WCSJ2013 in Helsinki, a photo-tour
Flying directly from SciFoo in California to WCSJ2013 in Helsinki, Finland is a pretty long trip that requires a pretty big airplane. Those of you who know me well, know I am obsessed with airplanes, am an addict of FlightAlert, choose JetBlue on domestic flights in order to continuously monitor flight statistics, and my first requirement when someone else is booking my flights is “the biggest airplane you can get”. So I was quite pleased to be riding on this big bird, the original Jumbo Jet:
Boeing 747, ready to go from San Francisco to Heathrow, London.
What I really liked, though, was something that is apparently banned on US air carriers, but both of Finnair flights (to and from London to Helsinki) had – a cockpit cam! While the screen shows many more different flight stats than JetBlue does, and one can also watch the view from a camera facing straight down (which is really nice when approaching the Land of 1000 Lakes), during the last few minutes of flight, during landing, everyone’s screen is automatically turned on to the cockpit cam. It feels like playing a video game, piloting the airplane down onto the runway!
Cockpit cam view, just seconds after landing at Heathrow from Helsinki.
Helsinki is gorgeous:
Plenty of water
Easy to relax on the square in front of the University
Cathedral in the middle of the day
Cathedral in the middle of the night, i.e., that two-hour period when it's not as bright as usual in the middle of the summer!
I checked in:
Of course, I added my Twitter handle to the nametag
And picked up the Program:
It's all there, black on white.
First morning plenary, by Hans Rosling “A fact-based world view – people, money & energy”
Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling, giving the first plenary
A Hans Rosling slide
A Hans Rosling animation
Hans Rosling polled us, and we all failed miserably!
The first morning plenary panel was What about ethics?
Deborah Blum at the first morning plenary panel
Deborah Blum on Chemophobia
Deborah Blum on Chemophobia
JAYFK makes an appearance
SA Guest Blog makes an appearance
Chemophobia
More Chemophobia
Even more Chemophobia
I went to many sessions, but did not take photos in each one. And those I took from the back row with my iPhone, as you can see, are not very clear, but OK….
What happens outside USA and UK?:
Nina Kristiansen, Chief Editor of ScienceNordic
Says who? – Challenging the experts on medical knowledge:
Mikael Fogelholm, Professor in Public Health Nutrition, University of Helsinki. (I think)
Wearing many hats? How to preserve independence was already covered in great detail by Kai Kupferschmidt and Anne Sasso.
The day ended with an evening at the National Archives of Finland:
City of Helsinki welcomes science writers
Second day’s morning plenary – Deborah Blum: “The Poisoner’s Guide to Life (And Communicating Chemistry).”
Deborah Blum communicates chemistry
Deborah Blum communicates chemistry
Then, there was a plenary panel, The Rise of the Science Blog Network: Lessons from All Corners of the World, organized by Deborah Blum, moderated by Lynne Smit, with panelists Betsy Mason, Alok Jha, Ed Yong and yours truly:
View of the panel while being on the panel.
Alokh Jha explaining something I agree with a moment later (perhaps we all agreed too much!).
You can watch the whole panel webcast here (You can watch webcasts of all the plenary talks and panels):
Next panel was “The ‘killer’ science journalists of the future.” But if you’ve ever been to my blog, you know I wrote a lot about it already, see: #sci4hels – ‘Killer’ science journalists of the future ready to take over the world!, and #sci4hels – the ‘killer’ science journalists of the future want your feedback, and #sci4hels – What makes one a “killer” (science) journalist of the future?. Of course, preparing for this for almost a year, they did an amazing job and were rightfully stars of the event (but also see this and this).
Last strategy meeting before the panel
It's about to start!
In front of a packed auditorium
Rose Eveleth introduces the panel
Lena Groeger demoes Cicada Tracker
Kathleen Raven tackles the tough questions from the audience.
Erin Podolak and Kathleen Raven, relaxed and happy during a break a little later.
A deserved outing:
On the island...
An old fortress
A church
Reindeer calf for dinner.
An old cannon
Geese and goslings
The third day started with the plenary talk “Mental preparation for a vulnerable world“:
Janne I. Hukkinen's slide
Late breaker session: Big data, big brother:
Dino Trescher (Germany), editor and founder of Constart Correspondent Network.
Making sense of uncertainty
Closing Plenary: New Horizons:
Ivan Oransky
Connie St.Louis
Barbecue dinner at Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre, was the last event:
Entrance to Heureka
The rainbow colors of the building
The Fire dance
Plenty to play with
Easy to roll a ball in the water
Phase space in sand. It's beautiful!
In the basement of Heureka, in the replica of a WWII bomb shelter, at the moment the bomb struck and lights went out.
Breakfast with Vesa Niinikangas, outgoing WCSJ President.
A sparrow at the Helsinki airport, at my gate.
Beautiful city, I hope to be back one day.
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
