Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

Monuments

Joe Hanson‘s web video series, It’s Okay to Be Smart*, went to Washington, DC to talk about the science of the US’s national monuments. While our Have Science Will Travel series has generally focused on travel to locations with a specific science focus (eg, science museums) or obvious connections (eg, national parks), it is important to remember that science is everywhere. Joe’s discussion of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Smithsonian Castle makes simple, straightforward connections with the fields of geology, biology, and astrophysics.

Continue reading “Monuments”

Have Science Will Travel LIVE

Museums Showoff 9If you are going to be in London on the 1st of October at 7:30PM, you need to go see our own Eva Amsen talk about the improbable Museum of Jurassic Technology at Museums Showoff 9.

The rest of the lineup is set to take attendees on a delightful tour through a wide-variety of museums and experiences of working in museums.

Since you are here at The Finch & Pea, I think it is fair to assume that a presentation covering art, history, culture, science, and behind the scenes minutiae while enjoying a pint in the upper room of a pub is precisely your bag, baby.

Need help finding The Black Heart? Ta da, a map.

Have Science Will Travel, the Map

I know you have been patiently waiting, but, hey, I’ve been busy. At long last, the Have Science Will Travel Google Map is up to date. You can now virtually stalk Eva on her science-y travels to your heart’s content.

Observing Science Caturday at Berkeley

Yesterday, our friends at the Berkeley Science Review published “Behind the Science: Infinite Russian Cats: Part 3 of Several” by Daniel Freeman, which appears, at first, to be nothing more than an infinite series of subtitles. It turns out, however, to be an insightful post that explains the central challenges that the Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment addressed, illustrated with a Science Caturday joke that may already be in Brian Malow‘s set. It also does an excellent job of explaining the fundamental weirdness of quantum mechanics:

What’s interesting, though, is that Quantum Mechanics is correct, and matter absolutely can be interpreted as existing in simultaneous states, up until being “looked” at—this formalism allows us to calculate all kinds of absurdly precise quantities about atoms and molecules.  Reconciling whywe don’t ever see alive-dead cats (that is, macroscopic objects made of trillions of atoms simultaneously in more than one state) with the notion that reality does really follow these rules (that is, microscopic objects being describable as existing in simultaneous states) is actually incredibly nontrivial. Continue reading “Observing Science Caturday at Berkeley”

Breaking Bio

A few weeks ago, I talked with the crew at Breaking Bio for Episode 42, including The Finch & Pea‘s own Heidi Smith. We covered a lot of ground, including rugby and the oddity of regularly doing science with a black eye. The facts that I’m not exactly sure when they hit “record” and that it apparently required weeks of editing makes me a bit nervous to watch. But you should watch, and mock me in the comments.