Everyday Einstein’s iTunes Answers
Everyday Einstein responds to a some questions and comments from the Everyday Einstein Podcast’s iTunes reviews and ratings section.
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Everyday Einstein’s iTunes Answers
Usually I pull Q&A topics from my email, but this week, I thought I’d try something different and respond to a couple of questions and comments I’ve seen on iTunes, in the Everyday Einstein Podcast reviews and ratings section.
Some people say you should never respond to critics, but today, I will blithely ignore that advice and attempt to clarify a few concerns in order to help listeners understand more about the goals of the Everyday Einstein podcast..
Comment #1: Simplicity and Skepticism
“Great little science podcast. Pretty good at making complex issues simple and understandable. He also does a little skepticism, if you’re into that kind of thing.” – wkaardal
Thanks, wkaardal! One of the goals of this podcast is in fact to take complicated areas of science and make them easy to understand.
There’s a fine line between dumbing things down and making things understandable to people with a wide variety of backgrounds, though, and one of the great dangers of science education is teaching things that aren’t true in an effort to make things easier to understand. There’s no point in going through all of that trouble to help someone understand the wrong ideas! It can be a tough balance to find, so if anyone ever catches me slipping up, feel free to send me an email.
I have gotten a couple of comments complaining that I don’t go deep enough into a given topic, and this is something I’m working to address in other forms. But for now, this podcast’s goal is to remain short, simple, and to the point. If you’re looking for more depth, there are several excellent science podcasts in iTunes that cover that ground.
As for the skepticism–yes, I am skeptical about many things. Most scientists tend to be. Skepticism in science is one of the reasons why scientists publish detailed descriptions of their experiments–so that other scientists can repeat them to check the facts for themselves. But there’s a difference between being skeptical and being close-minded. I would argue that a good scientist is one that is skeptical, but open-minded.
Comment #2: Getting it All Wrong
“I was a fan of this podcast until he discussed a topic that I am an expert in. His research was not complete, did not give the full story, and gave a wrong answer. No longer listening.” – Uffern
Well, Uffern, since you don’t tell me which particular episode it was, I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to respond to this! I can tell you that I try to stay away from topics I’m completely ignorant about, and I do a fair amount of research before writing each episode. However, that certainly doesn’t preclude me from getting things wrong–and since I’m limited on time here, I never get a chance to tell the “full story” about anything.
My goal is to usually provide just enough information and background to get you started; then, if you’re interested in learning more, you’ll have a good jumping off point.
My goal is to usually provide just enough information and background to get you started; then, if you’re interested in learning more, you’ll have a good jumping off point. I’m assuming that you were most likely offended by one of my episodes on herbal medicine, GMO crops, or vaccinations, which tend to be rather controversial issues in some people’s minds.
If that’s the case, I’m afraid I don’t have much more to offer there. You can either choose to believe the science or not. If on the other hand, I got something else wrong— perhaps you’re expert on fire and my explanation of oxidation was way off, for example— please send me an email and let me know.
Comment #3: Pronunciation Problems
“In areas that I know something about, Lee seems accurate and understandable. But I don’t get where he gets some of his pronunciations!. (Here, the commenter gives a few examples of things I pronounced in an odd way.) If these are regionalisms, he needs to say something about it like, ‘Though I don’t in general have a British accent, you might want to know that I trained in the U.K. and pronounce some terms in their way.’ Also, please don’t rely on online pronunciation generator sites that are merely algorithmic! – Mitch
Here, I must confess that Mitch is absolutely right. I do pronounce things in a slightly odd way. First, while I did get my PhD in the U.S., my advisor was from New Zealand, so he had a slightly different way of pronouncing things, and I picked up many technical terms from him.
Second, right after finishing my PhD, I did a postdoc in the U.K., where they have yet another way of pronouncing things. (Even non-technical things like aluminum, which they pronounce as al-loo-men-ee-um.) During that postdoc, several of my colleagues were British, one was from Austria, another from Portugal, and another from Italy. So pronunciation was a bit all over the place.
Finally, there are many things I talk about on this show which I’ve never actually heard people discuss audibly–I’ve only read about them in books or scientific papers. When I come across a term I don’t know how to pronounce, I typically try to find a YouTube video where a seemingly knowledgable person uses that term. If that doesn’t work, I must confess to using the online pronunciation tools on Wikipedia or dictionary.com, which Mitch warns me about.
However it is important to keep in mind that most scientific terms are just words that have been made up in the last century or two by smashing together parts of old Latin words. And since nobody really knows how old Latin words were pronounced, anyway, I don’t worry about it too much.
Conclusion
That’s all of the Q&A we have time for this week. As always, if there’s something you hear on the show that just seems off, (even if it’s just me mispronouncing a word you’re really familiar with!), feel free to send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.
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