Author Archives: woit

Weinberg on the Crisis of Big Science

Posted on April 21, 2012 by woit

Steven Weinberg has a new article in The New York Review of Books on The Crisis of Big Science, which is based on a talk he gave this past January at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin (for some … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 54 Comments

Spring in the Virgin Islands

Posted on April 19, 2012 by woit

One thing that a career in math or physics research can get you, courtesy of financial industry wealth, is a nice trip to the Virgin Islands. A couple current possibilities are: The Simons Foundation funds week-long Simons Symposia, at Caneel … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Adventures in Peer Review

Posted on April 18, 2012 by woit

Yesterday’s New York Times had an article by Carl Zimmer about increasing numbers of retracted papers in the biological sciences. Physics and Mathematics weren’t part of the story and I don’t know of any evidence of retractions increasing in these … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Quantum Gravity at Scientific American

Posted on April 17, 2012 by woit

Scientific American is doing a good job this month of putting out stories related to quantum gravity that actually make sense, steering clear of the multiverse and other pseudo-science. This month’s magazine has a very nice article by Steven Carlip … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Short Items

Posted on April 13, 2012 by woit

The LHC is back in business, with the experiments collecting data at 4 TeV/beam, marginally higher than last year’s 3.5 TeV/beam. They are ramping up the number of bunches in each beam, already this afternoon achieving a higher initial luminosity … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News, Multiverse Mania | 9 Comments

Testing the Holographic Principle

Posted on April 12, 2012 by woit

Adrian Cho at Science magazine this week has an article about Craig Hogan’s project to build a “holometer” and somehow test the “holographic principle”. Since this promises some sort of experimental test of fashionable ideas about quantum gravity, it has … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Emerging Grant Opportunity

Posted on April 12, 2012 by woit

I just noticed that the Templeton Foundation has a competition for $5 million in grants in the area of “strong emergence”, submission deadline very soon (April 16). I’m not sure I understand their distinction between “weak emergence” and “strong emergence” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Theory Bubbles

Posted on April 11, 2012 by woit

In this week’s Nature, Abraham Loeb, the chair of the Harvard astronomy department, has a column proposing the creation of a web-site that would act as a sort of “ratings agency”, implementing some mathematical model that would measure the health … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

April Fools at the APS Meeting in Atlanta

Posted on April 4, 2012 by woit

From the latest Science News: String theory weighs in on Higgs ATLANTA – Physicists working on big experiments at particle colliders aren’t the only ones who have something to say about the mass of the elusive Higgs boson. A theorist … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 48 Comments

Father of String Theory on LHC Funding

Posted on April 3, 2012 by woit

A report from India: ‘CERN need not spend so much on LHC experiment’ Father of String Theory and noted physics scientist Holger Bech Neilsen of Denmark has said that contributions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN are over-rated … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments