So, the President gave some sort of speech to a bunch of smart people yesterday (video, transcript), and hearts are a-flutter all over the science blogosphere, as President Obama promises great things for science: We double the budget of key agencies, including the National Science Foundation, a primary source of funding for academic research, and… Continue reading Show Me the Pony
Category: Physics
How to Email Your Instructor for Help
Back in the stone ages, when I was a student and walked uphill through the snow to class, if you wanted assistance on a homework assignment, you needed to track the instructor of the class down in person, either by going to their posted office hours, or calling them on the phone to set up… Continue reading How to Email Your Instructor for Help
Women, Fast Cars, and Physics
I’m speaking, of course, about this past weekend’s Bloggingheads conversation between Jennifer Ouellette and Diandra Leslie-Pelecky. They both blog at Cocktail Party Physics, and Diandra has written The Physics of NASCAR. It’s a good Bloggingheads, covering a wide range of topics related to physics, sports, and entertainment. Jennifer talks about the work of the Science… Continue reading Women, Fast Cars, and Physics
The Art and Science of Naming Things
We had a talk last night by Alan Lightman of MIT, a theoretical physicist and novelist, best known as the author of Einstein’s Dreams. He spoke for about an hour about his own background, and the similarities and differences between the worlds of science and the arts. One of the differences he mentioned was the… Continue reading The Art and Science of Naming Things
I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means
A couple of physics stories in the last few days have caught my attention for reasons that can be lumped together under the Vizzini Effect– that is, they say things that involve unconventional uses of common words. Take, for example, the Physics World story Physicists distinguish between the indistinguishable, which starts off: Spurred on by… Continue reading I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means
Physics Has a Flavor
SteelyKid is fascinated by the John Archibald Wheeler tribute issue of Physics Today:
Testing the Fine Structure Constant: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t
Via the arxiv Blog, a review article has been posted by the Haensch group with the title“Testing the Stability of the Fine Structure Constant in the Laboratory.” The fine structure constant, usually referred to by the symbol α is a ratio of fundamental constants– the electron charge squared divded by Planck’s Contant times the speed… Continue reading Testing the Fine Structure Constant: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t
Transporting Ions Through an X-Junction: Quantum Computing Inches Closer
Physics World has a nice news article about a new experimental development in quantum computing, based on a forthcoming paper from the Wineland group at NIST in Boulder. I’d write this up for ResearchBlogging, but it’s still just on the arxiv, and I don’t think they’ve started accepting arxiv papers yet. The Physics World piece… Continue reading Transporting Ions Through an X-Junction: Quantum Computing Inches Closer
Academic Poll: Uniqueness
A recurring problem in academic science is trying to correctly identify a single author. For example, I was reviewing a grant that made reference to a group, but not a specific paper, and needed to sift through a few pages of search results in order to determine which of the people with that surname was… Continue reading Academic Poll: Uniqueness
Academic Poll: Person and Voice
Over at Faraday’s Cage, Cherish has had a Huck Finn moment with regard to paper writing style: I know that I’m not supposed to use the first person plural when writing papers. Frankly Scarlet, I don’t give a damn. I am going to say, “we did this” and “we did that”. This made me blink… Continue reading Academic Poll: Person and Voice