Blog 118. Can Arctic Ice Cool Your Cocktail?

How come the scientific news seems flooded (as it were) by the melting of arctic ice?  After all, is the arctic really melting?  Should we believe all of the alarm over a little cold water?  Let’s look at the data. Continue reading

Blog 113. Information, misinformation and survival

Scientific news magazines now feature articles that reach out, not only to scientists, but to the educated public.  The journal Physics Today, once of interest only to physicists, now has a section entitled People and History.  How come? Continue reading

Blog 112. A frosty morning for the New Year

Here’s a photo of a frosty holiday morning in California.  The frost illustrates the physics that determines the global climate.  And climate is but one of the current worries of scientific associations, who worry about a frosty government. Continue reading

Blog 91. Can just anyone open a scientist’s email?

The 1/10/2016 New York Times (1/9/2016 web edition) offered an op-ed entitled, “Scientists, Give Up Your Emails.”  The author, a journalist named Paul Thacker, asserted that agencies (including universities) should not keep secret the personal communications of scientists who work for the government.  Continue reading