Category: Books

Arrival Thoughts

People have been raving about the new movie Arrival, which is an adaptation of Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” which I did a guest lecture on for a colleague’s class on science fiction some year ago. It’s unusual enough to see a science fiction movie hailed for being smart that Kate and I actually… Continue reading Arrival Thoughts

Big Media Me: Here and Now

The NPR program Here and Now has been running segments this week on Science in America, and one of these from yesterday featured me talking about science literacy. We had some technical difficulties getting this recorded– it was supposed to happen at a local radio studio last week, but they had some kind of glitch,… Continue reading Big Media Me: Here and Now

Lightning Bolt vs. Charge

A page from the Pip's book about Lightning Bolt.

The Pip is nuts about superheroes, so when he and his speech teacher made a book, naturally, it introduced a new super hero: Lightning Bolt. It’s only a couple of sheets of paper folded in half and stapled, and the text and illustrations were done by his teacher, but the contents are 100% our Little… Continue reading Lightning Bolt vs. Charge

The Schrödinger Sessions II: More Science for More Science Fiction

As you probably already know, last year we ran a workshop at the Joint Quantum Institute for science-fiction writers who would like to learn more about quantum physics. The workshop was a lot of fun from the speaker/oragnizer side, and very well received by last year’s writers, so we’re doing it again: The Schrödinger Sessions… Continue reading The Schrödinger Sessions II: More Science for More Science Fiction

Quantum Physics for Dogs at Jefferson Lab: TOMORROW

Tribute to Emmy, added to my quantum-for-dogs talk.

I’ve been remiss in my self-promotional duties, but I’m giving a public lecture tomorrow night in Newport News, VA, as part of the Jefferson Lab Science Series. This will be my traditional “What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics” talk, with the sad addition of a slide honoring the late, great Queen of Niskayuna… Continue reading Quantum Physics for Dogs at Jefferson Lab: TOMORROW

Physics Blogging Round-Up: Gravity, Pigeonholes, Groundhogs, and Weirdness

A long-ish stretch of time, but I was basically offline for a bunch of that because I needed to finish a chapter I was asked to contribute to an academic book. So there are only four physics posts from Forbes to promote this time: — ‘The Expanse’ Is A Rare Sci-Fi Show That Gets Simulated… Continue reading Physics Blogging Round-Up: Gravity, Pigeonholes, Groundhogs, and Weirdness

Quantum Short Fiction, Voting Open Now

The Center for Quantum Technologies is running a “Quantum Shorts” contest, where they solicited short stories exploring some aspect of quantum physics. They cut their large number of applicants down to two short-lists of ten, one for the “Open” category, and one for the “Youth” category. They’ll be giving out a “People’s Choice Award” based… Continue reading Quantum Short Fiction, Voting Open Now

083/366: Bat-Toys!

The Pip's collection of superhero toys.

The Pip is nute about superheros at the moment, primarily the Justice League, and particularly Batman. He’s got quite the pile of toys around this theme, making for a decent photo subject: Technically, these aren’t all Bat-Toys– you can see a Spiderman Lego set in there (from some alternate universe in which Peter Parker got… Continue reading 083/366: Bat-Toys!

Ancillary Trilogy [Library of Babel]

The hot SF release of the fall is Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Mercy, concluding the Imperial Radch trilogy. The first of these, Ancillary Justice won a Hugo two years ago, and the second, Ancillary Sword should’ve won this past year, because I really didn’t like the Three-Body Problem. The release of Ancillary Mercy generated a ton… Continue reading Ancillary Trilogy [Library of Babel]