Author Archives: sedeer

Notes from a quantum mechanics boot camp: day 3

30 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by in Physics, QM Workshop

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With the third and final day of the workshop done, it’s time for me to wrap up this series on Inspiring Science. While this will be my last post about the workshop, I’m sure it won’t be the last time I write about these topics. I learned a great deal in the past few days, enough to increase both my interest in and confidence about covering physics topics. Before getting to the actual science, I want to thank the organisers, sponsors, and participants for an excellent and fruitful workshop. I hope the series continues and I look forward to coming back next year! Continue reading →

Notes from a quantum mechanics boot camp: day 2

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Physics, QM Workshop

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I didn’t have the energy to write about quantum computing last night, but fortunately I can make up for it in today’s post, since that was the main subject of the day — quantum information science and computing. Again, I’ll do my best to get the main idea across, but I’m sure it’s something I’ll revisit again in the future. Continue reading →

Notes from a quantum mechanics boot camp: day 1

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by in Physics, QM Workshop

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I have the good fortune of attending this year’s Nordita workshop for science writers, which is focused on quantum mechanics. It’s been a fascinating and educational experience, so I thought I should make an effort to write a post about the workshop each evening. Since I’m writing about an unfamiliar subject following a day full of lectures, these posts won’t be nearly as polished as the other stuff on Inspiring Science; I’m tired and I may have misunderstood things, so there will probably be some mistakes and clumsy explanations. On the other hand (and with that caveat), I think it’s better to share whatever understanding I’ve gained today and hope that someone will correct me where I go wrong. I’m not going to make any kind of attempt to be thorough, but simply write a bit about a couple of the things I found most interesting each day Continue reading →

Rendez-vous with a Comet

08 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Astronomy, Physics

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In the cold reaches of space millions of kilometers from Earth, a ten-year journey is coming to an end and an era of discovery is about to begin. Rosetta, a spacecraft built and launched by the ESA has finally reached its target, meeting up with the comet 67P/Curyumov-Gerasimenko somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. We don’t have any vehicles powerful enough to launch Rosetta into the same orbit as the comet, so it’s been a long and lonely trip for the little craft, slingshoting its way around the solar system to make the trip. “After ten years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometers, we are delighted to finally announce ‘we are here'”, said Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director general of the ESA. Continue reading →

The Ten-legged Spider

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in Arthropods

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Every word in the title is a lie. The creature I’d like to introduce isn’t a spider and it doesn’t have ten legs, but that was exactly what I thought when I got a good look at it, which wasn’t the first time I saw it. The first time I saw it, I thought it might have been a plant’s root or some kind of stolon. I had just jumped in for a swim on Saturday afternoon when I saw something brown at the bottom of the pool. It wasn’t moving, and it seemed to be about the size of my thumb. Grabbing the sieve, I dived down and fished it out, then called my partner over. “Can you have a better look at this and see what it is? I think it’s some kind of root, but I can’t really see it properly.” My long, wet hair was obscuring my vision and I was trying to keep the sieve above water.

“It’s a spider,” she said. “A gigantic spider!” (It was gigantic — around 8-9cm across!) I’m lucky enough to be married to someone with a fascination for creepy-crawlies; with a smile, she deposited the dead spider in a jar for later examination and then joined me in the pool. Continue reading →

The Bone-house Wasp

07 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by in Arthropods, Hymenoptera, Insects

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The newly discovered Bone-house wasp, Deuteragenia ossarium, builds a unique nest for its young. Unlike species which excavate their own nests, D. ossarium belongs to a group of nest-building wasps which use existing cavities, such as abandoned galleries of wood-boring beetles, as nest sites. Female wasps abandon their nests after sealing their brood within; they don’t care for their young or offer any protection beyond what the nest provides. The nest consists of a few brood-containing cells and an outer ‘vestibular’ cell — an entryway — which probably serves as a defensive barrier. The vestibule is usually empty, but researchers surveying nests in southeast China found a surprise in some of the entry halls — they were full of ant corpses. The team reared the brood from the nests and discovered a new wasp species, which they named after the striking ossuaries found in some parts of the world.
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