Science Forums Blogs

swansont: Having a Fling

swansont — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A-7g-fl3g8]

via
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swansont: Grade Inflation

swansont — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Bad Physics Reporting In Abundance!

Zapperz has the summary of yet another reporting fail (or in this case, a D-) on the subject of quantum teleportation.
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swansont: No Bones About It

swansont — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Prime Suspect: Did the Science Consultant Do It?

Synopsis: an episode of Bones does a sendup of the existence of science consultants in TV/movies, followed by some tips on the path to becoming a Hollywood science consultant.

I've told one of my stories of being a ghost-consultant of sorts. I got a few free meals out of it, which were welcome because I was in grad school (as well as an annual insight into a few upcoming episodes of Star Trek, useful for impressing my friends), and of course, it's also the story of someone who made it in that job, for a while — it was a transition to being a writer and beyond.

I recall giving my friend some static when I found flaws in the science, but invariably the response was that the story was more important, and if certain bad science was critical to the plot line, the bad science wasn't going to be excised from the script. Yes, it's window dressing; it might be taken more seriously if it was considered bad dialog or a serious threat to suspension of disbelief, but it's only a shortcoming for the scientifically literate among us. If there were more of us the issue might be taken more seriously.
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swansont: All The Things I Am Not

swansont — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGMLCxKPMSE]

As presented by Leonard McCoy, Julian Bashir, and the Emergency Medical Holographic program.
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ajb: Start my new job on Monday

ajb — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:53:00 GMT

I start my job as a sessional tutor at the University of Brighton's International College on Monday 21st May. The job is lecturing foundation mathematics to overseas students. The level of mathematics is about that of UK A-levels.

Overseas students for whom English is not their first language do present some challenges. In my experience, the biggest issue is the use of words or phrases that just don't arise in conversational English. Simple words and phrases that we take for granted can really throw international students, which in turn can diminish their confidence.

Many of the other issues are really no different to home students, though the intensity may be different. For example, all students get home sick, but this is amplified when in an alien culture.

I am looking forward to gaining more experience of lecturing and this will in fact be the first time I have actually delivered a course. Most of my previous experience has been in a more supportive role as a teaching assistant and a personal tutor.
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swansont: This Isn't Your Grandfather's Michelson Interferometer

swansont — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Frequency comb takes a measure of distance

In its simplest form, a Michelson interferometer is used with monochromatic light. However, this limits its effectiveness because, before a measurement is made, the length of the distance to be measured must be known to within one half of the wavelength (?/2) of the light used – typically less than 500 nm. The problem is that the distance being measured can be expressed as an integer multiple of ?/2 plus a fraction of ?/2 – but this integer multiple cannot be determined from the interference data.
Physicists have found two ways round this problem. One is to use several lasers at different colours to gain more information about the system. The other is to use a light source with a range of wavelengths and then look for phase differences in the interfering light, which can be related to distance. These techniques have their own problems, not least that thousands of different lasers would ease a measurement but installing them all in a lab would be impractical.

A frequency comb has all of its wavelengths present in a single beam, though. Really cool application of the technology.

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swansont: Gettin' Social With It

swansont — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Went to share a link on twitter, and the "share this" popup on the web page didn't include it. So I clicked on the "more" button.

I had no idea. I've never heard of most of these.
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swansont: One, Two, Three, Many

swansont — Sun, 13 May 2012 09:28:00 GMT

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QoutHCu4o]

This is a concept I can recall astonishing me, and also steering me away from majoring in math. I knew the abstract rabbit hole would go much deeper.
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swansont: P … O … P

swansont — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:44:00 GMT

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7Qi3mprKQ]

I'm thinking that there are probably clear pots one could use for this, so as to not get showered with hot oil.
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swansont: Tug-o-War, Physics Style

swansont — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Physics demonstrations: Magdeburg hemispheres

The premise is simple: with the hemispheres pressed together, air is pumped out of the interior, creating at least a partial vacuum. This seals together the hemispheres with a remarkable force.

Guericke first demonstrated this force in 1654 for the Emperor Ferdinand III. Thirty horses, in two teams of 15, were unable to pull apart the evacuated hemispheres! He performed a smaller scale performance in 1656 in his hometown of Magdeburg, using two teams of eight horses.

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swansont: She's So Deliciously Low

swansont — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

The Indelible Stamp of our Lowly Origins

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJct4M-FMY0]

I've been a participant in the evolution-creation struggle, from years ago on USENET in talk.origins, so I've heard all the blather at the beginning, many times. I was aware of the chromosome fusion between other apes and humans, but unaware how well the recent DNA sequencing had addressed the issue. It's near the end.
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swansont: Don't Forget the Gin

swansont — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Recipe For Safer Drinking Water? Add Sun, Salt And Lime

"So basically you add dirt and salt, to make the water cleaner?" I asked him.

"Right," said Pierce laughing, "It's not exactly intuitive."

Perhaps not so intuitive to the average person, but it's a process that may be more familiar to makers of wine, where bentonite is commonly used to clarify wine of impurities.
…
Schwab and medical student Alexander Harding discovered that adding a half a Persian lime to a two-liter bottle of water reduced the disinfection time in the sun from six hours to a half an hour. That's just about the same amount of time it takes to boil water, and much more energy efficient.

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