Evolution: Education and Outreach

The first of the articles in what will be Volume 2, no. 2 of Evolution: Education & Outreach have begun appearing on the journal’s web site. Don Prothero, this issue’s guest editor, has humbly titled the most recent paper to appear, his editorial, “Introduction.” Dr. Prothero has been kind enough to put his expertise to work assembling a range of papers for vol. 2 no. 2 on the special topic of transitional fossils. Prothero, Professor of Geology at Occidental College, is the author of What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), reviewed in a recent issue of EE&O. So check it out, and prepare for the excitement of more new papers, which will be appearing soon.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the editorial staff, including the production team at Springer. They perform to the highest standards, resulting in beautiful and distinguished hard copy and online publications both. I am especially grateful to them this time around, because they are so wonderfully patient with people who submit their work after the deadline, a group that includes, um, certain bloggers for EE&O. Thanks! Keep up the good work! Now, I think I have a manuscript to work on . . .

Searching for something else, I came across the stunning online portfolio of costume designer Allison Achauer. In the course of a brief email exchange, she directed me to the web site of Artichoke, an LA rock band that writes music for children, including “26 Scientists,” an abecedarium—there’s a song about a different scientist for each letter of the alphabet. Volume I (A–M) is out, and Volume II is expected shortly. The music is simple and crisp, and easy to sing along to. You can read the New York Times article about the album, and the Artichoke MySpace page is interesting and informative, too. Volume I includes:

• Einstein, Albert (1879-1955),
• Anning, Mary (1799-1847)
• Burbank, Luther (1849-1926)
• Kelvin, William Thomson (1824-1907)
• Galilei, Galileo (1564-1642)
• Heisenberg, Werner (1901-1976)
• Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766-1834)
• Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882)
• Curie, Marie (1867-1934)
• Lister, Joseph (1827-1912)
• Fuller, Richard Buckminster (1895-1983)
• Ingenhousz, Jan (1730-1799)
• Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)

For evolution enthusiasts, Darwin, Malthus, and Kelvin are of interest. Mary Anning, a 19th century paleontologist once called “the greatest fossilist ever known,” should also be of interest. Way to go Artichoke for giving her exposure.

I would think that this might be useful for middle and high school science teachers—I’d be interested to hear opinions from blog readers. I had a math teacher that had composed a song for the quadratic equation, as well as others. Unfortunately, nothing could help me in math . . . but I am pretty sure it helped others remember it, and it was fun to sing.

Volume I can be purchased ($10.00) on iTunes, the Artichoke web site linked to above, or the MySpace page, also linked to above.

[Declaration of conflicts of interest: None. I personally have nothing to gain from anyone buying this---I've never met any of the Artichoke band members or Allison before in person.]