Something isn't right. Our laboratory facilities contain a couple of Faraday-shielded rooms. The idea is that electromagnetic radiation can't get in (or, for that matter, out). That means mobile phones shouldn't work in there. And they don't. Mine has no reception at all – others in our research group report either no reception or 'one-bar' […]
Continue readingMonth: November 2013
Thermodynamics of learning
Last week I attended a conference on Emergent Learning and Threshold Concepts, here at the University of Waikato. It was a very interesting couple of days. As far as academic conferences go, it was unusual in that it was really cross-disciplinary. We had engineers mixing with physiotherapists, and management consultants with dancers. It certainly was […]
Continue readingWho is doing the observing?
Last week I watched again the highly amusing film "Kitchen Stories". It's hardly a mainstream affair – in fact I feel like editing Wikipedia's meagre entry on it. The scenario is amusing because it's so ridiculous – a group of Swedish scientists is sent off to Norway to observe single men use their kitchens, in […]
Continue readingThe earth’s magnetic field: much more complicated than you might think
At the recent NZ Institute of Physics conference, we were treated to a wonderful description of the earth's magnetic proceses, by Gillian Turner. What makes up the earth's magnetic field? What effect does it have? How is it changing? At first glance the magnetic field of the earth is pretty straightforward. There's a magnetic north […]
Continue readingThe (robot) hand is faster than the eye
Sorry for no blogging in the last week. I've been away and then had the usual bewildering array of tasks to do when I got back. So, to kick off again, here's an amusing video of what one can do with robotics. The application is of course silly, but the high-speed image processing and automation […]
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