There’s another Mars article in the Times this morning, which I wouldn’t bother to note in a full post save for one thing: the way they got the results. The right front wheel of Spirit stopped turning in March 2006. Since then, the rover has been driving backwards, dragging the lame wheel along. This May,… Continue reading The Ingenuity of Rocket Scientists
Category: Science
Santa Claus is a Physicist
Dave Ng over at the World’s Fair is at it again, asking what sort of science background Santa Claus has: So the premise is that Santa is at least several hundred years old, and you’ve got to assume that somewhere along the line, he spent some time in academia and probably got a degree or… Continue reading Santa Claus is a Physicist
Particle Physics Requires Faith
Faith in theory and curve-fitting, at least… Tommaso Dorigo reports some new results, which are based on a figure that could be titled “Why I Am Not a Particle Physicist #729”: “What’s the problem?,” you ask, “There’s a nice big peak there, looking a little like a black-body spectrum.” Ah, but that’s not the signal.… Continue reading Particle Physics Requires Faith
Colling: Not Crazy Enough
I have a good deal more synmpathy for the plight of religious scientists than most of my fellow ScienceBlogs bloggers. For example, I’m willing to believe that people can both have sincere religious faith and be practicing scientists, without assuming that they’re either brainwashed or evil. I really find myself feeling sorry for Richard Colling,… Continue reading Colling: Not Crazy Enough
Tree of SCIENCE!!! #1
Here’s the first of this year’s series of pictures proving that our Christmas tree is all about SCIENCE!!! (which, for the record, needs to be said like it’s in a Thomas Dolby song). Some of these will eventually get kind of obscure, but we’ll start with an easy one: This little guy, obviously, stands for… Continue reading Tree of SCIENCE!!! #1
A Call for a Science Debate
Following on an article in Seed and an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, ScienceBloggers Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (of
Kip Thorne Interview
Poking around the Discover magazine web site looking for something else, I ran across this interview with Kip Thorne about black holes, wormholes, LIGO, and Stephen Hawking: It sounds like Hawking hasn’t done very well in his bets. He hasn’t won any of these bets yet. I think that characterizes the fact that he’s ready… Continue reading Kip Thorne Interview
Rawr!
One of the perks of being a B-list sciece blogger is that people send me stuff that they would like me to promote to my dozens of readers. Such as, for example, National Geographic’s very silly Dino Central Park site, where you can frighten simulated New Yorkers with simulated dinosaurs. Because… well, really, do you… Continue reading Rawr!
Career Alternatives for Physics PH.D.’s
Physics World has an interview with Alastair Reynolds, who was trained as an astrophysicist but is now a full-time SF author: How does your physics training help with your writing? Less than people imagine. I think the most important attribute for a science-fiction writer is to be fascinated by science — in all its manifestations.… Continue reading Career Alternatives for Physics PH.D.’s
The Environmental Cost of Physics Research
I burned out some diode lasers a while back, and needed to buy replacements. Here’s one of the replacements on top of the tube containing the other, with a US quarter for scale: Here they are, with the box and packing material used to ship them to me: