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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
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What's This? is a flattery-by-imitation for Bob Park's What's New.
- Pure, Liquid Fear:
An article from the Popular Science website considers the issue of safety at nuclear power plants that intend to use liquid sodium as a coolant. At 125 words, this is less of an article and more of an informational summary. With the concluding phrase, “... can this possibly be on the whole a good idea?”, this is less of an informational summary and more of an attempt to remind us that we should be afraid of nuclear power plants. One of the commenters on the site puts it best by asking for “More science less popular”. Good thing Popular Science doesn't talk to actual scientists or else they would be really scared.
- Business as a Model for the World:
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates spoke at Stanford University on Feb. 19, 2008 and said, “... how many universities should have to give lectures on subjects like physics? Well, the answer is very few...” He goes on to explain that the Internet allows the best physics teachers to share their instruction with the world, thereby making it unnecessary for anyone else to do so. This makes sense in business, and certainly Microsoft Windows has benefitted from being perceived by many as the only “teacher” in the operating system world. Today, however, we the audience benefit incredibly from a greater awareness of the array of other options available (e.g., GNU/Linux and Mac OS X). Physics education similarly benefits from having many options available. Isn't it more important to develop a larger base of people who are good at teaching physics than it is to spread the work of the few people who happen to be popular today?
- Complaining does not Count as being Involved:
An article in Nature reports that political advisors and policy experts are suggesting the scientific community become more active in lobbying. Specifically, scientists should start working right now to find candidates for nomination to the important science-related government posts that will be available as a new Presidential administration comes to power next year. As Neal Lane, public policy expert from Rice University, puts it, there are only 77 days between the election and inauguration of the next President and the executive branch will be fully decided upon during that time. Scientists will be happy to see a replacement in the White House, as evidenced throughout the article. Perhaps we don't realize how much politics and science have in common: the federal government goes (8?) years with little progress and then 77 days of incredible breakthroughs improve the situation and provide for future development. Plenty of scientific endeavors might be described the same way.
- I Looked at it Because the Title was Interesting:
Mariah Carey's new album will be titled E = mc2, which is sure to encourage some curious young minds to look up what that expression means. Is this a sea change signaling science's march into more pop culture outlets? Never mind, nothing has changed. The first single from this album is “Touch my Body”, and, much like all the images on her website, it teaches young girls that knowing some science is not the way to gain attention or success.
The opinions expressed in this article are not those of a Ph.D. physicist, but they will be.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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