|
|
Story Archives of 'physics'Physics for Future PresidentsBy Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 25, 2008.For the next few weeks, the news cycle will be circling around the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Presumed presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will stand in the national spotlight to trumpet their experience, patriotism, courage and judgement.
Dr. Richard Muller’s new book, Physics for Future Presidents, is a guide for the candidates, and interesting reading for those of us more suited to armchair politics. Read excerpts from Physics for Future Presidents Watch/listen to Dr. Muller's class lectures (Photo by Tonyç) listen:
  Science's Greatest MysteriesBy Virginia Prescott on Thursday, August 14, 2008.Today on Word of Mouth we’re looking at the things that make scientists want to tear their hair out - the mysteries that defy explanation, the unanswered questions that lie just outside the frontier of knowledge.
But Dr. Michael Brooks is more interested in what scientists don’t know. His new book is "Thirteen Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time." He was formerly the senior features editor at New Scientist magazine. He joins Word of Mouth by phone from his home in England to discuss some embarassing problems for scientists, including dark matter and dark energy, cold fusion, the search for extraterrestrial life, the placebo effect, free will, and the evolutionary origins of death and sex. (Photo by ~BostonBill~) listen:
A Peek Into The Large Hadron ColliderBy Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 4, 2008.Right now, buried beneath the border between Switzerland and France, scientists are getting ready to flip the switch on the most powerful atom smasher ever built. The Large Hadron Collider will offer insights into the inner-workings of atoms and the fundamental nature of matter. Some people say the machine will create a giant black hole that could swallow up humanity - scientists assure us that this won’t be the case.  But even without the rumors of this being a doomsday machine, the collider still conjures images of sci-fi films and fantasy. Producer Eric Molinsky looked into the colorful and complex design of the largest machine on the planet, and he filed this story for public radio's Studio 360. listen:
Physics of the ImpossibleBy Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.In the mid-19th century, science fiction writer Jules Verne predicted what Paris might look like in the 1960s. He described fax machines, glass skyscrapers and high-speed elevated trains. It was the stuff of fantasy at the time, the inventions of a fiction writer. Now let’s skip ahead 30 years to 1899, when an actual scientist, physicist Lord Kelvin, wrote that "radio has no future... heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible... and X-rays will prove a hoax."  It might seem counter-intuitive that the flashy predictions of an artist would prove more accurate than those of a scholar. But Verne's ideas, like those of many sci-fi writers, were rooted in scientific realities. A new book looks at the relationship between the rigors of science and the imagined world of sci-fi. It’s by theoretical physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku, and it's called "The Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation and Time Travel." Dr. Kaku joined Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott to put our popular notions from Star Trek and Star Wars under the microscope of possibility. Read an excerpt from "Physics of the Impossible" on Force Fields and Plasma Windows (Photo by Nick Carchidi) listen:
The Red Sox, The Yankees, and the Physics of BaseballBy Shay Zeller on Monday, May 1, 2006.The Boston Red Sox meet the New York Yankees for the first time this season tonight at Fenway Park. We talk with Cecilia Tan who's written books about both the Yankees and the Red Sox about the the state of the rivalry in May of 2006. And, we talk with psychologist Kenneth Fuld who's connected human sensory perception to the physics of hitting and catching a baseball. He says that a lot of coaches get it wrong when they tell their players how to hit and catch. Dr. Fuld is chair of the Psychology Department a the University of New Hampshire. listen:
Changes in UNH's Athletic Programs / Richard Feynman OperaBy Shay Zeller on Thursday, February 2, 2006.Tonight on the Front Porch, we examine the major cuts and reorganization announced by UNH's Athletic Department this week. We'll talk with Welch Suggs of the Knight Commission about what appears to be a trend across the nation. We'll also look at the intersection of art and quantum theory. Physicist Richard Feynman captured the imagination of many Americans in the 1950s and '60s with his charisma and groundbreaking ideas. Now a new opera celebrates the Nobel Prize winner's life. The avant-garde production features one actor and four drummers. We'll meet the work's composer, Jack Vees. Jack is the Operations Director of the Yale Center for Studies in Music Technology. FEYNMAN SHOW DATES: -Sunday, February 5th, 4:00 PM-- Dartmouth College Faulkner Auditorium in the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 6041 Lower Level Wilson Hall, Hanover, NH listen:
100 Years of EinsteinBy Laura Knoy on Tuesday, April 19, 2005.1905 was Albert Einstein's so called "miracle year" when he released four papers that changed our understanding of the universe. On the anniversary of his death this week, we'll look at Einstein the man, his theories, and how his work still surrounds us today. Laura's guests are Marcelo Gleiser, Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College who has contributed an essay to an upcoming book on Einstein called "My Einstein First" and is the author of "The Dancing Universe" and Stanley Deser, Ancell Professor of Physics at Brandeis University. listen:
True GeniusBy John Walters on Tuesday, May 11, 2004.John Bardeen isn?t a household name. Despite the fact that he is the only physicist to win two Nobel Prizes, his soft-spoken style and Middle American life have relegated him to forgotten pages of history. Until now. Bardeen?s story is told in True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. One of the co-authors, Canterbury resident Vicki Daitch, joins John to talk about his remarkable contributions to humanity and why he is largely forgotten. listen:
The Forgotten GeniusBy John Walters on Tuesday, February 25, 2003.John Bardeen isn?t a household name. Despite the fact that he is the only physicist to win two Nobel Prizes, his soft-spoken style and Middle American life have relegated him to forgotten pages of history. Until now. Bardeen?s story is told in ?True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen.? One of the co-authors, Vicki Daitch, joins John to talk about his remarkable contributions to humanity and why he is largely forgotten. listen:
A Father and Son Bonded by ScienceBy John Walters on Thursday, March 21, 2002.Jochen Heisenberg is a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire. His father, Werner, is famous for winning the Nobel Prize and creating the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, but to some, he's famous infamous for staying in Nazi Germany and doing atomic research during the war. Part of this period in Werner's life is explored in the play "Copenhagen" which will be in Boston next month. Jochen talks about his father's and his own work and the difficult decisions his father was faced with. listen: No audio currently available. Order on CD (pdf).
|
Support FromHighlightsNavigationUser login |
But how did the respective candidates do in science class? That may not your first question, but University of California-Berkeley physics professor Richard Muller says that the man who takes the oath of office in January 2009 should know the difference between a uranium bomb and a plutonium bomb. How can you lead a country away from fossil fuel dependence if you don’t understand solar power, after all? 
Science reporting tends to herald new explanations for things - the latest ideas on how the universe was formed, how our brains work, or uncovering a new species.