Since I was a child I’ve wondered why an hour feels like an hour and not a second or a year, and, relatedly, what sets the speed of our thoughts. Like every aspect of life, the answer is governed by the physical phenomena that underlie biological processes. In the case of signals traveling through our … Continue reading What sets the speed of thought? — What is biophysics? #14
Which college majors have exploded in popularity over the past decade and which have shrunk? Over the past two posts (#1, #2) I’ve discussed my analyses of the number of degrees awarded in various fields at US “R1” universities (“very high research activity”) between 2011 and 2021. I’ve wondered how I could convey the overall … Continue reading College Major Trends: The Movie
In my last post, I plotted trends in various college majors, comparing how the numbers of degrees awarded in a range of subjects have grown or shrunk over the decade 2011-2021. I compared my university, the University of Oregon, and other R1 (“Very high research activity”) universities. This post focuses on computer science and closely … Continue reading 10 Double the number of Computer Science majors / 20 GOTO 10
About four years ago, I looked into data on how US college students’ choice of majors had changed since 2011 and whether the University of Oregon (UO) differs notably from other R1 (Carnegie “Very High Research Activity”) universities. The old post is here, but there’s no need to look at it. I’m now revisiting this … Continue reading Majors at [Your Ad Here] U. of Oregon, 2011-2021
Herds of wildebeest, swarms of bees, and schools of fish all provide mesmerizing displays of coordinated motion. Fish, birds, and other animals numbering even in the millions can act as one not through centralized control, but through local actions and decisions, as each individual assesses the speed and orientation of its neighbors. This self-organization is … Continue reading How can a swarm swarm? — What is biophysics? #13
It’s time for my recap of notable books I read in the past year. (Previous posts: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.) The biggest difference between 2022 and years past is audiobooks, which made up 17 of the 50 books I “read” (consumed?). I had listened to audiobooks before, but very few, and … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2022, in which I discovered audiobooks
This past term, Fall 2022, I taught for the second time a course I created on image analysis. (Syllabus.) The structure and content were similar to last year’s — last year went well, and I put lots of work into it, so “if it ain’t broke…” Here’s a summary of things in the 2021 course … Continue reading Image Analysis Course Recap, Fall 2022
In science there are experiments that try to construct simple, tractable models of complex phenomena, with the goal of developing insights that will be relevant to the more complicated systems. Alternatively, there are experiments that try to infer insights amid a flurry of coexisting factors. Each of these approaches has its merits and flaws. I … Continue reading How to build a gut microbiome in 119 easy steps
[Announcement: I’m giving I gave a virtual book talk Tuesday, Nov 29, 2022! Video recording link.] Many living things move. Panthers pounce, snakes slither, dolphins dive. Organs can move (such as beating hearts), and even individual cells can be motile, such as the immune cells that crawl through our tissues. How far down in scale … Continue reading Can a Molecule Walk? — What is biophysics? #12
This was supposed to be a short, simple post about how brittle stars use their skeletons to help them see. It turns out, however, that the brittle stars have misled us, and what we thought we knew twenty years ago has been overturned by new observations. The question of what and how various creatures see … Continue reading Do Sea Stars See? — What is biophysics? #11
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The Eighteenth Elephant 