Beach Sand Dirtier Than the Water

Beach Sand Dirtier Than the Water - Science - redOrbit

Beach sand often contains higher levels of E.coli and other fecal bacteria than water at the beach, U.S researchers said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said research suggests beach closings due to elevated fecal indicator bacteria may be linked to contaminated beach sand. The findings are among the topics that will be discussed in Indiana at the Great Lakes Beach Association conference Sept. 16-17.

“Over the last few years, we’ve identified an important source of indicator bacteria and how these bacteria may negatively influence recreation, but this is the first time experts have actually met to discuss this issue collectively,” Richard Whitman, head of the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station, said in a release.

USGS said bacteria are often present in the sand in high concentrations independent of any recent contamination events. The bacteria can also be re-suspended into the beach water by onshore winds and high waves.

Science Education for Everyone: Why and What?

Jeremy emailed me this article, and I found where it was available online. I find it interesting for a couple of reasons which I’ll share first, just to mess things up. The first notion is that average people really can’t ever do science, so let’s just teach them enough to be able to vote for science and think good things about it. I was thinking this week about people who are employed in science fields and I wondered if they were really scientists, or if they’re just people running technical machines. Are science administrators? I’m a science educator, but am I a scientist? Perhaps I am, but not due to the teaching I do. So, I wonder if people who call themselves scientists really are. Sure they understand why having a 4 million solar mass black hole in the centre of the galaxy is cooool, and pictures are even coolerer, but that’s not being a scientist, merely a fan or geek. To me, a scientist is someone who creates new knowledge and furthers our understanding of the world and ourselves. It can be new to everyone or new to you, as we already acknowledge that many scientific discoveries were actually re-discoveries. To keep it short, I would suggest that scientists are people who are doing science in terms of discovery and (co)constructing new knowledge. People who learn about science or are part of the science economy and run the apparatus of science are not scientists, though they are probably wonderful, dedicated and creative people… and may even be scientists in their spare time. Accordingly, I think that we should be educating people to be scientists regardless of what they do in life, not merely teach them to be studied fans of scientific progress.
Science Education for Everyone: Why and What?

When we take as our goal the production of students who are comfortable handling science-related issues that arise in public debate, two propositions follow immediately, both of which are profoundly out of tune with the current academic consensus: (1) the students need to know something about all areas of science, rather than a lot about a single area; and (2) the students do not need to be able to “do” science.