I’m in last-minute-revision mode here, made mroe frantic by the fact that SteelyKid developed a fever yesterday, and had to be kept home from day care. I did want to pop in to note that I will be giving the Natural Science and Mathematics Colloquium at St. Mary’s College in Maryland tomorrow, Wednesday the 13th.… Continue reading Hello, Southern Maryland: Talk Wednesday at St. Mary’s College
Category: Science
Great Moments in Campus Visits
It’s college admissions season, which means a steady influx of high-school seniors thinking about coming here next year, making campus visits. Most of these students sit in on at least one class, to get an idea of what it’s like. Which occasionally leads to odd things, but nothing stranger than what just happened: a prospective… Continue reading Great Moments in Campus Visits
What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics, Now Streaming
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk based on How to Teach Physics to Your Dog for the University of Toledo’s Saturday Morning Science program. At that time, their local PBS affiliate recorded the talk, for use on their very nice streaming video site, Knowledgestream.org. My talk is now up, and the video is… Continue reading What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics, Now Streaming
Biomedicine: The English Literature of the Sciences?
Thursday’s post about the troubles of biomedical scientists drew a response from Mad Mike saying that, no, biomedical science Ph.D.’s really don’t have any career options outside of academia, and pointing to Jessica Palmer’s post on the same subject for corroboration. Jessica writes: This is something I’ve tried to explain many times to nonscientists: most… Continue reading Biomedicine: The English Literature of the Sciences?
Your Problems Are Not Unique
Via Mad Mike, a discussion of why it sucks to be a biomedical scientist: 87% of my blog-related e-mail is from unhappy, bitter, troubled, distraught biomed grad students, postdocs, technicians, and early-career faculty. Others write to me with problems, but these tend to be of the “I’m frustrated with my advisor” sort rather than the… Continue reading Your Problems Are Not Unique
Trebuchets for Everybody!
Occasional commenter Evan Murphy emailed to bring my attention to Siege Toys, a new venture that aims to make desktop snap-together wooden trebuchets. Why? Because medieval siege warfare engines are awesome. They’re looking for funding via Kickstarter, so if you’ve ever wanted your very own trebuchet, go place a pre-order. And lest you think this… Continue reading Trebuchets for Everybody!
“Quantum Kitchen” Ought to Mean Something Else
I am less enthralled by the “molecular gastronomy” thing than someone with my geek credentials ought to be. As a result, I was a little disappointed when I clicked the link (from Jennifer Ouellette on Twitter) to this Wired story about a new tv show called Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen. Because, you know, there are much… Continue reading “Quantum Kitchen” Ought to Mean Something Else
Wind Power Economics and the Ability to Focus
Kevin Drum re-posts a chart on wind power made by Stuart Staniford showing that the number of new wind power plants installed in 2010 was way lower than in 2009 or 2008: This is meant as a starting point for discussion about the big economic issues that might’ve caused this. One of the many, many… Continue reading Wind Power Economics and the Ability to Focus
Hey, Ho, Northern Ohio
Just a quick reminder that I’ll be giving my “What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics” talk (same basic one from Tuesday night) as part of the Saturday Morning Science program (pdf) at the University of Toledo tomorrow, Saturday the 19th. The talk will be at 9:30, with breakfast beforehand. If you’re in the… Continue reading Hey, Ho, Northern Ohio
Another Commercial… What Are the Odds?
This year’s NCAA tournament is being spread over four tv networks, so that every game is shown in its entirety. Previously, you got whatever game was deemed to hold the most interest for your region of the country, plus occasional looks in at games elsewhere, that usually managed to miss the most exciting bits. For… Continue reading Another Commercial… What Are the Odds?