I’ll conclude a three-part series of posts on useful or interesting readings in biophysics with the shortest list: popular science books. I’ve often thought it unfortunate that there aren’t more books for the general public on biophysics. The physics underlying the squeezing of DNA into viruses, the crawling through tissues of patrolling immune cells, the … Continue reading Readings in Biophysics, part III (Popular Science)
Perhaps thinking about STEM education is warping my mind, since I found myself a few days ago discussing with my 7-year-old how the Empire in the Star Wars movies was generally inept at engineering, building fragile Death Stars and large walking vehicles that are easily tripped. K. has apparently decided to use engineering for good, … Continue reading The Dark Side of STEM education
Whales, apparently, learn from one another. That’s the message of this paper in Science last month on the transmission of feeding tactics among humpback whales. There are lots of fascinating things in the article, some of which are news to me but have been known for a long time to people who pay attention to … Continue reading Whales, culture, and graphs
The Eighteenth Elephant 