The limits of doing your science in metaphors
It’s vital not to confuse an illuminating explanation of science with the science itself.
Thinking in stories
Articles Tagged with calculation
Not dangerous enough
Probable perils of new technology
Using mobile phones, especially smartphones, while driving is dangerous. Yet our chief consultant concludes it’s not dangerous enough!
Scientists and doublethink
Using different theories at the same time
Scientists, especially astronomers, use several incompatible theories in their calculations. How? And why?
When science is an art
The experimentalist’s skill
Some scientists have an unusual skill for extracting precise data from their instruments. Sometimes this leads others to question their results.
Learning from a master
The expert may not be the best teacher
As we mentioned last week, our navigator was out of the office teaching a professor how to use his sextant. Having decades of experience in both the observations and the calculations involved, he certainly has a firm grasp of the subject. But that’s not always the quality you need in a teacher.
Brass, glass and verniers
Scientists of yesterday were different
Our astronomer and our navigator are away from headquarters at the moment, showing a Professor of Physics how to use his sextant. This style of instrument was the mainstay of nineteenth-century astronomy: made of brass and glass, with precise scales engraved on them for careful measurements. The people who used them had to work in a different way from current astronomers and must have had a different approach to life.
The unnecessary theory
You will have heard of the detection of gravitational waves, just announced this past week. For once the mass media haven’t over-hyped a scientific discovery: this really is an important find. We’re not going to try to explain the science behind it (there are lots of articles on line and offline that do that). It’s the fact of the 100-year gap between the theoretical prediction and the actual observation that tells us something about the nature of science.
The strange case of the dimming star
A good and bad example of current science
Our astronomer begs to be allowed to explain what’s really interesting about KIC8462852.
Why the first of January?
No more trade-offs
It’s easier when you can have it all
Life was more complicated in the old days. Not only were many things more difficult and tedious to accomplish, often you had to work out which of several methods you should use depending on what you really needed done. It’s much easier now. Really.