Category Archives: Science By Press Release

Are articles in high-impact journals more like designer handbags, or monarch butterflies?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by chb

US biologist Randy Schekman, who shared this year’s physiology and medicine Nobel prize, has made prompt use of his new bully pulpit. In How journals like Nature, Cell and Science are damaging science: The incentives offered by top journals distort … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Science By Press Release, Scientific Publishing | Leave a comment

Throwing cold water on the Quantum Internet

Posted on October 6, 2012 by chb

There has been a lot of loose talk lately about a coming “Quantum Internet”. I was asked about it recently by a journalist and gave him this curmudgeonly answer, hoping to redirect some of the naive enthusiasm: …First let me … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Quantum Computing, Quantum Cryptography, Science By Press Release, Technology | 5 Comments

Uncertain on Uncertainty

Posted on September 27, 2012 by sflammia

Over at BBC News, there is an article about a recently published paper (arXiv) by Lee Rozema et al. that could lead to some, ehm, uncertainty about the status of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP). Before dissecting the BBC article, let’s look at the paper … Continue reading →

Posted in Nitpicker's Paradiso, Science By Press Release | 6 Comments

Quantitative journalism with open data

Posted on March 26, 2012 by sflammia

This is the best news article I’ve seen in a while: It’s the political cure-all for high gas prices: Drill here, drill now. But more U.S. drilling has not changed how deeply the gas pump drills into your wallet, math … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Science, Science By Press Release, Society, Statistics | 8 Comments

Still a Lot to Do

Posted on September 2, 2008 by dabacon

Over hyped press releases are a standard for quantum computing research and a stable of what makes me sound like a grumpy old man. Really I’m not that grumpy (really! reall!), but I always forget to post the stuff which … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Computing, Science By Press Release | 18 Comments

Revolutionary Breakthough in Quantum Computing

Posted on August 6, 2008 by dabacon

Hot off the presses! In an amazing breakthrough, which this press release has no room to describe in any real detail, scientists at research university BigU have made tremendous progress in the field of quantum computing. The results mean that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Funny Ha Ha, Quantum Computing, Science By Press Release, The Loony Bin Called Academia | 6 Comments

Room Temperature?

Posted on March 20, 2008 by dabacon

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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Science By Press Release | 4 Comments

Your Dog is in Your Head

Posted on November 7, 2007 by dabacon

What’s that you say Dave? Dogs may be able to think about what their owners are thinking? Sounds like interesting research, Dave. If someone could actually find the real research and not just this science by press release, I would … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Science By Press Release | 11 Comments