Abstruse Goose

I've been enjoying Abstruse Goose ever since Pat recommended it to me. This comic strip occupies much the same parameter space as my long-time favorite, xkcd, but it is its own comic. I found today's stip particularly amusing and thought-provoking.

Embarrassing

In other SI news, this image depicting the nations---all 3 of them---that have not adopted the metric system is quiet saddening.

Hella Big

In a move that is either geekily awful or awfully geeky, UC Davis Physics student Austin Sendek has petitioned the powers that be behind the Systeme International d'Unites to make the prefix for 10²⁷ officially "hella." What do I have to say about that? Noice!

Happy Birthday, Nikola

Today would be the 153rd birthday of Nikola Tesla, an all-around genius and one of the titans of electrical engineering.

I Wish To Do More Violence

(This post contains major spoilers for Season 5 of Angel and Season 1 of Dollhouse.)

So, what spurred me to rewatch Fred's death and Illyria's occupation of her body was a conversation I had with Nick about Amy Acker's ability to potentially portray multiple imprinted personalities as an active on Dollhouse. As Nick said, when Fred is transformed into Illyria, the "change to her accent, inflection, expression, and body language [is] just striking." I'd love to see Amy Acker's Whiskey sent on various engagements, possibly as flashbacks. Sadly, since Acker's pilot, Happy Town,* was picked up for a full season, and since she will be a regular on that series, I doubt we'll see much of her in Dollhouse Season 2, and what we do see will probably be as Dr Saunders.

By the way, speaking of Whedon alumni on Dollhouse, it appears that Joss Whedon is actively trying to get Summer Glau into the 'House, though not as an an active. He figures she's too good at that kind of role, and needs a challenge.

* This show looks like Twin Peaks, minus the fun, David Lynch-y aspects.

Plausible

I recently surprised Joan a bit by pointing out that I was not a physicist, as she had just implied, since all my degrees are in electrical engineering.  She explained her implication by saying that I was "plausibly a physicist."  I took that as a compliment, since most of the people I work with, including her, are physicists, and not just plausibly.

Slouching Toward Austin

I'm horrified by the recent vote by the Texas Board of Education to include language in their teaching standards that encourages the teaching of creationism/ID. My "favorite" part of the article I've linked to is the Board Chair's statement that "Someone has to stand up to experts," presumably because experts don't know what they are talking about. I don't think this guy knows what "expert" means.

Happy Birthday, Darwin

Today is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.  It's impossible to overstate Darwin's contribution to modern biology.  Happy birthday, Chuckie D.

100,000 Years

If you thought climate change was something we could reverse in a few years---or a few decades---you were mistaken.  Sorely.

Tapered Fibers

I don't usually post about my work, partially because it's not very accessible to the lay reader but mostly because I'm the kind of person who leaves work at the workplace. However, I'd like to share some pretty micrographs---photographs taken through a microscope---that Michael D., Brian R. and I took on Friday.

As part of this project, we are learning how to taper an optical fiber, which start out with a diameter of 125 um, down to 5 um or narrower. At this diameter, and at our intended operating wavelength of 1000 or 1550 nm, the evanescent field of the guided optical mode extends beyond the surface of the glass and carries a significant fraction of the optical power. In other words, the fiber still guides light, but much of that light is carried along outside the fiber, in the air or whatever happens to be around the fiber.

Our plan is to take advantage of the properties of this kind of fiber and incorporate one into a passively mode-locked fiber laser. But that's not important for understanding these pics, so I won't elaborate. (Also, I'd rather not disclose our---read, Michael D.'s---clever plans.)

This is an untapered section of the fiber. Note that its diameter is 125 um.

Here you can see the beginning of the taper.

More of the tapered region.

This is the waist, or narrowest part, of the taper.

This is a much higher-magnification image of the waist. Note that the fiber is about 5 um in diameter here. The depth of focus at this magnification is only a few microns, so it's impossible to get a single image in which both the upper surface of glass, closest to the camera, and the edges are in focus. Additionally, becuase the fiber is mounted with a bit of a slope, with the right end of the fiber closer to the camera than the left, we can't get both ends of this image in focus.

Memristors: Nobel Material

Mark my words:  Memristors will win the Nobel Prize in Physics someday.  These devices are interesting from a scientific perspective because they represent a fourth circuit element (in addition to resistors, capacitors, and inductors) that was predicted 37 years ago. From a practical standpoint, they may make it possible to replace some of the transistors in computer chips in a several-to-one ratio, resulting in smaller chips for a given functionality or more functionality for a given chip size. This is a Huge Deal. Additionally, since synapses behave a bit like memristors, memristors may be used to implement neural networks.

McCain Flip-Flops Against Stem-Cell Research

Senator John McCain has previously voiced support for federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells, research which has the potential to dramatically improve treatment of many illnesses. This week he released a statement indicating that his stance is now much more in line with the Republican Party's platform.  In particular, he would not only continue George Bush's denial of federal funding for ESC research, but also criminalize somatic cell nuclear transfer, a procedure which yields stem cells that are genetically identical to a patient's own cells and thus immensely useful.

This move by McCain is clearly aimed at winning over religios extrememists in the Republican base, and it adds to my hope that Obama will be elected. 

Lithopanspermia

There's some good news for Lithopanspermists in the readershop.

Aqua Luna

There's water in that thar moon.

TV Reivew: The Big Bang Theory

Recently, a few people I know have recommended The Big Bang Theory, a situation comedy about the lives of a pair of physicists and their scientist friends. Since Alison and I are scientists, and most of our friends are, as well, we checked out the episode that aired last Monday. In my opinion, the series differs very little from the traditional, 3-camera sitcom; the major points of distinction are the language, attire, and occupations of the main and supporting characters. There were a few amusing gags in the ep I saw, but the show seems to be quite ordinary and mediocre on the whole. Additionally, the viewer is encouraged to laugh at, rather than with the characters, which I disliked. The series is recorded in front of a live audience, but it sounds very much as if it has a laugh track. Regardless of whether the laughter is "genuine" or canned, I find it very distracting.

Overall, I give it 5.5 out of 10. Don't bother, even if you are a science geek.

It Hurts Us

I came across this photo-shopped image today:

What I find more interesting than the picture itself is that the image is literally painful to look at. It actually hurts me, somewhere about4 cm behind the bridge of my nose, when I focus on the woman's face. (As I write this, I am pointedly avoiding glancing up at the photo. I believe this phenomenon says a great deal about how the human brain is either hardwired or trained. I don't feel repulsed when looking at spiders with 4 or 6 eyes, but this 4-eyed, 2-mouthed woman falls squarely into my uncanny valley.*

* By the way, I expect and hope that any extraterrestrials I ever have the opportunity to meet land firmly on the far side of said divide.

Dover

This evening, I watched a fascinating episode of Nova on my local PBS station. The ep was a 2-hour summary of the Dover intelligent-design/creationism case. I encourage you to watch it online.

Umami Mo Arimasu Yo

Think sweet, salty, sour, and bitter are the only flavors you can taste? Think again. There's also umami. "Umami" is the name given to the flavor of glutamate, the sodium salt of which is the flavor-enhancing seasoning monosodium glutamate or MSG.

Politics on the Brain?

I heard about this today and thought it was fascinating! If you have access to the actual scientific journal article I highly recommend checking it out. It was published in Nature Neuroscience in the September 9, 2007 issue.

Like a Record, Baby

Here's an unutterably hilarious xkcd comic from the archives. Once again, be sure to hover over for the long caption.