About
www.sciencebuzz.org is the website of the Science Museum of Minnesota's "current science" initiative. It's focused on science in the news, emerging research, and seasonal science.
Science is an essential literacy. You might not ever need to create a recombinant vaccine or a clone, manipulate quantum dots, or generate a stem cell line, but you're asked to make sense of issues surrounding those techniques and products with every election, trip to the grocery store, or visit to the doctor's office. Every day, you probably read or hear news stories that leave you wondering "why?" or "how come?" Getting answers to questions can be frustrating and confusing. (Even articulating a question can be hard.) But it can also be fascinating. And Science Buzz is a way to dig deeper into science headlines and share questions and concerns with scientists, museum staff, and other visitors.
We aim to be a source of science information, to be sure. But we don't just want you to receive information. We're really hoping that you'll respond—with questions, answers, opinions, experiences, and observations—to the stories that you find here. Maybe you'll even contribute your own stories.
We think "science" is about asking testable questions and thinking about how you might find answers, so we really encourage postings not only related to last night's newscast, but also musings that flow from your interactions with the world: why don't you see baby pigeons? What's happened to all the fireflies? How come eggs from the grocery store don't contain baby chickens? Are any two snowflakes alike? Activities, experiments, interviews, videos…all welcome.
Below are the profiles of the regular Buzz contributors. While this is a Science Museum of Minnesota website, none of us write as representatives of the museum. We write in our own voices about the science-related things that interest us personally; we want to share what we think is cool about science in general, and topical science in particular. We're also the moderators of the site, and our goal is to foster conversation. We encourage "science talk." As long as a post falls under our broad definition of "current science," we're comfortable with our community raising difficult questions and expressing a variety of opinions. (We don't chase controversy for controversy's sake, but we also know that the thorny places where science meets society—where we have to use research findings to create policies—are where the "juice" is.) Play nice, and read our community guidelines, please.
Science Buzz is a work in progress, and it continues to evolve in lots of ways, all of which are meant to make your participation easier and better. The fact that you've read to the end of this page is proof of a deep and abiding interest on your part. What are you waiting for? Sign up now!
Science Buzz Team
Science Buzz is supported by the National Science Foundation.Copyright © Science Museum of Minnesota, 2004-2009, except where noted.