As noted in the previous post on this blog, I haven’t been doing very much blogging at Forbes of late, for a variety of reasons. I have been doing some, though, and over the six-plus months since the last round-up post, it’s added up to quite a bit.
— How Strong Is Space?: A question from a very young reader, leading to some interesting physics.
— Book Review: The Alchemy Of Us By Ainissa Ramirez: A book about the physics of various materials and the history of how we came to understand them.
— How Do You Teach Science Labs While Social Distancing?: Some thoughts regarding what I did to move my lab-science-for-non-science-majors course to remote instruction.
— Three Hundred And Fifty Years Of Testing Gravity With Clocks: Einstein, Popper, And Jean Richer At The Tokyo Skytree: A very cool experiment involving ultra-precise atomic clocks.
— Can Atoms Touch Each Other?: Another question from a kid.
— How Were Atoms Created?: Yet another question from a kid.
— “Light Under Flawless Tutelage Knows No Limits”: Sixty Years Of Lasers Finding New Problems To Solve: A post in honor of the 60th anniversary of the first working laser.
— ‘Why Is The Wind Always In My Face?’: Some Physics Of Biking: The Pip learned to ride a bike during lockdown, and asked the question every cyclist asks at some point.
— Book Review: Quantum Legacies By David Kaiser: An essay collection from the physicist and historian.
— Book Review: Six Impossible Things By John Gribbin: Short pieces about quantum interpretations.
— Book Review: Synchronicity By Paul Halpern: A look at the history of ideas about the finite speed of light, culminating in the story of Wolgang Pauli and Carl Jung.
— When Is It Time For A ‘Manhattan Project’?: Based on a discussion I proposed at SciFoo, a look at the question of shifting scientists from basic research to more applied problems.
— Book Review: Every Life Is On Fire By Jeremy England: A surprisingly engaging book about non-equilibrium thermodynamics and what it can tell us about the origins of life.
It may look from this like I’ve made a decision to shift to being a pop-science book review blogger, but that’s mostly a matter of me feeling guilty. Most of those books were review copies sent to me by the publisher, and the lockdown meant I had more time to read the free books that otherwise tend to just pile up. When I do read one, I feel a certain obligation to actually write it up, since that’s why they sent it to me in the first place.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been writing on the physics side of things. Other than, you know, the book I have under contract that’s due one month from today…