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# Posts

### October 19, 2014

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The IPCC report’s warning The latest draft edition of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) bluntly warns that business-as-usual increases in greenhouse gas emissions will cause “further warming and long-lasting changes” in the earth’s the climate system, with increasing likelihood of “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.” Specific dangers include Continue reading Fusion energy: Hope or hype?

### October 18, 2014

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Many readers of this blog will be aware of the remarkable institution known as the Collège International de Philosophie, based in Paris and supported by the French government since 1983. During its more than 30-year existence, the Collège has offered an extraordinary range of very high-quality free and public programs...
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Physicist: Newton’s laws of motion say: Where MP and AP are the mass and acceleration of a planet, MS is the mass of the Sun, R is the distance between them, and G is a universal constant.  What this rather … Continue reading →
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The week at Retraction Watch kicked off with news of the European Science Foundation threatening to sue a scientist for calling a review process “flawed.” Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Now that’s self-awareness: Nature calls the peer-reviewed paper an “artificial landmark.” Are the findings in an epigenetics paper “too good to be true?“ Please congratulate […]
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Les nombreux problèmes qui se posent dans l'enseignement des mathématiques n'indiffèrent personne. Beaucoup de gens en parlent, mais peu les posent de façon concrète. C'est que le débat est déjà difficile à porter auprès de la communauté mathématique, et il l'est encore plus au niveau du public. C'est à cet effet que le site Images des Mathématiques souhaite offrir un espace de discussions ouvert à tous ceux qui se sentent touchés par ces questions. Ils pourront y échanger […]
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Big data has been enjoying a lot of hype, with promises it will help deliver everything from increased corporate profits to better healthcare. While the potential is certainly there, Tim Harford asks if the hype is blinding us to some basic statistical lessons learned over the past two-hundred years? This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

### October 17, 2014

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Over at You Do the Math, I've got a post on a Reversi variant played on a 6x6x6 hexboard.If you're feeling particularly nerdy, check it out.
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While a number of researchers are modeling the spread of Ebola in West African countries, a group at Boston’s Northeastern University has used air traffic connections to explore how the disease might spread to the rest of the world.
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Far more Puerto Ricans now live off the island than on it, many fast food chains have started serving slightly lighter fare, and Mississippi State took over first place in the AP football poll this week for the first time in its history.
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A Portuguese group has retracted two papers in the Journal of Bacteriology after mislabeled computer files led to the wrong images being used. And, we’ve learned in a heartfelt email, the first author was devastated. Here’s the notice for “MtvR Is a Global Small Noncoding Regulatory RNA in Burkholderia cenocepacia”: A number of problems related to images […]
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A few weeks ago, in Weekend Reads, we highlighted the story of a snail species, thought to have gone extinct thanks to global warming, that had been rediscovered. Now, as first reported by The Scientist, the journal in question has addressed the issue. Here’s the story: In 2007, Biology Letters published a paper by Justin […]
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Comment se propagent les électrons dans un solide, qu'on modélise dans de nombreux cas par un milieu aléatoire ? - Echos de la recherche / Hors-piste, featured, Gazette des Mathématiciens
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Cet article présente d'abord la théorie mathématique de la rigidité des structures formées de pivots et de barres, puis le phénomène de percolation associé, lorsque les structures considérées sont de grandes tailles et contiennent une part aléatoire. - Echos de la recherche / Piste rouge, featured, Gazette des Mathématiciens
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I've been catching up on Cavett's NYT column. I have no idea how he pulls it off but he manages to constantly talk about his encounters with the iconic and yet he avoids being boastful or sycophantic. Here are some favorites:Burton being Burton.Laurel not being Stan.and John Wayne being... hell, you wouldn't believe me anyway.But it was a section near the end of this piece on Carson's rough start on the Tonight Show (Cavett got his start as a writer for the show) that caught my […]
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I know I'm being picky...This article by Sam Biddle on the testing of a new weaponized railgun isn't bad. It does a good job explaining the physics and keeping the gee-whiz factor in check while acknowledging the genuinely exciting potential of the technology. But I do have a complaint and it's one of the few times I'd actually favor a bit more gee-whiz. My problem with the article is that it is very much the story of one specific development -- albeit a cool and possibly important one -- and […]
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No computer simulations have ever had broader consequences for human life than the current generation of climate models. The models tell us that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can trigger abrupt shifts in the planet’s … Continue reading →
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People's political beliefs extend into a number of areas of their lives. According to data from a market research company, these belief systems also relate to how and what people buy.
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James Kwak has a sharp and funny post on the economics and branding of first-class air travel.Ultimately, what Suites Class is selling, along with every other “luxury” first-class cabin in the air, is a feeling of distinction. Air travel is a miserable experience for everyone involved, mitigated only by the immense convenience of being able to show up in another part of the world in a matter of hours. The glamour of high-end air travel, as with any other luxury good, is a function of […]
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Chaque semaine, un défi du calendrier mathématique 2014... - Défis du Calendrier Mathématique 2014 / Carrousel

### October 16, 2014

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This is Joseph.I sent this article to Mark, but thought the blog might appreciate a few comments on it as well.  In particular, I was struck by the following passage:We could double teachers' salaries. I'm not joking about that. The standard way that you make a profession a prestigious, desirable profession, is you pay people enough to make it attractive. The fact that that doesn't even enter the conversation tells you something about what's wrong with the conversation around these topics. […]
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This is Joseph.Jimmy John's has a noncompete agreement.  Kevin Drum wonders what the point is, given how unlikely it is to be enforced.  Alison Griswold notes that:That said, an unenforceable clause is still problematic if it's scaring employees who don't know any better into thinking they can't work at another sandwich shop—or another restaurant of any sort with a trade in sandwiches—for the next two years.I don't even think that "scaring" is the right word.  Imagine […]
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Remember pens and pencils? They're not only still around, but they're selling well. That has to do not just with surviving technology, but learning to work with it.
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The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology has issued an expression of concern about a 2012 article reporting the experience of military burn unit treating a rare ailment called toxic epidermal necrolysis. According to the notice, which is behind a paywall (for shame!), the paper appears to have overstated the number of cases the […]
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Gizem Donmez, a neuroscientist who has retracted two papers from Cell and the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is no longer in her position at Tufts University, Retraction Watch has learned. A Tufts spokesperson confirmed the news for us yesterday: Dr. Donmez is no longer employed by Tufts University. We don’t, as a rule, comment on […]
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Dr. Anupam Saikia profiles prodigious mathematical talent of Indian origin, Manjul Bhargava, who was named a recipient of this year's Fields Medal, the highest honour in mathematics. This article was published in the Horizon supplement of The Assam Tribune on 10th October 2014 and has been reproduced here verbatim with the author's permission. Many of Read more
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Le dimanche 5 octobre 2014 a eu lieu une nouvelle manifestation contre le mariage pour tous. On peut se demander comment évolue l'opinion publique dans ce domaine - Billets des habitués
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Sfrutto il mio blog per farmi un po’ di promozione (ma sempre matematica, in un certo senso…) e segnalarvi che ho appena pubblicato Fantamatematica, un ebook con undici microracconti di fantascienza matematica. Potete saperne di più – e trovare iThe post autopromozione [Pillole] appeared first on Il Post.
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I need to do more research before I wade into this (or convince Joseph to do it for me), but even with the 10 to 50 year wiggle room, talk of having absolutely total confidence makes me nervous.[GUY] RAZ: Which they did, an amazing scientific feat. They mapped the code that makes up all human DNA. Now they're still trying to figure out what it means, but they already know what it could mean for the future.(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)RESNICK: The world has completely changed and none of you know […]

### October 15, 2014

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"Mathletes" show off their talent, passion, and leadership at the sixth annual Math Prize for Girls.
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Le 17 novembre 1928, l'Institut Henri-Poincaré est inauguré... - Billets des habitués / blogs, Institut Henri Poincaré