Hey, ya'll, I'm flat on my back this week recouperating from a bout with bronchitis with the help of telithromycin, Deconex, and codeine. Ah. Sleep. I'll return with another great interview with another fascinating scientist next week; but in the meantime if you're Jonesin' for a great listen head on over to my pal Scott Slone's "Alaska Podshow" podcast, my old friend Richard Vobes' "Richard Vobes Radio Show" (recently marking a full year of daily shows!) and David Warlick's "Connect Learning" podcast. If they're not enough to keep you groovin', laughin', and learnin', drop me a line. You probably just need someone to talk with, though perhaps someone with more letters after their name than I have. Just kidding! For still more great listening, visit the Vanderbilt News podcast webpage for any number of excellent listens!!! It's all good, ya'll!

"If, by habit, we come to prefer and demand simple constructions to complex questions, eventually we are bound to get incomplete and ultimately incorrect answers." Dr. Rick Chappell is research professor of physics at Vanderbilt University and director of Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory, as well as serving as a special adviser to the vice-chancellor on science and research communication. In the former role, he designed and instituted a unique undergraduate degree program that is dedicated to communicating about science not just to other scientists, but to the general public as well. The co-author of the 1998 book Worlds Apart: How the Distance Between Science and Journalism Threatens America'’s Future along with journalist and former NBC Today Show co-host Jim Hartz, Dr. Chappell is also former Chief Scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Birmingham, Alabama, as well as being a trained space shuttle astronaut. In one small but important facet of his role as director of Dyer Observatory, Dr. Chappell regularly goes before a Center for Science Outreach videoconferencing unit and interacts with students all over the world to help them understand and to hopefully become actively involved in science and science careers. I sat down with him in the library of Dyer Observatory, which you really must visit sometime. In lieu of that, check out these virtual tours of the observatory's talented staff and their programs and facilities. To learn more about this fascinating advocate for technology and exploration, download the show right here. Also visit the "Feed" link to the left to subscribe to the podcast and/or to browse through other episodes of Snacks4theBrain! Music for today's S4theB! is a little somethin' I whipped up that I call "All This Stuff." If you like Snacks4theBrain! I have two requests (little ones!) of you: 1) Take a few seconds to click here and vote at Podcast Alley, then reply to the resulting email to verify your vote. This helps others find S4theB! and 2) Click here and take a few moments to add yourself to the Frappr S4theB! map! Alternatively, you can 3) send money (just kidding!)

Wow. After teaching for ten years at my wonderful school, University School of Nashville, I finally got to see talented HS teacher (and biomedical engineer, and Vanderbilt professor) Dr. Stacey Klein at work. It frequently amazes me how I can be in such close daily proximity with such talent and yet not avail myself of the opportunity to learn from it. Thanks to the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach and the Adventure Science Center I was able to witness my colleague at work as she shared her love of science with a small audience of teachers and students at Nashville's wonderful Adventure Science Center. All in the service of carrying out the missions of both agencies, the open forum on Biomedical Engineering was held on Thursday evening, January 12, 2006. The audience was comprised of CSO and ASC members, teachers, and students all interested in exploring the many connections between medicine and engineering. They were treated to demonstrations of devices from heart monitors to lasers, along with detailed descriptions of just how medical imaging devices make diagnosing and treating health problems easier and quicker! This S4theB! features brief audio from that night, and I'll post some video and pics at a location I'll link to here when they're up. Episode 22 of Snacks4theBrain is right here. Also help yourself to all the previous shows available at the "Feed" link! Cheers! Links: Josh Beckham Stacey Klein Jerry Wilmink The Adventure Science Center The Alaska Podshow Podcast! Thanks, Scott (and "Alaska Bob!") The Podsafe Music Network Thanks, Jim Fidler! Note: The CSO encourages students to use every possible means to learn about careers in science and math. We do not at this time offer one-on-one interviews with working researchers, excepting as they appear in Snacks4theBrain! episodes.

"Vanderbilt...a 'thought leader,'" "collateral discovery," "unfettered science..." "little bleeds in the brain..." Ah, communication: Science Communication! Listen up! This S4theB! features a talk with Vanderbilt University science communications wizard Bill Snyder. It's another lunchcast, ya'll, recorded at a very hot lunch spot called Bosco's, in Hillsboro Village, a quaint and bustling commercial district at the edge of the Vanderbilt campus...so be prepared for some seriously wild background "ambiance" as we talk about all kinds of things: what science communication is all about, why it's important to nurture communication about science, what it's like to work in a big organization like Vanderbilt, what it took in the way of preparation for him to get to the point where he could help facilitate communication about science...and who knows what else!? I can tell ya that the new website for Snyder's Lens Magazine (designed by scientist JP Cartailler) is just totally awesome and something that science educators, students, and anyone interested in science should bookmark just as soon as it's released! I'll be sure to publish its location as soon as it's out of beta! Wow! I successfully used two correctly punctuated "its/it's" iterations in one sentence! Bill Snyder's expertise must be infectious! Also present for lunch was another wizard, Jeff Hazelton, Tech Coordinator for the CSO. Really talented, really good at what he does, and really good company at lunch. Look for a future S4theB! featuring him talking about the upcoming release of his newly designed (but uhuhuhhhh, not yet released) Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach website. Download S4theB!21 here, and check out the "Feed" link in the sidebar for past S4theB! episodes! Show links: Bill Snyder bio email Lens Magazine for a free subscription The Spring 2004 Lens Magazine courtesy of the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and we can't forget: Bosco's Nashville! Music in today's podcast by moi, custom-created on my "sweeper generator," a little Casio electronic keyboard, and modified with the help of Adobe Audition software

So here's the deal, ya'll: I posted a show last week even though it was the day after Christmas and I was sneakin' out to my study to work at dawn's crack whist everyone else in the house was asleep. This week I'm takin' a holiday break, but let me send you over to my new endeavor (which will not detract from but will immeasurably enrich this one), TechTipTuesday. Listen and learn, and as always be thankful for what you have. Life is good.