Do we really need to assume Gravity is a quantum phenomenon?

 For many decades, the assumption in physics has been that all the forces, including gravity, must be quantized - that is, we must look and find the quantum theory for gravity. And that the key to the "theory of everything" rests on that great discovery waiting to happen. 

But decades of work by the top theoretical and mathematical minds of multiple generations have not resulted in any testable theories. A good question to ask is: does gravity have to be quantized? Maybe, just maybe, gravity in this universe is 'classical' and continuous, and really just the result of warps in spacetime as Einstein proposed in general relativity! Some physicists are asking just that type of question, and developing theories based on gravity being classical with the others - electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces - follow quantum field theories. Maybe, just maybe, this is the reason gravity is SO different from the others and so difficult to link into the Standard Model. I am really interested in seeing how this evolves, and may very well create testable experiments in the near future...something that has not happened yet for quantum models of gravity. In the end, experimental results will determine how things really work. 

Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Harvard professor, for pay differences for women

 The last Nobel, for economics, was awarded today to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for her groundbreaking work in understanding the historical reasons and consequences of the gender gap in payment for work. She went through a study of 200 years of data to understand how women's roles in the labor market have evolved, and the reasons why they evolved the way they did. To this day, this is a topic of much debate and political and economic activity, as record numbers of women are becoming educated and are working on careers. 

This is also historic, since Dr. Goldin is just the 3rd woman to win the Nobel in economics. 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Quantum Dot discovery

 Three scientists are sharing the Nobel in Chemistry for their discovery and applications of quantum dots. 

Moungi Bawendi (MIT), Louis Brus (Columbia U), and Alexei Ekimov (industry, NY), discovered these tiny bits of matter in their nanotechnology work. When materials shrink in size, at some point the laws and weirdness of quantum mechanics take over. Quantum dots are nanomaterials that are so small, this happens - effectively they are the smallest particles in nanoscience. 

Researchers and doctors use these for everything from television images on flat screens to LED lighting to surgeons using them to help remove tumors. 

Nobel Prize in Physics for attosecond laser pulses - and only 5th woman to win a Physics Nobel!

 Here's a metric unit one does not see very often - atto. This is one quintillionth (10^-18)! Three physicists figured out how to create attosecond pulses of light in order to study and measure electron activity and processes. It revolutionized how scientists can view and measure the shortest processes one can imagine, and that occur in the quantum realm on a regular basis. 

The winners are Pierre Agostini (French, at Ohio State), Ferenc Krausz (Hungarian), and Anne L'Huillier (French). This is historic, as well, since Dr. L'Huillier is only the 5th woman to ever win a Nobel for Physics...in 117 years! The technique of creating attosecond laser pulses opened a new type of physics and can be used to observe and measure chemical reactions, molecular and atomic processes in new ways.

Nobel Prize in Medicine & Physiology, 2023

 The Nobel Prize was jointly awarded to a Hungarian-American and an American for their work in developing messenger RNA vaccines. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the Prize for their groundbreaking work that was used to develop the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been credited for saving millions of lives the past 3 years. Both are professors at the University of Pennsylvania, and will split the nearly $1 million prize. 

If you have any sort of high-speed camera for video, USE IT IN RESEARCH! Example of Rupert's Drop

 Here is a fascinating video about Rupert's Drop, a really interesting piece of glass with a certain shape attained when molten glass is cooled rapidly in cold water. The structure and strength is amazing, but even more curious is how it EXPLODES - not break or shatter, but truly explodes in fine pieces of glass! 

The thing to take away from it as far as research is concerned, is how valuable high-speed photography and video can be for watching details of time evolution of a given system and interaction or event! If you have high-speed video capabilities at any level, please consider using that technology in research projects. If you have a project where something is changing, try to capture it with video for analysis purposes! Many cameras now have speeds of 120 fps, 240 fps, 480 fps, and even 1000 fps (with reduced resolution the faster it gets), where the cost is within the $400 or so range...something that might be affordable within a science department budget. Give it a try if possible! Most schools or individuals won't be able to afford the camera being used in this video, but the gist holds true.

Increasing diversity in STEM professions

 When one sees photos or pictures of the scientists who made discoveries years ago, they are overwhelmingly white men. Many believe this is still the case among professional STEM workers, but consider that things have been changing over the past ten years in particular. Here are some links to show how STEM is becoming more diverse - slowly at times, but many feel this is a really positive step! 

500 Queer Scientists (https://500queerscientists.com/) 

500 Women Scientists (https://500womenscientists.org/)

1,000 inspiring Black scientists in America (https://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/1000-inspiring-black-scientists-in-america)

100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America (https://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/100-inspiring-hispanic-latinx-scientists-in-america)

Is it possible to simulate some climate change features in the lab?

 An interesting possibility arises for high school students to pursue when it comes to vegetation of the future. If a school has a greenhouse, or if students have access to one in the community, interesting possibilities may arise for trying to create conditions of the future due to climate change. 

Is it possible to take climate model predictions for average temperatures, moisture, soil conditions and create them in a controlled environment? If so, students could look at current vegetation and crops in a greenhouse under the predicted environmental conditions. How do current plants and crops react to those changes? Or what plants would grow best in those predicted conditions? Something like this could be fun to pursue, and if one had good control to set up and sustain different environment conditions within the greenhouse, and entire research program could be developed. Something to think about. 

SEL in Schools Series for all educators, schools

 My students know I am really into the inclusion of helping humanity into our physics classes, and also promoting the skills we ALL need and use every day of our lives, Social-Emotional Learning skills (SEL). It is to the point where ETHS, and most districts around the country, are promoting and including SEL into their district plans and goals. This is good news for everyone, and now the challenge is to all learn what SEL is (and is NOT), why we need it for our students, evidence that it works (otherwise it would be a waste of time and resources), and finally how it can be embedded within content courses. 

If interested, I have created a SEL in Schools series of slide decks and accompanying videos, as well as hundreds of examples of lesson ideas in all subject areas/departments for middle schools and high schools, in order to train teachers and staff, as well as build up 'buy in' among teachers when they see how possible and valuable it is to include SEL in lessons on a fairly regular and consistent basis. 

Note that STEM courses are often viewed as the most challenging to include SEL within, so there's a video just on the use of SEL in STEM classes. 

If you happen to view it and find it useful, please share with other teachers, administrators, schools, etc. All of it is free, and with the slides you can make a copy and then use it or modify to your needs, as you please!

Example of Biomimetics - Looking at how jellyfish propel themselves through the water

 If you are interested in biomimetics, or STEM research inspired by biological systems and organisms, check out this interview with an engineer, John Dabiri, whose work in aerospace engineering and propulsion systems, is inspired by how jellyfish are able to propel themselves through water. That type of research, looking at the processes that make a jellyfish be able to move so efficiently, is something students can do in school and home lab settings. Be creative, and think about the characteristics of a favorite animal or plant...some activity or feature you think is really cool - and then investigate aspects of that activity. How is the organism able to do whatever it is it does? 

And remember, Nature has had hundreds of millions of years of evolution and modifications of organisms to do what we see them do today; jelly fish, for example, have been around for some 200 million years. Over time, evolution tends to begin to optimize the actions taken by various organisms, whereas humans have only been around and trying to engineer things for a TINY fraction of that time ('modern' STEM is only a few hundred years old, compared to the time Nature has been experimenting!). 

This photo is from the Atlanta Aquarium. 

Going against the flow in science: Science requires some level of skepticism, outside of 'the textbook'

 In theoretical physics for the past 50 or so years, thousands of the world's best physics minds have dedicated themselves to looking for the quantum theory of gravity. Since Einstein, the dream has been to unify gravity with the other three forces of nature into a single theory - no one has done it, despite the HUGE effort given to this problem for decades. And on the experimental side, nothing has been found that suggests gravity comes in 'bundles' just like something like light comes in bundles of energy we call a photon.                  

Despite the lack of any substantial breakthrough, everyone keeps plugging away, assuming gravity MUST be quantized since the other forces are. In science, putting blinders on while looking to answer the unknown is dangerous. Part of the process of science is to be skeptical, even of things we do know! Check out this article and video about physicist Jonathan Oppenheim from University College of London, who has made the assumption that maybe gravity is not quantized as we all have been thinking - what if it is how Einstein describes it in General Relativity, where it is not a true force but rather just the consequence of curved space-time? 

Prof. Oppenheim and his students are developing a theory, as well as suggestions for experiments, that could test whether gravity is simply different and is a 'classical' force rather than a quantum force. When I teach gravity and Einstein's model, and we get into the modern thinking about quantum gravity, we have over the years asked the question if gravity might not be quantized, and that's why it is so different from the other three forces of nature and why no one has found the unified theory. It is good to see this possibility getting some attention and those isolated few who question the textbooks and group think that can happen in science...scientists are still humans, and fall into the same patterns and traps as everyone else! 

I look forward to seeing where this work goes, as all that matters is we make progress in understanding the true nature of Nature, regardless of whether it fits into our assumptions and expectations or not! 

Using AI to learn programming

 Most of my students who want to learn how to program in some language, and that mostly being Python, do so independently since it is not really taught in high school classes. Most college students and graduate students are using Python in science research because of its power and speed when it comes to data analysis and presentation. While Python and all the resources you need are free and online, one can watch YouTube videos and learn how to code in Python, or any other language. 

While that is how it's been done for a long time by many students, artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT are providing a new way. One can ask ChatGPT to write programs in Python, for example, to do many things a student may be interested in coding up. One can ask for instructions, as well, for running the programs ChatGPT writes. By giving it a problem and studying, editing and modifying the code, students and adults have a new option for learning how to code. It is effectively the same as getting code from someone else and learning by doing, which is how most people learn to code. Just wanted to put this out there if anyone is interested. Always remember, though, to cite code or all other pieces from which  you actually do find and use information.

Quantum Computing - Learn the basics through this free text and course

 Quantum computing is already here in prototype form, and is rapidly evolving into a next generation computing technology, the consequences of which we do not fully understand. But let's also recognize that many companies, universities, national labs, the military, finance and business sectors, medical research and most other fields you can think of, will be in great need of workers who know what this is and how to use it. And the day is also coming where quantum computing and AI become mixed. 

If you are curious about this field and technology, here is an online textbook that is setup as a course in quantum computing. Use it and go at your own pace. Have fun! 

Institutions and Countries with most top Physicists

 The productivity and 'success' of scientists can be measured several ways, and perhaps the most popular is looking at the number of publications and citations a scientist has. This makes sense because to be  published in peer reviewed journals shows the work is considered strong, and people cite it when they find it useful, valuable, and well done. Citations mean the work is affecting the field. There is a measure called the D-index based on these criteria.

So you can find the countries and institutions with the most physics personnel with high D-index values. By far, the United States leads for countries, followed by Great Britain. For institutions, Caltech leads the way, and the only non-US institutions in the top ten are the Max Planck Institute and University of Cambridge.

How basic high school science can help in real-world research: Why NOT to use magnets to search for meteorites

 What happens when a magnet gets close to an object that may have a weak magnetic field? 

Hopefully any senior who has gone through E&M should be able to answer that the weaker magnet can be affected and changed by a stronger magnet. 

A common way of searching for meteorites is to use magnets, since rocks from space are likely to have some iron in them. But this also means that using a magnet can change any magnetic field the meteorite may have, thus erasing valuable scientific information about the magnetism in our solar system that that rock had carried for perhaps billions of years before finally crashing into the earth. This is a problem for scientists who need meteorites to study and collect information about the ancient solar system! And this is a problem since so many meteorites are found by amateur 'hunters'. 

So basic physics we learn in high school make a difference in real life research efforts! 

                             

April 18, 1955 - the day Einstein died

 April 18, 1955, was the day the world lost one of the greatest minds, certainly scientific, in human history, when Albert Einstein died at the age of 76. 

For an interesting summary of what that day was like, check out this Life article. The below photo is from biography.com. 

ChatGPT - How does it work?

 ChatGPT and other AI platforms are causing a great deal of excitement, concern, ethical questions to be asked, and lots of interesting applications and concerns. And we are just scratching the surface of how artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT will be able to assist in scientific research. 

But how does it actually work? 

A decent introductory article about how it works is here, from Stephen Wolfram.

Something EACH OF US should do, everyday, for everyone...

 You can't be best friends with everyone, but you CAN: 

- notice everyone

- be friendly to everyone

- make room for everyone

- cheer for everyone

- listen to everyone

- have a smile for everyone

- say hello to everyone

- empathize with everyone

Oh, and you can be nice to yourself, too! 

Helping our youngest students develop a scientist's approach

 One project that focuses on helping students learn science by doing science, and developing a scientist's approach and mindset to solving problems and answering questions about how the natural world works, is what we call the SEE SAW Project. This was developed to help students in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest nations on earth and whose schools do not generally have equipment, supplies, or in many cases electricity (making access to the Internet impossible) start learning STEM differently - moving away from the traditional ways of memorization and reading about things with no active learning of science towards a hands-on, active, and experimentally based way of learning. To actually begin doing science. 

The lessons and activities my high school students develop create legitimate STEM lessons and labs/demos that teachers in Sierra Leone use with their students and colleagues. These use the most basic materials and supplies that schools in rural and poor areas can have access to (such as string, rubber bands, water, sand and dirt, rulers, paper, simple timers, containers), in order for students to begin experimentation and observation, and learning to use physical evidence to reach and support conclusions. It turns out that these same lessons and activities can be used by elementary schools in the US. Many schools do not have STEM rooms or labs, and very little equipment or supplies for science and math. Or these can simply be used by elementary teachers who may have limited science experience to develop some good, hands on lessons for teaching science principles. 

Anyone is free to use anything on the site. For elementary students, these can be used to get them taking the role of scientist or engineer, and develop a sense for science is really done. Perhaps teachers and students can use the existing lessons to creatively develop their own to investigate different phenomena of students' interests and curiosities!