Morning Session

The first speaker of the day was Australian of the Year and Climate Change Commissioner Tim Flannery. Flannery took the audience on a journey through computer modelling, evolution by natural selection and the ubiquity of society and civilisations amongst species in the animal kingdom.

The content, although interesting, was perhaps not the best way to kick off and get the audience excited about the day and I think it would’ve been better to begin with Cristina Rad.

Rad was a self-deprecating and endearing speaker, and confided in the audience that Think Inc was in fact her first invited speaking engagement. It was her assertion that the reason why it is so taboo to question religion, is that religion is so inexplicably intertwined with culture. While I am not so sure I agree with this, it was an interesting perspective nonetheless and possibly more relevant in Eastern Europe.

For the second half of her talk, Rad focused on the decriminalisation of drugs and prostitution. While this is something I’ve never spent a lot of time thinking about, or have strong feelings for, my guard was up straight away as she started off this section with a leading question, asking the audience to raise their hands if they didn’t think drugs should be illegal. This type of question of course biases the responses, as everyone who is too embarrassed/lazy/apathetic to raise their hand is counted along with those who genuinely have. A minor gripe, I know.

I am aware that anecdotally, the Portugal experiment has been a success and even if this is true, I am not sure about her assertion that if it worked there, why not adopt it in all countries. I think this is a logical fallacy but I am not yet experienced enough in all the logical fallacies to name which one.

Following Cristina Rad was a Skype link up with Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The States. I have huge admiration for Ayaan Hirsi Ali and I when she visitedAustralialast year, touring her book Infidel, I thought she was so amazing and inspiring. However, I felt the ‘3 world futures’ scenario her talk was based was a bit lazy and derivative. The Q&A section was so much better than the talk itself.

I’ll award poet Shane Koyczan the prize for second best one-liner of the day, with the line from one of his poems – ‘Heisenberg says nothing is fo shizzle’. I’ve never seen a poet live before, and I often get teased for not being emotionally affected by ‘the arts’ (I never cry in movies) but I was surprised at how moved I was by some of Koyczan’s performance. It was quite an experience.

Lunch

I was extremely fortunate to win a ticket to Think Inc, and I would like to thank the organisers for this. Possibly down to the fact that I didn’t shell out money for a ticket, I didn’t read the fine print and was completely oblivious to the fact that delegates were expected to buy their own lunch within the MCEC/South Wharf precint. I’m willing to accept that this was my fault and don’t expect any sympathy that it was a pain in the arse, but one of the key things about these types of events is the socialising/networking component and where the experience of shared meals/snack time is taken aqway, socialisng is made that much harder. As someone who went on my own, and didn’t know anyone going, this was an important point for me. Next year organisers, chuck an extra 40 bucks on the ticket price and give the punters a bite to eat.

Afternoon Session

First up after lunch was the speaker I was most looking forward to, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It was clear from the conversations around me and the number of cameras and recording devices that come out during his talk that I was not the only one. I was really surprised with how funny he was, what a fantastic speaker! His talk focused on the importance of science literacy and numeracy in the general public and examples of specific failures in the media. Tyson also placed a lot of emphasis on his use of twitter as an outreach tool. Tyson consistently used the word ‘data’ in its correct plural form which always gives me a little warm and fuzzy feeling.

Tyson devoted a significant portion of his talk to atheist themed issues, and said that he was throwing us a bone by doing so, and that he usually reluctant to talk about such things. A few minutes into this part I remember thinking, ‘gee, for someone who doesn’t talk about this stuff very much, he’s doing a stellar job’ (pun intended). When Michael Shermer followed, he outed Tyson as a frequent speaker about atheism!

Michael Shermer gave the audience something of a Skepticism 101 type talk. Trained as a psychologist, and on the plug for his new book, he talked about how the brain is evolved to recognize patterns, and how illusions can help us to understand how the brain works. I found it quite funny that he ended his slot with some evangelical style preaching for the cause of skepticism. For Science! For Reason! Praise the Lord!

Christopher Hitchens was scheduled to appear via video link, but did not show up and the organizers are yet to hear from him or his management. This is a shame, and I know everyone hopes he is OK.

The final part of the day was a discussion panel consisting of all the live speakers as well as Father Bob, who I think was scheduled to give his own talk at one point so I’m not sure what happened there. Possibly the best one liner of the day came from Cristina Rad during this time who stated that ‘religion is philosophy’s retarded cousin’. Microphone wranglers amongst the crowd made the mistake of not holding on to the mike several times, allowing questioners to crap on unnecessarily but overall the standard of questioning was high and added a lot of value to the discussions. All in all this was an interesting and varied discussion but it dragged on for too long, extending the day more than half an hour over the scheduled finish time.

So, that’s my wrap up of Think Inc 2011, see you at Think Inc 2012! (As long as the world doesn’t end before then…)

It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again

God gave up on the human race
He said ‘based upon the data that I’ve had to face
You’ve really made a mess of the place that I made for you
Then you turn around and you ask me to save you’
Jews blame the Christians, Christians the Muslims
Atheists admitted they were wrong but right
The pope said ‘well, I guess that’s that’ then
Collectively we all breathed out a sigh
All of the damage that religion had done
Was put into perspective underneath the sun
And god said ‘faith is a beautiful thing
But it’s time for you to take responsibility kids’
‘Cos I don’t know what you’ve been told
But the streets of heaven aren’t lined with gold
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone

It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again

The human race gave up on god
And said ‘It’s high time that we all got along’
The arguments about who the hell she loved best
Were seen for what they were and laid to rest
And politicians stopped using god as an excuse
To commit the most blatant abuse of power
Loud like ringing in the ears
The sound of the prayers of cheers from the people released
All baptised at the miracle of life
Without the regrets and the guilt and the threats
Sex was celebrated, life was embraced
The basic thing was maintain respect
And I don’t know what you’ve been told
But the streets of heaven aren’t lined with gold
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone

On the streets of the cities of the world you find them
People of all types who climb the horizon
Fresh newborns in the fresh new morning
Lovers in the night who fly and then fall
The march of survivors, designers, tyrants
Besides limousine drivers, colonels, brigadiers, sergeants, privates
The scientists smashing particles together
The junkies, the tradies, the gentlemen, the ladies
The babies, the aged and infirm
The hermits, the perverts, servants and surgeons
The insurgents killing in the name of god
The slow and the steady who are ready for anything
The war and the menacing, and even Centrelink
And the ones who were peddling stories
Of the grace and the glory

It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again
It’s a glorious feeling
I’m up on my feet again

Also featured on Joelistics’ website is a video about the inspiration behind ‘Glorious Feeling’, and I liked these quotes in particular:

“… it became a somewhat of atheist gospel song, because atheists never seem to get choirs.”

“when you let go of … belief, it can be quite a liberating experience to still have that reverence and that faith and that wonder at the universe but not have it channelled through a series of laws and rules and um, strict mythological ideas about creation”

It’s refreshing to hear a mainstream(ish) song raise these themes, while we are seeing issues related to religion in the news. Chaplains in government schools and the ‘No Religion’ census campaign immediately come to mind. Hip hop has a history of leading the way when it comes to raising awareness of contentious issues through music, so even though it’s not my favourite genre, I am glad that the Aussie hip hop scene is going strong and producing tracks like this.

There are a few small differences between the two instruments (one has a tray autosampler and the other a carousel, one has CI capability while the other doesn’t), but all in all they are pretty much the same piece of kit. As I’m sure you can imagine, this causes more than a little confusion when we are trying to differentiate between the two. My boss jokingly said that we should give them names, but we quickly realised that this was not such a silly idea. So being the primary user of both instruments, I took it upon myself to do choose the names and affix the labels. After a few days of thinking and tossing up a few possible monikers, I settled upon Marie and Pierre, after the famous Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Although they were not chromatographers, or even analytical chemists, I still felt the names were quite appropriate – distinctive enough to remember and recognisable as the most famous couple in science. So here’s to the names catching on, and the teasing eventually subsiding. Marie and Pierre are here to stay.

I can’t be the first person to do this, has anyone else out there given names to their lab instruments?

The future of farming is upon us. As technological advancements in agriculture such as genetically engineered crops become common, it is vital that possible repercussions of this dangerous new technology are understood. Crops are genetically altered by biotechnologists in an attempt to render the plants disease and pest resistant. But what’s to stop these plants interbreeding with the attractive, long stemmed dandelion from outside the paddock to create a crop of powerful, super resistant and sexy killer commando warrior weeds?

Imagine the turmoil when the hybridised monster plants begin to interbreed with all kinds of crops – seducing them with their alluring leaves and voluptuous petals. Fields across the globe will become contaminated with variations of the cross bred devious dandelions. Orchards will be overrun with troops of terrifying tracheophytes that do not hesitate to invade meadows without warning. These horrifying mutated crops will see the end of vegetarianism. Humans will be forced to live entirely on animals, as there is no way these super plants are going to five themselves up for human fodder. Only the sick and old are left behind to be salvaged for salads.

As the situation worsens, the plants gain more power. What were once peaceful pastures are not colonies of super crops with resistance to not only pests and diseases, but also bullets, grenades, nuclear weapons and everything that humans can possibly think of to eradicate them. The plants are taking over. Homo sapiens are no longer the dominant species at the top of the food chain. They hide in their homes living in fear of dangerous dandelions that could break down the door at any moment. The super crops begin to farm humans – changing their genetic makeup to replace their feet with roots.

Once the only purpose for human life is as a food source for the carnivorous mutant plants, acres of farmland across the globe are planted with root-footed humans. The world’s leaders become sunflowers and entire countries are run by genetically modified soybeans. By now the situation is beyond control and the efforts of the CIA, SAS and TRG combined have no effect upon the dynamic rule of the plants.

It has now gone beyond just vegetables fighting on the dinner table or your salads changing the channel when The Naked Chef is on. Genetically modified crops could become out of control and their use must be halted immediately. The consequences could be drastic.

I have listened back to the recording of ‘Far’ a few times now and each time I found myself grinning a dopey dorkfaced grin of reminiscence. Like a puppy looking at a picture of a puppy having puppies… or something.

The overwhelming feeling I got from George’s performance was that he was really enjoying being there and performing in front of the enthusiastic audience. In addition to singing a bunch of his songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar, there was also an ‘Ask George (woof!)’ session, some spoken word and a totally cool iPhone beatbox thingo (you had to be there for that one).

I came away from the night with an ‘I heart Hrab’ badge, and a signed copy of the tour poster. I chose the one on which George had written ‘FIZ!’, which kind of appealed to the chemist in me for some reason…

It was great to see that a free, fan-organised gig could go off so fabulously well. I must extend heartfelt thanks to George, for making the trip down to Melbourne, and all those who helped to organise the event, in particular Catherine Donaldson and the Young Australian Skeptics.

Anyway, getting back to the point of the post which was science biscuits… I made a bunch and decorated them with green, blue (the most science-y colours!) and white royal icing and you can see the results below. I was pretty damn pleased with how they turned out too. I used the recipe that came with the cutters which was a really nice vanilla sugar cookie recipe. It could be easily modified for other flavours and I will probably use it again.

I’m planning on using them again, this time to make gingerbread shapes to give to my colleagues for Christmas. Being fellow chemistry nerds (although not quite as nerdy as I), I’m sure they will appreciate them.

*That’s 26, 5² = 25 and 3³ = 27

Which is how I came across following advertisement:

(click to embiggen when the link expires)

I don’t think I’m being overly sensitive in saying I find this incredibly offensive. The ‘white coat’ stereotype is such a cliché and for the most part, totally inaccurate. Anyone qualified for this position (chemistry degree minimum) is fully aware of what scientists aka ‘nerds in white coats’ really do. They have been doing it themselves for at least 3 years.

I think most people in scientific recruitment these days have science degrees. Are they really that smug about their pointless cushy office jobs that they have to refer to the people who they did their degree with who were actually intelligent enough to build themselves a useful career as ‘nerds in white coats’? Really? Or were they just trying to be funny? Because I don’t get the joke. I don’t even know any working scientists who routinely wear a lab coat. Hey, maybe some people become scientists because they LIKE SCIENCE, and couldn’t care less about the novated BMWs, cheap suits and limp handshakes favoured by slimy recruitment consultants.

Screw you Conquest Personnel, and whichever company you’re representing. No chemistry graduate with any self-respect would apply for your ‘nerd in white coat’ position. What a joke, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

To promote next year’s International Year of Chemistry, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute are auctioning off the elements in the periodic table.  I’m not sure I completely understand what the benefit for sponsors is. From what I can gather, it appears that organisations or individuals are paying for the privilege of having to research and prepare a small report on the element they sponsor. The description of the project is extremely vague, and gives little insight as to why any person or company would want to sponsor an element. I’ll be really surprised if the RACI manage to sell even 10% of all 112 elements before the auctions close at lunchtime tomorrow. Here’s hoping the other offerings for IYC are a little more realistic – I’ve put my hand up to volunteer, so I hope the events aren’t lame!

EDIT

I have just read the RACI October newsletter, which contains more information on the project.

PERIODIC TABLE MEETS ART PROJECT

An important component of IYC2011 is communicating with the public and raising awareness of the positive contributions chemical sciences make to everyday life.

IYC2011 also aims to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the

International Association of Chemical Sciences (the precursor to IUPAC).

As part of its 2011 International Year of Chemistry celebrations, RACI is undertaking a Periodic Table Meets Art project and wishes to invite members to participate. The basic premise of the project is that individuals and organisations are invited to sponsor an element, the sponsors are asked to prepare the following information:

• Element name, symbol and atomic number
• Brief outline of its discovery
• How it exists in nature
• Its main uses
• Any Australasian points of interest

This will then be given to an artist who will produce a creative design based on the information. The designs will be shown in the exhibition tour and on the IYC2011 RACI website.

There will be a limited edition print run for each element with the first print being given to the sponsor. At least two full Periodic Tables will be assembled for permanent display once the tour is complete.

THE AIMS OF THE PROJECT:

• To deliver an engaging exhibition that brings chemistry, art and history together.

• To take the single most important chemical resource to the public by exhibiting artists’ interpretations of the Periodic Table elements.

• To develop an online educational resource for students and teachers.

• To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Chemical Sciences through exhibiting the 2010 IUPAC Periodic Table.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

The sponsor packs for all 112 elements will be auctioned on e-Bay, with a reserve of

AU$60 and the auction will be open from 11th October 2010.

The auction will have a “Buy Now” option for those who really don’t want to miss out on their favourite element!

You’ll need to visit the site to find out the price. Use “RACI Element Sponsor Pack” as your search term.

Alternatively, if you do not wish to participate in the auction, visit www.raci.org.au for a sponsorship form to indicate that you are willing to sponsor any element that was not sold in the auction. This will still incur a AU$60 sponsorship fee.

Sponsors must be willing to prepare information on the element for the artist as described above by the 5th November 2010 deadline.

In return for sponsorship, the sponsor will receive the first print of their element (15cm x 15 cm unframed) and information on the artist.

The project will be completed for National Science Week 2011 (13^th -21^st August 2011) with sponsors prints available from July.

For further information contact Vicki Gardiner: vicki.gardiner@marinova.com.au

 

Sorry RACI, I love the elements more than most but I can’t say I’m all that compelled to sponsor an element at $60 a pop…

Indeed, the first part of the discussion revolved around the Gaia Hypothesis and Flannery’s unabashed man-crush on James Lovelock. Whilst the Gaia philosophy is not something that I am a massive fan of, Flannery does sell the moderate version of it fairly well.

It became apparent that Trioli had maybe a little beef with some things Flannery had said or written in the past, and at times she was quite antagonistic towards him. She’s feisty – I like that.

The most interesting part of the discussion for me was the push for a price on carbon in Australia. Flannery is of the opinion that if the Gillard government’s climate panel does not deliver a proposal to cabinet that results in the passing of legislation by June next year, critical emissions reduction targets simply will not be met and we will have a much higher mountain to climb.

Of Flannery’s books, the only one I have read is The Future Eaters, which I have a copy of in my bookshelf at home. Whilst it was at times, a little dry I found it absolutely learning about Australian megafauna  fascinating and could not believe I’d never heard of Diprotodon or Procoptodon before. I actually avoided reading The Weather Makers, which Flannery now acknowledges is a quite depressing and pessimistic assessment of climate change. I’m still not sure that I want to read The Weather Makers, but if I could get it out from my local library along with the more upbeat Here on Earth, maybe I could read them both in succession and not want to kill myself at the end of it

I find the audience at these types of things is a really weird mix of environmentally-conscious scientists (or scientifically-minded people) and hippies (I wish I could think of a better word or phrase to descirbe the people I’m thinking of, but I think you know what I mean). Like one questioner who asked ‘man, we’re like so insulated with all of our walls and locks and fences but don’t you think we should like, totally grow our own biodynamic mung beans in community gardens and totally peace out some more, man? Wouldn’t that be so groovy for climate change dude?’.

P.S. I’m going to be a bit more relaxed with my posting from now on. I am over spending more time agonising over the structure of my posts than what is actually in them. Plus hardly anyone reads them anyway! Peace out dudes

And finally, a little self-indulgence. The Royal Institute of Australia in conjunction with the Friendly Street Poets, ran a poetry competition for Science Week this year. The competition was called Sci-Ku, and entries were to be 3 lines long and in a Haiku style of poetry, although not necessarily conforming to the traditional 17 syllable count. I entered 3 poems, all of them gas chromatography themed. I won a ‘Highly Commended’ for the following poem:

Positional isomers

Always elute together

This is separation anxiety

You can read the winning entries, and other commended entries on the RiAus website here. Congratulations to all of the Sci-Ku poets!