Monthly Archives: September 2006

The String Vacuum Project

Posted on September 30, 2006 by woit

Last week at the KITP, Keith Dienes gave a talk on A Statistical Study of the Heterotic Landscape. He gave a good idea of the state of the art of the investigation of the Landscape, focusing on one special type … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 43 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on September 28, 2006 by woit

Fewer and fewer science writers these days are credulous enough to keep promoting string theory, but there still are some around willing to keep writing overhyped stories about how theorists have finally found a way to get some sort of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments

2006 Nobel Prize for Physics

Posted on September 26, 2006 by woit

No, I don’t have any idea who will win this year, but the announcement will be a week from today, on Tuesday October 3. After my initial success in Nobel Prize prognostication, I’ve now retired from that game, but encourage … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 76 Comments

Unstrung

Posted on September 25, 2006 by woit

This week’s New Yorker has an article about the controversy over string theory, written by Jim Holt, with the title Unstrung. On the web-site there’s also a link to Woody Allen’s 2003 humorous New Yorker piece on string theory, Strung … Continue reading →

Posted in Not Even Wrong: The Book | 72 Comments

Links and Gossip

Posted on September 22, 2006 by woit

Well, no, I’m not going to start putting up here the really interesting gossip that people tell me. If I did so they’d stop telling me such things. The Theoretical Particle Physics Jobs Rumor Mill has moved yet again. First … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 34 Comments

The Goldilocks Enigma

Posted on September 22, 2006 by woit

Paul Davies is an author of many popular science books, often dealing with topics in cosmology and particle physics. He has been based in Australia for the last sixteen years, but is now moving to the US, taking up a … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 35 Comments

Some Links

Posted on September 19, 2006 by woit

John Baez is encouraging people to join in a campaign to “save New Scientist” from itself, i.e. to get them to stop publishing so much scientific nonsense. This seems to me like a worthwhile goal; maybe if they stop writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 103 Comments

Reviews in The Economist, Slate and the Times

Posted on September 15, 2006 by woit

This week’s issue of The Economist has a review of my book and Lee Smolin’s, entitled All Strung Up. It’s quite positive about the point of view on string theory that Smolin and I share, and correctly identifies where we … Continue reading →

Posted in Not Even Wrong: The Book | 81 Comments

Yet More Links

Posted on September 13, 2006 by woit

Frank Wilczek, besides his other accomplishments, is also the star of an opera, entitled Atom and Eve. More commentary on this from Betsy Devine, and Jennifer Ouellette, as well as a report here, and a review here. Paul Cook has … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Various Links, Latest From Kaku

Posted on September 10, 2006 by woit

Seems like everyone is getting a MySpace site, first Michio Kaku, now GLAST. There was a conference this past week in Madrid honoring Nigel Hitchin’s 60th birthday. The program is here. The latest issue of Nature has an article by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 67 Comments