Preliminary thermal modeling accounts for some (but not all) of the Pioneer Anomaly – The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society Some of the mysterious extra acceleration may just be uneven heating. (tags: science space physics astronomy thermo theory computing) Car Talk “Coming April 22, PBS’s NOVA presents a very special program. The topic?… Continue reading links for 2008-04-19
Author: Chad Orzel
Beer Run
I drank the last of the Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre last night (I don’t go through beer very quickly these days), which means the fridge is nearly empty, and it’s time for a beer run. Which, of course, is a great excuse for a filler-iffic audience participation question: What sort of beer should I buy?… Continue reading Beer Run
Stability and Pedagogy
(Because nothing brings in readers like a physics pedagogy post…) Out in Minnesota, Arjendu is expressing high-level confusion about the business of lecturing: As I’ve said a few times before in this blog, I prefer to let students read the text to get a preliminary take on physics content on their own, generate questions and… Continue reading Stability and Pedagogy
Friday Dog Blogging
“Why in the world are you posting that?” “What do you mean?” “It’s a yappy little dog. We don’t like yappy little dogs.” “True enough, but it’s a picture of a yappy little dog in the infrared, and that’s pretty cool.” “I don’t think it’s all that cool. You should take pictures of me in… Continue reading Friday Dog Blogging
links for 2008-04-18
The Scientific Activist: Why Are Veins Blue? It’s all about optics. (tags: social-science medicine biology optics physics blogs) 100 Greatest Novelty Songs Feel the pain. (tags: music silly stupid culture)
Political Songs That Don’t Suck?
I picked up the new Rustic Overtones album a week or two ago, partly on the strength of this review at 75 or Less, but mostly because I really liked “Hardest Way Possible” off Viva Nueva, and can’t understand why it wasn’t a huge hit. (The self-cover on this album probably indicates that the band… Continue reading Political Songs That Don’t Suck?
On the Asking of Hard Questions
Janet posted a few days ago about asking questions of grad students in seminars and journal clubs and so on. This is part of a larger conversation that I’m too lazy to collect links to– Janet has them– about whether grad students should show solidarity with their fellows and refrain from asking tough questions of… Continue reading On the Asking of Hard Questions
links for 2008-04-17
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Science Fairs and School Boards “From looking at the other projects, this year’s theme was baking soda volcanoes. ” This year, and every year. (tags: education science kid-stuff) Physicists Claim to Have Found ‘Dark Matter’ Again – New York Times “Juan Collar of the University of Chicago said people… Continue reading links for 2008-04-17
Science Indicators: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t
Via Sheril, I see that the National Science Board has released a report on Science and Engineering Indicators 2008. It’s chock full of useful and interesting information, particularly if you start poking around with the tables and figures, which are available for download. This ought to produce all sorts of discussion around here, especially given… Continue reading Science Indicators: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t