Category: Science

Amazing Laser Application 6: LIGO!

What’s the application? LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Graviitational Wave Observatory, because (astro)physicists feel free to drop inconvenient words when making up cute acronyms. This is an experiment to look for disturbances in space-time caused by massive objects, which would manifest as a slight stretching and compression of space itself. What problem(s) is it the… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 6: LIGO!

Return of the Laser Smackdown

Several weeks ago, I announced a contest to determine the Most Amazing Laser Application. Personal issues interrupted this, but I want to finish it out in honor of LaserFest Here’s the list of finalists, with links to those already written up: Cat toy/ dog toy/ laser light show Laser cooling/ BEC Lunar laser ranging Optical… Continue reading Return of the Laser Smackdown

There’s More to Science Than Evolution

The National Science Board made a deeply regrettable decision to omit questions on evolution and the Big Bang from the Science and Engineering Indicators report for 2010. As you might expect, this has stirred up some controversy. I wasn’t surprised to learn this, as I had already noticed the omission a couple of months ago,… Continue reading There’s More to Science Than Evolution

So You’d Like to Learn Some Physics…

Via Twitter, Michael Barton is looking for some good books about physics. I was Twitter-less for a few days around the period of his request, and this is a more-than-140-characters topic if ever there was one, so I’m turning it into a blog post. The reason for the request is that he’s going to be… Continue reading So You’d Like to Learn Some Physics…

Long Author Lists and Books Not Written

Back when I was in grad school, and paper copies of journals were delivered to the lab by a happy mailman riding a brontosaurus, I used to play a little game when the new copy of Physical Review Letters arrived: I would flip through the papers in the high energy and nuclear physics sections, and… Continue reading Long Author Lists and Books Not Written

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Centrally Isolated Edition

Not a full Obsessive Update (because not much happened over the weekend, when we took SteelyKid to my parents’ place for Easter), but a quick reminder to folks in the Ithaca, NY area: I’ll be giving the physics colloquium at Cornell this afternoon at 4pm. If you’re in the area, and want to hear me… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Centrally Isolated Edition

Radio DogPhysics: Northeast Public Radio Edition

I forgot to schedule a blog post to remind people to tune in to my appearance on WAMC’s “The Roundtable” yesterday morning, talking about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. If you missed it, and have fourteen minutes to kill, they have the segment on their audio archive now. It went well, and I… Continue reading Radio DogPhysics: Northeast Public Radio Edition

Congratulations to Peter Bonventre

If you scroll way down the list of this year’s Goldwater Scholarship winners, you’ll find: Peter John Bonventre Institution: Union College Major(s): Physics/Mathematics Career Goal: Ph.D. in Mathematics or Physics. Conduct research and teach at the university level. Pete’s one of our junior physics majors. He’s done summer work on both nuclear physics and condensed… Continue reading Congratulations to Peter Bonventre