Seemingly every day we hear about the terrifying eroding of the polar ice caps at the north pole. To some it's a sign of the apocalypse, to others a heartbreaking threat to the local ecosystem. To some it's even a trade route opportunity (???). But if that much ice is melting, and global warming causing …
Category Archive: Science
Jan 08 2010
The more I know, the less I understand
Every year I am assigned to teach the "general interest" class in wave matter to non-science majors. I don't mind this assignment, as the material is interesting despite the facile treatment given in the class. We cover general wave phenomena (wave creation, propagation aspects, Doppler shift, bow waves) and then move on to talk in …
Dec 08 2009
The East Anglia Emails show scientists doing their work---nothing more
As the climate conference in Copenhagen opens today, the democratization of expertise reaches new heights of danger. Scientifically illiterate people, shown a glimpse of how real science works, understanding nothing about it, pull random quotes that are supposed to be scary. They shouldn't be, and they aren't to me. I am not a climate scientist, …
May 09 2009
Stossel does it again (food irradiation)
Caught the John Stossel special last night. Although his segments about tiger farming and about letting risk-taking mountain climbers pay for their rescues were a little silly, the segments about food irradiation, old people perpetrating a Ponzi scheme through Medicare, and letting people use steroids if they want to were dead on. Especially on food …
May 03 2009
The Force could be real
The Force, from the Star Wars universe, is probably the coolest idea anyone has come up with in modern days. I don't know that it justifies the absurd amount of money that George Lucas has, or ought to give him license to go on making shitty movies and games about it, but it's awfully resonant …