Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Report from symposium on cutting-edge physics research. Updates on the hunt for the Higgs Boson, supersymmetry, dark matter. And whether new theories of physics that go beyond the standard model are needed
Enjoyable blogpost on how people interact with museum exhibits. Suggests we often look at paintings for just three seconds, and very rarely for more than 45. Fine art encourages us to walk in orderly fashion, but not so modern art
Deep dive into the cutting-edge science of folding, and its possible technological applications. "It’s a manufacturing strategy that we think is going to revolutionize everything from microelectronics to toy manufacturing"
Physicist replies to Lawrence Krauss, and his recent claim that physics has made philosophy obselete. It hasn't. Krauss was wrong to claim it could. Here's why his argument doesn't stack up, explained with some cutting-edge physics
Is there a more engaging scientist writing today than Martin Rees? Here he talks us through latest research from the frontiers of cosmology: "What we’ve traditionally called the laws of nature may be no more than parochial bylaws"
On the mind-blowing results of a quantum physics experiment. "You can take a measurement before the final entanglement takes place, but the measurement's results depend on whether or not you subsequently perform the entanglement"
Yes it has, says Lawrence Krauss, theoretical physicist, interviewed here. Religion and philosophy struggle to answer fundamental question of why there is something rather than nothing. But physics can explain that perfectly well
Wonderful, accessible introduction to basics of M-theory, most plausible attempt to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity into holy grail of physics—a theory of quantum gravity. Get ready to imagine a world of 11 dimensions
Physicists want bigger and bigger machines to discover smaller and smaller things. They've bored a tunnel 17 miles long in Switzerland to look for a particle that may not exist. Is science on this scale worth the cost?
Can economic growth continue indefinitely? No, said the physicist to the economist. And here, in a delightful re-creation of a recent dinner conversation between the two, is why not
Archimedes was unquestionably a great physicist. So too the Islamic scientist Ibn al-Haytham, and China's Mo Tzu. But what was it about Galileo that prompted Einstein to call him “the father of modern physics"? (part 1 of 3)
Significant asteroid collisions may be extremely rare but could be devastating to life. So best have a plan to protect the planet. Enter physics professor Gregory Matlof, whose research focuses on celestial engineering
