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You’re invited to a live seminar in the virtual world Second Life. When: Friday, 2 May at 8:00 AM PDT (SL Time) Where: In the Galaxy Dome floating above the sim named ‘Spaceport Bravo’. SLURL The Cat’s Eye Nebula, a planetary nebula Abstract: Stars live for millions or billions of years, but they don’t live forever. When a star reaches the end of its lifetime, spectacular fireworks can result. In this popular talk for the interested layman, Dr. Knop will... Read more
Would you like to learn how to use software to simulate stars and galaxies? A new Star Simulations School is starting up in Second Life, organized by some of the worlds leading computational astrophysicists – and anyone is welcome to come (for free). Details Learn about software for simulating stars, star clusters and galaxies. Organized by Piet Hut from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Aimed at anyone with a serious interest in astronomy and computer simulations of... Read more
I just finished a four-part series on the recent SciBarCamp in Toronto. You can read them over on my personal blog. ... Read more
Last weekend, I gave a presentation overview of the science-related stuff in Second Life, at the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums conference. Here's a text version of what I presented: First of all, let me congratulate Lori Bell, Doug McDavid, Christy Confetti Higgins, John Howard, Craig Anderson, Tom Peters and all the others who organized this conference. I admire their vision and their commitment. When I first visited Second Life (SL) in July of 2005, there were fewer than... Read more
The popular BBC Radio show The Naked Scientists will be broadcasting live into the virtual world Second Life starting this Sunday, 2 March at 18.00 GMT (10:00 AM PST). They have an island with a nice mansion and lots of comfortable chairs where you can listen to the show with other science enthusiasts and discuss whatever comes to mind. It’s in the middle of the sim named ‘SciLands’. If you already have a Second Life account, here’s a direct link... Read more
On Tuesday, Dr. Kamal Hossain, Director of Research and International Cooperation, NPL, UK will give a talk titled “Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Threats”. Nanotechnologies hold out the promise of major breakthroughs in healthcare, electronics, environmental protection, security – and many more – and are already delivering. But are these benefits out-weighed by potential concerns? Date: Tuesday, Nov. 18 Time: 9am PST, 12 noon EST, 5pm in the UK Location: The sim named ‘Nanotechnology’ in the virtual world Second Life For more... Read more
There are many science-related events going on in Second Life (SL) these days. I don’t know why, but these things seem to come in waves. There must be about 30 science-related events in SL this fortnight. A good place to find out about all those events is on the SL Science Center group calendar. That calendar is a public Google Calendar, so you can subscribe via RSS or iCal; see the above link for the details. ... Read more
Last week, I interviewed Mario Ioannidis about the University of Waterloo’s Nanotechnology Engineering Program (the first undergraduate degree program of its kind in Canada). He’s the director of that program. The interview was broadcast live into Second Life, where the audience could chat and ask their own questions. You can listen to the whole interview over at the NanoLands website. The University of Waterloo is something of an anomaly in Canada. According to their website, “More Canadian high-tech and knowledge-based... Read more
I’ve been helping NPL, the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, with their NanoLands project in Second Life. It’s all about nanoscience and nanotechnology. They’ve just announced a new program called The NanoLands Challenge: if you can think of an interesting exhibit about nanoscience or nanotechnology, then let NPL know and they might award you $400 or $700 USD to get it built. For more information, visit the official website. An example of an exhibit in the NanoLands – methane flowing through... Read more
Today I met with Beth Ritter-Guth in Second Life to ask her about a science-writing project she will be starting with her students soon. We met at Genome Island. Troy: Maybe you could begin by saying where you are and what you do. Beth: I teach Communication and English full-time at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania (PA) and composition and literature part-time at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. Troy: May I give your Real name? Beth: Sure –... Read more
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