Yesterday, I posted a silly poll about optical physicists. Who are those people, and why should you care about them? In inverse order of popularity:
The arXiv: When You Can’t Plot Well Enough for Analog
There’s another paper about the Fermi Paradox highlighted on the arXiv blog today. This one describes extensive numerical simulations which purport to show that no more than 1,000 spacefaring civilizations can be exploring the galaxy with non-replicating slower-than-light robotic probes. Of course, this is highly contingent on a bunch of assumptions about the behavior of… Continue reading The arXiv: When You Can’t Plot Well Enough for Analog
Links for2009-07-30
The missing research program for space colonization — KarlSchroeder.com “No amount of data about how the human body reacts to zero-G is going to answer the important question, which is: how does the human body react to extended periods under fractional gravity–like the moon’s 1/6 G or Mars’s .38 G? If there’s a potential show-stopper… Continue reading Links for2009-07-30
PNAS: Off-Site Edition
The semi-nonymous Phillip H. at DC Dispatches liked the idea behind the Project for Non-Academic Science, but he didn’t want to reveal his secret identity. So he wrote up and posted his own interview: 1) What is your non-academic job? I’m the National Program Coordinator for Protected Species at my Federal Agency. This means I… Continue reading PNAS: Off-Site Edition
Historical Physicist Smackdown: Optics Edition
In the same basic vein as yesterday’s post about thermodynamics, the following poll contains a list of physicists who are not household names, but who made significant contributions to the science of optics. Which of them is the best? Which of these physicists from the field of optics was the best?(polls)
Macroscopic Quantum Behavior in SeedMagazine.com
The Corporate Masters have launched a “featured blogger” program, asking individual ScienceBloggers to comment on news articles from the main site, and publishing the responses with the magazine piece. I just did one on new quantum experiments, which was posted today. The news article is Supersizing Quantum Behavior by Veronique Greenwood. My piece is Reconciling… Continue reading Macroscopic Quantum Behavior in SeedMagazine.com
Thermodynamics Smackdown Explained
So, yesterday featured a silly poll about underappreciated old-timey physicists. Who are these people, and why should you know about them? Taking them in reverse order of the voting:
PNAS: Jon Moulton, Small Company Biologist
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Jon Moulton, Small Company Biologist
Links for2009-07-29
The Republic of T. » Sotomayor & The Vulcan Standard, Pt. 2 “It hit me like a slap in the face. It sounded familiar, but different. To me, this fictional family was white. But in the time and place they occupied on the page they weren’t “white enough.” “Oh my God!” I exclaimed. My husband,… Continue reading Links for2009-07-29
Philosophy of Science Poll: Emotions
While I’m stealing post ideas from Twitter, here’s another poll question, thanks to Eric Weinstein, who wrote earlier: And @CameronNeylon, when you write “Good science means not having an (emotional) allegiance to any theory surely?” I must strongly disagree. This position results from the luxury of living on the far side of an adaptive valley… Continue reading Philosophy of Science Poll: Emotions