BBC News – More cat owners ‘have degrees’ than dog-lovers My favorite bit is the note that “Cat and dog numbers were last estimated in a scientific peer-reviewed journal in 1989,” because, of course, peer review is critical to the process… (tags: pets dog society education social-science) Bright Idea: The First Lasers — A history […]
Month: February 2010
Amazing Laser Application 1: Light Show!
What’s the application? The use of lasers to provide an entertaining light show for humans, dogs, or cats. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How will I entertain my dog or cat?” 2) “How can we distract people from the fact that Roger Daltrey has no voice left?”
Laser Smackdown: The Finalists
A couple of weeks ago, I announced a contest to determine the Most Amazing Laser Application. After a follow-up post listing the likely candidates, we have a final list of candidate applications, an even dozen of them (after consolidating some related topics): Cat toy/ dog toy/ laser light show Laser cooling/ BEC Laser ranging/position measurement […]
My Boskone Schedule
The usual “This is the stuff that looks interesting to me” post, based on the preliminary online program. Subject to change if they move things around, or if I discover something I overlooked that sounds more interesting, or if I decide I’m hungry, and opt to blow off panels in favor of food. This year’s […]
Way Cuter Than the Puppy Bowl
There was some discombobulation yesterday afternoon that kept me from posting these– I had meant them to be a Super Bowl alternative for the non-football-inclined. They’ll work just as well as a Monday brightener, though. So here’s a clip of SteelyKid a couple of weeks ago, laughing at the “got your food wrapper” game: And […]
Links for 2010-02-08
More than 300 cases of mumps reported in Monsey, New Square | LoHud.com | The Journal News “At least 60 percent of the people in Rockland who have gotten mumps during the current outbreak had not been fully immunized, Facelle said. Mumps were common before the vaccine became available. In 2008, there were only two […]
The Super Bowl Index of Economic and Cultural Indicators
It occurs to me that if you take the Super Bowl as a comment on the current state of the US of A– which, you might as well, because it’s as good as anything else– we are totally screwed. I mean, consider the fact that two-thirds of the ads were for Bud Light. OK, that […]
Talking to My Dog About Science: Why Public Communication of Science Matters, and How Weblogs Can Help
My talk at Maryland last Thursday went pretty well– the impending Snowpocalypse kept the audience down, as people tried to fit in enough work to compensate for the Friday shutdown, but the people who were there seemed to like it, and asked good questions. If you weren’t there, but want to know what I talked […]
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Miscellaneous stories and links about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Kathy Ceceri, who wrote the story about the book that ran in the Times Union, has posted the full article on the Home Physics blog. The link to the paper itself may very well disappear behind a paywall, but this post should remain […]
Sports Science Poll: Super Bowl
We’re mere hours away from the start of the Super Bowl, the biggest football game of the year. Obviously, the question of who will win has been the subject of much debate over the last couple of weeks on sports media and in offices around the country. What these discussions have lacked, though, is Science!!! […]