Perceptions of Science Funding

There have been a couple of science funding items in Inside Higher Ed in the last few days, one suggestiong prizes to spur research, and the other reporting that most people aren’t convinced there’s a crisis: Generally, the public appreciates some of the message of the reports going out — that the United States is… Continue reading Perceptions of Science Funding

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Call for Nominations: Astronomy Results of the Year

It’s more or less traditional for magazines and tv shows to do some sort of year-end wrap-up. As this blog is now hosted by a magazine, I suppose I ought to follow suit. Of course, compiling “Year’s Best” lists is a highly subjective business, requiring a lot of information gathering, so I’ll throw this open… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Astronomy Results of the Year

Call for Nominations: Physics Results of the Year

It’s more or less traditional for magazines and tv shows to do some sort of year-end wrap-up. As this blog is now hosted by a magazine, I suppose I ought to follow suit. Of course, compiling “Year’s Best” lists is a highly subjective business, requiring a lot of information gathering, so I’ll throw this open… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Physics Results of the Year

Fire Is Cool

There’s a nice article in the Times today about Mythbusters as science television. As is typical of the Times, it sort of overreaches with some of the conclusions: Their delight in discovery for its own sake is familiar to most scientists, who welcome any result because it either confirms or debunks a hypothesis. That sense… Continue reading Fire Is Cool

How Predictable

New Scientist has decided to commemorate their 50th anniversary by asking a large number of scientists to predict what will happen in the next 50 years. As you might have predicted, the list of responses includes a large number of short essays of the form: Exciting new developments in my own field of research will… Continue reading How Predictable

UnSuggestions

Following up on the weekend’s reading suggestions, I should point to John Horgan’s list of the Ten Worst Science Books. These aren’t obscure self-published tracts on the Theory of Everything, either– Stephen Jay Gould, Malcolm Gladwell and E. O. Wilson make the list, and there are more best-selling suggestions in the comments.

A Good Craftsman Never Blames His Tools

Over at Effect Measure, Revere (or one of the Reveres, anyway, I’m not certain if they’re plural or not) has posted another broadside against PowerPoint, calling it “the scourge of modern lecturing.” This is something of a sensitive point for me, as I use PowerPoint for my lectures in the introductory classes. I’ve been using… Continue reading A Good Craftsman Never Blames His Tools

Polling for Dummies

Because I’m a Bad Person, I no longer remember who pointed me to Halfway There’s primer on polling, but it’s really an excellent of the effects of sample size, and why it’s legitimate to project results based on small numbers of interviews. Some important notes from the conclusion: Second, even a poll that is supposed… Continue reading Polling for Dummies