There’s one rather cynical way of looking at science that goes something like this: everything in science eventually turns out to be wrong.

You can understand where such thoughts originate. Once, the best scientists in the world told us that space and time were separate. Then along came Einstein to show how they were linked. Scientists once thought that continents had always existed right where they are today. Then Eugene Wegener showed that continents drift across the globe. Once we thought atoms were indivisible. Then along came a whole zoo of particles that stream out of atoms every time we hit them hard enough. Maybe, this line of thought goes, science just describes what we can see today. When we can see more (with better telescopes, better microscopes, and so on), science will tell us something totally different.

People love their cars. But driving can be risky. When it comes to moving at 100 kilometers per hour, the laws of physics are not always on our side. Stopping a car, slowing it down, or changing its direction at high speed can be difficult and dangerous. But there is a solution to the problem of driving: remove the drivers.

Are you a “digital native” or a “digital immigrant”?

At age forty, I qualify as a digital immigrant.

Although I grew up with computers (if my beloved Commodore C-64 can be called a computer by today’s standards), those days are far behind...

We recently returned from our international science center conference where one of the features is an exhibit hall of activities, exhibits, programs that can be purchased or rented for use in science centers around the world. One booth had an incredible demo that caught the attention of even seasoned science educators like myself.

You’ve got to check this one out—I can’t describe it as you would think I was lying. The video clip you are going to see has already registered well over 5 million hits, so I must not be the only one intrigued by this.

Jeremy, our COSI web master, feels that Thursday should have been a national day of mourning with the passing of Steve Jobs---I agree. But maybe for a different reason.

As I’ve noted in my blog before, I “grew up” professionally with Apple Computer, serving in various consultant capacities for and with Apple Computer. I have a great affinity for the company and the genius of the two Steve’s who founded it—Wozniak and Jobs. So even though it was clear that this day would be coming sooner than we wanted, having Steve Jobs pass away is something I’m feeling very personally.