Saturday, November 02, 2013

A researcher made a scientific breakthrough about the chemistry of water. Everyone thought she was a man.

So I first found out about this a few days ago: a researcher named Xi Zhang, at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, led a team that suggested a reason why hot water freezes faster than cold water. (It's called the Mpemba Effect, because it was first noted by the Tanzanian student Ernesto Mpemba.)



Awesome, right? I used to work at NTU, and while they're not a model for academic freedom in any way, it's great when any institution invests in science.

It's been reported in both Gizmodo and I fucking love science, which talk about "Xi Zhang and his team", "Xi Zhang and his colleagues".



The weird thing is, when I went to search for the face of this researcher, I found this:


She's a lady. Check the page. She's not just another scientist with the same name: her field of research and the university are the same.

Now, I'm not saying this was a deliberate attempt to whitewash women out of scientific history (although this has happened in the past). And of course, Xi was just one of several researchers, male and female, working on the discovery, which is the way science has often worked.

But journalists of the world: when you're dealing with foreign names, you really can't make assumptions about gender. Elise Andrew, the blogger behind I Fucking Love Science should know this - she's experienced that kind of sexism herself.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Eastern Heathens Launch on Sat 23 August, 6:30-7:30pm!

Hey guys! Eastern Heathens is FINALLY going into print!


What is it? Well, it's an anthology of stories inspired by Asian folklore - there's realism, fantasy, historical fiction, oriental steampunk, horror, comedy, sex... and I'm one of the editors! Mind you, it's mostly drawn from the inspiration and the sweat of my co-editor Amanda Lee Koe - and from the contributors. (I tried submitting a story, but we agreed it wasn't good enough.)

We sent stuff to the print shop yesterday and we're holding the launch next Saturday, at the Arts House, aka The Old Parliament House. It's part of the Literally 9 festival to celebrate the arts centre's ninth anniversary. Alfian Sa'at, Cyril Wong and newcomer Bryan Cheong should be reading! I'm hosting, methinks.

Venue: Arts House, Living Room
Date: 23 Mar 2013
Event Timing: 6.30-7:30pm
Free admission
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/442375729179327/?fref=ts

The authors, btw, are:

Bryan Cheong (Singapore)
Hoa Pham (Australia)
Cyril Wong (Singapore)
Jeannine Hall Gailey (USA/Japan)
Alfian Sa'at (Singapore/Malaysia)
Amanda Lee Koe (Singapore)
Jon Gresham (Australia/Singapore)
Anila Angin (Singapore)
Chan Ziqian (Singapore/Poland)
Jennani Durai (Singapore)
Li Huijia (Singapore)
Abha Iyengar (India)
Zeny May Recidoro (Philippines)
Jason Erik Lundberg (USA/Singapore)

Seeya there!

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Several announcements for January!

1. Flying Circus Project!

I'm going to Myanmar from 3 to 15 January, to be part of the Flying Circus Project! Here's the blog I'm maintaining at Weebly.



2. OH! Marina Bay

This means I'm gonna miss Evil Empire's OH!: Open House at Marina Bay, a series of interactive art tours that are happening this weekend and next weekend - that's 5, 6, 12, 13 Jan - at Marina Bay. I contributed a short story to their program, titled Block Quotes. If you wanna go, better go early - lines are kuh-ray-zee.

3. Campaign City

I actually designed a poster for Evil Empire as part of their Campaign City: Life in Posters exhibition. It's showing at the National Library, Level 11, from 9 January onwards - huge light boxes on the walls, each featuring an artist's reinterpretation of one of the PAP's propaganda campaigns! I worked with the Speak Good English campaign in a way that celebrates local experimental writing.


4. Choice Cuts

And there's actually already an exhibition I'm involved in on show, at Jurong Regional Library, called Choice Cuts - a little installation by my friends at Studio Kaleido that gives you personal recommendations for Singapore literature, by Singaporean writers. As you can see, I'm featured as a recommender (not as a recommendee), as are Boey Kim Cheng, Wena Poon, Enoch Ng, etc, etc. (Gwee Li Sui is both a recommender and a -dee, ugh.)


The show will move from library to library until it opens in Central Lending around March. I should be able to make it for that launch.

That's all for now. I think!