All Posts By

Dr. Ash

Tri-Con 2016: The Science (or lack of science) Behind Science Fiction

Posted on January 27, 2016

A few weekends ago I attended Tri-Con, a local convention hosted by THEMUSEUM. It was loads of fun. I got some swag, mostly buttons, and prints, and I got to see real-live cosplayers. I fangirled a little when I saw Korra and Asami from Avatar: Legends of Korra, Peebles and Marceline from Adventure Time, and some Old School Storm Troopers. There were tons of panel sessions on various nerdy topics but the panel I made an effort to attend was a session called “The Science (or lack of Science) in Science Fiction” hosted by Nerd Night KW. Continue Reading

Mind and Culture

How to set and achieve your goals acccording to science

Posted on January 15, 2016

It’s a new year, a new you. Right? Everyone sets New Year’s Resolutions at the start of January, but by the middle of the month, many of us run out of steam. My Saturday Morning Cartoon post from the beginning of the year included some helpful videos on how to improve your chances of sticking to your resolutions. Today I want to talk about goal-setting, in general, both from a scientific perspective (what’s going on in our brains) and a function perspective (how we can use research to achieve our goals).
Continue Reading

Mind and Culture Sci-Comm

Adult learning and prior experience

Posted on January 13, 2016

Adults in museums behave very differently to children. They learn differently too. Image Credit: public-domain.zorger.com

This past weekend I worked as an interpreter for a late night, adult event at THEMUSEUM. I like working with kids in museums, but I enjoy engaging adults too. However, there are distinct differences between teaching grown-ups and kids. Researchers have articulated adult teaching as ‘andragogy’, different to ‘pedagogy’ that is teaching children.

Sci-Comm

Boss battles for science- Talking with the creators of ‘Pluto’s Revenge’

Posted on January 1, 2016

Credit: Angry Squid Games

ROM for the Holidays is in full swing at the Royal Ontario Museum and this year’s theme is “Escape from Planet ROM”. With a prototype Mars rover from the Canadian Space Agency, a star lab, and earthbound aliens there’s something for everyone. But no talk of space exploration is complete without bringing up video games. The ROM game arcade is back and this year the Holiday Space Arcade features five fun space-filled games.

S.T.E.M.

Heatmiser’s coming to town…actually it’s El Niño

Posted on December 25, 2015

“I’m Mister ‘Green Christmas’. I’m Mister ‘Sun’.” (Credit: Rankin and Bass Productions)

I was out and about yesterday and my goodness it was warm. It got me thinking of having a ‘Green Christmas’ rather than a ‘White Christmas’ and that inevitably made me think of Heatmiser from Rankin and Bass’ stop-motion Christmas Special “The Year without a Santa Claus“.

Older Posts

Newer Posts