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Posts by: James Dacey
What is the best way to measure a researcher’s contribution to science?
By James Dacey
Comparing apples and oranges. (Courtesy: iStockphoto/Raymond Gregory)
In an opinion article just published on this website, the historian and philosopher Robert Crease discusses the pitfalls when trying to measure the “value” of artefacts in culture and society. The article was inspired by an appearance Crease made at a group debate at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. The panel were trying to identify ways to measure the museum’s impact on culture and the wider economy.
Crease refers to something known as Goodhart’s law, which he explains as follows.
“Named after the British economist Charles Goodhart, who devised it in 1975, the law essentially says that once a measure is chosen for making policy decisions, it begins to lose value as a measure. Goodhart applied it to banking policy, but in other fields, too, measurement can distort not only the practice being measured, but also perception of the goal.”
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Listen to the sound of the Big Bang
By James Dacey
It sounds like a Kraftwerk track, but this is in fact an audio representation of the Big Bang based on scientific measurements. The physicist John Kramer has produced the sounds using the new data from the ESA’s Planck Mission analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation.
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Should scientists speculate openly in the mainstream media about new science results?
By James Dacey
Read all about it! (Courtesy: iStockphoto/DNY59)
The first science results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) present a mixed bag for both scientists and journalists. On the one hand, they show that the machinery of this high-profile $1.5bn mission is actually working. And as my colleague Michael Banks reported earlier today, the excess of positrons, confirming previous measurements, represent an important step in the hunt for dark matter. But on the other hand, this was not a moment to break out the champagne at the celebration of new physics. In reality, it was an important step in testing the precision of the instrument, as well as a reminder that we all need to be patient while we wait for more data.
Given the scale and scope of the AMS mission, it is not surprising that the scientists involved in analysing these first results are keen to share their excitement with the general public. One way they have been doing this is by talking to the media and speculating about the significance of the findings. I find it really interesting to look at how the results have been covered in the headlines of the mainstream media. The BBC ran with “Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer zeroes in on dark matter”. Over the pond, the New York Times went for “Tantalizing New Clues Into the Mysteries of Dark Matter”, adopting the classic science-writing metaphor of a detective story. Both parties presented these early results as an exciting development in a gripping plot to uncover one of the long-standing mysteries of the cosmos.
What is the most common problem with academic presentations?
By James Dacey
Whether you love giving them or loathe the entire experience, everyone has to deliver a presentation at some point during an academic career – be they student or professional researcher. It might be the presentation of your results to supervisors and peers. Or it might be an outreach talk to explain your research to people who have probably never heard of you or your very interesting academic niche. There is no magic formula to giving a successful presentation, but instinctively I think we all know when it’s gone well. Likewise, I think we all know when we could have spent a bit more time whipping those slides into shape, or when we perhaps should have put a bit more thought into the appropriateness of that risqué joke.
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Glass-blowing at the nanoscale
By James Dacey
(Courtesy: Alain Herzog/EPFL)
From the Romans to the studio artists of today, glass blowing is as much an art form as it is a technical discipline. In the same spirit as this creative lineage, a group of researchers in Switzerland has invented a technique for creating nano-sized capillary tubes of bespoke sizes.
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Venus’ vicious vortex revealed
By James Dacey
Courtesy: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA/Universidad del País Vasco (I Garate-Lopez)
The planet Venus may be named after the Roman god of love and beauty, but from what we know about our neighbouring planet, it appears to specialize in a particularly fiery sort of romance. It has a surface dominated by volcanism, and an atmosphere roiled by a runaway greenhouse effect, where sulphuric acid rains down amid a blitzkrieg of lightning strikes. It makes me think that the miserable sort of weather we’ve being experiencing in the UK of late is perhaps not so bad after all.
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Should more leading scientists engage in public service?
By James Dacey
Richard Feynman. (Courtesy: Fermilab)
Richard Feynman – undoubtedly one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century – died 25 years ago this year. To mark the passing of this physics and cultural icon, the BBC and the Open University have teamed up to produce two television programmes about Feynman’s life and work. The first programme aired in the UK on Monday, a docudrama called The Challenger portraying the role Feynman played in the investigation into the causes of the Challenger disaster. Readers in the UK can watch the programme here. Later this year, the BBC will broadcast a documentary about Feynman’s life.
I enjoyed Monday’s drama. I thought William Hurt did an excellent job of playing a smart and humane Richard Feynman, without over-cooking the “eccentric bongo-player” aspects of Feynman’s personality. Hurt certainly earned his wages, as the plot focused almost exclusively on how the Nobel laureate navigated his way through the alien world of high-level US politics, with all its game-playing and vested interests. My only criticism would be that because the film was so intensely focused on Feynman’s moves and responses, we didn’t really get to know any of the supporting characters.
The life of which 20th-century physicist would make the most gripping basis for a children’s novel?
By James Dacey
Some books are magical. (Courtesy: iStockphoto/Valeriy Lebedev)
Today is World Book Day, a celebration of the stories, the characters, the authors and above all the joy of whiling away the hours with a great book. The main aim of the day – which is organized by UNESCO and marked in more than 100 countries – is to encourage children and young people to develop a passion for reading.
Children’s novels have brought us some truly memorable characters over the years, from the classics such as Snow White and Peter Pan, to the more contemporary such as Harry Potter and Lyra Belacqua. The most captivating characters are often the ones we can identify with. We live and breathe their adventures, and we feel their emotional reactions to the unfolding drama. But at the same time, these characters are not the same as us; they are far larger than that. They possess qualities that we can only imagine we had – be it searing intelligence, staggering courage or even magical powers.
The authors who dream up these weird and wonderful characters can sometimes seem to possess their own magical powers of creativity and imagination. But time and again when writers talk about their creations, you hear them say that their inspiration comes from their personal relationships or encounters with intriguing people in the real world. We all know of people who seem to be larger than life, and the world of physics in no exception. This line of thought has been the source of inspiration for this week’s Facebook poll.
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Who would get your vote for best onscreen portrayal of a physical scientist?
By James Dacey
From Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971).
It’s film awards season, as Hollywood megastars such as Daniel Day-Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence have been showered in praise by the industry for their performances in some of the year’s biggest blockbusters. Personally, I had a funny inkling that Django Unchained might pull off a surprise victory in the Best Picture category at the Oscars, but the powers that be decided that it wasn’t to be.
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Has Steven Chu been a good US energy secretary?
By James Dacey
Nobel laureate Steven Chu. (Courtesy: DOE)
The Nobel laureate Steven Chu has recently announced that he is to resign from the role of US energy secretary. He will step down from the post at the end of February having served throughout the entire four years of Barack Obama’s first presidential term. During his reign, Chu has received strong plaudits from many Democrats and environmentalists. Obama has credited Chu for increasing the nation’s use of renewable energy while reducing its dependence on oil imports.
Others, however, have been critical of Chu. He is accused of specific failures such as the initiatives that led to the downfall of Solyndra – a solar-cell manufacturer that went bankrupt after receiving $535m in Department of Energy loan guarantees. A more general criticism when Chu was appointed was that he had very little political experience to carry out such a critical role in the governance of the US.
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