Advent Calendar of Science Stories 2: Begin at the Beginning

Exterior of Blombos Cave in South Africa, photo by Magnus Haaland, from Wikimedia.

She kneels on the dirt and watches the elder study the rocks she brought. Five fist-sized chunks of red stone, laboriously hacked from an outcrop. Half a day walking there and back, and half a day pounding rocks against rocks to yield this offering. The elder’s hands are stained the same red as the stone,… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 2: Begin at the Beginning

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 1: Famous Exclamation

“…and unless the King comes here himself, I’m not to be disturbed.” “Yes, of course.” The servant bowed out, leaving him alone with the bath. He stepped in, gingerly at first, the water almost too hot to stand. Slowly, he lowered himself down to a sitting position, feeling the heat soak into his tired legs.… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 1: Famous Exclamation

Me Dot Com

Look, Ma, I'm a dot-com...

You may not know this, but I have a book coming out in about a week. I know, I’ve been pretty quiet about it… Anyway, this being the modern era, I thought there probably ought to be some sort of central web presence for the book, but unfortunately, it shares a name with a vacuum… Continue reading Me Dot Com

Eureka: Bridge to Dark Matter

Screen shot from the video, showing me explaining the spectra of rotating galaxies.

The first time you hear about dark matter, it sounds kind of crazy– asserting that we’re surrounded by tons of invisible stuff is usually a good way to get locked up. But the process of its discovery is surprisingly ordinary: it’s just what you do when you play cards. Here’s the second green-screen video I’ve… Continue reading Eureka: Bridge to Dark Matter

Benefits of an Academic Day Job

The central quad at Union; the big building in the center is the Nott Memorial, the obligatory building-on-the-letterhead that every college must have.

I’ve been quieter than usual here, partly because I’ve been crushingly busy, but primarily because most of the things I want to talk about, I can’t. Not yet, anyway. But I’m still alive, and this murderous term will be over soon, at which point blogging will pick up a bit. I will throw in a… Continue reading Benefits of an Academic Day Job

Eureka: Quantum Crosswords

Me in front of a green-screen crossword puzzle, talking about science.

My new book comes out one month from yesterday, or four weeks from tomorrow. Of course, yesterday was Sunday, and tomorrow’s a federal holiday, both lousy times for promotional posts, so I’ll drop this in today instead. Here’s a promotional video I put together, about how the history of quantum mechanics can be compared to… Continue reading Eureka: Quantum Crosswords

Eureka: “Fun, Diverse, and Accessible”

Cover for the book-in-progress.

The exciting news of the week: Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist has gotten a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Woo-hoo! They’ve said nice things about my previous two books, but getting the star is a big deal. And it’s a really good capsule description of the book, with a great pull quote in the last… Continue reading Eureka: “Fun, Diverse, and Accessible”

Eureka Publicity: Blurbs and Talks

Cover for the book-in-progress.

Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist has officially been sent to the printers, so we’re at the phase of things where I don’t have anything to do but think about publicity. There are some reviews forthcoming, at least one of which I’m very happy about, but I’ll share more about that when it becomes public. I’ve… Continue reading Eureka Publicity: Blurbs and Talks

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, Now With More “Quantum”

New cover for How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, coming soon to a retailer near you.

If you’re making your weekly check of the ebook editions (Kindle, Nook) of my quantum book (I’m not the only one who regularly looks at these, right?), you may have noticed a change: they’re no longer sporting the original black cover you’ll see in the right sidebar, but a new cover based on the smash… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, Now With More “Quantum”