Blog Entry

I comment on an article in the Washington Post that discusses the United States’ loss of stature among scientists and explain why I have high hopes that it is only a short-term phenomenon.

In the middle of the fourth century AD, a series of earthquakes struck the port of Kourion on the southern coast of Cyprus. The town had no doubt experienced its share of seismic events, but nothing prepared its inhabitants for the major earthquake and tsunami that struck just after dawn, most likely on July 21, AD 365.

When archaeologists excavated the site, among the many discoveries was the heartbreaking tableau of a skeletal family. The man holds his wife protectively while she cradles their one-year-old child. The image, both poignant and instructive, graces the cover of Stanford University Earth Science and geophysics professor Amos Nur’s new book, Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God, written with the assistance of his graduate student Dawn Burgess.

When researching my history of physics in the twentieth century that was recently published by Facts On File, my best source of authoritative information was the American Institute of Physics Center for the History of Physics and the Neils Bohr Library and Archives.

The long-time director of that Center, Spencer Weart, is retiring, and I got the following notice of a symposium in his honor.

I will shortly be adding my review of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex to the Science Shelf Book Review archive.

Readers of my blog get to see it first. Read on for a trek into what the Seattle Times headline writer called “Virgin Territory.”

Some time ago, Scruffy blogged about whether it’s worth spending money on gravitational wave research.

The National Science Foundation certainly thinks so.

News release reproduced here.

I’ve taken a trip to Mars and returned home safely.

Like any tourist, I made sure to document my travels with a picture.

Using visible and infrared data collected from telescopes on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, a team of scientists, led by the University of Maryland’s Jessica Sunshine, have identified three asteroids that appear to be among our Solar System’s oldest objects.

In my e-mailbox this morning was a pointer to an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, a newspaper that also often publishes some of my book reviews.

Since some Science Blog threads have discussed gravitational waves in somewhat arcane terms, I thought this would be a useful piece about the issues.

Let the world know you love science and the people who have contributed to our knowledge and technology.

I just returned from the post office, where I bought a sheet of 41-cent stamps honoring four American scientists.

Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute has announced its prestigious awards, the Benjamin Franklin Medals and the Bower Awards for significant achievements in science and business leadership.

The Franklin Medal has been awarded for 184 years, far longer than the Nobel Prize, and its recipients have included many of the greatest names in international science and technology.