Exposing graduate students and post-docs to science writing
It is no secret that many STEM fields, especially physics and engineering, suffer from a lack of equal representation by race, ethnicity, and gender. Approximately 75% of all physics degrees go to white scientists, and 80% of those degrees to go men. While much of…
Technology moguls dream of human colonies on other planets. For this dream to become reality, science needs to develop new spacecraft capable of transporting people and cargo to the outer reaches of our galaxy. Another challenge is how to find a route to these other…
You probably don’t usually think of particle physics and the Great Pyramid of Giza as having much in common. In some ways, the two seem diametrically opposed: the Giza Pyramid is the pinnacle of past achievement while particle physics relies on cutting-edge technology. The Great…
If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve probably read about the boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the advances have elicited responses ranging from amazement to fear. So why has so much attention been diverted to AI recently? Advances in this technology over…
On Christmas Eve 1956, a woman caught the last train to New York in the snow to report experimental results that would alter the landscape of modern physics forever. Although members of the physics community would initially dismiss her results as nonsense, the evidence would…
The best models of how our world works are incomplete. Though they accurately describe much of what Mother Nature has thrown at us, models represent just the tip of the full iceberg and a deeper understanding awaits the endeavoring scientist. Peeling back the layers of the…
Before we know it, it will be summer. That means sunny days, flowers, barbecues, beach trips, and family reunions. With family reunions comes having to explain to every cousin, aunt, uncle, and grandparent what it is that you actually do while you’re conducting research. At…
Winter is officially still three weeks away, although the alternating 30° F nights and 75° F days makes that difficult to remember. The arrival of winter means that it is less pleasant to be outside, there are fewer hours of sunlight, and it is harder…
I first heard of the band OK Go when they released their music video for ‘Here It Goes Again,’ which features the band members cruising back and forth over treadmills. I soon discovered that many of their other music videos are equally captivating and involve…
Scientists thrive on “aha” moments— breakthroughs in knowledge that come from careful planning or perhaps fortuitous luck. For a team of researchers led by Josh Lawrimore, a fourth-year graduate student in Kerry Bloom’s lab at UNC, their “aha” moment came about by approaching their research…