Author Archives: woit

Quick Items

Posted on June 15, 2016 by woit

In a couple hours, at 1:15 pm New York time, there will be a press conference at the AAS meeting where LIGO and Virgo scientists will discuss “ongoing research” (webcast here). The general assumption is that there will be observations … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 50 Comments

Some History of Science

Posted on June 13, 2016 by woit

The period of the “String Wars” has now receded far enough into the past that it has become a topic of interest to historians of science. I learned today from Sabine Hossenfelder’s round-up of various articles addressing the history and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Short Items

Posted on June 8, 2016 by woit

String theory continues to make progress. Today the news is from Megan Fox: “Sometimes I just know things,” she explains. “I accidentally tap into stuff sometimes. I used to do it as a kid, and I do it as an … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 39 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on June 4, 2016 by woit

One possible reaction to the phenomenon of hype in fundamental physics is to not worry much, figuring that it should be a self-limiting process. While there’s a huge appetite in the media and elsewhere for the “exciting new idea”, overhyped … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania, This Week's Hype | 9 Comments

Summing It Up

Posted on May 29, 2016 by woit

There’s a new popular book out about number theory by the team of Avner Ash and Robert Gross, entitled Summing It Up: From one plus one to modern number theory. This is the third such book that they have written, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 13 Comments

Killer Asteroids

Posted on May 24, 2016 by woit

During my recent vacation I visited my old friend Nathan Myhrvold, and got a tour of his company’s lab near Bellevue. At that time he told me about what he had been working on recently, which has now appeared on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 74 Comments

Back

Posted on May 18, 2016 by woit

Now back after a satisfying vacation amidst very large trees. Here are some things of note from the past couple weeks: For those fascinated by the arguments over string theory, you might want to look at a document sent to … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype, Uncategorized | 34 Comments

The Big Picture

Posted on May 3, 2016 by woit

I’m about to head out on vacation to commune with nature in the Pacific Northwest, so there’s likely to be no more blogging here until after May 17th. That’s just one reason I’ll leave comments closed here, another is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 1 Comment

This Week’s Hype

Posted on May 3, 2016 by woit

The June issue of Discover magazine has an article entitled The Fall and Rise of String Theory (sorry it’s behind a paywall). I had added this as an update to the last posting, but just looked at it more carefully … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 1 Comment

Various Items

Posted on April 29, 2016 by woit

A few short items: Things had been going quite well at the LHC, they were ahead of schedule, starting to ramp up intensity for the new run. Then at 5:30 this morning a weasel decided to visit a 66kV transformer, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments