Weekly Science Headlines

[P3nT4gR4m]

Fucking magnets. How do you simulate them? 

Material scientists have predicted and built two new magnetic materials, atom-by-atom, using high-throughput computational models. The success marks a new era for the large-scale design of new magnetic materials at unprecedented speed.

http://pratt.duke.edu/about/news/predicting-magnets

[Brother Mythos]

"Physicists discover hidden aspects of electrodynamics"

From the article:

'Maxwell's theory displays a remarkable feature: it remains unaltered under the interchange of the electric and magnetic fields, when charges and currents are not present. This symmetry is called the electric-magnetic duality.

However, while electric charges exist, magnetic charges have never been observed in nature. If magnetic charges do not exist, the symmetry also cannot exist. This mystery has motivated physicists to search for magnetic charges, or magnetic monopoles. However, no one has been successful. Agullo and his colleagues may have discovered why.

"Gravity spoils the symmetry regardless of whether magnetic monopoles exist or not. This is shocking. The bottom line is that the symmetry cannot exist in our universe at the fundamental level because gravity is everywhere," Agullo said.'

Here's the link to the article: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-physicists-hidden-aspects-electrodynamics.html

Hardcore physics students can download the formal paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.08879?context=hep-th

I found this interesting because my old physics textbooks only said 'In magnetism isolated magnetic "poles," which would correspond to isolated electric charges, apparently do not exist.' No explanation, or theory, was offered as to why magnetic monopoles "apparently do not exist."

[The Wizard Joseph]

So the eternal question "Magnets, how the fuck do they work?" remains as yet not fully answered by Science.

Well then. 

[Junkenstein]

Did you know scientists once turned up at an ICP concert offering to teach attendees the answers to such questions?

I didn't until a few days ago and I'm hoping there's video of this somewhere.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Personally I'd question the calibre of any scientist who figured turning up at an ICP gig to lecture on magnetism was a good use of their time. Kinda like that old Groucho quote about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member.

[The Wizard Joseph]

Personally I'd question the calibre of any scientist who figured turning up at an ICP gig to lecture on magnetism was a good use of their time. Kinda like that old Groucho quote about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member.

That's a good policy

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Personally I'd question the calibre of any scientist who figured turning up at an ICP gig to lecture on magnetism was a good use of their time. Kinda like that old Groucho quote about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member.

You would be surprised. Maybe.

Scientists tend to have very odd senses of humor, and NSF grants have an outreach requirement.

Showing up at an ICP concert to teach Juggalos about magnets totally counts toward that requirement.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Personally I'd question the calibre of any scientist who figured turning up at an ICP gig to lecture on magnetism was a good use of their time. Kinda like that old Groucho quote about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member.

You would be surprised. Maybe.

Scientists tend to have very odd senses of humor, and NSF grants have an outreach requirement.

Showing up at an ICP concert to teach Juggalos about magnets totally counts toward that requirement.

I retract my previous statement in light of new evidence that suggests these dudes may well have known exactly what they were doing 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Personally I'd question the calibre of any scientist who figured turning up at an ICP gig to lecture on magnetism was a good use of their time. Kinda like that old Groucho quote about refusing to join any club that would have him as a member.

You would be surprised. Maybe.

Scientists tend to have very odd senses of humor, and NSF grants have an outreach requirement.

Showing up at an ICP concert to teach Juggalos about magnets totally counts toward that requirement.

I retract my previous statement in light of new evidence that suggests these dudes may well have known exactly what they were doing 

Scientists: Trolling the NSF the whole time. 

[MMIX]

Not all heroic stories have happy endings; sometimes a person just has to do what a person has to do
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/04/explaining_science_won_t_fix_information_illiteracy.html

THE STATE OF THE UNIVERSE.APRIL 21 2017 5:58 AM
Donald Trump Should Not Appoint a Science Adviser
He doesn't deserve one, and it's more likely to be a sham than a help.

Jack Marburger martyred himself for science and for his country. From the outside, he looked like a traitor who loaned his scientific credibility to an administration that exploited it to undermine science policy and even the legitimacy of science itself. His accomplishments were kept secret, and he was hung out to dry for the mistakes of others. The unfortunate scientist who agrees to work with Donald Trump can expect even worse.

[LMNO]

:twitch:

The role of Science Advisor comes with the position of Director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  That means they control the budget and policies for science and technology across the nation.  Being the Science Advisor is incredibly minor compared to being responsible for the entire federal funding for science.

And, as he said at the time, "If I don't take the job, can I trust the next guy down the line to do it right?"



Caveat:  I may take this personally.

[MMIX]

I never know how to take you LMNO. This article brought a tear to my eye, it made you :twitch:, whatever.
I'm pretty sure I'm missing something in your reply. The article positions us at a very uncomfortable point in history [yeah, like we hadn't already noticed] but I thought it offered some interesting observations on where we are on the science front.

[LMNO]

Oh, wait.  The article you linked is not the article you quoted...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/04/trump_should_not_appoint_a_science_adviser.html

To explain my emotional reaction that may have clouded my judgement, Marburger was my dad.

[MMIX]

My apologies for the wrong link LMNO, my bad. Yes I realise you are Jack Marburger's son. If he was my dad the article I MEANT to link would have made me deeply proud [though over the years your comments suggest that your parental pride levels have already hit 169%] But the article was also profoundly depressing in may ways both from an historical and future perspective. For that reason it seemed worth the link, I hope you agree.

[LMNO]

Yeah, I agree; I had an emotional flinch.  Disregard previous posts.