For Fun

Wouldn't it be awful if Senator Amidala had named her children by blending their parents' names? This would be especially horrible if she had used "Ani" instead of "Anakin." Neither "Anime Skywalker" nor "Princess Anime" has the right dignity, methinks.

Check out these pictures of the Earth, as seen by a gamma-ray telescope in orbit. Who says background runs can't be cool? These gamma rays are being produced by cosmic rays whacking into the atmosphere and knocking it to bits (then exciting the bits).
 
By way of comparison, the reactions we study at the NSCL produce gamma rays with energies of a few MeV--the gamma rays mapped in the blue picture are a thousand times more energetic than the ones our detectors here can see.
 

At the last APS meeting, there was a lunch discussion about popularizing science, specifically physics. I have many theories for why physics isn't popular with the masses, and a few ideas for how this could be helped, but the media is definitely an outlet to consider. The last two years, I've watched a TV show called Big Bang Theory, and I wonder whether this show is helping or hurting the view of physics. First, I wonder how many non-physicists or rather non-geek types actually watch the show. If people not interested in science aren't watching the show, it's a moot point.

I had a phenomenal high school chemistry teacher. I took honors chemistry as a sophomore, so it was really hard, but it was also really worth it. There were several reasons the class was memorably great, among them the extra credit opportunities available to students who wanted to present a chapter from the book (I always liked to play teacher), the teacher's amusing habit of practicing putting during our tests (he had a putting green in the front of the room), and the giant, wooden periodic table hanging on the wall in the front of the classroom. Gosh, I liked that class.
 

My April Fool's post was inspired by a Women in Chemistry workshop I went to at the end of March. I almost didn't attend because I would like to see a professional development workshop for all graduate students, not just women. But as I sat there, I realized the need for such workshops specifically for women.

editor's note: April's fools day, April's fools day!

Am I one of, like, two people who liked Sightings as a kid? In that context, does anybody else listen to Coast to Coast AM?
 

Editor's Note: Happy April Fool's Day!

The Large Hadron Collider, or "LHC", will come online this year. The largest and most powerful accelerator ever built, it will smash protons together at 99.999999% of the speed of light in an effort to recreate conditions similar to those that existed during the Big Bang. The scientists who will do experiments there intend to study what the Bang was like and how our universe came into existence.

The ghost of Marie Curie has been spotted in the pit of the S3 vault, floating through the magnets and checking things out. Normally ghosts haunt the places where they lived, but Marie must have hitched a ride with one of our French colleagues.  She hasn't been to the states in almost 80 years and probably wondered how things have been progressing.  No doubt she's shocked to see our radioactive sources locked up and handled with protective equipment instead of stored in a desk drawer.  

Neutrinos are Sinister Objects
A Standard Model Perspective
 
Neutrinos are sinister objects
Suspiciously lacking in mass
They come from the Sun
Shooting through everyone
And blow through the Earth like it's gas
 
Neutrinos are sinister objects
I lit'rally mean what I say
Though scaling with h-bar
Momentum and spin are
Aligned in the left-handed way
 
Neutrinos are sinister objects
They're tiny and move really fast
When trav'ling through stuff
They get much less buff
And pick up an effective mass