Physics “News”: Clever Gadgets Edition

I’m on vacation this week, and taking this opportunity to clear out a large backlog of news items that I flagged as interesting, but never got around to commenting on. I’ll group them thematically, just to spread things out over a few days, and this lot is a bunch of articles about nifty new widgets […]

Physics “News”: Quantum Optics Edition

I’m on vacation this week, and taking this opportunity to clear out a large backlog of news items that I flagged as interesting, but never got around to commenting on. I’ll group them thematically, just to spread things out over a few days, and this post highlights a couple of new things in the quantum […]

Entertain Yourselves

I’m off for a much-needed vacation, and will be Internet-less for the next week. Woo-hoo! The plan of the moment is to set up a handful of physics “news” items to appear next week (the scare quotes are because some of these items are weeks old), but otherwise there won’t be any updates. If you’re […]

Math: It’s Good For You

That’s the conclusion of a new study from Harvard and the University of Virginia, anyway: Researchers at Harvard University and the University of Virginia have found that high school coursework in one of the sciences generally does not predict better college performance in other scientific disciplines. But there’s one notable exception: Students with the most […]

DonorsChoose Update

DonorsChoose, the educational charity we ran a fundraiser for last year, has made it to the final round of five in the American Express Members Project charity giveaway, and they’re looking for votes to help them win $5 million. They’re up against some stiff competition, and really, it’d be churlish to complain about any of […]

Endowment Hoarding?

It’s been a few days since I linked to Inside Higher Ed, and the Internet itself was threatening to collapse. They’re got a provocative article today about university endowments, though, so disaster is averted. The author, Lynne Munson, compares colleges and universities to private foundations, and doesn’t like what she sees: A recent survey of […]

Cult Update on ESPN

No, this isn’t about the theological component of NASCAR (though the popularity of auto racing is perhaps best explained by sophisticated brainwashing techniques)– it’s much more important: A story on ESPN.com about the Williams-Amherst rivalry: Although the unusual history of the two schools inspired the rivalry, the annual success of both programs certainly has turned […]

Ocean’s Eleven at NASA

There’s a story about theft of supplies at NASA in the Times today. It’s an eight-paragraph wire service blurb, which wouldn’t be worth a mention, but for this: In one instance documented by the accountability office, an unidentified worker explained the fate of a missing laptop, worth $4,265: “This computer, although assigned to me, was […]

…For Loud Values of “Quiet,” Anyway

Live Granades has a survey of current SF, done in the form of a school walk-through with new principal Michael Capobianco (who won the SFWA election discussed earlier this year). It’s pretty amusing if you know the authors involved, but one bit made me just about spit my drink at the monitor: Of course. I’d […]

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Learn Math the Winnie Cooper Way

I can’t resist the snarky title, but this is a serious topic. Tara Smith has a review of a math book by Danica McKellar, titled Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. It’s aimed at getting middle-school girls to have more positive feelings about math in […]