For twenty years, the United States has invested less and less in basic research in the physical sciences as a fraction of GDP. The U.S. spends about $8-$8.5 billion per year on basic research in the physical sciences (that represents the combined DOE science, NSF, and NIST budgets). Today, “it […]
Today, the National Academies concluded their decadal study of particle physics – EPP2010 – with the release of the multidisciplinary committee’s report. The EPP2010 report is several things. It is a strong cautionary bullhorn to the United States, telling us that ceding leadership in fundamental particle physics will pose more […]
The EPP2010 is released at 11:30 today. Here are my notes and thoughts. “EPP2010 Homepage”:http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/EPP2010.html *11:30* Prompt beginning. Appearing: Harold Shapiro (chair), Sally Dawson (vice-chair), John Bagger, Takaaki Kajita. *11:31*: Opening remarks by Shapiro. This report lays otu the future of U.S. particle physics. The committee is 1/3 particle physicists, […]
Well, we crossed the 2000 visitor mark a few days ago here at the Adventures of My Pet Hamster. That warrants a few remarks, in honor of the occasion. Who are you people? You need to leave more comments, so I can ignore them. What’s an adventure (of my pet […]
Science is a tough business. Experiments rise and fall based on their scientific merit, judged through a peer review process that is meant to weed the well-planned projects from the rest. Last week, that time-honored system of peer review was apparently thrown to the side of the road as the […]
Science is, like all human endeavors, full of competition. As in all competition, friendly or otherwise, there has to be somebody who gets disappointed. Today, I am pleased to announce that I am a little disappointed. My competitors in the “Belle Collaboration”:http://belle.kek.jp have announced at a major conference they have […]
This week offered America a rare but important lesson in statistics. What worried me was that the venue most people get the information from – the news media – widely seems to flub the lesson. I’d give agencies like NBC and CNN a D- in their ability to report accurately […]
As I mentioned a few hours ago, this week has seen one great result in the understanding of nature using evolution. The Wall Street Journal also reports on a second discovery: the resurrection, by studying dozens of genes from a variety of species, of an ancient hormone receptor that last […]
I Google myself. There… that’s much better. Always better to just admit things and get them over with. OK, with the air clear… I found this interesting little tidbit using Google tonight. Somebody (Aspasia S.) wrote a review of the SLAC public lecture series [YelpFoodForIntellect]. They also happened to have […]
“Gaps”. That’s the buzzword that opponents of science like to use to try to indicate a flaw in a theory, such as the theory of evolution. They argue that a gap is fatal to a theory, and that invalidates the theory. In truth, a gap – a region that cannot […]
This has been a pretty fun week, and it’s only Tuesday, After a bout of insomnia on Sunday night, Monday was a real drag. That is, until the end of the day when, as I was leaving work, I got into a conversation about knowledge, philosophy, science, and religion with […]
This morning… well, let’s be honest, I awoke at noon… I have been listening to public radio. The “Radio Lab program today is ‘Time'”:http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=/radiolab/radiolab022505.ra, a fascinating exploration of time, its nature, and its meaning. One of the stories is that of Leland Stanford, who was the owner of the largest […]