Maxwell's demon may do some work after all

Maxwell's demon may do some work after all

A Japanese physics team have turned theory into reality and, more importantly, information into energy.   By applying an electric field to a lattice of tiny plastic beads, they were able to…
10 Bizarre Medical Discoveries

10 Bizarre Medical Discoveries

At Oddee, Gracie Murano has compiled 10 Bizarre Medical Discoveries, among them items like "asthma can be treated with a roller coaster ride" and coffee drinkers are more likely to have…
A Medieval Practice To Be Restored?

A Medieval Practice To Be Restored?

Warning! If you’re thinking this is going to be about gruesome punishments or such like, prepare to be disappointed! This is about teaching and learning electromagnetism. Having recently retired, I…
No Mea Culpas From Phil Jones Over "ClimateGate"

No Mea Culpas From Phil Jones Over "ClimateGate"

Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, had a life-changing event occur almost one year ago.   On November 19th, 2009, a thousand e-mail messages and…
What Science 2.0 Means to Me

What Science 2.0 Means to Me

I liken cognition to a hill-climbing search on the landscape of theories/models/maps that explain/predict reality.  It’s easy to get stuck on peaks of local maximality.  Injecting…