“What’cha doin’?” “Huh? Oh, I’m playing with the Spore Creature Creator. It’s a videogame thing, that lets me design little computerized critters.” “What sort of critters?” “All kinds of things. I could even make one that looks sort of like you. Here, take a look.” “Oooh! That’s neat. I should have bigger claws, though.” “Well,… Continue reading Emmy-saurus, Courtesy of Spore
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2008-06-21
Experimental Realization of an Optical One-Way Barrier for Neutral Atoms “[A] realization of Maxwell’s demon [that] has important implications for cooling atoms and molecules not amenable to standard laser-cooling techniques.” (tags: physics articles science experiment news atoms optics) Spatially Resolved Observation of Dipole-Dipole Interaction between Rydberg Atoms A possible mechanism for making a quantum computer… Continue reading links for 2008-06-21
links for 2008-06-20
Redefining Where Salary Gaps Linger :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs “[M]en and women are being hired at four-year colleges at comparable salaries as they start their faculty careers, but there is one significant exception: research universities. At research universities, even controlling for variables such as discipline a… Continue reading links for 2008-06-20
The Self-Justification of Elite Nerds
A bunch of academic bloggers have been talking about the American Scholar essay by William Deresiewicz. The always-perceptive Timothy Burke offers some insightful comments about the general problems of elite education. Burke is also a lot kinder to Deresiewicz than I’m inclined to be. Because, frankly, the piece pisses me off, from the very first… Continue reading The Self-Justification of Elite Nerds
links for 2008-06-18
June 18: Polar Land and Life Day Happy birthday to me… (tags: animals environment science news education biology geology) Halo: The Cole Protocol (and welcome to all you new readers) at Tobias Buckell Online “Project X” revealed. (tags: books games SF blogs) The Giant’s Shoulders A monthly science blogging event about classic science papers. (tags:… Continue reading links for 2008-06-18
Help the Red Cross Out
As noted at Making Light, the recent disasters in Iowa have depleted the American Red Cross’s disaster relief fund, and they’re borrowing money in order to keep running: “The disaster relief fund today is completely depleted. The balance is zero,” Jeffrey Towers, chief development officer, said in a conference call with reporters. Towers added that… Continue reading Help the Red Cross Out
links for 2008-06-17
Disorder puts the brakes on matter waves – physicsworld.com Using cold atoms in optical lattices to simulate “Anderson localization.” (tags: physics atoms optics low-temperature experiment materials news science)
Ask a ScienceBlogger: Why Do Academics Blog?
The Corporate Masters have posted a new Ask a ScienceBlogger question: The question (submitted by a reader) is this: There are many, many academic bloggers out there feverishly blogging about their areas of interest. Still, there are many, many more academics who don’t. So, why do you blog and how does blogging help with your… Continue reading Ask a ScienceBlogger: Why Do Academics Blog?
Graduation Day
Another year in academia, another graduation ceremony. It poured for a lot of the day yesterday, so everybody was a little nervous coming in, but the weather turned out to be good– clear blue skies, a few puffy white clouds, and temperatures that were a little warm for sitting outside in long black robes, but… Continue reading Graduation Day
links for 2008-06-15
Acephalous: “Sleep is for the weak.” The weak and fuzzy, that is… (tags: animals pictures silly)