Physics Week in Review: March 21, 2015
That deafening sound you heard over Wednesday and Thursday was the sound of millions of science-minded folks collectively banging their heads against their computer screens in frustration...
Cocktail Party Physics
Physics With a Twist
The Sciences
Picasso: X-Rays Reveal the Master’s Materials
Every field has its raging debates among impassioned experts, and the art world is no exception. Case in point: some art historians long suspected that master painter Pablo Picasso used common house paint rather than the oil paints traditionally used in his era, which would make him the first known artist to do so...
Physics Week in Review (Pi Day Edition): March 14, 2015
Today we celebrate the Pi Day of the Century: March 14, 2015, is the first five digits of pi, or 3.1415. It’s also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so Sean Carroll reminded us how they are intimately connected; yes, Pi has something to do with gravity...
Physics Week in Review: March 7, 2015
Brrr! Winter still has much of the country in its iron grip. While you’re waiting for spring to make its presence known, perhaps you’d like to try your hand at photographing Snowflakes in Freefall. A team of researchers at the University of Utah have developed a Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera to do just that...
Evolution
The Physics of Diving Gannets, Bird Navigation, and Speedy Tiger Beetles
Jen-Luc Piquant was at the APS March Meeting in San Antonio, Texas this week, a longtime favorite conference, and often touted as the largest physics conference of the year, covering a diverse range of topics: biophysics, fluid mechanics, materials (exotic or otherwise), complex systems, quantum mechanics — it’s a treasure trove of cool cutting-edge physics...
Physics Week in Review: February 28, 2015
Science fared pretty well at this year’s Academy Awards. Case in point: Here’s Best Actor Eddie Redmayne on Portraying Stephen Hawking.
Physics Week in Review: February 21, 2015
Winter is in full force in the Northeast, so naturally science has some insights to share for those caught in the snowdrifts. For example: Don’t Jump Out of a Window Into Snow: But If You Do… it’s best to understand the physics of a snow jump...
The Sciences
Physics Week in Review (Valentine’s Edition): February 14, 2015
Today is Valentine’s Day. In love? Or just the opposite? Express how you feel with physics-inspired Valentines—and anti-Valentines for those who perhaps aren’t huge fans of the holiday...
What Does It Take to Change a Mind? A Phase Transition
This week’s Virtually Speaking Science episode featured yours truly in conversation with Laurie Paul, a philosopher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and author of a new book, Transformative Experience...
Physics Week in Review: February 7, 2015
The physics in-jokes came fast and furious in this week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory. While telling Penny about his latest research over dinner, Leonard has a brainstorm insight, and ends up collaborating with Sheldon on a cosmology paper, which they post to the online arXiv...
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