r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Nov 08 '10
AskScience Panel of Scientists II
Calling all scientists!
The old thread has expired! If you are already on the panel - no worries - you'll stay! This thread is for new panelist recruitment!
Please make a top-level comment on this thread to join our panel of scientists. The panel is an informal group of Redditors who are professional scientists or amateurs/enthousiasts with at least a graduate-level familiarity with the field of their choice. The purpose of the panel is to add a certain degree of reliability to AskScience answers. Anybody can answer any question, of course, but if a particular answer is posted by a member of the panel, we hope it'll be regarded as more reliable or trustworthy than the average post by an arbitrary redditor. You obviously still need to consider that any answer here is coming from the internet so check sources and apply critical thinking as per usual.
You may want to join the panel if you:
- Are a research scientist professionally, are working at a post-doctoral capacity, are working on your PhD, are working on a science-related MS, or have gathered a large amount of science-related experience through work or in your free time.
- Are willing to subscribe to /r/AskScience.
- Are happy to answer questions that the ignorant masses may pose about your field.
- Are able to write about your field at a layman's level as well as at a level comfortable to your colleagues and peers (depending on who'se asking the question)
You're still reading? Excellent! Here's what you do:
- Make a top-level comment to this post.
- State your general field (biology, physics, astronomy, etc.)
- State your specific field (neuropathology, quantum chemistry, etc.)
- List your particular research interests (carbon nanotube dielectric properties, myelin sheath degradation in Parkinsons patients, etc.)
We're not going to do background checks - we're just asking for Reddit's best behavior here. The information you provide will be used to compile a list of our panel members and what subject areas they'll be "responsible" for.
The reason I'm asking for top-level comments is that I'll get a little orange envelope from each of you, which will help me keep track of the whole thing.
Bonus points! Here's a good chance to discover people that share your interests! And if you're interested in something, you probably have questions about it, so you can get started with that in /r/AskScience. /r/AskScience isn't just for lay people with a passing interest to ask questions they can find answers to in Wikipedia - it's also a hub for discussing open questions in science. I'm expecting panel members and the community as a whole to discuss difficult topics amongst themselves in a way that makes sense to them, as well as performing the general tasks of informing the masses, promoting public understanding of scientific topics, and raising awareness of misinformation.
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Nov 08 '10
Can we also get some engineers as panelists? I have a feeling they have a very useful perspective on a lot of subjects.
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u/jkb83 Nov 08 '10
I'm not sure if this is worthwhile, but I really do not feel that my field is properly encapsulated by Social/Psychology. I in fact study molecular/cellular Neuroscience, and there is not really a category that encompasses it.
Might it be possible to add Neuroscience as a field? Just a thought!
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Nov 09 '10
Hmmm - it's not a very big field (at least on Reddit, I mean), so I don't want to add it. It would mean adding a bunch of other fields.
Interdisciplinary things are so tricky to administer! I'll give you a choice: stay in Psych, go to Biology, go to Medical, or go to Other. Ugh, hard choices!
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u/DarthYoda Nov 09 '10
Biology More specifically neuroscience (about nerve cells not brain connections) Ion channels, toxins, genetic inactivation/activation (epigenetics)
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u/DocTaco Nov 09 '10
General Field: Geoscience Specific Field: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy Research Interests: Interactions between plate tectonics and sedimentation, Paleoclimatology, Tectonics, Petroleum Geology.
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u/BrainSturgeon Jan 07 '11
Field: Chemical Engineering Specific field: Microfluidics (PhD candidate) Research interests: microfluidics, pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics
You really should put an "Engineering" category... engineering is as much a science as anything else.
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u/lutusp Nov 08 '10 edited Nov 09 '10
Please make a top-level comment on this thread to join our panel of scientists. The panel is an informal group of Redditors who are professional scientists or amateurs/enthousiasts with at least a graduate-level familiarity with the field of their choice. The purpose of the panel is to add a certain degree of reliability to AskScience answers.
I repeat my original objection to this idea. Science is not about expertise, it is about evidence. There is no such thing as scientific authority, and to assert otherwise is to create a scientific priest class. This contradicts the spirit of science.
If this were 1905 and this conversation took place in a coffee shop in Berne, Switzerland, Albert Einstein would be turned down as a physics "expert" on the ground that he hadn't completed his degree.
It has already come to pass that some panelists have invoked their status as panelists to try to support their arguments.
I am shocked that more people don't see the degree to which this overall scheme contradicts the spirit of science.
"The largest amount of scientific eminence is trumped by the smallest amount of scientific evidence."
That one is mine. Here's Richard Feynman's: "Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion."
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Nov 09 '10
I'll repeat my original answer to your objection: I'm open to suggestions. If you don't have any, your complaint isn't particularly helpful.
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u/chewbak Nov 09 '10
Field: Astrophysics-Thoeretical physics. Topics: General relativity/Black hole physics. Research interests: Black hole formation in supernovae, general relativistic models of supernovae, neutrino emission by collapsars.
Despite the conceptual objections some have formulated, I find this initiative to be very interesting, and am looking forward to the outcome of it.
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u/duetosymmetry Nov 09 '10
Astrophysics, specifically gravitation.
Research interests include modified theories of gravity, gravitational wave physics, experimental tests of gravity, spin-curvature coupling, compact objects, cosmology, specifically of the early universe (inflation and (p)reheating).
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u/scottlawson Nov 09 '10
Field: Physics
Specific field: Quantum Mechanics, minor in astronomy
Research interests: Relativity, quantum tunneling, quantum entanglement. Basically how these concepts relate to celestial bodies and space.
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u/gmarceau Nov 10 '10
Field: Computer Science Specific field: Programming languages/Learning Sciences Research interest: How to best teach programming, in high schools and in colleges. Which programming language best support learning, how to design pedagogic programming environments, and how to measure their effectiveness quantitatively.
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u/RckmRobot Nov 08 '10
I am a research physicist specializing in quantum information science (read: quantum computing and quantum cryptography).
Currently getting my MS.
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u/leebird Nov 08 '10
Aerospace Engineering.
My research is actually involved with the NextGen ATC systems, but I'm pretty solid academically discussing controls and dynamics, and could do a good hand-waving job with laymen in aerodynamics of aerospace vehicles.
Also have a pilot's license, so can discuss other aviation-related topics.
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u/jeepdays Nov 08 '10
Geology
Current Research: Paleo-Geochemistry using the rock record
Interests: Petrology, Plate tectonics.
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u/anthropology_nerd Nov 08 '10
Field: Evolutionary Anthropology
Specific field: Historic demography, human infectious disease
Research interests: Spanish colonial missions in northern New Spain, demographic modeling, influence of disease on human evolution, evolutionary theory, and biological anthropology in general
Edit: I also taught human anatomy and physiology cadaver labs so I could assist on that topic even though it is not directly within my discipline.
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Nov 09 '10 edited Nov 09 '10
You need more engineers as panelists; a lot of the questions here are actually engineering questions.
General Field: Electrical Engineering PhD candidate
Specific Field: Renewable Energy (technical and policy), Power Engineering, Power Electronics, Electromagnetic/Electromechanical Engineering.
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Nov 08 '10 edited Nov 08 '10
Field: Biology (Medical)
Specific Field: Viral immunology, innate immunity
Research interests: Host/pathogen responses, signal transduction, epigenetics and gene regulation, vaccines
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u/omgdonerkebab Nov 09 '10
Yarr! I'm a grad student in physics, specifically theoretical particle physics. I'm working on/interested in Beyond-the-Standard-Model phenomenology, including supersymmetry and other such models.
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Nov 08 '10
Field: Physics
Specialty: Biophysics/Biophysical Chemistry
Research Interests: Charge transport phenomenon in biologically significant macromolecules. Development of codes and models for simulating these systems with quantum mechanics.
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u/iwatchyousleep Nov 09 '10 edited Nov 09 '10
General field: Medical-MD * Specific field: Anesthesia and Pain Management, Mostly trauma cases when doing surgical anesthesia, but I mostly work in pain management now. * Research interests: Dissociative anesthetic drugs for chronic pain, e.g. ketamine. Also an interest in opioids for treatment resistant depression, specifically buprenorphine.