Upcoming Shows

Greetings All!

This semester is already looking stacked for shows. I've spoke with a number of outstanding people here at the University of Iowa who are excited to come on the air and talk about science. The short list includes:

UI President Sally Mason. Only Science will be having its first Only Science Biography, and who better than the woman on top herself? We'll be talking about her days studying zoology and how she got through grad school to become a developmental biologist. Needless to say, we're pretty excited that she's sharing her time with us.

Professors Steve Kuusisto and Edwin Stone. This duo has been shaking up the scene of disabilities advocacy since Steve arrived on campus in 2007. Kuusisto, blind since birth, is a renowned poet and professor of english and has appeared on NPR, Oprah, and Only Science about life without sight. Stone, a professor of ophthalmology & visual sciences at the UI as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, researches the genetic basis of blinding eye diseases, and has discovered many of the mutations responsible for common and rare disorders.

UI neurophilosophers David Rudrauf and Kenneth Williford. Rudrauf, director of the Neuroimaging Lab at Iowa, has investigated the neural basis of many cognitive functions, such as addiction. In combination with WIlliford, visiting research faculty in the Department of Philosophy, they are studying the structure of the brain, and ultimately what structures give rise to the perception of consciousness.

Details will follow soon on when these amazing folks will be speaking on air. Tune in every Wednesday at 5PM to hear about the latest news in science at the U and around the globe.

For Science,
Erik

New Time! New Shows!

Hi All,

This semester, we'll be broadcasting at 5PM every Wednesday, starting tomorrow, the 21st.

Stay tuned for show updates and other cool info to come for this season's shows.

-Erik

Podcast / Thank You!

Only Science and KRUI would like to thank you for tuning in this semester!

Click on the video below to hear the podcast! I'll try to get a more compatible version up and running.....


Thanks to Lily Pappas, Lawrence De Geest and Nathan Dengle for their voices, time and effort, as well additional input and help from Paul, Grandpa Red, Mike, and KyGuy, my relatives in Sweden for sending me weird facebook application invites, Chris for his biblical prowess, my parents, for a week in an exotic land to map the idea for the Extravaganza, Scott “the Godfather of Rock and Roll” Nielsen, and all of my dedicated listeners out there you know who you are, without you, this show wouldn’t be afloat. Thanks to all the guests who appeared on Only Science this semester, you make me sound good. Hope we all stay warm this Holiday Season, and can spend some time with our families, I’ll be rooting the Hawks on in Tampa, I hope you do too. We are 100% on the air next semester, bookmark the webpage thisisonlyscience.blogspot.com for updates and random posts from me, I may become a transient sports journalist on January 1. Once the ball is rolling again, and it rolled quite a bit in the first season with record number downloads, you will be hearing raw, unfiltered Only Science, the way science is supposed to be. We’ve even got plans for a live interactive audience broadcast of the next science fiction thriller in collaboration with the KRUI 25 Years on The Air Celebration. Iowa City and the rest of the world, good luck on finals and have a safe and happy holiday season and thanks for following Only Science.

Premiere

Today, Only Science and KRUI 89.7FM are broadcasting A Country Western Science Fiction Holiday Extravaganza at Noon on the airways! Created by Erik Lee Nylen and starring Lily Pappas, Lawrence De Geest, and Nathan Dengle as the Devil, the Extravaganza is a dark comic tale about life, peace, poverty, and Christmas.

Click here to hear the show live at Noon today!

If that doesn't work, trying clicking here,

or just go to http://www.kruiradio.org/listen

Check back later this afternoon to podcast the Extravaganza!

The Extravaganza....

All,

Don't forget to tune in this upcoming Monday, December the 15th at Noon to either 89.7FM or www.kruiradio.org/listen for a live stream.

Click here to see the promo for the upcoming show.

Hope you all can tune in, and if not, hopefully you can podcast it. And, if you are like most people and don't like science fiction, but are also like most people and have weird relatives that like science fiction, burn them a copy of the show once it is posted for the holidays! It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Erik

Podcast It!

Thanks to Dr. Ruth Bentler and Dr. Trish Zebrowski for appearing on Only Science today, we learned some valuable insight into the research, academics and clinical services provided by the Wendell Johnson Speech & Hearing Center. 

For a podcast of today's show, use this cool widget:

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Show Today

Tune in today over the noon hour to hear Dr. Zebrowski and Dr. Bentler from the Wendell Johnson Speech & Hearing Center talk about both research at the center and the services that are available to the UI community.

Thanks!

Many thanks to Heidi Kuda of ICARE for appearing on Only Science to talk about World AIDS Day.  

Visit http://www.icareiowa.org for more information!

Preview of Upcoming Shows

With the Turkey Day break, Only Science is delighted to spend the time recharging and getting excited about the upcoming shows.  What you have to look forward to:

Monday, Dec. 1st at Noon:  In view of World AIDS Day, a representative from MECCA will be talking about HIV testing that is available on campus.  In fact, I'll probably mention this about 10 times over the hour, but HIV testing will be offered at the Iowa City Library from Noon to 4PM on this today.  So, listen to show, hear why it's a good idea to get tested, and go get tested.

Monday, Dec. 8th at Noon:  Dr. Patricia Zebrowski and Dr. Ruth Bentler, both researchers in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic, will be on the show to discuss what is being done at the UI with regards to audiological research and advances, and how students can be tested at the hospital.  

Wow, Only Science is really starting to become the Public Service show at KRUI, you say.  Hold your cattle, though, it gets better:

Monday, Dec. 15th at Noon:  Only Science will be airing its 2nd Fiction Special!  Properly entitled The Country Western Science Fiction Holiday Extravaganza, this is simply one show you will not want to miss.  And if you do miss it, hopefully I'll be able to record it.

Don't forget to tune in!

Erik

Web Gnomes

I'm convinced.  Things so easy and seemingly stringless can go awry without your direct doing, though such an act can only be attributed to a fateful misguided strike of the keyboard, improper capitalization, maybe a tossed up TAB in there, perhaps a misplaced punctuation mark, you name it, things tactically go wrong at the exact time you need them to go right.  For me, I was simply trying to login to a new blog that a friend of mine started (so I could post more randomly-oriented entries and avoid having to put [rather] pointless rambles such as thing on a SCIENCE blog, for cryin' out loud), and the exact user name and password that I was sent simply denied me access.  No, it said, promptly, boldy, get out of my blog.

Clearly, there is an underlying issue.  Within the mass amount of 1's and 0's floating about in cyberspace, some of these numbers must sometimes achieve the status of "return to sender."  Or even worse, these numbers are sucked into a vacuous nullity of digital binary death, relegated from a single bit to a nonentity.  Whap.  Not even toast, toast eaten by a stealthy passerby.  Then again, my engineering training would lead me to believe that you can't make something out of nothing, and thus can't make something into nothing.  The something, in cases of, say, fires or food, becomes ashes and human waste.  While many computer scientists out there are joyously hooting to themselves, "Ho ho, silly engineer doesn't know pancakes about computer information."  I say, "Ha ha, world, you don't know muffins about Web Gnomes."

That's right.  They're there, beneath the surface.  Entering went you look away and quick to escape when your gander returns.  You send an email with High Importance, and the Web Gnomes get you fired for not sending your boss that highly importance report.   I'm sure they've got little stocking caps and pudgy hands, too.   Along with there speedy wit and fiendish trickery, they snatch up the highest of importance digital information and stuff it into their little gnome satchels.  They compile up huge amounts of these data, and take them to the gnome reservoir, located somewhere in Paris.  Then, they have an annual feast (date unknown, for fear of people emailing the utmostly important documents during this period) in which they bring out the well-cured and aged binary figures collected over the years and gobble them down, all washed down with [high proof] ale.  They have songs they sing at this annual gathering, here is one:

We sweep up all the noise,

and for this now rejoice,

in times of harrowing,

we can but only sing!

The gnomes clash their mugs together after "sing" has been held at a boisterous and exhaustive length so that at least half of the, well, weaker gnomes pass out from asphyxiation.  Those left standing are the ones who cheer, those on the ground eventually wake up and rejoin the festivities, only to hope that next year they'll be much more prepared as to not one of the gnomes who passed out in the popular song.  Gnomes can grow very old, so it can be many decades before one can make it through the aforementioned tune.

Sure can be tough, sometimes.