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My Four Sketches Put To Good Use

My Four Sketches Put To Good Use

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

In a recent post I mentioned here that for the first of two feature articles I wrote for Physics World, and which just appeared in this month's issue (the first piece is actually available online here), I had hand-drawn four sketches that described visually the four main steps of a data analysis looking for new physics.
Solved - The Mystery Of Missing Sunspots

Solved - The Mystery Of Missing Sunspots

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

Sunspots are dark spots on the sun, at least as we see them, caused by magnetic activity in the plasma on the surface of Sol.

For 200 years scientists have known that they occasional disappear but no one was sure exactly why.   A trio writing in Nature say they have solved the mystery and now can even predict the next time.   Piet Martens, Dibyendu Nandi and Andres Munoz-Jaramillo say they have discovered why sunspots were missing from 2008 to 2010, which coincided with an extra-long "solar minimum" and unusually weak magnetic fields at the sun's poles. The fields are ordinarily much stronger when solar activity is minimal.
How'd You Like To Spawn One And A Half Times Your Body Weight?

How'd You Like To Spawn One And A Half Times Your Body Weight?

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

My husband has an enormous head. Sometimes this concerns me, when I consider the degree to which skull size may have a genetic basis and the fact that we'll probably reproduce at some point. That has to fit through there? OW.

But maybe I should be grateful. I'll certainly have an easier time of it than female Atlantic bobtail squid (Sepiola atlantica). These mamas, according to a recent study on their spawning behavior, can lay up to one and a half times their own body weight in eggs. That would be like me, at 125 pounds, producing 187.5 pounds of baby. WOW.
Kids Need To Eat A Little Dirt To Be Healthy

Kids Need To Eat A Little Dirt To Be Healthy

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

Try going into a hospital room to see a newborn baby without using that annoying hand sanitizer stuff - the Frankenstein monster had an easier time with angry villagers than you will have with concerned hospital staff and family members.  The hospital staff I can understand - they know people are looking for a reason to sue.   Family members are more of a puzzle.

Weren't they kids once?   You have to eat a little dirt to be healthy, people.
New Tight SUSY Exclusion From ATLAS

New Tight SUSY Exclusion From ATLAS

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

The results of a new Supersymmetry search have been released a few days ago by the ATLAS collaboration. They come from an analysis of events with large missing transverse energy and jets -the most classical signature of SUSY at hadron colliders, as well as the most sensitive one in a wide range of the complicated space of SUSY parameters.
Boswellia serrata and Sterculia urens are indicators of water below hill top.

Boswellia serrata and Sterculia urens are indicators of water below hill top.

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

Kadaya ( Sterculia urens) and Salar ( Boswellia serrata) are very typical in their habitat. They grow on slopes approaching hill tops or near hill tops ( but not on the hill tops ) if the water stream is flowing at the base of the the hills or hill range or there is a lake . This is litmus test to find the tree. In Ramgarh lake area and also in the stream flowing from the Ramgarh lake these two plants are found in abundance. Alas that for the greed of gum Katira ( high quality edible gum obtained by putting incision on the trees of Kadaya or Sterculia urens trees ) the trees are dying . Because of lack of underground vegetation the seedling fail to germinate and once the association with Salar ( Boswellia serrata) is lost the other tree also disappears.
NEUTEL Has A Blog!

NEUTEL Has A Blog!

Mar 03 2011 | comment(s)

From March 15th to March 18th I will be following the NEUTEL 11 conference, which conveniently (for yours truly!) takes place in Venice, in the magnificent setting of Palazzo Franchetti (see picture below).

NEUTEL (first bulletin here) deals with results in particle physics and astrophysics produced by, or in connection to, neutrino telescope experiments; the most recent advances in the theory of neutrinos, astrophysics, and cosmology will also be discussed by eminent theorists.
Get My Fedora! We Need To Beat The Germans To Lost Treasure

Get My Fedora! We Need To Beat The Germans To Lost Treasure

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

A group of German archaeologists have set off to find a priceless ancient treasure and I'd rather they not get it.    Sounds like the plot of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" right?

As smashing as I look in a Stetson fedora, the reality involves no Nazis or theological death rays, instead it involves 2,156 gold tablets on which the Maya recorded their laws, which may be buried in Guatemala's Lake Izabal.  But the reality does involve a treasure map, which is always fun.  

Mayan expert Joachim Rittsteig claims to have thoroughly studied the Dresden Codex, a pre-Columbian Maya book which contains most of what we know about Mayan Culture, and says it details the location of this treasure.
Are More Blizzards A Teaching Moment For Climate Change Or A PR Headache?

Are More Blizzards A Teaching Moment For Climate Change Or A PR Headache?

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

On the face of it, Al Gore conducting a global warming conference during a blizzard a few years ago looked bad.   But maybe it was a teaching moment.

The weather has always had swings and separating weather from climate is a key aspect in understanding why (a) pollution is bad and (b) we should have less of it, even if the weather is nice.
Arctic Ice March 2011

Arctic Ice March 2011

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice March 2011

In April 2010 a late upward blip in Arctic sea ice extent led some bloggers to write about 'recovery'.  The blip was anomalous, hence there is no reason to expect a repetition this year.  On the contrary, it is likely that ice extent will not increase by any significant amount before the 2011 melt season gets fully under way - if it is not under way already.
Carbon For Archimedes (2)

Carbon For Archimedes (2)

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Archimedes steps in again.  The MacTutor tells us that
 
“Archimedes considered his most significant accomplishments were those concerning a cylinder circumscribing a sphere, and he asked for a representation of this together with his result on the ratio of the two, to be inscribed on his tomb.”
 
And one year after it was told us how to produce carbon spheres in relative abundance (at least, enough to buy a decent quantity from your laboratory chemical supplier), along comes Sumio Iijima telling us how to make cylinders.
 
Chitin is Pretty Cool

Chitin is Pretty Cool

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Eek, sorry, I kinda disappeared for a few days. There was really good powder, what can I say?

I can at least draw a tenuous connection between driving up to the mountains and today's blog topic! If you've ever tried to change altitude with a cold, you know how much trouble your sinuses can cause. These pockets of air in our heads have to equalize with the air pressure outside our heads, or else: PAIN.

Most of us just stick it out or pop some pseudoephedrine, but some people who suffer from recurring sinus infections require surgery to fix the condition. Unfortunately, the cure can be worse than the disease, in cases where surgery scars cause more sinus blockage and infections.
URL shorteners

URL shorteners

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

If you’re a Twitter user, you’ve likely used one or another of the URL shorteners out there. Even if you’re not, you may have run across a shortened URL. The first shortener I encountered, several years ago, was tinyurl.com, but there plenty of them, including bit.ly, tr.im, qoiob.com, tinyarrow.ws, tweak, and many others.

Army Remakes Its Fitness Tests

Army Remakes Its Fitness Tests

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

When I was a young Army officer with ridiculously low body fat, I once lost our unit's physical fitness 'Iron Man' competition (not an Iron Man race, but rather the top aggregate score in the military's three fitness tests) to an overweight woman in her mid-30s despite being dominant in each event.

Army Physical Fitness tests, being so heavily weighted by age and gender, need a makeover, I remember laughing at the time.  And she was embarrassed by the silliness of it all as well.
Who Is Numerically The Best Tennis Player Of All Time?

Who Is Numerically The Best Tennis Player Of All Time?

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Comparing athletes across generations is always difficult - in football, for example, players are bigger and stronger but before the hashmark changes of the early 1970s, when the field truly had a strong and weak side, a running back like Gale Sayers could make opposing defenses look silly despite an ability to break through a nose tackle.
Still No Schrödinger Cat Jumps The Diosi-Penrose Criterion

Still No Schrödinger Cat Jumps The Diosi-Penrose Criterion

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Every once in a while we are told that Schrödinger’s cat is now proven. One incarnation of the ‘Finally Proven!!!’ of macroscopic quantum superposition was hailed as one of the 10 breakthroughs, the breakthrough of the year 2010. By Science about an article in Nature [1], no less!

Solar cells are fragile

Solar cells are fragile

Mar 02 2011 | comment(s)

Greetings, true believers.

I've not let a week pass yet without some tidbit of amateur satellite relevance, and this week is no exception.  Being pleasantly mired in work-work, I'll be necessarily brief with this update.

I broke my first solar cell today.  Soldering the solar panels requires I learn a new soldering technique, reflow soldering, where you paint solder flux then just heat the entire material.  Breaking the cell was simply due to the fragility of the cell, not the new technique.  Thankfully, IOS provides a few extra cells for this reason.  I (as always) took notes on the panel build, and (as is all too common) haven't transcribed them into this blog yet.
Microbiologist Dr. Alex Berezow On Genetic Modification And Its Benefits

Microbiologist Dr. Alex Berezow On Genetic Modification And Its Benefits

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

RealClearScience Editor and Science 2.0 fave Dr. Alex Berezow does a Science Cafe on genetic modification.  

Using humor and great examples, he punctures the anti-science hysteria surrounding GMOs in this video presentation, including the history and its benefits and concerns.    His endorsement of Wikipedia as a science source is suspect but otherwise we are right there with him.

Take a look:

The Road To Discovery & Why Researchers Stay Awake

The Road To Discovery & Why Researchers Stay Awake

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

Why would a researcher spend long nights for little money in search of the hopelessly obscure?   
Arctic Ice 2011 - Sail, Steam And Satellites

Arctic Ice 2011 - Sail, Steam And Satellites

Mar 01 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice 2011 - Sail, Steam and Satellites

The NSIDC will shortly be publishing its report for March 2011.  I expect the report to conclude that Arctic sea ice extent for February 2011 was the 'lowest in the satellite record'.  That would mean the 'lowest ever recorded in human history', since we have abundant data on historic ice extent.

There is a false argument doing the rounds of the blogs: words to the effect that we have no accurate knowledge of ice extent before the age of satellites.  This is, of course, nonsense on stilts in clown boots with a squirting flower - the latter being filled with complete and utter bilge with an admixture of absolute hogwash.