Category: Science

Unscientific America: The Pluto Thing

I’ve been really surprised at the number of people writing about Unscientific America who are confused by the discussion of the Pluto incident (Mad Mike is the latest, but it’s not hard to find more). For those who haven’t read the book, the first chapter opens with a description of the public reaction to the… Continue reading Unscientific America: The Pluto Thing

Wanted: Non-Academic Scientists

Having spent the last couple of posts talking (in part) about the need to change academic culture, and de-stigmatize non-academic science jobs, here’s an attempt to step up and do something direct and productive. No, this won’t cost you anything. One of the difficulties with trying to broaden the usual definition of scientists is that… Continue reading Wanted: Non-Academic Scientists

Scientists vs. the Scientific Community

This isn’t actually about a literal or metaphorical smackdown– it’s more about a distinction in language, related to a number of the comments that have been made regarding Unscientific America. (Yeah, I know. I’ll find something else to talk about soon.) The issue is most clearly laid out by Janet, who writes: In addition to… Continue reading Scientists vs. the Scientific Community

Unscientific America on Jobs in Science

The most unfortunate thing about the furor over Unscientific America is that the vast majority of the shouting concerns a relatively small portion of the actual argument of the book. Far too much attention is being spent on the question of whether Chris and Sheril are fair to Myers and Dawkins, and not nearly enough… Continue reading Unscientific America on Jobs in Science

Pop Quiz Answer

Yesterday’s Michelson Interferometer quiz was surprisingly popular– as of 8:30 pm Tuesday (when I’m writing this), just under 1500 people have voted in the poll, three and a half times as many as in the next most popular poll I’ve done. Who says there’s no audience for physics? So, what’s the right answer, you ask?

Pop Quiz: Michelson Interferometer

Inspired by one of yesterday’s easy questions, a pop quiz for you. The figure below shows a Michelson Interferometer: A laser falls on a beamsplitter, which allows half of the light to pass straight through, and reflects the other half downward. Each of those beams then hits a mirror that reflects it directly back where… Continue reading Pop Quiz: Michelson Interferometer

What People Think About Scientists

Just in time to feed into the discussion surrounding Unscientific America, there’s a new Pew Research Poll about public attitudes toward science. As is usually the case with social-science data, there’s something in here to bolster every opinion. The most striking of the summary findings, to me, is the second table down, in which the… Continue reading What People Think About Scientists

This Is My Job

I got a weirdly hostile comment to my popularization post last night: You have some chutzpah. You are being paid, probably quite well, to do research! Journalists are paid, not nearly so well, to popularize research. It takes some nerve to take an extra year’s salary, and to take time away from your real job—and… Continue reading This Is My Job

…For Some Definition of Physical Reality

There’s a press release dated a week or two ago from Leiden University headlined “Physical reality of string theory demonstrated,” in an apparent bid to make Peter Woit’s head explode. The release itself is really pretty awful, with poorly explained and irrelevant pictures, and a really confusing description of what this is really about (in… Continue reading …For Some Definition of Physical Reality