Some recent words from Stephen Hawking may be found reported upon here.

I’m all for exploring space and the like…. And settling in new places? Sure…. But only when the time is right, and for the right reasons. If Stephen actually said what was reported (I can imagine that a lot was left out by the reporters, resulting in significant distortion), I’d have to disagree on his suggested motivations (largely fear, it seems), and the timing is just way out.

Further, we’ve got stuff to do here, fixing up our messes here on earth…. we’ve no business spreading out more until we’ve grown up as a species, learning how to be less destructive and less prone to war. Right now we’re a willful adolescent, at best. Probably a toddler.

GrrlScientist has more to say, which is spot on.

But what do you think?

-cvj

Imagine:

A devastatingly powerful two kiloton yield bomb the size of a hand grenade…. a device to allow you to zap your enemies with lightning bolts (as though you’re Storm of the X-Men)…… an incendiary bomb so powerful that it burns everything in its range and sucks up all the oxygen in a wide range, killing all remaining hidden occupants….

(Image from this site.)

These are the things that the US Department of Defence pours a huge amount of development money into trying to make into viable weapons. A lot of the science these things are based on is sometimes flawed (at best), ridiculous at times. (The last one, the “hyperbaric bomb” is real, by the way, and was deployed for the first time in Afghanistan in recent years.) Nevertheless, there can still be a lot of support for several of these dubious projects, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the reasons are political - that same story we’ve been hearing a lot under the current administration - resulting from an alarmingly common willingness to disregard scientific opinion of considerable weight in favour of a pet project that just sounds so good… or just fits nicely with a political agenda (remember Star Wars? Or more recently, bunker-busting nuclear bombs?). It’s somewhat frightening, to be honest.

On the way home from the conference a short while ago I listened to a fantastic interview with Sharon Weinberger on NPR’s Fresh Air. I recommend it. She has recently Continue reading ‘Weapons In The Mind’

I’m live blogging to you from the SUSY06 conference, hosted this year at UC Irvine. It’s held in a rather nice hotel in Newport Beach. It’s actually a resort of some sort, it seems, although I shall not have time to look around and enjoy it.

It is great to go to these conferences to hear about the growing buzz of excitement about what might happen in the upcoming major experiment in the field, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, see here and here), about which you’ve read a lot from previous posts (do a search on “LHC”). There’s a feeling that there’s a chance for there to be wonderful physics “just around the corner”, and that’s a good place to be in terms of morale. The SUSY conferences have a very nice mix of theory, experiment and phenomenology -and crucially the practitioners thereof- and this makes them worthwhile attending. I was lucky last year to be on my annual visit to Durham when SUSY05 was going on, and I’m lucky again this year for SUSY06 since Irvine is just “down the road” from Los Angeles.

(For the record… I tried to take the train, rather than driving, but could find no information at all from the conference site about how to get from the Irvine train station ten miles away to the actual site. After a long time on various websites I found that it would take me an hour and a half to cover than ten miles by bus….the same time it would take me driving from home during the rush hour. Now, I’m willing to bet that it is possible to do it…..but the fact that the hotel makes no effort at all to supply you with any information about this is frustrating. It just does not occur to anyone that somebody might want to try to use public transport. So I ended up driving. Sigh.)

Recall that the LHC collides protons together after accelerating them around a ring that is 27km around.

We hope to see all sorts of exciting physics in the products of those collisions, which Continue reading ‘Supersymmetry Closer To Home’

One of the reasons I like this blog is the extended community that we have been able to build, due to all of you who read us, spread the word about us, and carry on the discussions offline. Thanks. We have readers from quite a diverse set of walks of life, careers, ages, and locations. I think that the letter I received a few days ago was from one of the most remote locations I can think of on this planet. I find it quite exciting! The writer, Denis Barkats, permitted me to reproduce it here:

I browse you guys’ blog now and then and I have to admit I really enjoy it. I decided to write to you today about the post named Jacaranda time, because I know exactly the feeling when those start blooming in the LA area and given my current situation, It has a special ring to me right now. I am a postdoc at Caltech with Andrew Lange’s observational cosmology group. And I clearly remember the time when I came to interview for the position during the Month of Mai. I could not belive the intense color of those trees (Jacaranda trees whose names I did not know at the time). I absolutely loved it and eventually accepted the postdoc offer ( not just for the trees). And right now, seeing your post on your blog, I am reminded at how beautiful spring can be in Pasadena. Right now, I am at the South Pole at the US Amundsen-Scott South pole station. I’m the winterover for the BICEP experiment (a CMB polarization telescope aiming to look for B-mode polarization).We are in the middle of the austral winter. It’s -80F outside on average although it can dip down to -100F sometimes. It’s pitch dark. And we are in the middle of a sterile, arid, desertic, moon-like landscape, at 11000ft, on the polar plateau. So the sight of the deep purple trees, strikes a special string in my memory. Anyway, so enjoy the spring there.

Best,

Denis

Wow! Antartica! I don’t know why, but it’s just great to know we’re helping a little bit to spread some warmth to the furthest corners of the Earth. It is nice to be contributing to global warming in a positive way!  

Denis was kind enough to share something with us as well:
Continue reading ‘To the Ends of the Earth’

I’ve always been under the impression that readers could pick and choose what they wanted to read here, by using the filtering tools provided, or just the scroll bar. In that way you can slice the blog to get any sort of flavour that you suits you. In line with what we’ve always said the blog is -or isn’t- about, and in line with my original statement of purpose, I’ve been trying to provide some snapshots about several aspects of what I do and get involved in as a scientist: academic life, outreach projects, thinking time, playtime, life in general, etc. This is in addition to a number of posts on science, the arts, and other ideas such as science education, science and the media, environment, etc. Throughout, I’ve tried to involve you, the reader in as much discussion, sharing, and sometimes fun and silly stuff, as you care to participate in. The idea was to sort of have a giant break room where we -scientist, non-scientist, junior, senior, professional, non-professional, here, there and anywhere- could come to and kick off our shoes and share from time to time, just like friends and colleagues do in person. I really thought that was all part of the mix, and that those who don’t like my contribution to this effort could simply choose to ignore it and read the other excellent material provided.

Well, it seems that I’ve misunderstood this, since I learned today that a number of my Cosmic Variance colleagues apparently don’t agree with the emphasis. Puzzlingly, rather than provide more of what they want to see, they’d like to see less of what I’m choosing to provide. I’m a bit stunned by this, but recognize that I could have gotten things wrong, so (after the next post I’m going to pop up in a few seconds) I’m just going to shut up for a while, saying thanks and au revoir to those of you who have read, enjoyed, participated, discussed, etc. Perhaps I’ll pop in with the ocassional post from time to time, but I think that for a while I’ll just sit back and leave the blog in the capable hands of my wise colleagues. Maybe in this way I’ll learn by example what they actually have in mind for the blog and, since it is a joint effort, toe the line.

Best,

-cvj

[Update: I may have written the above a little too strongly, since some readers are under the impression that I've been censored, or that they have to make a choice of some sort. Gosh, no! The first wrong impression would not reflect well on my colleagues and I won't have that. It was not my intention to give the impression that anybody wants to control the content of what I say. I apologize to my colleagues if I gave that impression, but I thought what I wrote was clear. As clarification, I placed this in the comments:

(1) This is not intended to be a beauty contest!
(2) There is no sense in which I have made “illegal posts” as one commenter put it, or have been in any way banned from posting anything. My friends are just concerned that the overall emphasis might have gone askew. I did not think that this was possible in view of the fact that readers can filter with the tools provided. We don’t agree on that, it seems. Disagreement is just fine. So -allowing for the possibility that I am simply wrong on this issue- I’ve made the decision -on my own and with no encouragement- to sit back for a while and give the others some space, in case that helps. I just felt I’d explain to you my reasons.

That’s all.

Actually, your constructive input -positive and negative- will be informative to all of us…. so please go ahead, but please keep in mind point number (1).

]

So today I got involved in an exciting weekend activity subculture for the first time. Yard/Garage sales! I had no idea about several aspects of it. I got up at 7:00am to go over to a friend’s house to help her move a ton of stuff from her garage to her front yard, and get it all set up.

Two of her neighbours also pitched in to help, and also sell a few of their own things that did not sell in their own sales last week. For my own contribution to the spread of loot, I took a couple of dreadful yard chairs that I’d inherited (from the previous owner of my house). She provided coffee and freshly baked scones to help the work along. This was very welcome indeed (Tip: Don’t stay up to 4:00am talking about braneworlds and extra dimensions if you’ve got to get up three hours later).

The amazing thing to me is the dedicated group of people who are on the streets early in the morning trying to be the early birds, to get the good stuff. While we were setting up they were already pulling up in pickup trucks and vans, trying to buy things out of your hands!

And it is really well organised. Apparently, people routinely advertise their yard sales on Craig’s List (I’ve been hearing more and more about this thing every day… I’m still behind the times though, having never even visited the Ebay website in my life) and other people scour the region looking for all the sales that are happening. Then there is lots of haggling and rummaging and more haggling.

You get everything in these sales, and some of it is just great. I helped myself to three lovely glass storage jars before the wolves came. They were supposed to be $2 each, but I got them for free for my lifting services. Whoo-hoo! But I want to know who buys the really…. unusual stuff…. such as the Western Union slippers (above right!), or the Nevermore Thing (as I call it) pictured left. I’ve no idea what it is intended to be. My friend is an actress, and gets invited to a ton of those Industry things where you are given gift baskets and other bizarre free stuff. She thinks that this piece came from one of those events, held at Halloween. Have a closer look. There is a black crow/raven on the top of the handle, and the entire basket itself -painted entirely black, of course- is lined with black feathers. I was told by one of the neighbours, who works in production, that no doubt someone who works in the Industry will buy it to use as a prop for something or other. You never know what is useful to someone else.

Continue reading ‘Yard Sales!’

I hope you’ve seen the Wallace and Gromit movie “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”. W+G have to catch a giant rabbit, which has been terrorizing lots of English vegetable gardens, etc, etc. Mayhem follows, and much hilarity, all very cleverly executed…. I blogged about it some time ago, and you can see some of the pictures of the models and sets that they had on display at the showing in that post too.

I was put in mind of it last week when I popped over to London to play the role of uncle, wander the streets for a bit, do a bit of sightseeing, and hemorrhage a bit of money. I was all prepared to be annoyed by the Guardian, which was once my favourite newspapers, since I had not seen it very often since they (lamentably) made major modifications to the format. As it turned out, I did not get annoyed too much, although I would prefer it if they took it back to the correct size for a respectable newspaper. It still has a lot of news and good writing in it, and I am led to understand that the huge amount of football-related stuff in it is a passing phase because there is some sort of contest going on in Germany of some relevance. (Um… that would be “soccer”, you folks over on the extreme left hand side with the funny shaped ball.)

The other reason I was not annoyed? Within a day of being there I spotted one of those typically English stories which -happily- makes it to the national news from time to time. Very endearing:

Giant ‘were-rabbit’ comes a cropper on road (Martin Wainwright reports)

A hungry outsized rabbit which visited allotments in Felton, Northumberland, angering residents with its predations, is thought to have been killed in an accident that left the bumper hanging off a car.

The animal, which reportedly yanked whole turnips out of the ground, has not been seen since Rael Rawlinson, 18, driving in the village at the weekend, crashed into a “rabbit-like animal” roughly 2ft long and found hair on her bumper.

There have been no more sightings of the animal - nicknamed were-rabbit - which led growers to recruit two armed watchmen at the allotments.

Sad.

You can’t make this sort of thing up….. is what I would like to say, modulo the first paragraph. So I guess that clinched it. The Guardian is still my favourite newspaper.

Well, today I learned* of an even more “were-” rabbit that really exists and is very much alive, in Germany. The story has been doing the rounds for a long time now, but who cares? Just look at this picture (sit down first):
Continue reading ‘Big Ears’

This was spotted during my very enjoyable visit to the Science Museum on Sunday, described earlier. I am disturbed by this picture for several reasons. Click on it and read the text surrounding the picture. I am not even complaining about the fact that this picture -in prominent display in the spaceflight part of the London Science Museum- contains a lot of silly science fiction nonsense about warp drive (it is right next to a model of the Starship Enterprize) - this stuff has no place in an otherwise excellent display of real science, in my opinion.

What I am complaning about is the fact that the Science Museum has decided to shy away from using the word “theory” when describing Einstein’s General and Special Relativity. They’ve replaced the word “theory” with “law”. Why? You might consider this to be an issue of mere semantics but it is not. There is a very important misunderstanding of what the word “theory” means in a scientific context. This misunderstanding is dangerous. This misunderstanding has already been exploited for political means, and I am sure that it will be exploited again. Recall the discussion about the NASA administration official saying that the Big Bang is “just a theory”, for example. (See a post about it here, with discussion.) (See also a post about the use of the word in a scientific context, here.)

Why does it matter? Surely, since members of the general public think that the word “theory” is less compelling than “law” we might as well use the latter, no? I don’t agree. What we should be doing instead is better educating the public as to the meaning of the word, making it clear that the terms “Theory of Evolution”, or “Theory of Relativity” do not imply that these are not powerful, established parts of the scientific knowledge base.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that replacing “theory” with the word “law” is far more dangerous that it seems. The word “law” does not do as well as “theory” in invoking a vitally important part of Science that distinguishes it from, for example, the typical organized Religion. Science is an on-going process of refinement, adventure, challenge and re-evaluation. It is a different type of “search for truth” than organized Religion. Science is all about the asking of questions and refining of one’s understanding of how the world works. It is not about obeying a set of laws. To focus on the word “law” is a mistake.

A scientific theory establishes a truth about the world, with an understanding that Continue reading ‘Danger in London’s Science Museum’

Despite the annoying use of the words “spooky” and “weird” (why do people so often use those words when talking about quantum mechanics? why? why? why? why?!), I’d like to point you to a nice New Scientist article about the possible use of quantum entanglement to detect gravitational waves. It is by Zeeya Merali, and you can find it at this link.

Have a look and come back and tell us what you think, and/or ask questions. We’ve experts in both areas as readers who might also comment, and who might respond to others’ thoughts on the matter.

-cvj

The next Categorically Not! is Sunday 4th June. You may recall my post on the Categorically Not! series of events held at the Santa Monica Art Studios. They’re fantastic, and I strongly encourage you to come to them. Have a look at the last two descriptions here and here.

Here is K.C. Cole’s teaser:

It’s perfectly clear. Or is it? Actually, the notion of transparency is surprisingly murky. The clear night air is opaque to much of the light raining down on us from the rest of the universe. The daytime sky blocks even the light of stars. Your body, on the other hand, is perfectly transparent to radio and TV signals; to a neutrino, you’re not even there—trillions passed through you as you read that sentence. Transparent objects can cast shadows. Perceptive people can see right through you. Institutions—including governments—often try to hide what goes on inside, and it’s the job of other institutions—like the press—to make sure they remain at least reasonably transparent.

For our June 4th Categorically Not! UCLA astronomer Matt Malkan will take us on a tour through the universe as astronomers see it, or try to see it, right back to the beginning of time where (and when) newborn galaxies were just coming into being. The birthplaces of galaxies, stars and planets are shrouded in dust, so astronomers, “like aggressive papparazi,” must go to great lengths to get images. (Having spent 20 hours in a delivery room on two occasions, Malkan says he can “appreciate this cosmic modesty.”)

For an artistic perspective, Melinda Smith Altshuler will show how she uses transparency to create works of art with astonishing mystery and depth in her studio at the Hangar. Melinda has shown locally with Sherry Frumkin and most recently with Sara Lee Art Projects at Bergamot Station—as well as in France, Italy, Korea and Central America. She has taught Studio Arts at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, and is an Associate at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry, Los Angeles.

And finally—accounting! What are credits and debits anyhow? To find out, Zoe-Vonna Palmrose enlisted the help of the 50,000 year old Thog family of mastodon hunters (who will not appear with her) and former Microsoft CFO Mike Brown, (who might) to write the Thog’s Guide to Quantum Economics—which she’ll be giving out Sunday. USC’s PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditing Professor, Zoe-Vonna has been a key player shaping the U.S. financial reporting environment, where transparency is today’s buzzword.

As usual, it is held at the Santa Monica Art Studios, come at 6:00pm for drinks, cookies and a look around the space, and there’s a 6:30 start. For more information, visit the Categorically Not! website.

Hope to see some of you there!

-cvj