooperation of scientists.
For instance, anniversaries of scientists, institutes, organisations and societies, including the World Health Day, etc., can be celebrated; discussions and debates with the concerned scientists organised; and doors of concerned laboratories and organisations thrown open to masses and media.
Be that as it may, intention through this paper is to highlight the essentials and limitations of science popularisation so that there appears a fundamental change in the way of looking at this subject. Hopefully, it will lead to more effective strategies to popularise science among the masses.
Science writing is an art
Science popularisation is mostly done by science- trained persons and professional scientists. It is therefore looked upon more as a scientific activity rather than anything else. But science writing is more of an art rather than a science. It is scientific only in the sense one should have scientific knowledge but all the writing abilities are required to make a good presentation of science. It is due to the present lack of emphasis on the art aspect of science popularisation that this field of activity has suffered to date. Those few scientists or science-trained persons who have consciously or unconsciously known the art of science writing and have practised it, have only been successful in popularising science.
Science is a human activity
The second reason why popular science does not tick with the masses is because it is not projected as a human activity but an activity of scientists who simply believe in the search for truth – and nothing but truth! The human side of science is totally neglected in all popular science presentations. The follies and prejudices of scientists, the emotional life of scientists, the irrational circumstances in which scientific work is often undertaken and discoveries and inventions made, etc., are quite often deliberately not highlighted fearing that it would give bad name to science and scientific research. In short, the human face of science or scientific research is often neglected in popular science presentations. There is therefore a strong need to give science a human face. It would not only mean adding human stories to popular science presentations but also talking about realities in scientific research.
Tip of the iceberg presentation
The third reason why popular science presentations often go wide off the mark and make the audience yawn and go for something else is the inability of science communicators to distinguish between technical report writing and popular science writing, thanks to their scientific training or background. They try to cram into a popular science presentation as much as they know or find out about a subject.
Actually, popular science presentation should be like the tip of the iceberg. It should however make one not only familiar with the tip of the iceberg but also aware of the unseen larger part of the iceberg floating under the water. In other words, it should reveal little about science but enough to make one realise the existence of that science with its entire ramification. It should excite one’s curiosity enough so that one would like to probe further into that science. It should not necessarily tell everything about a science but at the same time it should not miss science.
Some important observations
The author’s experience with popularising science over the years has forced him to arrive at some postulates. They are merely based on experience and intuition. Any research has not been conducted to back them up with facts and figures. In fact, much research is required to prove or disprove them. If in case they are proved, they can easily be called the ‘Laws of Science Popularisation’ because despite the best of our efforts we have not been able to popularise science the way we want among the masses. There must be some hidden laws governing our efforts to popularise science. These postulates are stated as follows:
Postulates of science popularisation
1st : Only those elements of science receive attention in a society, which suit its goals or which inspire awe.
2nd : A science communicator tends to impose his or her limited ideas of science, scientists and scientific research upon the audience.
3rd : The amount of space allotted to science in different media of a country is the index of the quality of life of its average citizen.
4th : The quality of science communication or presentation in a country is directly proportional to the quality of science produced in it.
5th : To popularise science is to humanise science.
One can deduce certain things from these postulates. The first postulate indicates that people at large read science because it serves their purpose or because the subject is topical, sensational or controversial or simply excites their curiosity. A handful only read science for the sake of knowledge per se. Much research is required to identify those subjects so that science could be more effectively popularised. For instance, health science and environment interest people at large, astronomy and space fascinate them, Nobel Laureates, UFOs, etc., are held in awe by them.
The Second postulate is dangerous for science itself. Consciously or unconsciously, the layman imbibes the limited or narrow image of science, scientists and culture of science from the communicator, whether he be Jacob Bronowski or Peter Medawar. Notions such as scientists are mad individuals or scientific research is yet another profession are creations of science communicators. That makes science communicator a very responsible person.
The third and fourth postulates are intuitive relationships between two unrelated things or activities. Further research is needed to prove or disprove these two laws by taking data from different countries. However, one must add here that in India we raise a hullabaloo to increase science coverage in our media at the first available opportunity but it often comes to nothing. Also, while writing a popular science article on a subject one often needs the assistance of a scientist doing research in that very subject. But in India the scientist of the concerned subject is often not available for consultation and as a result our writings lack the necessary quality, verve and colour.
The fifth, the last but not the least important postulate, though obvious, reminds us that we must give science a human face so that masses are not afraid of it. It is the basic aim of science popularisation.
Christmas tree of science popularisation
The aim of drawing the ‘Christmas tree of science popularisation’ is to illustrate the importance of various media that take science to the masses, though every medium has its own significance and a vital role to play in communication. But unless a person climbs up the tree, as his or her interest in science is aroused or increased – in other words, unless one begins to read newspapers, magazines and then books – he or she would not have become fully science literate.
Necessarily, the percentage of people reading books would be very small as the top of a Christmas tree indicates. But it is a must to know this tree because the role of any medium should not be underestimated and every medium should be given equal importance simultaneously. For instance, if a student’s interest in science is aroused by science fair or ‘Jatha’ held in the town, it has to be sustained and maintained by wallpapers, newspapers and even books; otherwise, one’s interest would flag and eventually die. Other supplementing media should be made available to the student in form of public libraries, for instance. So, the Christmas tree of science popularisation needs to be watered and tended carefully to produce a science literate society.
Conclusion
According to the postulates forwarded here there are (as yet unknown) limits to the extent science can be popularised among the masses. It is not possible to have a fully science literate society. Moreover, science communicators need to take into account aforementioned aspects about science popularisation for more effective communication of science to the masses.
Management Science and Innovation (MSI) Announces Award of Contract for US Army Reserves CPI Support
Management Science and Innovation (MSI), http://www.msi6.com has been awarded the first option year on our US Army Reserves Command (USRAC) CPI Contract. (PRWeb February 06, 2011) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/02/prweb5039694.htm Read more on PRWeb
Science Alive in South Bend
Kids in South Bend beat the winter weather by learning all about science. The annual Science Alive event at the St. Joseph County public library was held Saturday. Kids could build rockets, create some Read more on FOX 28 South Bend
Computer science students earn extra training
HAMILTON — Three computer science students from Hamilton High School — John Stoll, Brad Sowder and Ryan Clark — were recently honored with an invitation to attend a masters course on developing iPhone applications by INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati.The INTERalliance is a collaborative effort of regional businesses and educators designed to create an environment to keep local young … Read more on The Hamilton Journal News
Science content of degree to be changed following review
THE science content of a degree needed to teach physics or chemistry is being changed after a review found the two elements were not sufficient. Read more on Irish Examiner
Science Will Bring the Woolly Mammoth Back to Life [Science]
# science A group of Japanese scientists claim that now that they’ve figured out how to extract DNA from frozen cells, they can clone a living woolly mammoth in four years. That’s faster than we’ll see the next Ice Age sequel. More » Read more on Gawker
Fibrocell Science, Inc. Announces FDA Accepts For Review Complete Response Submission For Azficel-T
Fibrocell Science, Inc. (OTCBB: FCSC), a biotechnology company focused on the development of autologous (personalized) cell therapies for aesthetic, medical and scientific applications, announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the Company’s complete response submission for azficel-T, proposed brand name laViv®, for the treatment of moderate to severe … Read more on Medical News Today
Image by The Rocketeer
In 8th Grade, I invented a safety feature for electrical outlets. It uses an attachable magnet that goes on the male plug (and stays on the plug when you unplug the appliance) and a magnetic reed switch inside the electrical outlet. The current doesn’t turn on inside the outlet until a magnetic field is present. That keeps kids with forks or knives poking into the outlet from being electrocuted.
I won 1st place in Physical Science at the school and the Regional Science Fair that year. I didn’t get to go to State because I was only in 8th Grade. If I had been a Freshman, I would have been invited to go to State competition.
My Dad commissioned a law firm in 1975 to do a patent search. They found in Argentina (U S Patent 3,868,160), someone had a similar invention that used a magnet and two others (No. 3,846,598 and No. 3,699,285) that used the ground prong to push the circuit into a closed state and one other (No. 3,596,019) that was just like my idea except it used a pin attachment on the plug to turn on the circuit in the outlet. Another similar invention was a power cable coupler (Patent 3,496,500) intended to be used in marine environments that had a sliding collar with a magnet in it that matched a reed switch inside the coupler housing and actuated it after the cable was plugged in and locked. I never saw those items on the market. The lawyer said otherwise it was a perfectly patentable idea.
Other ideas I’ve had but other people patented first:
Legos with batteries, wires, lights and motors inside and put together to form a circuit. I have a rejection letter from Samsonite (the owner of Lego products at the time). Now Lego is selling my idea.
Dental Floss Picks (I came up with this idea in the mid ’70′s too, but didn’t do anything with it)
I have a couple more ideas that I haven’t seen patented yet… but can’t afford the process of getting the patent! It is frustrating waiting too long and seeing your ideas make someone else money.
Are there any other frustrated inventors out there?
Science Foundation of Arizona directs million to solar energy research
Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) today announced the use of a $ 1 million grant for a project to make large-scale solar electricity generation more cost-effective. Pioneered by internationally recognized and celebrated University of Arizona (UA) researcher Roger Angel, the “energy telescope” project uses principals of optics and large telescope design in an innovative way to produce electricity … Read more on Arizona City Independent
Science on Patrol
Students from Eisenhower and Stewart Middle Schools recently completed the fall session of Science on Patrol by presenting a “case” to District Justice Margaret Hunsicker. Science on Patrol is a collaborative program between Norristown PD, Greater Norristown PAL and the Norristown Area School District. It teaches forensic science techniques that the students the apply to solve fictional crimes. Read more on The Times Herald
