A few recent publications
Physics in Perspective, 8, 83-89 (2006).
What Makes a Theory
Testable, or Is Intelligent Design Less Scientific Than String Theory?
Abstract. I compare the theory of intelligent design to string theory to see on what basis, if any, only the former can be justifiably excluded as being scientific.We shall see that the classic criterion of testability or falsifiability is sometimes not so straightforward, and that there are other criteria to help us make such a distinction. Click here for entire article
Neuroscience Letters, 374 (1), 38-42, Feb 2005.
The human brain's algorithm for extrapolating motion, and
its possible gender-dependence
Abstract. Some athletes accomplish feats requiring a timing accuracy 100 times better than their reaction time. This capability implies that the brain can accurately extrapolate the motion of objects. We hypothesize that the brain uses a simple algorithm to accomplish this extrapolation, and that the algorithm is influenced by the subject's gender and recent observations of motion. We describe an experiment in timing the motion of a dot across a computer screen designed to discover the motion extrapolation algorithm. Different types of motion of the dot were studied. The experiment was conducted with 126 college students (two-thirds female), who each performed 1000 trials. By using as many as 126,000 trials, the random noise inherent in individual trials averages out, allowing the underlying algorithm to be revealed. The results show that motion extrapolation is done using the average velocity of a moving object with no correction for changes in velocity during the motion, but with an ad hoc adjustment based on recently observed motions and on gender—males having on average a smaller error than females. A future controlled experiment will be needed to establish whether the observed gender difference is due to the greater experience of males with such related tasks as video games and sports. Full article here.
Journal of Solar-Terrestrial and Atmspheric Physics, 69 (2007) 759–766
Solar Resonant
Diffusion Waves as a Driver of Terrestrial Climate Change
Abstract. A theory is described based on resonant thermal diffusion waves in the sun that appears to explain many details of the paleotemperature record for the last 5.3 million years. These include the observed periodicities, the relative strengths of each observed cycle, and the sudden emergence in time for the 100 thousand year cycle. Other prior work suggesting a link between terrestrial paleoclimate and solar luminosity variations has not provided any specific mechanism. The particular mechanism described here has been demonstrated empirically, although not previously invoked in the solar context. The theory also lacks some of the problems associated with Milankovitch cycles.
Full article here. News story in New Scientist on article here.
Fall 2007 issue of the APS Committee on the Status of Women Physicists Gazette.
Where are the female
physicists?
Abstract. Although overall women may become the majority of science Ph.D. recipients as soon as 2008, the under-representation of women in physics is far greater than other sciences, and it is unlikely to be reversed in the foreseeable future. With the aid of several recent studies on academic women in physics, we find several correlations that account for variations in percentages in numbers of women faculty and graduate students in physics and astronomy departments at U.S. Universities. Higher percentages of women faculty tend to be found at universities: (a) having smaller physics and astronomy departments, (b) having larger percentages of women graduate students, and (c) being located outside the South. Additionally, a weak correlation is found between high percentages of female graduate students and the selectivity of a program. Full article here.
October 2007 issue of the Newsletter of the American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society
Three Inconvenient
Truths about Global Warming
Abstract: The IPCC reports represent the consensus view of hundreds
of climate scientists on the issue of global climate change. Here I
discuss why some features of the 2007 report suggest that global warming is a
non-urgent problem, but rather one best solved on a long-term basis with
amelioration measures gradually ramped up over time as the technology and
economics allow, and as the magnitude of the problem becomes clearer. This
analysis disagrees markedly with that of the 2006 Stern Report, whose
assumptions have been questioned by some economists. Full article here
January 2010 issue of the Newsletter of the American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society
Renewable Energy at
Mason and Around the Nation: Lessons Learned by One Faculty Member New to the
Field.
Abstract: I present an overview of renewable energy, the imperative to transition to greater reliance on it, and the state of renewable energy educational programs around the nation, and at Mason. In a parallel thread, I discuss why faculty & students should consider getting more involved in renewable energy. Students apparently need no such encouragement, but 99% of four-year schools have been slow to move into this area (apart from an occasional course or two), despite evidence of strong student interest & strong job prospects. I consider various reasons for this reluctance and I also discuss one recent effort (http://rev-up.org) begun during the past year to tunnel through a significant barrier facing faculty new to the field. Full article here.
Advances in Meteorology (in
press February 2010)
A Universal Hurricane
Frequency Function
Evidence is provided that the global distribution of
tropical hurricanes is principally determined by a universal function H of a
single variable z that in turn is expressible in terms of the local sea surface
temperature and latitude. The
data-driven model presented here carries stark implications for the large
increased numbers of hurricanes which it predicts for a warmer world. Moreover, the rise in recent decades in the
numbers of hurricanes in the