Closed aprilcs closed 7 years ago
aprilcs
commented
7 years ago 
ahofmann4
commented
7 years ago @aKOwong and I are working on this one now.
ahofmann4
commented
7 years ago Part 1:
00:00 Hi, my name is Kurtis (last name??), I"m a science educator from Vancouver, well currently living in Vancouver. And I wanted to record a little 'diddy' for episode two. My most, my biggest concern, in terms of science issues is probably the public science literacy topic. I mean it is something that is obviously very dear to me since I am a science educator, but it is the reason I am a science educator.
00:28 Um, I think people are very confused about what science is and about a lot or almost all of all the things that science tells us. For example, most people are very afraid of genetically modified organisms, but I should say they are afraid of GMOs, because if you actually ask them what a GMO stands for, even if they say they don't like it, they probably can't tell you that acronym stands for "Genetically Modified Organism".
00:58 And that is just one example. Most people don't know the difference between astrology and astronomy, I see that on a daily basis (laughs) there are these sorts of things, I mean they are pretty fundamental concepts in science. We've known about genetically modifying things - we've been able to do that since the 80's.
01:17 I would argue since earlier than that, (but that's another topic). But, people don't understand that and it's not entirely their fault. I mean, I don't think that every single citizen should be responsible for educating themselves on the scientific method and on what scientific rigour means, and on how to tell good science apart from bad science. I think that that needs to be a part of our education system in Canada and across the world, and I think we have really failed in that so far and I think that is a big issue be need to improve on moving forward.
andrewKOwong
commented
7 years ago 01:53
And in terms of the, what do you call it, how do you have it written here... the number one exciting innovation in science today, for me it's a total tossup between CRISPR-Cas9 and rockets that can land.
02:09
But I'm going to have to go with the landing rockets, 'cause even though genetics, I mean we had a big step forward with CRISPR-Cas9, we've had a lot of steps forward in fields like genetics over the last thirty or forty years, whereas with rocket technology we've had very little change since the 1960's. Really since the last man left the moon in 1973! We haven't really done anything interesting in terms of rocket technology since those missions, since the Apollo missions.
02:41
And now, as of last year, we've had two different rocket companies finally be able to land rockets and reuse them. The most notable one, it's launching the largest rockets and, well, landing the largest rockets, is SpaceX, which is in the news a lot.
03:02
They've recently landed a reused rocket for the first time. It's never been done in history before, and if you would've asked someone twenty years ago if they thought it was possible, they would've probably told you that it sounds insane.
03:16
But it's not, now it's actually something we can do in science. And it's going to reduce the cost of flying rockets by at least half, and probably somewhere up to reducing the costs to like ten percent. It's going to be a big freaking deal. That's going to change how we can explore the universe. It's a huge innovation for rocket flight, and I'm obviously very pumped about it. I think it's amazing, and I hope you guys do too!
03:44
Yeah! Thanks again people running The Method, April and the team, whoever is behind this machine, and I'm looking forward to hearing it. Thanks!
aprilcs
commented
7 years ago Yay!