Comments on: The son of the bride of the “Who are you?” thread http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/ A science salon hosted by National Geographic Magazine Tue, 21 May 2013 16:11:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2-alpha By: Bobby Stefanov http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12181 Bobby Stefanov Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:51:28 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12181 Hi! I’m 25 and I’m from Bulgaria. I don’t have a scientific background, apart from graduating from a high school for electronics. Then I went on to get a bachelor’s degree in English Philology and started working as a translator (English Bulgarian). About two years ago I rediscovered my desire to learn new stuff, which laid dormant for over a decade, thanks to the “just memorize your lessons/lectures and get an A” school system. I grew quite fond of physics and just about fell in love with astronomy. Now every day I try to bring to the public eye the wonders of the stars and the amazing achievements of scientists. These are virtually inaccessible in Bulgarian, unless you are an actual scientist, given how 95% of the news in the country are dedicated to politics and other crimes, with the remaining 5 being totally distorted by shoddy journalism. So whether in conversation or by uploading beautiful photos on Facebook, with brief, but concise commentary, (those are quite well received, by the way), I like to tell people about interesting stuff. One day, after reading some new posts on the Bad Astronomy blog, I decided to check the others listed on the side and I ended up here. Reading some of the posts, their matter and the way in which you presented it, that was part of what inspired me to also start talking about biological discoveries and the splendor of nature. Especially in the “you did NOT know this creature existed” category. And again people like hearing and learning these things.
So that’s about it. I really like reading your blog. And I thank you for all the information and the way you present it.

]]> By: Fletcher Wortmann http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12180 Fletcher Wortmann Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:05:16 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12180 Ed,

I’m a humorist and writer. I have a memoir called “Triggered,” about my obsessive-compulsive disorder, due out next spring, and in the meantime I’m writing for Cracked.com. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the site, but the format involves lists of weird and surprising science facts – so Discover, and your blog in particular, are like a goldmine for me. (If you’re interested, you can find one of the articles I researched using your site here: http://www.cracked.com/article_19041_7-useful-genetic-experiments-that-are-creepy-as-hell.html)

But yeah, I love this blog, particularly because it’s much friendlier and more accessible than the sometimes-daunting amount of content on Discover. Keep up the good work!

]]> By: Stan http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12179 Stan Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:39:30 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12179 Hi, Ed. I’m an writer and scientist (among other things) turned editor and language blogger (ditto) based on the west coast of Ireland. I studied life sciences in uni but left the field to focus on other interests. I still like to stay in touch by reading science books and websites and blogs and so on.

Not Exactly Rocket Science is among my favourites because of your breadth of coverage, formidable workrate, lively writing style, and admirable attitude (generosity, enthusiasm, wit…). You strike me as a skilled populariser, capable of presenting an idea or a piece of research in a way that will appeal to just about any curious reader, regardless of the extent of their expertise or prior knowledge.

I’ve been reading NERS for a few years since first encountering it on ScienceBlogs. Admittedly, I don’t always keep up, but that owes solely to time constraints. Seeing Sentence first appear on the blogroll here gave me great pleasure. I think that came about soon after Orientategate. Heh. Peevers gonna peeve.

]]> By: Gerard http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12178 Gerard Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:58:20 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12178 I’m a 49 year old life long science loving tradesman. When I was 19 I hitchhiked to California to watch the first shuttle land. Recently, inspired by a Niel Stephenson novel, several friends and I corralled a math teaching friend and have begun a twice monthly pub based math club. I’ve become increasingly frustrated by having to skip the math in articles and books I otherwise have no problem understanding. I definitely wish I had chosen a different career.

]]> By: MadADDer http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12177 MadADDer Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:45:42 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12177 wow…

Looking at all of the people have have commented and their education level, I don’t think I’m qualified to read this blog, much less comment.

]]> By: GoHoosiers http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12176 GoHoosiers Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:11:52 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12176 I found NERS 3-4 years ago while it was still hosted by Science Blogs. I had subscribed to Respectful Insolence (which I haven’t read in years) and was browsing through the other blogs. My reasons for reading remain the same as they were during the last comment thread: interest in learning, fascination with the natural world, and desire for a guilt-free procrastination outlet. I just graduated from a large public US university–my handle should be a giveaway–and start work in the financial services industry in a week. While I will have little time for pleasure reading once training begins, I hope to check the ol’ Google Reader feed occasionally. Thank you very much for writing.

]]> By: Dai Shizuka http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12175 Dai Shizuka Sat, 25 Jun 2011 07:26:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12175 I recently got my Ph.D. in ecology and evolution, and am now working as a postdoc. I primarily focus on bird behavioral ecology, with a strong interest in linking cognitive psychology with evolutionary processes. Before I finally landed a postdoc, I pondered the possibility of writing a blog that explains evolution and behavior by connecting them to how human society works. But I soon discovered how long it takes to write a good blog piece. I am constantly amazed by how you write so clearly about such a diverse array of topics, while pumping them out at an incredible rate. I abandoned my blog project before I even got started, but then I found your blog and felt better about it, knowing that at least there is a good blog out there that accomplishes much of what I wanted to do. You are at once inspiring and intimidating.
I am a frequent reader, and I often post your pieces on facebook, or circulate links among my colleagues. Everyone I send it to comment on how much they like it, and I believe some of them have also become regular readers.

]]> By: Hannah http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12174 Hannah Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:01:33 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12174 Hey! I ended up reading your blog because you have a strange amount of articles about animal reproductive habits and translational opportunities scientists have discovered–if I’m googling something out of idle interest, I often get redirected here. Which isn’t bad, since it’s fun reading :] I studied Environmental Science and English in college, so I love reading about science, and lately I’ve been trying to get into science writing professionally, to combine my two loves. Your blog is an inspiration, especially since now I truly appreciate how much effort goes into blogging about science. Rock on, dude!

]]> By: Alice http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12173 Alice Fri, 24 Jun 2011 06:05:48 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12173 I’m an archaeologist in regional Australia. Someone put me onto your blog when I was looking for info on what DNA can tell us about human evolution and movement across the globe. I have found so much of interest here, from psychology to biology. This is the only blog I read on the net, unless I follow the links from your website to other science writing.
Thanks Ed!

]]> By: Melo http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/15/the-son-of-the-bride-of-the-who-are-you-thread/#comment-12172 Melo Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:19:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=4767#comment-12172 Hi!
I’m a Masters student in Environmental Management, but I did my undergrad in Plant Biology and Ecology. I don’t have a burning passion for Science (or anything else really), but I do love it. I love reading about the amazing new things we find out about, and I find your blog is a great place to find out about recent developments. I think I first was introduced to this site by my friend who found a bizarre article about masturbating squirrels! At any rate I got distracted by the other articles I saw on here and have since continued to read anything that piqued my interest. Course it does help that you always have interesting titles which grab my interest :)

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