Yesterday afternoon I visited Westmead Hospital and talked to a couple of psychiatrists on the use of electromagnetic fields in treating certain conditions. Treatments like the controversial but effective electroconvulsive therapy for depression, and transcranial magnetic stimulation for Parkinson’s and stroke, are becoming well used. However, there is little understanding of why they work. It’s a case […]
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Experiments with known answers
Earlier this week I read through a student’s work placement report. Our engineering students all go out on two work placements over the course of their study with us, and need to provide reports on these. I was slightly amused to read about the student’s views on the novel experience of doing experiments where you […]
Continue readingGetting the facts straight
On Saturday night my wife and I went down to Te Awamutu to watch ‘Sherlock Holmes’ – there being no cinema in Cambridge 🙁 It was a moderately naff piece of film – more James Bond than Sherlock Holmes – though quite suitable for some mindless Saturday night entertainment so long as you were prepared […]
Continue readingWas that a Higgs I just saw?
Well, CERN was certainly twittering away last night, though, to be fair, I’m glad I didn’t stay up for the press conference. Some things are worth trading in your sleep for, such as an eclipse of the moon (occasionally) or other astronomical event, an Ashes test, a Royal Wedding (just about), but, I’m afraid, not […]
Continue readingWhen is my result incorrect?
I’ve been talking today with a PhD student about some measurements he’s made in the lab. In physics, like all sciences, when we measure something we don’t just make one measurement, but we measure it several times. That way you get a more accurate result. Now, with most physical measurements, we expect there to be […]
Continue readingComputer modelling of aircraft boarding
I love this article I came across on the BBC website this weekend. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14717695 As someone who’s travelled on a lot of planes, I can fully understand the motivation to study methods of boarding a plane. Traditionally, boarding is done in this sequence: 1. Those needing special assistance (e.g. those for whom walking is difficult) […]
Continue readingTrouble of enormous magnitude
We have a problem brewing in the lab. Recently, we (by which I mean a PhD student or two and a researcher) moved into a new lab. As part of our research we are recording electrophysiological signals (electricity produced by living cells). These are pretty small, often in the microvolt region (a millionth of a […]
Continue readingMomentum conservation
It’s mid-semester break here at Waikato so I have time to breathe and get back to things other than teaching, such as seeing what the PhD students are up to. Yay. But, here’s a comment about what I was talking about last week with the first year students: conservation of momentum. If you look in […]
Continue readingTurning into physicists…
There were a couple of moments in the first-year lab yesterday that made me want to despair: The first one: Student: My magnetic field doesn’t change when I increase the current Me, seeing what the problem is: How do you connect an ammeter in a circuit? Student: In series. Um…oh, hang on…we’ve done parallel, haven’t […]
Continue readingThe dangers of reflective blogging
Friday morning saw me doing my usual Friday-morning-thing, namely work on my PGCert Tertiary Teaching portfolios. (I’ve put in a recurring appointment in my calendar every Friday morning for this semester so I actually get down to doing this task.) As part of this, I’ve been pulling together relevant blog entries on my teaching experiences. […]
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