In the Q&A session, following the talk by Rudwick, I particularly enjoyed his comment on Charles Darwin and the “native banana tree” with reference to the fieldwork Darwin made in Tahiti. The point made here was that accounts about the work of Darwin made by other historians (that have never been there) made Martin suggest that some of these people ought to be sentenced to walk up and down and up (the mountains of Tahiti) to understand what Darwin was talking about.

This statement makes a call for recognizing of learning by doing (or the bodily experience) to remember and to fully understand the location when using travel accounts and letters as a source material from Darwin’s work.

Having said that, the account made in the travel diaries of Darwin from his trip to Tahiti with the ship called The Beagle is, I must say, very colourful and gives a tropical taste to any reader:

“The low land which comes down to the beach of coral-sand, is covered by the most beautiful productions of the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots are cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane, and pine-apples are cultivated. Even the brush-wood is an imported fruit-tree, namely, the guava, which from its abundance has become as noxious as a weed. In Brazil I have often admired the varied beauty of the bananas, palms, and orange-trees contrasted together; and here we also have the bread-fruit, conspicuous from its large, glossy, and deeply digitated leaf.”

Later on, Mr Darwin also got around to tasting some local tropical specialities after descending the mountains of Tahiti:

“When in the evening I descended from the mountain, a man, whom I had pleased with a trifling gift, met me, bringing with him hot roasted bananas, a pine-apple, and cocoa-nuts. After walking under a burning sun, I do not know anything more delicious than the milk of a young cocoa-nut. Pine-apples are here so abundant that the people eat them in the same wasteful manner as we might turnips.”

Source: Library online: The voyage of the Beagle.

Travel accounts like this one reminds me of the taste of banana bread and roasted bread-fruit and makes me me want to pay a visit – regardless if I am one of those scientists that are sentenced to “be there”  or not.

The second very entertaining and also visual presentation was entitled “The changing faces of Science in Punch 1859-90” referring to the caricatures in the journal Punch. Just amazing work those drawings of Darwin and others – so it is worth a visit to the online resources available, see link to the periodical Punch.

The presentation was looking into how the scientists have been depicted and how this has changed over time – from caricatures and faces of figures we recognize quite easily to drawings representing certain traits and clothing associated with the scientist. I think the presentation showed potential for some really interesting work and prospects of a PhD-thesis read by many people interested in the role of science in society – but also by comic book fans, those of us enjoying drawing and scientists with some sense of humour and self-distance.

Later on in the afternoon, the key-note speech was given by Martin Rudwick (University of Cambridge) on the topic of ”The Devonian:  a story of a county, a controversy, and the earth’s deep history”.

He was telling the story of how the area of Devon actually gave name to one of the historical geological time-periods and the controversy that was taking place over this in the 1830s, also described in his book “The Great Devonian Controversy”

Good start with some fascinating stories told about scientific controversy and how the Geological society was organized as a “Miniature House of Commons” to spark debates. Hopefully this will continue in day 2.

The program for the next couple of days looks promising – ranging from topics of “Objections to Lamarck and Darwin” to “Nineteenth-Century science in the press” or “Where were they?: the science and culture of Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. So there will be some tough decisions to be made next couple of days about what session to go to. First choice, already this afternoon, is between “Twentieth-Century Physics”, “Visualization” and “Past, present and future” of history of science.

The presentation from KTH (representing Sweden here?)  is scheduled for Sunday and is entitled “On the boundary of linearity – the split between basic and applied research in Sweden in the 1940s”. But before then, a couple of days hanging out in Queen’s lecture theatre at Exeter Campus… and many decisions to be made about the many sessions.

To have a look at the sessions – see link to conference

…a nice crowd here in Exeter and also, I realized now, quite active on twitter

KTH Campi april 2011

So if you always thought that there ought to be a course on Science Fiction out there somewhere – here you go!

During the last 100 years, Science Fiction film- and literature has been a forum through which technology and science has, directly and indirectly, been brought out to the public, discussed, and interpreted. Within the genre, images of the role of technology in future society have not only mirrored existing discourses and discussions about technology, but have also created visions of the future, as well as inspired and/or discouraged research and technological development. Taking works of science fiction as a starting point, we will analyse statements regarding technology and technological change and relate these to 20th century discussions and discourses regarding technology and society.

Course information: AK1205 Science Goes Fiction
When: March 21 – May 30, 2011. Mondays and some Thursdays 17 – 19.
For more information, see course syllabus online

Vid seminariet presenterade professor Bahar Armaghani erfarenheter från campus of University of Florida. Bahar är Director of LEED Green Building and Rating System vid University of Florida. LEED är en förkortning av Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Diskussionen efter seminariet tog även upp exempel från campus i Florida från ”energispar” tävlingar mellan byggnader (och forskare-studenter i dessa byggnader)  genom att mäta energiförbrukning för varje byggnad. Ett sätt att synliggöra den ”dolda energiförbrukningen” för att kunna ändra beteenden och rutiner. Bahar berättade även att de hade valt att använda miljöanpassad upphandling för att nå miljömål och att de hade engagerat studenter i arbetet för att kartlägga campus och göra information mer tillgänglig om återvinning på campus och gjort en genomgång av hur städning av lokaler kan göras mer miljövänlig. Vid KTH finns en studentorganisation som heter SEEK (Sustainable Engineering Everywhere – a KTH student organization) som jobbar med frågor om ett grönare KTH-campus. Läs mer om exempel på detta  från University of Florida och studentorganisationen SEEK - Sustainable Emgineering Everywhere vid KTH.

Det var ett intressant seminarium också för att jag i tidigare blogginlägg har berättat om initiativ till energisnåla byggnader och innovativa miljöanpassade lösningar vid Stanford campus – så det ska bli spännande att höra vilka nya initiativ som KTH kommer att lansera för att uppnå mer energieffektiva lösningar och uppsatta miljömål. Självklart är det också en möjlighet stt visa upp miljötänkande och den bredd i energi- och miljöforskning som finns vid KTH kring både tekniska lösningar och hur olika alternativ kan påverka hur (och om) vi också förändrar rutiner i vardagen för att närma oss utsatta miljömål.

Green campus initiatives seminar at KTH

Yesterday KTH arranged a seminar to discuss different routes to a more green campus – not necessarily in the sense of more trees – but addressing questions such as: How can KTH reduce environmental impact from the KTH campus. How can recycling be improved? How can environmental procurement be used at KTH? What new initiatives are on the way here at campus?

The seminar also included a presentation by Professor Bahar Armaghani sharing experiences from experiences from campus of University of Florida. Bahar is Director of LEED Green Building and Rating System at the University of Florida. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The discussion following the seminar also provided some interesting examples from University of Florida initiating “saving energy competitions” between buildings at campus with the help of monitoring devices for energy consumption in each building and also by involving student associations. At KTH there is an association called SEEK (Sustainable Engineering Everywhere – a KTH student organization) that also are active in plans for a more sustainable KTH-campus. See the website with examples from student presentations from University of Florida and the student organization SEEK - Sustainable Engineering Everywhere at KTH.

It was an interesting seminar, also since I in an earlier text in this blog was discussing experiences from energy efficient buildings at the Stanford campus – also raising the question about what was happening at the KTH campus when it comes to new initiatives in energy saving and renewable energy technology.  The challenge of creating a greener campus is an excellent opportunity to showcase ongoing research at KTH on energy efficiency, novel solutions (and incentives) to save energy in buildings as well as studies of attitudes and change in behavior needed to achieve the environmental objectives set.

To be continued…

Sen har jag också varit förbi designmuseum i London nu när de visar massa spännande grön design med utställningen Sustainable Futures. De visar ett brett urval från urbana lösningar med förnybar energi genom solpaneler, smarta förpackningar som kan återvinnas enklare och har även en designblogg som ställer frågan: kan design göra skillnad? Där kan man också läsa om några utställningsobjekt, exempelvis båten Plastiki (gjord av 12500 återvunna plastflaskor!) som korsat Stilla havet och nu anlänt i Sydney. Så vissa projekt visas för att väcka frågor om återvinning och miljövinster man kan göra att engagera designers i processen att skapa nya produkter och tjänster. Det är intressant att se hur nya designers letar efter lösningar kring frågor som diskuterats i termer av Peak Oil i media men sällan kopplas till attityder hos designers. Titta in och lyssna på ett klipp om detta: Sustainable design at the UKs biggest graduate design fair.

I paviljongen fanns även bränslesnåla racingbilar, trehjulingar (som framifrån mest liknade Barbapappa), soldrivna ugnar och kylskåp …och såklart vattenexperiment i Childrens corner. När jag gick genom utställningen var en kvinna där med två unga tjejer i 5-6års åldern – lite svårt att se om det var barnen eller de vuxna som tyckte det var roligast med vattenbanan där man kunde få farkoster att åka uppströms. Det finns ju, som bekant, ingen åldersgräns för vattenexperiment.

KTH at LOVE2010 – among Barbapapa cars, solar-powered ovens and water experiments

Yesterday I went by the KTH-pavillion ”Passion for Innovation” next to the music stage for LOVE2010. During a few days some of the most important innovations for the Swedish Economy have been showed trough the initiative ”Swedish Inventions” together with new discoveries and projects within energy technology, transport and medicine. The visitors have also had the opportunity to participate in discussions and workshops in the project ”Open Innovation” aiming to incorporate opinions and view points from citizens, users and consumers in the search for future challenges in areas such as mobility and transport in Stockholm.

Fuel-efficient racing cars (resembling Barbapapa cars), solar-powered ovens and refrigerators… and naturally water experiments in the Childrens’ corner. When I walked trough the exhibition, a woman and two kids were trying to make boats go upstream. So it was pretty hard to see if it was really the kids having most fun. As we all know – there is no age limit for enjoying water experiments.

Under konferensen pågick en utställning på Brightons strandpromenad med fantastiska foton av djurliv i olika delar i världen – eller snarare porträtt av olika djurarter. Ett porträtt som fastnade hos mig var ett foto av en orangutangunge med frågan: Vilken värld ärver orangutangens unge? Tänkvärt och klart värt ett besök på hemsidan för utställningen ”Wild Planet Exhibition” som startade i Brighton mars 2010.

Ett annat tips är utställningen ”Sustainable Futures” vid designmuseum i London som visar på den tydliga kopplingen mellan design och miljötänk vid produktutveckling. Den utställningen är jag väldigt nyfiken på – så får återkomma senare när jag haft möjlighet att titta förbi.