I generally like Gregg Easterbrook’s writing about football (though he’s kind of gone off the deep end regarding the Patriots this year), but everything else he turns his hand to is a disaster. In particular, he tends to pad his columns out with references to science and technology issues. I’m not quite sure what the… Continue reading The Easterbrook Idiocy Supercollider
Category: Science
Evil Survey: Quantum Chicanery
Believe it or not, this is actually book-related: I have in mind to do a chapter at the end of the book about the use of misrepresentations of quantum physics to promise magical results. I’ve been writing the dialogue to go with that this morning (because it’s more fun than what I’m supposed to be… Continue reading Evil Survey: Quantum Chicanery
Dorky Poll: Deadlines
I have to spend the day working with a thesis student who needs to finish up by tomorrow (no pressure), so I don’t have time to write up the seven-part detailed explanation of the physics of deep-fried turkey that I was hoping to do. Maybe next year. In its place, inspired by Backreaction’s post on… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Deadlines
Dark Matter in Sixty Seconds
Via email, a plug for the newish site 60 Second Science, which is a project from Scientific American built around a podcast featuring one-minute explanations of, well, science. The email was specifically highlighting their new project, a set of video podcasts going by the name of Instant Egghead. The first video (also the only one… Continue reading Dark Matter in Sixty Seconds
Simple Answers to Complicated Questions
Dave Bacon watched “Judgement Day” last night, and has a question: It’s not like, you know, there aren’t people who think quantum theory is wrong or that quantum theory is somehow related to the Vedic teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. So why is it that quantum theory (which after all is “just a theory” wink,… Continue reading Simple Answers to Complicated Questions
Judging “Judgement Day”
So, in case you missed the splashy banner ads that have been running here for the last week, NOVA ran a show about the Dover, PA “Intelligent Design” trial last night. You can find all manner of commentary on ScienceBlogs, for example here, here, and here. I’m not as, shall we say, personally invested in… Continue reading Judging “Judgement Day”
Single Electron Interference and Decoherence
Jennifer Ouellette meantions it as the jumping-off point for her particle-wave duality post, but I want to spend a little time talking about this paper on single-electron interference (Science 318, 949 (2007)), because it’s a very nice piece of work. There’s also a Physics World news article about the experiment, which is pretty good, but… Continue reading Single Electron Interference and Decoherence
The Open Laboratory Needs More Physics
The indefatigable Bora Zivkovic is soliciting contributions for the science blogging anthology The Open Laboratory. He’s titled the post “Last Call for Submissions,” but the actual deadline is December 20th. On or about December 19th, I expect a post title along the lines of “Wolf! Wooooolllllfffff!!! Oh My God, a Wolf!” but that’s neither here… Continue reading The Open Laboratory Needs More Physics
Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays Explained?
I have a bunch of science news sources in my RSS feeds, and every evening, I scan through the accumulated articles to try to figure out what physics-related stories there are to talk about. Sometimes, it’s hard to find anything, but other days, you get stories that lead to four press releases at EurekAlert (one,… Continue reading Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays Explained?
Friction, Baby
I’m suffering muscle twinges in my neck and shoulder that are usually linked to excessive typing. As I have a grant proposal to review, a senior thesis to help whip into shape, and a book under contract, this means that blogging will be substantially reduced while I ration my typing to those things that pay… Continue reading Friction, Baby