Some new additions to the physics blogroll: 1) Not all that new, but I keep forgetting to post a link: Clifford Johnson has spun off Asymptotia from Cosmic Variance, to house his own brand of bike-riding, concert-going, vegetable-buying physics blogging. If you read Clifford’s stuff at Cosmic Variance, you know what you’re getting. If you… Continue reading Physics Blogging Equilibirum
Category: Physics
Framing Physics
Over at Gene Expression, Razib is collecting ten-word summaries of evolutionary theory, with follow-up posts here and here. Because I’m completely shameless about this sort of thing, I’m going to swipe the idea, and apply it to physics. Of course, physics as a discipline covers a bit more conceptual territory than “evolutionary theory,” so it’s… Continue reading Framing Physics
Particle Physics Wants Graphic Designers
Over at Cosmic Variance, JoAnne is soliciting ideas for graphics to explain the Higgs Mechanism and Supersymmetry. If you understand these processes, and have a flair for graphic design, go over there and help her out. She’s going to take the best ideas to a workshop on this topic at SLAC, so this might be… Continue reading Particle Physics Wants Graphic Designers
Gravity Still Works
True Lab stories are everywhere, as Arcance Gazebo today features a story of new and interesting liquid nitrogen experiments: Condensed matter labs such as ours receive frequent deliveries of liquid nitrogen in one- or two-hundred liter dewars. Unfortunately, most of the Berkeley cond-mat labs are in Birge Hall, which has no loading dock, so that… Continue reading Gravity Still Works
The High Cost of Doing Physics
Yesterday, I spent $52 (plus shipping) buying sand. Not a gret big sack of sand, either– just 200 grams of it. I count it as a bargain, too, because I was prepared to spend twice the amount for half as much. Now, granted, the $1000/kg sand is extremely high purity silicon dioxide, designed to be… Continue reading The High Cost of Doing Physics
What I Do for a Living
I’m in the process of putting together my tenure documents (I know I’ve been saying this for weeks. It’s a long process, OK?). Most of these are really not appropriate for reproduction here, but I’ll post a few of the things I’m writing, when it’s reasonable to do so. A major part of the tenure… Continue reading What I Do for a Living
Keeping Us In the Dark
You might think that, being a sciene blogger and all, I would have sources of science news that aren’t available to the average person on the street. You would be right, though they’re not as useful as you might think… The source for today’s news teaser is actually a thank-you email from a prospective student… Continue reading Keeping Us In the Dark
Audience Participation Friday: Rate Graduate Schools
As noted in a previous post, I’m teaching the senior seminar this fall, which means I’ll be meeting weekly with our senior majors (13 of them!) to discuss topics of interest to them. Which will involve a fair amount of discussion of graduate school, because that’s one of the options, whether people think it’s a… Continue reading Audience Participation Friday: Rate Graduate Schools
Wanted: Non-Academic Physics Types
The discussion surrounding the recent post about jobs continues to bubble along nicely, both in the original post, and the follow-up. I love it when a plan comes together. There’s been a lot of discussion of following the advice in the Katz letter and seeking non-academic careers, but Jeff F. (who I know from my… Continue reading Wanted: Non-Academic Physics Types
Career Options for Theorists
As noted by several people, most recently JoAnne Hewett, one of the players at the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event is a Ph.D. physicist: Michael Binger, recently of SLAC. So, I guess we need to expand the list of non-academic physics careers to include “professional poker player.” I’m not sure… Continue reading Career Options for Theorists