There’s been an flurry of papers and essays in the past few years on scientific studies being wrong, arguing that the number of incorrect conclusions is disturbingly large, and symptomatic of poor practice, misplaced incentives, and other factors. Perhaps the most widely seen views on this theme graced the cover of The Economist a … Continue reading If I keep writing, maybe this post will become significant
I am adding And subtracting I’m controlling And composing — Kraftwerk, “Pocket Calculator” I often tell students that computer programming is like drawing — learning and practicing it opens up new ways of seeing the world, and new ways of creatively giving shape to ideas. I’ve long thought that everyone should be able to program, … Continue reading I liked programming before it was cool
Earlier this Fall, I was part of the University’s “DUKTalks” event — rather like TED talks but (i) featuring speakers from UO, and (ii) without the vast audience. It was a fun and interesting program, with fifteen minute talks on medieval runes, Facebook, and more. My talk, “The Physics of Life,” was about (unsurprisingly) biophysics. … Continue reading DUKTalks + Fish Guts
There’s no shortage these days of articles on the shortage of STEM*-major students. Not quite as common, but arguably more important, are articles critically assessing whether such a shortage exists. The Chronicle of Higher Education a few days ago featured a nice essay in the latter category, The STEM Crisis: Reality or Myth? *Science, Technology, … Continue reading Growing STEMs
I finished a stint on a National Science Foundation grant review panel this afternoon — my eighth, I think, and the second in which I was a “virtual panelist,” joining by videoconference a panel physically held in Washington, D.C. Thinking of the pros and cons of being a virtual panelist brings up the broader questions … Continue reading I think of the ones I consider my favorites / I think of the people that are working for me
Biophysicists are, I think, expected to have broad-ranging interests and skills. When I was interviewing for faculty positions, for example, I was asked in all seriousness, “When I cook a chicken in a pot and it makes a squishy sort of jelly, what is that?” Despite being vegetarian and never having experienced chickens-in-pots, I babbled … Continue reading On the injection of thawed meat through garden hoses
A few weeks ago, following a post on Steve Hsu’s blog, I read an interesting essay by Steven Pinker on science and the humanities: “Science Is Not Your Enemy An impassioned plea to neglected novelists, embattled professors, and tenure-less historians.” It seems these days there’s a deluge of text on the state of the humanities, … Continue reading On how impractical cuisine can save the humanities
There was some conversation in the department today about science funding trends, the discouragingly low success rates for grants, etc. Just to have a place to point to, I’ll post some graphs, with almost no commentary. Here’s science funding over the past few decades, in constant dollars, from Paula Stephan’s excellent How Economics Shapes … Continue reading Graphs of Science Funding
When I was an undergrad at Berkeley, aside from doing radio astronomy, I worked in Paul McEuen’s lab examining electronic transport in nanostructures, working especially with a great postdoc named David Cobden. Looking through the contents of last week’s Nature, it was a fun surprise to see pieces by both of these people: one paper, … Continue reading Books + Berkeley
Being on the academic, rather than the athletic, side of the University of Oregon, I’m not gifted with my own private hydrotherapy pool, hand-woven Nepali rugs in my office, or the use of a barbershop with imported Milanese utensils — all appallingly featured in the University’s new football center that has attracted lots of much-deserved … Continue reading It wasn’t a rock / It was a rock lobster!
The Eighteenth Elephant 