Over in Twitter-land, Eric Weinstein is visiting the AMNH at the same time as a bunch of Orthodox Jews, and takes the opportunity for a little Q&A: Me: Excuse me, but how is the phylogenetic tree reconciled with Torah. Modern Orthodox Man: Lorentzian time dilation. It’s a head hurter. This is an interesting attempt to… Continue reading The Speed of God
Category: Science
Grocery Store Science
Dan Meyer, like most people, has long wondered whether there was a good way to predict which check-out line at the grocery store will be the fastest. Unlike most people, he used science to find an answer: “I spent ninety minutes last week just watching, counting, and timing groceries as they slid across a scanner.”… Continue reading Grocery Store Science
How Many Licks? or How to Estimate Damn Near Anything by Aaron Santos
One of the odd things about the C-list celebrity life of a semi-pro blogger is that I get a bunch of requests to review books on physics-related topics. Some of these take the form of a book showing up out of the blue, others are preceded by a polite request from the author. Aaron Santos’s… Continue reading How Many Licks? or How to Estimate Damn Near Anything by Aaron Santos
Dorky Poll: Explosive Elements
We did the far right column of the periodic table, so here’s one for the left: the coolest-chemistry-demo-ever column, the alkali metals: What’s your favorite alkali metal?(surveys) While you can make heteronuclear alkali dimers, at least in a transient way, we’re talking atoms here, not molecules. Choose only one.
Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
Like every other blogger with a political opinion, I read Paul Krugman’s essay on economics last week, and tagged it for Saturday’s Links Dump. And while I appreciate Eric Weinstein calling me out as part of the “high end blogosphere,” I’m not sure I have much to say about it that is useful. But, since… Continue reading Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
Quantum to Cosmos
I’m clearing out browser tabs before the weekend, which has reminded me that I’ve been terribly remiss in not passing along information about the Quantum to Cosmos festival being held next month at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. For 10 exciting days this October, Perimeter Institute’s Quantum to Cosmos: Ideas for the Future (Q2C)… Continue reading Quantum to Cosmos
Who Is the Erdos of Physics?
Physics Buzz has a nice article about Paul Erdos and the Erdos Number Project (mine is 6), which ends with a good question: I for one, am wondering: who would be the Paul ErdÅs of the physics world? It’s a tough question, complicated further by the existence of really gigantic collaborations in experimental high-energy physics,… Continue reading Who Is the Erdos of Physics?
Dorky Poll: Aristocratic Elements
“…Can you name the six noble gases?” As this could be no poser for an economic geographer, I rattled them off in their proper aristocratic order. “Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, and -er- Radon. They were raised to the peerage in the eleventh year of England’s George Fifth, and Neon was awarded the Order of… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Aristocratic Elements
The Great Bloggingheads Mess
I sort of feel like I ought to have something to say about the recent controversy over creationists on bloggingheads.tv, which has caused Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer to renounce the whole site. If you’re too lazy to click through those links, the basic problem is that bloggingheads has twice invited creationists– sorry, cdesign proponentists–… Continue reading The Great Bloggingheads Mess
Historical Quantum Smackdown Explained
This was delayed a day by yesterday’s ranting, but I wanted to explain the significance of the people in Monday’s lesser-known quantum mechanic smackdown. I’m happy to see that, as of this morning, three candidates have rallied past the “unique flower” option. In reverse order of popularity: