Today’s ornament from the Tree of SCIENCE!!! is in honor of the cold water dripping into our kitchen cabinet yesterday: That’s a glass icicle, with bonus dramatic shadows. If you’re a homeowner, you might think that this stands for ice damming, but this is about SCIENCE!!! not property mishaps. This ornament stands for phase transitions.
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2007-12-18
Video Clip – The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony 2007 If you have 86 minutes to kill, go ahead. I watched the 1997 ceremony, which is where I learned that you don’t need to speak the language to identify a boring speech. (tags: Nobel video) St. Lawrence University: All-Nighters Equal Lower Grades ‘ “The data indicate… Continue reading links for 2007-12-18
Scientists and Indie Rockers
Chris Mooney posted a couple of things last week– one article at ScienceProgress and one blog post— talking about the supposed shortage of scientists in the “pipeline.” Following an Urban Insitute study, he says that there’s really no shortage of scientists being trained, but rather a shortage of jobs for those scientists. Coming as he… Continue reading Scientists and Indie Rockers
Non-Dorky Poll: Distressing Public Art
A quick photo poll question: Which of these statues seen on the street in Japan is more disturbing? This chubby nude saxophonist from Himeji: Or this small child riding a giant carp from Takayama: Leave your answer in the comments. You can only pick one.
The Two-Fork Toothpick Trick, Explained
Last week, GrrlScientist posted a cool video showing a trick with two forks and a toothpick: http://view.break.com/410281 – Watch more free videos It’s a nifty demonstration of some physics principles, so I thought I would explain how it works, with a couple of pictures (several of her commenters have the right idea, btw).
Tree of SCIENCE!!! #5
I’ve been scanting the physics content so far with the Tree of SCIENCE!!! posts, so here’s one from my own branch of science: This one is a little Santa/ elf guy with a one-man-band rig, which of course stands for the venerable science of acoustics.
links for 2007-12-17
Bell Labs Is Gone. Academia Steps In. – New York Times The pros and cons of partnerships between major corporations and research universities. (tags: academia economics science industry) Matter-Wave Interferometry with Phase Fluctuating Bose-Einstein Condensates A new paper from the Ketterle Empire, on interference between different parts of a split BEC. (tags: physics low-temperature experiment… Continue reading links for 2007-12-17
Nice Work, Baltimore
Way to screw it up for everybody. The Jets held up their end of things, but you blew it.
No Country for Old Men
I got a new stereo installed in my car on Friday, so I can plug the iPod in directly rather than using one of those stupid FM transmitter gadgets, and the installation guy said it would take a few hours. So I did a little shopping, and then went to see the Coen Brothers’ adaptation… Continue reading No Country for Old Men
links for 2007-12-16
The best music of 2007 | The A.V. Club The top 25 albums, as voted on by AV Club writers. (tags: music review)