Monthly Archives: July 2006
The expert mind
In the latest issue of Scientific American, Philip E. Ross presents an overview of what we know about the Expert Mind, culled from decades of research on chess (which he calls the Drosophila of cognitive science). Here are some of … Continue reading
Just how competitive can scientists get?
Put yourself in the shoes of a young, hot-shot post-doc who has got several offers for a faculty position, including one from a Great University in your field. Naturally, you are keen on joining GU, except for one small glitch. … Continue reading
An explosive commentary on the status of women in science
When I was 14 years old, I had an unusually talented maths teacher. One day after school, I excitedly pointed him out to my mother. To my amazement, she looked at him with shock and said with disgust: “You never … Continue reading
Time is too short …
… to post excerpts. Here are the links anyway: FT‘s review of Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom” Tyler Cowen’s latest NYTimes column on gastronomical economics. Daniel Gross on why businesspeople love to quote … Continue reading
Happiness
There’s a wonderful survey article in the New York Magazine on happiness. It features the research of such key figures as Martin Seligman (Authentic Happiness), Daniel Gilbert (Stumbling on Happiness) and Barry Schwartz (Paradox of Choice). Some excerpts: Smarter people … Continue reading
Nikola Tesla
Couturnix has a great post — no, make that an absolutely great post — on Nikola Tesla in celebration of the latter’s 150th birthday on July 10. You’ve got to check out that post to see why I’m amazed … … Continue reading
Los Alamos
It has been quite a while since I noted the Los Alamos scientists’ revolt (through a blog!) that forced the then director to resign. The Economist updates us on what’s happening at Los Alamos. … At the beginning of June … Continue reading
Nature’s experiment with ‘open’ peer review
Nature, a leading science journal, is conducting an interesting experiment wherein a paper’s authors can have it reviewed ‘openly’ — like comments in a blog! This would be in addition to the regular (anonymous) review process. While I haven’t given … Continue reading
Diet Coke fountains
Why do Mentos and Diet Coke produce such a wonderful effect? The short answer is surface tension and nucleation. For a long answer, go read David Biello’s post over at the SciAm Observations.
Nature’s list of top 50 science blogs
Nature has published a list of the top 50 science blogs by academics; the ranking is based on Technorati ratings. It also has reactions from the bloggers behind the top five blogs. The top 50 list features quite a few … Continue reading
Nanotech research in India
[Even] with the NSTI [the Nano Science and Technology Initiative] in place, the level of funding has been sub-critical as compared to China with which India inevitably tends to be compared. In 2002, for example, compared to China’s $200 million, … Continue reading
Annals of academic put-downs
Prayer may not be very efficient when compared to celestial mechanics, but it surely holds its own vis-a-vis some parts of economics. — Paul Feyerabend Quote taken from this post by John Horgan, who reads Philip Ball’s Nature article on … Continue reading
Academic put-downs
When it comes to put-downs (often good-natured, and sometimes nasty) about other people and their calling, and sometimes, about the human condition itself, academics are certainly among the best! Here is a partial list. If you happen to know of … Continue reading
Hwang Woo Suk admits wrongdoing
Finally! Here’s the Guardian: For a paper in the journal Science, Hwang said he had told researchers to make it look as if they were basing their results on 11 cloned embryonic stem cell lines, rather than the two lines … Continue reading
Sociophysics
After writing this post about economics, physics and econophysics, I was poking around the web, looking for Philip Ball’s articles. Ball is the author of the piece that I linked to in my post, and has written quite enthusiastically about … Continue reading
