The Case of the Rising Conference Registration Fee

Synopsis: I investigate a mystery about rising conference costs and reach a different conclusion than expected. (From 2019; January 2022 and 2023 updates are at the end.) A few days ago I was registering for the American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, the major yearly gathering of Physicists, and noticed that the registration fee is … Continue reading The Case of the Rising Conference Registration Fee

How I learned to stop worrying and love geoengineering

As I briefly mentioned in my end-of-year book recap, one of the best books I read in 2015, and one of the best popular science books I’ve read ever, is Oliver Morton’s The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World. Geoengineering refers to the intentional manipulation of climate, usually in the context of combatting … Continue reading How I learned to stop worrying and love geoengineering

Jetpacks? No. Flying cars? No. Thousands and thousands of emails? Yes. That’s 2014.

Correction Jan. 2, 2014: My ‘received email’ count was actually the sum of the number of sent and received emails. (My ‘sent’ folders are inside my local received folders, hence the double-counting.) I’ve fixed the numbers and graphs. I’m far from the first person to note that emails are an incessant and almost overwhelming burden. … Continue reading Jetpacks? No. Flying cars? No. Thousands and thousands of emails? Yes. That’s 2014.