Monthly Archives: June 2008

Wonders of Gauge Theory and Supergravity

Posted on June 27, 2008 by woit

A workshop in Paris/Saclay is taking place this week entitled Wonders of Gauge Theory and Supergravity and the talks are now online. They show that some exciting new things have been happening in the study of gauge theory and supergravity … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 57 Comments

Supplemental US Science Funding

Posted on June 27, 2008 by woit

The Senate last night agreed to the House version of a bill that adds some supplemental science funding for FY2008, as part of a large “emergency” bill used to fund the the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The DOE Office of … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 2 Comments

The Black Hole War

Posted on June 23, 2008 by woit

Leonard Susskind has a new book that’s now out in the bookstores, entitled The Black Hole War: My Battle With Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics. It’s about the black hole information paradox, structured around his … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 33 Comments

Philosophy of Science on Bloggingheads.tv

Posted on June 21, 2008 by woit

Today’s Bloggingheads.tv diavlog features Sean Carroll and philosopher of science David Albert, discussing a variety of issues. Albert tells about his unfortunate experience with the What the Bleep? film, a good example of why it’s not always a good idea … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 30 Comments

Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Posted on June 17, 2008 by woit

The relationship between mathematics and physics is a topic that has always fascinated me, and today I noticed two interesting blog postings related to the topic. The first was Ben Webster’s posting inspired by a recent XKCD comic. The discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 42 Comments

Atiyah on Atiyah-Bott

Posted on June 11, 2008 by woit

This week I’m in Montreal attending a conference in honor of Raoul Bott (who I wrote about in some detail here a couple years ago). On the first day of the conference, a documentary film about Bott made by his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Hints of ‘time before Big Bang’

Posted on June 8, 2008 by woit

The BBC is running a story entitled Hints of ‘time before Big Bang’ based on Sean Carroll’s latest efforts to promote the multiverse. The writer attended Sean’s talk at the recent AAS meeting and presumably also read Sean’s new Scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 57 Comments

Two Unrelated Topics

Posted on June 3, 2008 by woit

I was planning on writing something about the field with one element, but Lieven Le Bruyn has done a better job of it than I would have, linking to all of the recent news on this subject I was aware … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 46 Comments

Experimental Predictions From F-Theory

Posted on June 2, 2008 by woit

I’ve been known to claim that string theory makes no experimental predictions, so this evening thought I better take a look at a preprint that just appeared entitled GUTs and Exceptional Branes in F-theory – II: Experimental Predictions. The abstract … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments