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Stephen Hawking

For great justice

Scientists Petition to Grant War Hero, Math Genius Alan Turing, Convicted of Homosexuality, An Official Pardon

by Rebecca Pahle | 2:45 pm, December 14th, 2012

Stephen Hawking and other notable scientists have asked the British government to grant an official posthumous pardon to Alan Turing, the mathematician and code-breaker whose contributions to the Allied victory in World War II were followed up by a conviction for homosexuality. Turing was given the choice between imprisonment and a hormonal treatment better known as “chemical castration,” and after a year of enduring the latter he committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide.

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Oh Really?

Former Head of SETI Says Aliens Totally Don’t Want To Eat Us. Well, In That Case…

by Jill Pantozzi | 2:52 pm, May 25th, 2012

Former SETI director Jill Tarter (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) has felt the need to go on the record and let the public know aliens don’t really want to eat us. That’s all well and good but how could this be when most overdramatized science-fiction tells us different? Is Tarter in league with an alien race?? Is she an alien??? All of these answers, as well as the real story, after the jump. 

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Allow Us To Explain

A Lesson In Illustrating Wheelchairs From Someone Who Uses One

by Jill Pantozzi | 12:30 pm, May 2nd, 2012

Not too long ago I asked a famous comic book artist to draw me a picture of Oracle and what I got was not at all what I expected. Barbara Gordon was depicted in a hospital wheelchair with a blanket over her legs, certainly not the Oracle I know. “How could big name-so-and-so not know how to draw someone in a wheelchair?” I said to myself but then I thought, “Probably because they aren’t in one.” That’s just one possible scenario of course, there are plenty of artists out there (like Adam Hughes above) who get it right. But if there’s a problem we all suffer from at times it’s ignorance. Yes…all of us. Some more than others of course but even the most learned of us could do with a bit of education now and then and that’s my goal today.

It’s certainly not meant as a dig, but through the years, it’s become obvious to me that a lot of people are oblivious to the every day lives of people with disabilities (PWD). And that’s why awareness and education are important. It’s not that people don’t care (although some might not), it’s that they truly don’t know what’s appropriate in certain situations. Read on for a few examples of different types of wheelchairs, as well as those who use them, plus some commentary by a creator and an actor who are close to the topic at hand. 

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Things We Saw Today

Things We Saw Today: Doctor Who Framed Roger Rabbit

by Jill Pantozzi | 5:03 pm, January 2nd, 2012

We love a good pun. (via Martin Starr) Hit the jump for tons of other stuff we saw today! 

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Vital Information for Your Everyday Life

This Is Your Brain On Autotune [Video]

by Susana Polo | 2:27 pm, March 27th, 2011

The gold standard that all autotuned videos of people talking about deep and hopeful scientific concepts is, of course, A Glorious Dawn, the seminal piece of Melodysheep‘s Symphony of Science, featuring clips of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. Hard stuff to top, and we were ready to be unimpressed by their newest, Ode to the Brain!

But then we realized it had Bill Nye, Oliver Sacks, and clips from Jill Bolte Taylor‘s TED Talk (which we highly recommend, particularly as the relative of a stroke victim, and can be watched here).

Let the signals hit your sensory cortices, all you brains out there, and enjoy.

(via Mad Art Lab.)

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