A physics story makes the front page of the New York Times today. Sadly, it’s with the headline Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear. Sigh. The key technological development, here, is that General Electric has been playing around with a laser-based isotope separation technique. This is an idea that’s been around for a… Continue reading Frickin’ Lasers: “Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear”
Category: Physics
Social Media Are Not Evenly Distributed
Back in June, when I was headed to DAMOP, I got email telling me that they had an official Android app. I installed it, and in with the meeting program and maps and things was a “Social Media” section, that included an official hashtag: #apsdamop. I posted a few things using it, but it rapidly… Continue reading Social Media Are Not Evenly Distributed
Sad Balloon Physics II: How Long Will a Balloon Last?
As a follow up to Wednesday’s sad balloon post, the repair that lofted it back to the ceiling was a temporary reprieve, unsurprisingly. After 24 hours, more or less, it had sunk back down to the point where the ribbon was just barely touching the floor. On the one hand, it looks kind of pathetic… Continue reading Sad Balloon Physics II: How Long Will a Balloon Last?
Academic Poll: Pronoun Trouble
I’ve moved on to the second of three academic writing projects I wanted to work on this summer (yes, I know I’m rapidly running out of summer…), which is a sort of review article on which I will be the only author. This creates an awkward situation in the introductory material, because it just feels… Continue reading Academic Poll: Pronoun Trouble
Fermi Baseball: How Many Hitters Have There Ever Been?
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but we’re edging our way toward football season, so I flipped to ESPN radio a couple of days ago, in time to hear Mike and Mike discussing Jim Thome’s 600th home run. They were questioning how much meaning we should attach to home run records any more, given… Continue reading Fermi Baseball: How Many Hitters Have There Ever Been?
The Physics of a Sad Balloon
My birthday was two months ago, and SteelyKid’s was the weekend before last, so we’ve had balloons running around the house for a good while now. Meaning that when I came into the library yesterday, I saw the sad little image on the right: a half-deflated Mylar balloon floating at about chest height. Now, the… Continue reading The Physics of a Sad Balloon
What Does It Cost to Run a Small College Lab?
Over at io9, they have a post on the finances of running a research lab at a major university. It’s reasonably good as such things go, but very specific to the top level of research universities. As I am not at such an institution, I thought it might be worthwhile to post something about the… Continue reading What Does It Cost to Run a Small College Lab?
Scientific Commuting: When Does It Make Sense to Take Alternate Routes?
I am an inveterate driver of “back ways” to places. My preferred route to campus involves driving through a whole bunch of residential streets, rather than taking the “main” road leading from our neighborhood to campus. I do this because there are four traffic lights on the main-road route, and they’re not well timed, so… Continue reading Scientific Commuting: When Does It Make Sense to Take Alternate Routes?
Academic Poll: Out of Cite
I’m sending a little pedagogical paper off to a journal today, and spent a while yesterday re-formatting it to meet their standards. This was particularly annoying for the references, as I had to go find a bunch of information that I don’t usually write down. Which seems like a good topic for a poll: A… Continue reading Academic Poll: Out of Cite
Resources for Physics Teaching
I continue to be distracted from the paper-writing that I really ought to be doing by thinking about my classes this fall, and Joss Ives isn’t helping. By being very helpful– he posted a nice list of resources for active teaching. His blog has a bunch of other interesting stuff, too. For the specific Matter… Continue reading Resources for Physics Teaching