Sorry, I don’t have a Sciency Words post for you this week. I was researching a thing, but it turned out that I’d bit off more than I could chew. I really don’t think I should do a blog post on a topic when I understand that topic so poorly.
If you really had your heart set on learning some scientific terminology today, please check out this video from SciShow on some of the “ridiculous” names scientists have given to animal species. Though personally, I’m not sure what they mean by ridiculous. Han solo sounds like a perfectly sensible genus/species name to me.
Welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! If you’re a writer, and if you feel in any way insecure about your writing life, click here to learn more about this awesome group!
So what am I feeling insecure about this month? Well, I’m doing the A to Z Challenge. To be honest, I’m not too worried about finishing it. I’ve done A to Z before, and this year I feel like I’m well prepared for what’s coming.
But I do feel insecure about the theme I picked: astrobiology, one of the newest and awesome-est branches of science. But here’s the thing: I’m no astrobiologist. I’m no scientist. What authority do I have to talk about this stuff?
You see there’s a lot of misinformation out there about the search for alien life. A lot of the actual science gets misreported in the popular press or coopted as “proof” by U.F.O. conspiracy theorists. So I really, really, really do not want to spread any of that misinformation around.
Recently, I saw something that kind of surprised me: a bunch of well respected educational channels on YouTube have posted videos admitting their mistakes and promising to do better in the future. This one from Adam Ruins Everything is my favorite.
I don’t have the kind of research team behind me that Adam Ruins Everything has, or that Kurzgesagt has, or that SciShow has. It’s just me. I do a lot of reading, and I fact check myself as best I can; but even so, you probably shouldn’t trust everything you read on this blog.
But you can trust this: I love space, and I love science. I think the reality of our universe, as revealed to us by science, is way more interesting than anything our human imaginations might dream up. And I’m really excited to share all the cool science stuff I’ve learned with you.
At the same time, I’m also eager to keep learning. So if I make a mistake, or if there’s some important point you think I’ve missed, or some perspective you feel I’m overlooking, I absolutely do want to talk about that in the comments.
And now, I have more A to Z Challenge stuff to work on. In today’s A to Z post, C is for carbon chauvinism.
Planet Pailly 