Category: In the News

Science and Sociology of Dark Matter

There’s a new paper from the PAMELA dark matter search out that’s written up in Physics, including a link to a free version of the PDF. This paper is considerably less dramatic than one that appeared last year, leading Physics World to suggest that they’re backing off the earlier claim. What’s the deal? Sean Carroll… Continue reading Science and Sociology of Dark Matter

Congratulations to Cirac and Zoller

I’m not sure what the BBVA Foundation is, but they’ve awarded a Basic Science prize to Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller: The Basic Sciences award in this inaugural edition of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards has been shared by physicists Peter Zoller (Austria, 1952) and Ignacio Cirac (Manresa, 1965), “for their fundamental work… Continue reading Congratulations to Cirac and Zoller

How to Moderate a Discussion of Global Warming?

As noted in the previous post, I’m supposed to be moderating a panel at Boskone the weekend after next, with the title: Global Warming: Facts and Myths, (and all that jazz) This is not my usual line, but then, I don’t have to provide expert commentary, I just need to steer the discussion. Still, it… Continue reading How to Moderate a Discussion of Global Warming?

Ultra-Cold Atoms and Neutrino Masses

Physics World‘s news aggregator had a story yesterday with the headline Chilly solution to neutrino mass problem, and the one-sentence teaser Ultracold atoms could be used to measure the mass of the neutrino. This creates a wonderful image of somehow turning a magneto-optical trap or a Bose-Einstein Condensate into a neutrino detector, which is a… Continue reading Ultra-Cold Atoms and Neutrino Masses

From Mooney to Zimmer

Looking for a way to kill some time on a Sunday morning? You could do worse than yesterday’s bloggingheads.tv Science Saturday conversation between Chris Mooney and Carl Zimmer: It’s a wide-ranging conversation, covering what to expect from the Obama administration, artifical life, the possibility of life on Mars, Sanjay Gupta, and the future of science… Continue reading From Mooney to Zimmer

Headlines from the Future: Extrasolar Planets Edition

I got a great “Living in the future” kick out of the headline on the New York Times story about Thursday’s big astronomical announcement: First Pictures Taken of Extrasolar Planets. The phrasing of the headline conjures images of pictures of clouds swirling on distant gas giants; alas, the reality is a little more mundane: In… Continue reading Headlines from the Future: Extrasolar Planets Edition

What Is the Use of [Academic Discipline] Blogging?

Steinn asks a provocative question: has science blogging done any good? I can think of science policy issues where blogging has made a contribution, and the general spread of information and communication done by blogs has probably had some impact, but has any actual science been directly impacted by blogs, or discussion on blogs? I… Continue reading What Is the Use of [Academic Discipline] Blogging?

Sveriges Riksbank Prize to New York Times Columnist

The 2008 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Honor of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Paul Krugman. Usually it’s the Peace prize that’s awarded on the basis of what will make right-wingers’ heads explode in the US. They went for a Scandawegian for that one, though, so the economics peusdo-Nobel was the next… Continue reading Sveriges Riksbank Prize to New York Times Columnist