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Bayesian Inference in the NY Times
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In today’s Sunday NY Times Magazine, there’s a long article by psychologist Steven Pinker, on “Personal Genomics”, the growing ability for individuals to get information about their genetic inheritance. He discusses the evolution of psychological traits versus intelligence, and highlights the complicated interaction amongst genes, and between genes and society. But what caught my eye…
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Blast!
Although the big satellites get most of the press, a lot of astronomy is done from balloons, huge mylar bubbles that can carry a gondola up to about 120,000 feet over the earth — more than 22 miles or 32 km. That’s high enough that much of the atmospheric contamination is gone, but a lot…
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Cold War Modern
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I went to the excellent Cold War Modern exhibit at the V&A museum, a very specific take on what’s usually called in Britain the “postwar” period, concentrating on design and art from 1945 to 1970. Muscle-flexing propaganda from Moscow (and to a lesser extent from Washington), nuclear nightmares, the space race, the successful revolutions against…
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Science 2008
Out of the blue last weekend, I was invited to participate in a review of the year’s science stories on PressTV, which I subsequently learned was an Iranian-oriented news channel; according to my Teheran-raised grad student, “the Iranian government doesn’t have much control over them, so they are sort of free of sides”. Media whore…
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Serra’s steel
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Despite 100 years of abstract, conceptual, modernist art, it is surprising that Richard Serra’s sculpture works as miraculously well as it does. I went to see the (now-closed, alas) exhibition of his latest sculpture at London’s outpost of the Gagosian Gallery. For the last few decades, Serra has been taking great sheets of Cor-ten steel…
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Holiday Spirit
I’ve been asked by Katherine Blundell, a colleague in the Oxford Astronomy department, to spread this information about a chance to get a piece of astronomical history, and help a child in need. Please be generous! There is a one-off opportunity to buy vintage prints of the original photographic plates of the Palomar All-Sky Survey.…
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Health Care at Home and Abroad
By far the best article I’ve read about the British healthcare system, appeared this morning… in the New York Times. It discussed the NHS‘s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the organization that rations pharmaceuticals in the UK (although you’ll rarely hear the word “ration” used). When NICE’s decisions are discussed in the…
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Poetry and Space
I’ll be introducing this event tomorrow. Come on over for an evening of scientific poetry… (Apologies: most of the following links are broken.) Inua Ellams is one of the UK’s most talented performance poets. He is establishing a great reputation for the power and quality of his work. His live appearances have included the BBC…
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Change
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It is disconcerting to be moved by a website. Might we really get openness, sunlight, transparency?
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The First Family
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This is an even nicer picture: (Courtesy The Guardian) And a stirring speech. “Democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”
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