Over at Confused on a Higher Level, Melissa has been thinking about undergraduate research: As a member of the Physics and Astronomy Division of the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR), over the past few months I’ve gotten several e-mails about the effort by CUR, the Society of Physics Students, the American Astronomical Society, and the… Continue reading Should Undergraduate Research Be Required?
Category: Science
Math and the Teaching Thereof
Firday’s quick and sarcastic post came about because I thought the Dean Dad and his commenters had some interesting points in regard to high school math requirements, but we were spending the afternoon driving to Whitney Point so I could give a graduation speech. I didn’t have time for a more detailed response. Now that… Continue reading Math and the Teaching Thereof
Academic Autonomy: How Much Freedom Do Post-Docs Have?
I’m not entirely sure why I keep responding to this, but Bruce Charlton left another comment about the supposed dullness of modern science that has me wondering about academic: The key point is that a few decades ago an average scientist would start working on the problem of his choice in his mid- to late-twenties… Continue reading Academic Autonomy: How Much Freedom Do Post-Docs Have?
Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson
While I’ve seen him on tv a bunch of times (both on NOVA and on the Comedy Central fake-news shows), I have somehow managed not to read anything by Neil deGrasse Tyson before. I’m not sure how that happened. After his appearance on The Daily show last year, and especially after the Rubik’s Cube thing… Continue reading Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Graduation Speech: Think Like a Scientist
The following is the (approximate) text of the speech I gave Friday night at the Whitney Point High School graduation. Or, at least, this is what I typed out for myself Thursday night– what actually comes out of my mouth on Friday might be completely different. That’s why they do these things live, after all…… Continue reading Graduation Speech: Think Like a Scientist
Reminder: Enter to Win My Book
Just a quick reminder post to note that you can win an advance proof copy of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in one of two ways: By captioning pictures of the dog with physics apparatus By writing short poems about dogs and physics Regarding the last one, I’m thinking of adding a second… Continue reading Reminder: Enter to Win My Book
Geniuses Don’t Fail Out
Over at Skulls in the Stars, gg has a very good response to the polemic about the dullness of modern science that I talked about a few days ago. He takes issue with the claim that modern science is “dull” compared to some past Golden Age, and does a good job of it– go read… Continue reading Geniuses Don’t Fail Out
When Press Releases Collide
Consecutive entries in my RSS reader yesterday: Salty ocean in the depths of Enceladus Discovery could have implications for the search for extraterrestrial life An enormous plume of water spurts in giant jets from the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In a report published in the international science journal Nature today (25 June), European… Continue reading When Press Releases Collide
Not All Physics Is On the Arxiv
Via a comment by Christina Pikas, there’s a post at the Scholarly Kitchen about a new study quantifying the use of the arxiv: Employing a summer intern, Ingoldsby conducted an arXiv search of nearly 5,000 journal articles published by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. Their methodology was painstakingly robust, looking… Continue reading Not All Physics Is On the Arxiv
Talk to the Paw
There’s an interview with me, plus bonus comments from Emmy, over at Paw Talk: Words of advice for fellow pet owners? If you’re looking to get a dog, I’d recommend visiting your local animal shelter, as you can find lots of great dogs there. And take walks with your dog– every now and then, I… Continue reading Talk to the Paw