tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post2358159643448842035..comments2024-03-25T09:11:17.877-07:00Comments on The Curious Wavefunction: Physics's PR problem: Moving beyond string theory and multiple universesWavefunctionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-67259075177997260202012-06-15T14:07:13.690-07:002012-06-15T14:07:13.690-07:00I'm surprised that your list of good, popular ...I'm surprised that your list of good, popular books on the invisible 90% of physics didn't include Phillip Ball's works, such as "The Self Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature" or "Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry". His is exemplary science writing: accessibly written, but painting an accurate picture of contemporary research.Tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05275875187607394614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-48304267223222439002012-05-29T08:27:27.098-07:002012-05-29T08:27:27.098-07:00I really loved this post. I'm a PR guy with a...I really loved this post. I'm a PR guy with a huge interest in various science topics. I agree with your assertions and I've done a lot of thinking about this stuff. Would love to connect sometime. <br /><br />- David Wescott<br />@dwescott1Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09682509785920799019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-68238965641836897602012-05-24T11:16:53.185-07:002012-05-24T11:16:53.185-07:00My favorite speculative book is volume 6 of Motion...My favorite speculative book is volume 6 of Motion Mountain: <a href="http://www.motionmountain.net/research.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.motionmountain.net/research.html</a> Speculative, but daring.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-38364763295040462682012-05-19T14:45:37.651-07:002012-05-19T14:45:37.651-07:00@gaddeswarup - you can start with these blogs - th...@gaddeswarup - you can start with these blogs - they cover many areas of physics, big and small, and often connect them to math, chemistry, astronomy, philosophy, history, materials science, tecnology, movies, computer games, popular culture and more:<br /><br />http://skullsinthestars.com/<br />http://galileospendulum.org/<br />http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/<br />http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/degrees-of-freedom/<br />http://scienceblogs.com/principles/<br />http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/<br />http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/dotphysics/<br />http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/<br /><br />Then you can see who else they often link to so you can expand your reading. They will also often review pop-sci books about physics, so you can trust them to get the recommendations right.Coturnixhttp://coturnix.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-70433495790516899762012-05-18T21:45:16.904-07:002012-05-18T21:45:16.904-07:00I think certainly one element to consider is that ...I think certainly one element to consider is that there's this hope where if we can figure out the high-energy limit of physics and unify all four known fundamental forces (and whatever else may or may not be lurking out there), then everything is going to be easily derivable. I think as I've repeated countless times now - closed-form analytic solutions of the N-body problem in elementary functions is one that has eluded the greatest minds for centuries. I'm not holding my breath on it being solved any time soon (but if it was, that'd be really cool!).<br /><br />The issue, of course, is that all of the really important and interesting questions are many-body problems. Sure, excellent job if you can get gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces to shake hands. But room temperature superconductivity is still eluding us, and we still can't generate a structure of an integral membrane protein complex from first principles. And let's not even get into the wackiness of water physical chemistry or turbulence or glass transitions! <br /><br />But there's also all this opportunity to show people the <i>unity</i> of the sciences, in particular amongst the subfields of physics. A long-repeated example, of course, is the physical understanding that condensed matter physics provided via the renormalization group to elementary particle physics. And I can't begin to count how advances in accelerator physics have found application outside of high-energy experiment. <br /><br />I also think that there's something to be said for promoting a more balanced view of science. There's this interplay between experiment, theory, and modeling - and, in many of these fields, it's certainly possible to have an idea in the morning, plan an experiment (or simulation) over lunch, run it in the afternoon, and think about the results in the evening. At least in principle. It's not just all cranking through mathematical formalism and trying to formulate something which might be interpreted in light of experimental/observational results. <br /><br />P.S.: For the record - I'm a he.MJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02796378432680640144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-89759588350274882932012-05-18T04:30:41.924-07:002012-05-18T04:30:41.924-07:00A few years ago, I was looking for science topics ...A few years ago, I was looking for science topics which can be conveyed to students and laymen and which have some intersection with everyday phenomena. I started seeing topics like Bernoulli paradox, Simpson's paradox etc but did not find blogs; there were a few books published by MIR and were available in India years ago. But I am trained in mathematics and did not have the understanding to write simply about these topics. I wonder whether you can suggest some blogs or books on such topics. I too am bit turned off by the topics you mentioned and stopped following physics blogs.gaddeswaruphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16509075029154476375noreply@blogger.com