Why Study Physics?

What is Physics?

Thermodynamics of Turkeys
This time of year, people are of course focusing on how to roast that turkey for Thanksgiving. But did you know that scientific principles lie at the heart of roasting a turkey? (If you didn't, then you haven't been paying attention ... scientific principles lie at the heart of everything!) Source: Lisa Peardon / Getty Images Well, now you can learn the thermodynamics of cooking a t

Muon Collider - Beyond the Large Hadron Collider
With the upcoming restart of the Large Hadron Collider, the short attention span of our nation has already turned to the next big thing. At the end of October was a Symposium on Accelerators for America's Future, and the overall consensus seems to be that scientists, if they want a new particle accelerator, they need to be better about communicating the

The Large Hadron Pop-Up Book
In an intriguing take on the Large Hadron Collider, authors Anton Radevsky & Emma Sanders have (together with collaboration from CERN and UK publishing house Papadakis) created a pop-up book based on the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS experiment. The book, Voyage to the Heart of the Matter: The ATLAS Experiment at CERN, focuses on the ATLAS experiment, which seeks to discover the

My Son, the Scientist
A few weeks back, my family was playing our standard dinner table game, which my mother purchased us. It's a small metal tin that contains several cards, and on each card is a game that can be played at the dinner table. For example, in some of them, you make noises and the other people have to guess what you were trying to sound like. In others you close your eyes and are given fruits and vegetables that you must identify by touch. Some cards have short stories which are read aloud and then discussed. It's a fun dinner-time activity. Well, to get back to the narrative, a few weeks ago we were playing this game and the card told us to perform an experiment. We got some dirty penn

String Theory for Dummies now available
Many of my more diligent readers are likely familiar with the concept of string theory, since I mention it fairly regularly on this blog. Part of my intense interest over the last year has been motivated by a project of mine - the writing of String Theory for Dummies for Wiley Publishing. I am pleased to announce that my first book, String Theory for Dummies, is now available at your local and online bookstores!