The Republican Presidential Candidates debated a few nights ago. They all invoked the name of Reagan, referring to the “Reagan Principle” or to his vision of government. In a time when the issue of climate change is so critical, I would warn these candidates to remember that it was Reagan […]
Jodi and I went to see “Spiderman 3” tonight. What really struck me about the movie is the level to which physics sneaks into the film. Quite apart from the fact that Spiderman largely respects the laws of gravity (he uses falling and redirection of momentum to move about, and […]
A scientist is a pie (no, wait – this is going someplace). Like a pie, a scientist’s job is to be eaten. Different people want different sized slices. Some people want you to spend your time on a research project. Other people want you to spend your time on service […]
It’s Friday night, and I’m at the lab. I feel like a real scientist again! What keeps me here on a Friday night? Well, there are several factors in this one. The first is that Jodi is at a detector workshop at Berkeley, and I’m supposed to pick her up […]
Tonight, on the Lehrer News Hour, Bjorn Lomberg was interviewed about climate change. Mr. Lomberg accepts climate change, but doesn’t buy the argument that we have to reverse it. He thinks we should also be trying to adapt to it. Of course, from a purely evolutionary viewpoint he is right. […]
His actions marked the transition from the Soviet Union to the more uncertain Russian Federation. His life was marked by triumph and scandal. His death has been solemn, at least as reported in the West. Today, President Boris Yeltsin was laid to rest, his body open for viewing at the […]
When Charles Darwin was a young man, he made a 5 year journey as ship’s Naturalist on the Beagle. During that journey, ideas that he had read about in books – biological and geological evolution – came to life. An earthquake on the western coast of South America, which raised […]
After months of putting it off, Jodi finally posted her extensive photo album from her and her sister’s trip to Ireland last October: http://jodi.cooleysekula.net/photos/ireland/ What an absolutely beautiful and diverse land. Powered by ScribeFire.
What a week. You go from Jacksonville, straight back into the mad rush ahead of the summer conference cycle. What rough beast slouches toward South Korea? Well, that’d be the Lepton-Photon conference (for which we’re all rushing to get ready)! While I jump back into the constant fray of my […]
This APS brought a few interesting lessons. When you commit to an experiment, follow it through and ignore outside pressure to release results before you’re ready. Mingle with your superiors, and mingle with your peers. Spending $130 per night on a hotel room for a physics conference is not justified, […]
Excellent science is going on to understand the dark ages of the universe. Using things like arrays of cheap TV antennae in China, or dipoles in western Australia, astronomers are trying to image the time when the universe was dominated by neutral hydrogen. 21 cm waves – the TV band […]
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of watching two presentations from the MiniBooNE collaboration on their recently released results. The first was by Eric Zimmerman, with whom I’ve worked on Washington lobbying efforts, and the other was by Heather Ray. Heather’s talk was of most interest to me, as it […]