Voyager’s great mission

Scientist Ed Stone of CalTech and formerly of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains the significance of the Voyager mission that was blasted off in 1977 for what was hoped to be at least a four year mission that would be able to photograph two out the outer planets (Jupiter and Saturn) but is still going strong nearly four decades later, passing Neptune and Uranus and has just almost left the solar system and entered interstellar space, and is still sending back information. [Read more…]

Women in physics

Physics tends to be highly under-represented when it comes to women, with them comprising only 13% of faculty in degree-granting institutions. There are many suggested reasons for this but one heartening sign is that physics department faculty and professional organizations have recognized that this deficit does not reflect well on us and have made concerted efforts to increase interest in physics among young girls and to encourage more women to major in the subject and to pursue it as a career. [Read more…]

What lies beneath the Antarctic ice

When I think of the Antarctic at all, I just think of it as this huge inert unpopulated continent that is permanently covered with ice. What I had not realized is that in places the ice covering is as much as two miles thick and that the continent contains about 50% of the world’s supply of fresh water. The ice sheet is also not static but dynamic, with complex flow patterns. [Read more…]

Are airplanes germ warehouses?

I hate traveling by plane for many reasons, mainly because of the cramped seats, the security theater one has to go through, and so on, though the convenience of getting to one’s destination so much more quickly usually outweighs the negative elements. I have a rule of thumb that says that if traveling by car to a destination takes six hours or less, or if there is no time constraint for even longer journeys, I prefer to drive. [Read more…]

How physics helps me identify and ignore woo

I feel that I have obtained a huge benefit from having studied physics, especially quantum physics. On the one hand, it has given me a sense of wonder and awe at how the laws of nature work to produce the universe we occupy. The theories are really quite beautiful, the experimental methods used to study them incredibly ingenious, and the implications quite profound. [Read more…]

Eddie Izzard on Stonehenge

I can’t believe that while I was writing recently about how ancient civilizations managed to figure out how to move massive stones over large distances to create monuments such as the Pyramids of Egypt and the palaces and temples of the Forbidden City in China, I completely forgot to inform readers of Eddie Izzard’s reflections on how Stonehenge came to be built in England. (Language advisory) [Read more…]