Swans on Tea

The US isn’t the only country having trouble teaching high-school physics. Australia has similar issues.
Physics teachers not up to scratch: study
One quote caught my eye:
“The person that’s teaching them might have some competence in science but just can’t grab that ‘aha’ moment.”
Not that I’m endorsing under-qualified high-school physics teachers, but I suspect that the [...]

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: How Science Reporting Works

Ozone threat is no laughing matter
Nitrous oxide (N2O) has become the greatest threat to the ozone layer, a new analysis suggests. The ozone-destroying abilities of the gas have been largely ignored by policy-makers and atmospheric scientists alike, who have focused on the more potent chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — historically the dominant ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere.

Flickr: Mythical Creatures
In Venn diagram format.

Unit Analysis.
Skulls in the Stars: The other meaning of “dimension” and its use in physics
The use of dimensional analysis to check one’s math is a very useful, but mundane application. What is surprising and even spectacular, however, is that dimensional arguments can be used in some cases to gain a basic understanding of [...]

CT Scans Show Dinosaur Tail Was a Bone Crusher
To estimate just how hard Ankylosaurus could hit with its tail club, Canadian researchers examined CT scans of several fossilized tails from dinos of different sizes. Combining the imaging data with measurements of the dinosaur’s backbone, they determined the Ankylosaurus could swing its tail in a 100 [...]

Cat Experiments
I pointed out to Iain what she was doing and said, “Our cat is doing science experiments.”
If this were a Far Side cartoon, the cat would have a chemistry set, or something similar. But no, this is real life; it’s optics.

Melt and Blow CD Bubbles
Learn how to blow bubbles with your old plastic CDs in this edition of ‘It’s Effin Science.’

60 Stunning Satellite Photos of Earth

U.S. Chamber of Commerce seeks trial on global warming
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.
Chamber officials say it would be “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century” [...]

The Coin Flip: A Fundamentally Unfair Proposition?
The physics, and statistics, of flipping a coin.
The 50-50 proposition is actually more of a 51-49 proposition, if not worse. The sacred coin flip exhibits (at minimum) a whopping 1% bias, and possibly much more. 1% may not sound like a lot, but it’s more than the typical casino [...]

All Sorts: A Linguistic Experiment
All Sorts is a collection of collective nouns that may or may not have found their way into the Oxford English Dictionary. If you think that a charismatic collective is far superior to a dullard ‘bunch’ or ‘flock’ then this is the place for you.
It culls them from tweets, grabbing [...]