It’s that time of year again, when we count down the days to Isaac Newton’s birthday (according to the Julian calendar, anyway), and how better to mark this than with mathematics? Thus, I’ll post an equation a day until either Christmas Eve or I run out of ideas, and talk about what it means and… Continue reading The Advent Calendar of Physics: Force and Momentum
Category: Science
The Problem With Lectures
Yesterday’s physics education post kicked off a bit of discussion in a place I can’t link to about the usefulness of lectures. Something in that reminded me of an anecdote from my grad school days, that I think is useful, so I’ll post it here. When we were working on the spin-polarized collision experiment, we… Continue reading The Problem With Lectures
Active Learning Experiment: The Aftermath
As I said last week, I recently wrapped up a term experimenting with “active learning” techniques in the two intro courses I was teaching. The diagnostic test results were a mixed bag– one section showed really good improvement in their scores, the other was no better than the same class with traditional methods– and the… Continue reading Active Learning Experiment: The Aftermath
Not All Attrition Is Bad
One of the many things I wish I had had time to blog about during the just-completed term was the big New York Times article on attrition in science majors. This generated enough commentary at the time that people are probably sick of it, but I haven’t seen anything that exactly matches my take, so… Continue reading Not All Attrition Is Bad
Scientific Commuting: The Data
A few months back, I did a post about estimating the time required for the different routes I take to work, looking at the question of whether it’s better to take a shorter route with a small number of slow traffic lights, or a longer route with a bunch of stop signs. This was primarily… Continue reading Scientific Commuting: The Data
Fast Neutrinos: Still Fast
One of the more reasonable criticisms of the OPERA result showing neutrinos apparently moving faster than light was that they were claiming 20-nanosecond resolution on the timing of a neutrino pulse that was 10000 nanoseconds long. They got their timing by doing fits to the shape of the whole pulse, as described in that link,… Continue reading Fast Neutrinos: Still Fast
Energy Efficiency Question: Water Heaters
The water heater for Chateau Steelypips is significantly older than the usual useful life for such devices, and it’s really started to show. I’m getting pretty sick of lukewarm showers, so we probably need to replace it. As a good squishy liberal type, I of course want to replace it with something more efficient, and… Continue reading Energy Efficiency Question: Water Heaters
Wanted: Non-Academic Astronomer in Texas
Someone from the American Astronomical Society ran across the Project for Non-Academic Science posts here, and is looking for someone to participate in a career panel at their upcoming meeting in Austin, TX: The American Astronomical Society (AAS) Employment Committee is hosting a panel discussion at our annual AAS winter meeting in Austin on current… Continue reading Wanted: Non-Academic Astronomer in Texas
O Brave New-Media World That Has Such Bloggers In It
I’ve been incredibly busy this term, but not so busy I couldn’t create more work for myself. Specifically, by writing an opinion piece for Physics World about the FTL neutrino business, that just went live on their web site: The result quickly turned into one of the most covered physics stories of the year, with… Continue reading O Brave New-Media World That Has Such Bloggers In It
Reinventing Discovery by Michael Nielsen
This coming June will mark ten years since I started this blog (using Blogger on our own domain– here’s the very first post) and writing about physics on the Internet. This makes me one of the oldest science bloggers in the modern sense– Derek Lowe is the only one I know for sure has been… Continue reading Reinventing Discovery by Michael Nielsen