Looking at this segment of the playlist, it’s clear that I was, consciously or not, giving a good deal of weight to how well a given song works as a sing-along. For whatever reason, this chunk of the artist alphabet is loaded with tunes that are maybe a little dubious content-wise, but good fun to… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: H-N
Lab Visit Report: Francium
As I mentioned a few days ago, I visited Luis Orozco’s lab during our trip to DC last week. I already talked about his cavity QED stuff, but that’s only one of the projects under development. He’s also working on a next-generation apparatus for the laser cooling and trapping of francium, to be done at… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Francium
Tips for Speakers
Over at the new(ish) Of Two Minds, Shelley has posted a video giving advice on scientific presentations from a couple of guys at Michigan. They offer a few quick tips to giving better presentations: Know your material well enough to give it without slides Skip the outline (for short talks in particular) Minimize text on… Continue reading Tips for Speakers
Headline Mismatch
We live in a short-attention-span age. I have a huge array of feeds spewing information at me like the proverbial firehose, so I often don’t do more than look at the headline and RSS excerpt, and I don’t think I’m alone. Given that, it’s more important than ever that the headlines given to articles actually,… Continue reading Headline Mismatch
links for 2008-03-13
nanoscale views: March APS Meeting II The latest from New Orleans. (tags: physics meetings science news) Whatever » The Problem With 1,000 True Fans “The problem is that Kevin Kelly, in his enthusiasm, wants to make it seem that getting 1,000 people to give you $100 is no great trick.” (tags: economics books comics music… Continue reading links for 2008-03-13
FutureBaby Playlist: C-G
As noted in the previous FutureBaby playlist post, I started doing this after hearing Don McLean’s “American Pie” on the radio while running errands the other day. Amusingly, you will note that that song is not present in this part of the list– that’s because I don’t have an electronic copy of it. Which I… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: C-G
Lab Visit Report: Biophysics
One of the many very cool things going on in the Laser Cooling Empire at NIST is a series of experiments using optical tweezers to study various biological systems. I used to share an office with the biochemist in the group, who was there to handle the wet chemistry that physicists are notoriously bad at.… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Biophysics
Lorentz Contracted Asteroids
Via email, Reference Games, featuring two versions of the classic video game “Asteroids” (well, it’s a classic if you’re my age…). The cool wrinkle: light speed in the game is set to be very low, and you can toggle back and forth between the ship frame and the frame of the background stars, to see… Continue reading Lorentz Contracted Asteroids
Panda!
Here’s another picture Kate took at the National Zoo, showing one of their pandas (the male, I think, but I’m not sure) chowing down on a big branch of bamboo. As noted previously, they’re deeply improbable creatures, but really cute. Just don’t try to hug them.
links for 2008-03-12
Bad Baby Names – A Boy Named Sue, and a Theory of Names – John Tierney – New York Times “During his 1969 concert at San Quentin prison, Johnny Cash proposed a paradigm shift in the field of developmental psychology. “ (tags: kid-stuff psychology science society culture music) Gen Ed Reform — Supersized :: Inside… Continue reading links for 2008-03-12