We had an appointment yesterday for a fetal echocardiogram, to look for heart problems that might’ve caused the scary first trimester screen result back in January. This was basically a high-resolution ultrasound focussed on the heart (with Doppler velocity imaging to look at blood flow), and after half an hour of looking at FutureBaby’s heart… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: T-Z
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2008-03-15
Alpha Centauri might harbour an ‘Earth’ – physicsworld.com SF fans and space enthusiasts worldwide commence drooling. (tags: science astronomy planets space news SF) NPR: It Isn’t Rocket Science: How Best to Board a Plane Science explains why Southwest is more efficient than other airlines. (tags: science math computing travel) The World’s Smallest Diamond Ring —… Continue reading links for 2008-03-15
FutureBaby Playlist: O-S
You know, there are really a remarkable number of bands whose names begin with “S”… There may be more “B” or “T” acts in my library, just because I own a bazillion songs by Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, but there sure are a lot of “S” artists. This set continues to show that sing-along-ability… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: O-S
Lab Visit Report: Four-Wave Mixing
The next lab visit experiments I want to talk about are really the epitome of what I called the “NIST Paradigm” in an earlier post. These are experiments on “four-wave mixing” done by Colin McCormick (who I TA’d in freshman physics, back in the day), a post-doc in Paul Lett’s lab at NIST. As Paul… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Four-Wave Mixing
Nice Beaver!
Yet another picture taken by Kate at the National Zoo. When we arrived at the beaver pen, a bunch of keepers were inside, posing for a picture. This little guy clearly thought that humans being in his enclosure indicated that it was feeding time, and was doing his best pathetic begging. It really just begs… Continue reading Nice Beaver!
Talk Like a Physicist
Today has been dubbed “Talk Like a Physicist Day”. Why? Because we’re at least as cool as pirates, that’s why. Over at Swans on Tea, Tom offers some vocabulary tips: Use “canonical” when you mean “usual” or “standard.” As in, “the canonical example of talking like a physicist is to use the word ‘canonical.’” Use… Continue reading Talk Like a Physicist
links for 2008-03-14
The Smart Set: Sequins & Scandals – November 8, 2007 “Figure skating is the quintessential American sport, not merely because it is fiercely individualistic while at the same time incredibly conformist, but also because the athletes and fans, like the American electorate, have an extraordinarily high tolera (tags: sports stupid society culture) What a Star’s… Continue reading links for 2008-03-14
FutureBaby Playlist: H-N
Looking at this segment of the playlist, it’s clear that I was, consciously or not, giving a good deal of weight to how well a given song works as a sing-along. For whatever reason, this chunk of the artist alphabet is loaded with tunes that are maybe a little dubious content-wise, but good fun to… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: H-N
Lab Visit Report: Francium
As I mentioned a few days ago, I visited Luis Orozco’s lab during our trip to DC last week. I already talked about his cavity QED stuff, but that’s only one of the projects under development. He’s also working on a next-generation apparatus for the laser cooling and trapping of francium, to be done at… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Francium
Tips for Speakers
Over at the new(ish) Of Two Minds, Shelley has posted a video giving advice on scientific presentations from a couple of guys at Michigan. They offer a few quick tips to giving better presentations: Know your material well enough to give it without slides Skip the outline (for short talks in particular) Minimize text on… Continue reading Tips for Speakers