As Scalzi wrote some time back, “one of a parent’s more minor but nevertheless important responsibilities is to make sure his or children grow up with a love of music that doesn’t totally suck.” I was reminded of this the other day while driving around, when “American Pie” came on the radio. I have weirdly… Continue reading FutureBaby Playlist: A-B
Lab Visit Report: Cold Plasmas
Another of the labs I visited while in DC was Steve Rolston’s lab at the University of Maryland. This actually contains the apparatus I worked on as a graduate student, including many of the same quirky pieces of hardware– Steve was the PI (Principal Investigator) for the metastable xenon lab in the Phillips group at… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Cold Plasmas
A User’s Guide to Vacuum Pumps Part 2: Quiet Pumps
In the previous post on this topic, I discussed the various types of noisy vacuum pumps, both clean and dirty varieties. This time out, we’ll deal with the quiet pumps, the ones that don’t deafen people working in the lab. Quiet and Dirty: The quintessential quiet and dirty pump is an oil diffusion pump. These… Continue reading A User’s Guide to Vacuum Pumps Part 2: Quiet Pumps
Physics Comes Marching In
The annual March Meeting of the American Physical Society is happening this week in New Orleans. This is the biggest physics conference of the year, by far, with close to 7,000 attendees– despite what you might think from the Internet, the Condensed Matter crowd who attend the March Meeting significantly outnumber particle physicists and high-energy… Continue reading Physics Comes Marching In
links for 2008-03-11
Southern Baptists Back a Shift on Climate Change – New York Times ‘[T]he new declaration, which will be released Monday, states, “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed.”‘ (tags: politics religion science news environment) Jacks of Science â Top… Continue reading links for 2008-03-11
Pimp Me New Blogs
Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean has a post highlighting some physics blogs that he’s adding to the blogroll. Which reminds me that I’ve been remiss in updating my own links– I’ve recently started reading Swans On Tea regularly, and he’s got some great science content. Via Tom, I’ve also discovered Skulls in the Stars which… Continue reading Pimp Me New Blogs
Lab Visit Report: Cavity QED
While Kate was off being all lawyerly at her NAAG workshop, I spent my time visiting my old group at NIST, and some colleagues at the University of Maryland. This wasn’t just a matter of feeling like I ought to do something work-like while she was workshopping– I genuinely enjoy touring other people’s labs, and… Continue reading Lab Visit Report: Cavity QED
A User’s Guide to Vacuum Pumps Part 1: Noisy Pumps
A great many physics experiments need to be conducted at low pressures, in order to avoid sample contamination, thermal effects, or dissipative forces produced by interaction with air. Some experiments don’t require all that much in terms of vacuum, while others require pressures so low that they’re limited by the diffusion of gasses through stainless… Continue reading A User’s Guide to Vacuum Pumps Part 1: Noisy Pumps
Sloth-in-a-Box
A picture from the Small Mammal House at the National Zoo. This is a two-toed sloth (according to the sign on the cage, anyway) that has wedged itelf into a box mounted near the ceiling to take a nap. Tbey had two sloths, actually– the other had also stuffed itself into a box to sleep.… Continue reading Sloth-in-a-Box
links for 2008-03-10
Math Suggests College Frenzy Will Soon Ease – New York Times Changing demographics make admissions offices nervous (tags: academia education society culture)