What’s Your Story?
I’ve been invited by the Center for STEM Excellence at Scramento State University to give the Keynote talk at their Expanding Your Horizons conference this October. As a result, I’ve been thinking about all sorts of topics for my talk. Do I talk about science in general, specific areas of STEM, my personal experiences?
In my thinking and searching I came to realize that as the Keynote speaker it is my job not to inform, but to be inspirational and motivational… to get the girls at the conference fired up and excited about both the day ahead and their own futures. But, how to do that when I have my own struggles with inspiration and motivation on a daily basis?
I think I’ve come to an answer; lead by example. How do I get past those daily hurdles, and keep moving? How did I find a career that I love? How did you?
I want to hear the stories of real women from real women, especially if you are working in a STEM related career. I want to share our stories.
- What do you do as a career?
- How did you wind up in your career (did you choose it or did it choose you)?
- Do you love what you do?
- What do you love most about what you do?
- How do you stay motivated (are your motivations internal or external)?
- What is your measure of success?
I’ll take your answers as comments here, emails (kirsten at this week in science dot com), video comments on youtube or seesmic, however you see fit to send them.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to use these stories to motivate not only the girls at the conference, but everywhere, and of all ages.
Filed under Women in Science | Comments (2)Science Doesn’t Start Wars
Nina Fedoroff is my new favorite scientist ever. This interview makes me happy.
Filed under Science & Politics | Comments (2)12_Science Word 08_08_18
Ear Infections Might Cause Obesity - Ear infections during childhood might make you crave fatty foods. Patients who suffered from such infections rated fatty foods as 18% more pleasurable than patients who had not had childhood ear problems.
Could Moisturizing be Bad for You? - A study investigating the effect of caffeine on skin cancer inadvertently found that moisturizer has a tumorogenic effect in mice, increasing number and rate of tumor formation.
Potatoes Might Carry the Cure to Alzheimers – Mice injected with a potato virus developed antibodies that attached to amyloid-beta protein. This could be the beginning of a vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease.
Blue Dye For Aging - A compound called methylene-blue, which has been around for over a century, was just found to improve mitochondrial function and slow cellular decline at very low doses. It might eventually be used to prevent age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Flu Survivors Still Protected - Survivors of the 1918 flu still have antibodies to the H1N1 virus, which killed around 50 million people, and are probably still protected. Antibodies taken from surviving individuals were able to cure mice infected with the virus.
Telling the Saharan Story - Archeological evidence from a gravesite preserved in sand dunes suggests that from 5 to 10 thousand years ago, the Sahara desert was a green oasis that supported at least two completely different cultures: the tall hunter-gathering Kiffians, and the short and lean Tenerians.
Ancient Human Impact - It’s hard to say what killed the mega-fauna of Australia and Tasmania some 40 – 46,000 years ago, but a new study centered around the fossil skull of a giant kangaroo places the blame on humans.
Filed under The Science Word | Comments (3)11_Science Word 08_08_16
Persistent Free Radicals – Chemists have discovered a new class of air pollutant, persistent free-radicals, which form and last on fine airborne particles indefinitely, and might contribute substantially to cardio-pulmonary diseases.
Flesh-eating Bacteria’s Weapon Figured Out – Flesh-eating bacteria release a special compound called Strep pyogenes cell envelope protease or SpyCEP for short, which inactivates white blood cells and blocks the body from defending itself against the necrotizing infection.
Memory of a Robot Brain – Scientists are figuring out how the brain works by using rat brain cells to control a robot.
How to Stop Addiction – Researchers kept mice from becoming addicted to cocaine by blocking glutamate receptors on dopamine producing brain cells.
Eyes Do More than See - Mice were switched from night to daytime activity by messing with the amount of light in the room and the sensitivity of their eyes to light suggesting that they eyes play a major role in setting the body’s internal clock.
Depression is Bad for Driving – A study of 60 individuals found that people who were depressed and taking anti-depressant medication performed worse on simulated driving tests than both medicated and unmedicated individuals who weren’t depressed. So, don’t be depressed and drive.
Humans Like Pretty People - Analysis of contestant behavior on a Dutch game show called Shafted supports the idea that humans have a bias for beautiful people.
Beer Goggles - Beer goggles are for real! Drunk students rated pictures of people of both sexes more attractive.
A Reason For Sexual Preference? - Homosexual and bisexual men had female relatives with more children than heterosexual men. So, whatever makes women like men and have more children might make men like men as well.
Smell What You Like? –If you’re a woman on the contraceptive pill, you could be with the wrong partner. Women preferred different body odors before and after beginning to take the pill. It’s thought that women use smell to choose an immunologically compatible partner.
Filed under The Science Word | Comment (1)Science Channel Website
So, today I randomly decided to check whether the Science Channel had decided to make use of any of the interviews I did during the World Science Festival. It turns out that several of them are up on their website. Buried, yes, but there just the same.
I am extremely excited to see myself affiliated with the Science Channel. Unfortunately, one must sit through an ad before each video, but I promise it’s worth it. I would really appreciate it if anyone who watches the Science Channel could let me know of they’ve seen anything on the cable channel.
Filed under The Afterlife | Comments (2)09_Science Word_08_08_12
Science news headlines from the week of 08/12/08 with Dr. Kiki Sanford. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Formats available:Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)
Where For Art Thou Meteorite? – Meteorites that landed here on earth are more like the space rocks in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter than like low metal content LL chondrite asteroids found closer to the earth.
Something Like a Comet – Researchers using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey reported finding a comet-like object in a 22,500 year orbit around the sun. It doesn’t have a comet tail because it never gets close enough to the sun.
How to Get There - Theoretical physicists have come up with a new idea for space travel. They suggest manipulating dark energy through another dimension of space, shrinking space in front of a ship and expanding it behind. The trouble is that it requires a quantity of energy equal to converting something like the planet Jupiter into pure energy.
Entangled particles really are “spooky” - Nothing travels faster than light, but two entangled particles separated by 18 kilometers and located in two different Swiss towns were able to communicate with instantaneous precision, thereby validating quantum mechanics and spooky action at a distance.
Filed under The Science Word | Comment (1)10_Science Word 08_08_14
Science news headlines from the week of 08/12/08 with Dr. Kiki Sanford. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Formats available:Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)
Nanotubes Are Strong - Experiments at Northwestern University proved that carbon nanotubes really are as strong as calculations predicted, and that radiation makes them even stronger. I’m still waiting for that space elevator.
A Limit to Tall - Physics imposes a limit on the height of trees. The maximum height to which Douglas Firs should be able to transport water is between 131 to 145 meters. That’s also the limit of their height.
Nature is the Best Teacher - Scientists mimicked photosynthesis in the lab, and were able to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using the power of light.
Asphalt into Energy – Hot asphalt roads and parking lots may produce energy one day. Scientists are experimenting with the idea of adding a heat exchanger that would convert the heat absorbed by asphalt into energy.
Planet Friendly Paper Coating - A replacement for the waterproof wax coating that’s used on paper products like drink boxes has been created from the lignin of sugarcane, which unlike wax leaves the paper it coats completely recyclable.
The Effect of Climate change – A recent study found that 9 out of 10 tree species measured in the Santa Rosa mountains of California have increased the elevation of their habitat by 213 feet. The change in growing range was linked to changes in local climate.
Antarctica is not Alone – Ice cores revealed that West Antarctica is highly affected by atmospheric and oceanic changes in the tropics of the Pacific Ocean.
Dead Zones of the World - The number of oxygen poor dead zones in the world’s oceans has doubled to 400 in just the past two years. These dead zones are linked to algae blooms fed by fertilizer run-off, sewage, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Filed under The Science Word, Uncategorized | Comment (1)Science Word Needs A Logo
After receiving the comment below, I changed my mind about having an official contest. I think contests are great and all, but I don’t want to be a part of the problem.
I need help creating a logo for The Science Word, the new video series that I’ve been playing with the past couple of weeks. I think it would do well as a vid-cast, and need some help making it come to life.
So, since I am terrible at graphic design, I am holding a contest asking for help to create The Science word logo. I know that there are people out there with amazing abilities. Send me something that can be the face of The Science Word to the world. If you have any ideas, or would like to help just because you’re nice like that I’d love to hear from you. I can’t pay cash money, and if I could it wouldn’t be much, but I can pimp the hell out of you and your work.
The contest starts today, and the deadline is next Friday, August 23rd.
If I pick your design, you will get all credit for creating the design, and I will pimp you like crazy on this website and all places related to The Science Word.
Send your logo designs (300 dpi and 300 x 300 min. size) to
Please, email me at kirsten at this week in science dot com.
Filed under The Science Word | Comment (1)This Week’s Science Word Videos Are Out!
I’ve published another set of Science Word videos… the science headlines in brief. Here’s the first of the set of four:
Hubble Space Telescope - What’s up in space, travels 5 miles per second, and has offered us an unparalleled view of our universe? The Hubble Space telescope, which just passed 100,000 times around the planet.
Size Doesn’t Matter - In nanotech, it’s apparently not the size of the particle that determines cell penetration, but the shape. Rods do much better than spheres.
Invisibility? - Harry Potter might have worn invisibility chain mail instead of a cloak if J.K Rowling had been paying attention to science. Researchers have created a new metal material that bends light backwards through electromagnetic interactions with the light istelf.
Large Hadron Collider - The Large Hadron Collider will officially begin operations on September 10th, but won’t get to full strength until sometime next spring.
Bicycle Saddles and the Police - The results are in… bike seats without noses keep bike cops frisky. Cops testing the special saddles had less genital numbing and better penile sensation.
Is Infertility Treatment Worth It? - Intrauterine insemination was only 6% more effective in producing a live birth than no treatment at all in a group of 580 women experiencing unexplained infertility. However, women who had insemination felt more reassured during the process.
Females Are The Same - Sexual harassment doesn’t just bother human females. It also bugs female guppies who tend to prefer the risk of being eaten to hanging out around pushy males.
Complete Neanderthal Mitochondrial Genome - The most complete and accurate Neanderthal mitochondrial genome to date was produced from a 38,000 year old fossil. Whether or not humans and Neanderthals ever got jiggy wid it is still in question.
A Pill For Alcoholics - Researchers in Oregon are testing a drug called CRF 154,526, which blocks all of the good, but none of the bad effects of alcohol– none of the euphoria, and the hangover’s still waiting. They say CRF is meant for treating hedonistic dysregulation.
Gene Link to Smoking Addiction -
People who say they got hooked on the first puff of a cigarette are likely to have a gene variant called CHRNA5.
You can find this video all these places:
YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, DailyMotion, Blip.tv and Viddler
Filed under The Science Word, Uncategorized | Comment (1)
