science (general) – The Eighteenth Elephant

June 10, 2023

If you care about the environment, and you don’t care about numbers, do you care about the environment?

Suppose someone told you that they were deeply concerned about environmental issues, the consequences of fossil fuel use in particular, and that they would therefore take concrete action to reduce their energy footprint. The action: driving one mile per hour more slowly than usual — 54 rather than 55 mph. You would probably be unimpressed. … Continue reading If you care about the environment, and you don’t care about numbers, do you care about the environment?

December 13, 2022

How to build a gut microbiome in 119 easy steps

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

April 17, 2022

What does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle have to do with microscopy?

A more technical post than most. If the symbol and the equation look familiar to you, you’ll be fine. If not, you may still like the post, but in case you’re about to depart I’ll put my customary link to my pop-science biophysics book’s description here, and also share this week’s news that it will … Continue reading What does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle have to do with microscopy?

November 29, 2021December 2, 2021

Pushed around by stars

A terrible question to ask in science is unfortunately quite common: Does something affect something else? It seems innocuous enough — after all, one might want to know whether exposure to sunlight affects one’s risk of skin cancer, or whether the location of the moons of Jupiter affects the stock market. The answer, however, is … Continue reading Pushed around by stars

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020

CRISPR, the Nobel Prize, and the “Forgotten Man”

I’ve thought more about CRISPR and genome editing over the past year than ever before, ending up devoting a chapter to it in my upcoming popular science biophysics book. The ability to cut, paste, and edit strands of DNA inside living cells is truly amazing, an advance that deserves all the hype that it’s received … Continue reading CRISPR, the Nobel Prize, and the “Forgotten Man”

May 5, 2020May 12, 2020

An informal image analysis course

Update May 12, 2020: I intend to start the course during the week of May 18, 2020. If you’re interested in taking it, please do the following by May 15, 2020: (i) Get the up-to-date syllabus here; (ii) Write your name and email address on this sheet if you haven’t already contacted me; (iii) Note … Continue reading An informal image analysis course

April 21, 2020

Known and unknown pandemic models

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, the proliferation of models of the spread of the virus rivals the spread of the virus itself. Looking at these models is dizzying, and their accuracy so far, especially with respect to heterogeneity across regions, is unimpressive. Of course, modeling an ongoing pandemic is hard, but recently a more fundamental … Continue reading Known and unknown pandemic models

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020

A Coronavirus-Cancelled Conference

This evening, the American Physical Society suddenly cancelled its largest annual conference, the March Meeting, the day before it was to start. I’m one of the 10,000 physicists who will now not be spending the coming week in Denver. The cancellation is due to fears of the coronavirus. Some would say the caution is warranted; … Continue reading A Coronavirus-Cancelled Conference

January 14, 2020January 21, 2023

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

November 27, 2019November 28, 2019

Papers as noise

There is a deluge of research papers; it is impossible to keep up. Everyone knows this and tackles it in their own way — plowing either systematically or randomly through as many new publications as they can, or giving up and just searching for papers when needed. I think it’s important to be aware of … Continue reading Papers as noise

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