Juha Haataja: Universe of ScienceMathematics, Biosciences, Chemistry, Popular Science, and Science Writing.Is computational science really "science"- June 17, 2008 Norman Chonacky (and Greg Wilson) discuss the status of computational science in an interesting way in the MayJune issue of "Computing in Science and Engineering". Can computational scientists can call their work "science" The writers say that currently the "practices" on researchers in computational science are far from good. Scientific work should be reproducible and materials and instruments should have open and verifiable provenance. In computational science this is not (always) the...http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/17.html#a4906 Life came from space to Earth- June 13, 2008 Finnish media is reporting on Zita Martins' research, which was discussed a couple of months earlier on the web. Well, better late than never. It is surprising how out of sync the media often is on the (important) discussions. In any case, if it at some point turns out that Earth was seeded from elsewhere (which is far from certain based on the current evidence), this would be the science story of the century. Perhaps the building blocks of life arise spontaneously all over the galaxy.http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/14.html#a4902 Views on computational science- June 13, 2008 I got some comments on my opinion piece in Helsingin Sanomat. Because my affiliation was not included in the writer information, some of the messages asked whether I'm the author of the text. There are quite a few people with the same name here in the Helsinki region. I hope they have not been bothered too much. By the way, it is interesting how few comments (relative to the size of the readership) there usually are from HS pieces, compared to other much smaller publications. Perhaps the big...http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/13.html#a4900 An opinion piece in Helsingin Sanomat- June 12, 2008 Today my opinion piece on the role of science in society appeared in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The title was changed but the text mostly as it was - however, I had a phone discussion with an editor who wanted some scientific terms changed to easier ones. In retrospect, it is interesting to note that the text also contains some advanced economic terms which the editor accepted as they were.http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/12.html#a4898 EU wants openness - sends message to Microsoft- June 12, 2008 New York Times reports on the EU comments related to Microsoft business practices vs. openness: "I know a smart business decision when I see one - choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed," Ms. Kroes told a conference in Brussels. "No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one."http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/12.html#a4897 Much writing (to do)- June 11, 2008 I have been writing quite a lot lately, scratch writings as well as drafts for columns etc. to be published later. Some days ago I counted that I have 19 published writings so far this year, mostly columns but also articles. And some are still waiting to be published. Of course, this is nothing exceptional, a quite normal year that is. Two-three weeks ago (May 24th) I also had an opinion piece published in Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest Finnish newspaper. I haven't submitted opinion pieces to..http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/categories/science/2008/06/11.html#a4894 |