Archive for the ‘It’s Only Rocket Science’ Category
The Pitfalls of "Big Data"
I greatly enjoyed this article ("Big data: are we making a big mistake?", by Tim Harford) on the dangers of "big data", which certainly has opened up new avenues of research but nevertheless still requires understanding to avoid statistical pitfalls. Understanding causes beyond mere correlation is still necessary: correlations can predict trends with uncanny accuracy, […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Plus Ca Change...
How the Equinox Happens
Oh, I just now saw that the Spring Equinox happened about 20 minutes ago (12:57 pm, EDT). Happy Equinox! Then I started wondering whether anyone wondered how it is that we can have equal amounts of daylight and dark at a precise time of the day. (The answer is that the time–and the equinox–is determined […]
In: All, Explaining Things, It's Only Rocket Science
Android Wallpaper & Eye for Science Images (Again)
I'm still inspired by joining up images from the "Eye for Science" project database with smartphones, and today I implemented another way to make it easy and quick way to turn an image you like into smartphone wallpaper. All I've done is add a QR Code to the image page, i.e., the page you get […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Speaking of Science
Balancing Basic & Applied Research
The transistor, the LED, and the medical isotope technetium-99m are important applications of science, yet as far as I know none of them was invented as the result of a government initiative to fund industrially relevant research. The transistor was invented at Bell Labs. The LED was invented at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Selecting a Popular-Science Book to Read
Recently I was contemplating answers to potential questions prior to a brief interview (I'll give a link if it shows up someplace linkable) I gave about our Science Book Challenge. One question that came to mind, one for which we try to provide one answer with our collection of science-book notes, is "How do I […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Rainbows of his Mind
My interest is captivated by this item from Mike Tidmus [source ; his post has the links]: San Diego’s least meteorologically-inclined Christian, James Hartline, claims an airplane was struck by lightning because it flew through a rainbow — the universal symbol of gay and lesbian rights. That offense, apparently, pissed off Hartline’s god. Tweets San […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, It's Only Rocket Science
It Does Take Some Thought
"Think of a single problem confronting the world today," says Bill Bryson, in full rhetorical flow. "Disease, poverty, global warming… If the problem is going to be solved, it is science that is going to solve it. Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
It Was Hot
Well, how nice. Our area of the country, greater Washington DC, has been acclaimed by The Weather Channel as having had the worst summer of any major area in the US in 2010 (Jon Erdman, Tim Ballisty and Chris Dolce, "Top 5 Worst Summers", not dated/accessed 24 September 2010). There are several extreme conditions, like […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Personal Notebook
In Court : Science vs. Creationism
Someplace in my reading recently I happened upon the "memorandum opinion" in McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1982). My attention was drawn to it because of a remark about how it "defined science". Well, I wouldn't go so far as "defined" although the characteristics of the scientific enterprise are outlined, and that may have […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
The Orthography of Equations
Every now and then this little image appears on my Facebook page, as a sponsored ad, with the headline "Become a Physics Teacher". The sponsors claim that they will help me get a master's degree online in education so that I can become a physics teacher. Now tell me, if you were considering paying someone […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Personal Notebook
Gullibility's Price
From Bob Park's What's New for 11 June 2010: 1. FAKE BOMB DETECTOR: THE HIGH COST OF IGNORANCE. According to a story in The Independent (UK) on Tuesday, the investigation into the sale of fake bomb detectors has been expanded to a number of firms in the UK. It seemed comical fourteen years ago when […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
See a Scientist Being Scientific
Today in my email I got a link to a video* with this startling title: NASA Oceanographer Uses Science to Study the Sea Right there, in a video under two minutes in length, we were being offered the chance to see an actual scientist using science! Not only that, it was an oceanographer using science […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Such Language!
Perpetually Park
Bob Park, in his "What's New" this week (5 March 2010) had two items on perpetual-motion machines, an idea, like creationism, that seems not to go away but just to get repackaged on a regular basis, said new packaging bagging lots of new, credulous believers–rather like creationism. I particularly enjoyed 'it's not a perpetual motion […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Snake Oil--Cheap!
95 – 21 = ?
This is a fine development in UK news for people LGBTness, but my interest in this excerpt is in the second sentence/paragraph: The House of Lords voted to lift the ban on civil partnership ceremonies in churches and other religious premises last night. Peers voted by 95 to 21 – a majority of 74 – […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Personal Notebook
Special Relativity: A First Reading List
A long-time friend of mine, quite inadvertently and perhaps to his lasting regret, brought up the subject of special relativity : we briefly touched on the idea central to special relativity that the speed of light (in vacuum) is constant (as measured) in every inertial reference frame.* At first hearing it's a rather unsettling idea, […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Shortest Day vs. Earliest Night
I am always happy to celebrate the decision of our sun to return to a higher point in our northern sky, a decision it routinely takes about this time of year: 21 December. It seems so delightful that the days seem to start getting longer immediately it makes the decision. And then, whenever the topic […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, The Art of Conversation
Intro Physics Courses Save Lives
Following a series of links (first, then, finally) got me to this "old physics joke" related by one Craig Moe (in 2001). Honestly, I'd never heard this one, so it struck me as a real knee-slapper. I'm still giggling. A physics professor's teaching an introductory course, and going over kinectics in mind-numbing detail, when a […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
2010 Science Book Challenge
Gosh, would you look at the date: December already! How time flies when one is enjoying reading some nonfiction books for the Science Book Challenge! Indeed, it's that time of year again (a little past, actually) when we announce the opening of our annual Science Book Challenge, this time for calendar year 2010. This is […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Einstein & Cell Phones
From Bob Park's "What's New", a pedantic opportunity for me. First: cell phones & brain cancer (cue ominous music): BRAIN CANCER: OF COURSE CELL PHONES ARE DANGEROUS! Cell phones may lead to neural atrophy as mindless chatter is substituted for coherent information, but they don't cause brain cancer. This week, however, a doctoral thesis at […]
In: All, Eureka!, It's Only Rocket Science
Like a Laser Beam
A few days ago I read a piece by one Ellen Sterling;* I don't know who she is but I know a bit more about her after reading what she wrote. Her subject was someone else unknown to me named Lior Suchard. Of Suchard she says At 27, Suchard is the heir apparent to Uri […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Raised Eyebrows Dept.