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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Looking for Triple Helix Writers and Editors

We are in a unique position, since ETHS is the first public school chapter of The Triple Helix. The Triple Helix is run by undergraduates from around the world, at a variety of universities, and they are looking to expand their E-publishing efforts by including high school student writers. If you enjoy writing, and enjoy thinking about science and its role in society and people's lives, this could be a good time.

The idea is for interested students to find a science-related topic, research it, and write a 1000-1500 word article about the topic. The twist is we will not focus just on the science, but rather find connections between the science topic and life in general. Perhaps you investigate the relationship between stem-cell research and religion, or the politics behind stem cell funding. Or you investigate the importance of finding new cyber-security algorithms for computer networks, in order to protect private information and data. There are countless numbers of topics to write about. If you want to apply to be an editor, we have a sample article to edit; editors can write, too, if they wish. See Doc V if interested in any aspect of this new effort! I think it could be fun, and give you a chance to learn about interesting, relevant topics and issues. Check out some more information here.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Welcome Back!!!

We enter the 2011-2012 school year fresh from a good summer, and my hope is the fun continues for you as we get into some very cool physics! We will be learning the fundamentals so you may have a much better grasp of how this world of ours works, and see where modern ideas like quantum mechanics and relativity came from and why there is a need for those theories. Let's start it off!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Fascinating Look at the Mathematics Behind Cities versus Corporations

This is a TED talk I personally am fascinated by, which looks at the math behind cities and corporations. The idea is to see if, through data, there is a theory or math model one can use to predict what will happen to a city and/or corporation. Geoffrey West, a physicist who works on network theory and complex systems, and his colleagues have done this, to see what the behaviors are of human-built entities such as cities and corporations, and how they compare to living systems. There are clear trends, which is a characteristic of a network, and he shows these trends clearly and convincingly. Check it out!