Dinosaurs Are Too Easy

Earlier this week, there was some interesting discussion of science communication in the UK branch of the science blogosphere. I found it via Alun Salt’s “Moving beyond the ‘One-dinosaur-fits-all’ model of science communication” which is too good a phrase not to quote, and he spun off two posts from Alice Bell, at the Guardian blog… Continue reading Dinosaurs Are Too Easy

Quantum Mechanics Is Square: “Ruling Out Multi-Order Interference in Quantum Mechanics”

This week’s big story in physics is this Science paper by a group out of Austria Canada (edited to fix my misreading of the author affiliations), on a triple-slit interference effect. This has drawn both the usual news stories and also some complaining about badly-worded news stories. So, what’s the deal? What did they do… Continue reading Quantum Mechanics Is Square: “Ruling Out Multi-Order Interference in Quantum Mechanics”

Real Math Doesn’t Use Calculators

The Dean Dad is worried about remedial math: In a discussion this week with someone who spends most of her time working with students who are struggling mightily in developmental math, I heard an argument I hadn’t given much thought previously: students who have passed algebra and even pre-calc in high school frequently crash and… Continue reading Real Math Doesn’t Use Calculators

Links for 2010-07-23

slacktivist: Credit scoring and unemployment “Say you’re unemployed and you decide to work your tail off to land a new job, so you send out 40 résumés a week. Half of the companies might decide to do a credit-check before getting back to you. This sets off alarm-bells at the credit-rating agencies. Twenty credit-checks in… Continue reading Links for 2010-07-23

Published
Categorized as Links Dump

Sex, Intuition, and Evidence in Science

Over at A Most Curious Planet, Alexandra Jellicoe offers a story with the provocative headline Is Science Sexist?, which spins off an anecdote from astronomy: I was listening to Radio 4 a few months ago and the discussion about gender intelligence lodged in the deeper recesses of my brain unthought-of until recently when I went… Continue reading Sex, Intuition, and Evidence in Science

The E-Book Experience

A bit more than a month ago, I got a Sony Reader as a birthday present, upgrading my electronic book-reading platform from an old Palm Pilot. this is, obviously, not as sexy as a Kindle or a Nook, but then again, it doesn’t involve me paying fees to use wireless services and further stoke my… Continue reading The E-Book Experience

Teleconference Poll

Pretty much what the title implies: for a variety of reasons, I find myself in a position where people keep holding or suggesting conference calls as a way of getting the relevant players together on the phone if not in person. I’m not wild about this, but I’m curious what other people think: Conference calls… Continue reading Teleconference Poll

Published
Categorized as Polls

Links for 2010-07-22

More Online Astronomy Resources for Writers “A few years ago I compiled a list of online astronomy resources for writers following that year’s Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers. Every year there are new links we pass around and discuss, so I wanted to do an addendum, if you will, adding more links to the… Continue reading Links for 2010-07-22

Published
Categorized as Links Dump