Category: Physics

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Der Took Our Science N Engineering Jerbs!

Whatever you do, Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Mary America, make sure to tell everyone you know not to go into science and engineering! You see those who major in science and engineering are certain to not get jobs, because, as many commenters love to point out, all those jobs are being exported overseas! But wait, what is this:

The overall unemployment rate of scientists and engineers in the United States dropped from 3.2% in 2003 to 2.5% in 2006…according to data from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). This is the lowest unemployment rate measured by SESTAT since the early 1990s. It continues a trend of lower unemployment rates for scientists and engineers compared with unemployment rates in the rest of the U.S. economy.

Who knew? A degree in science and engineering actually appears to help your employment chances 🙂

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Oh Noes, Blak Holz Are Eatn My Worlsd!

Lawsuit brought against CERN and the LHC for the possibility that it might produce black holes which will eat the earth. I look forward to seeing string theory on trial. Maybe something like an inverse “Inherit the Wind” play to follow.
Oh, and this made me laugh:

Mr. Sancho, who describes himself as an author and researcher on time theory, lives in Spain, probably in Barcelona, Mr. Wagner said.

Probably in Barcelona?

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I've Got Silica on Silicon on My Quantum Stereo

Linear optics quantum computing, where one combines linear optics with the nonlinear processes of single photon creation and single photon detection, is a relative newcomer onto the scene of possible routes toward quantum computing. Whenever I think about these schemes, what jumps into my head is a crazily filled optical bench, like the one below from the Zeilinger group:

Now, I’m but a mere theorist, but I think even theorists like me understand that trying to build a large scale version of this scheme, which has considerable overhead behind it in terms of the number of modes needed, is a huge challenge. A further bane of these approaches is that one needs to keep the optical paths stable on a length scale less than the wavelength of the light. This requires some pretty sophisticated stable interferometers. Which is why it is nice to see the new paper from Jeremy O’Brien’s group in Bristol: A. Politi, M. J. Cryan, J. G. Rarity, Y. Siyuan, and J. L. O’Brien, “Silica-on-Silicon Waveguide Quantum Circuits,” Science Express Reports, published online March 27, 2008 (arXiv:0802.0136.)
Continue reading “I've Got Silica on Silicon on My Quantum Stereo”

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Crayon Physics Game

In high school, we had software which would simulate dynamics of different shaped objects. I used to set up part of the screen as a “hoop” and then try to design the crazies way for a ball to bounce off all sorts of shapes set with different initial velocities and into the hoop. It was kind of cool how Rube Goldburg you could get with this physics simulation, and it was, I’ll admit, both quite fun, and absolutely geeky. Now, via Slate, I find that someone has made this into a game:

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Room Temperature?

Dear Digg, no, this article and press release do not mean that Scientists Invent Room Temperature Superconducting Material. It means that scientists have put molecular silane under hundreds of giga-Pascals presures (for comparison, atmospheric pressure is 100 kilo-Pascals) at a temperature of around 20 Kelvin, and gotten it to superconduct. While this is certainly cool, it is not “room temperature” as far as I can tell.
One day I was driving down the road and listening to AM radio when Paul Harvey came on and did his schtick (“and now you know, the rest of the story.”) At one point in the show, Harvey made a statement that physicists had recently discovered how to get superconductivity at room temperature. I almost drove off the road hearing this and ran home to see if it was true. Unfortunately it was not, and I will never, ever, forgive Paul Harvey for making me think this amazing discovery had been made. And now you know the rest of the…ah, whatever.

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March Meeting Summary

I’m heading home from the March meeting, after giving my talk this morning and then having a nice lunch with graduate (and one undergraduate) students at a “Meet the Experts” lunch. Yeah, somehow I slipped by the guards! Luckily a real expert was there, in the form of Paul Kwiat, so all was good and the students didn’t learn anything to disastrous. “What I learned at the March meeting” below the fold.
Continue reading “March Meeting Summary”

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Qubits, Qbits, qbits, qubits, q-bits, and light nanoseconds

Hurray! My letter to Physics Today along with a delightful response from N. David Mermin has been published. I particularly enjoyed Mermin’s closing line:

It may be quixotic (but certainly not Qxotic) to try to correct the spelling of an entire community, but I owe it my best shot. What else is retirement good for?

Sweet! Now I can check off from my list of things to do in life: “Get published in Physics Today over issues related to my literature degree.”