I’ve recently been asked to participate in a ‘cafe scientifique’ event looking at the relative achievements of Darwin and Galileo. For those who don’t know, 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th of the publication of ‘Origin of the Species’ (how very thoughtful it was of him to arrange that both […]
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Attractive scenery
This story might be apocryphal; I haven’t been able to verify it, but it is certainly plausible. Mount Egmont National Park forms almost a perfect circle around Mount Taranaki. Given its status, its bush remains intact, unlike the rest of Taranaki. You get a great view of this dark green circle with a mountain poking […]
Continue readingWhat’s in a name?
Since I’m talking about the Large Hadron Collider, I should tell you what a hadron is. Put simply, it’s something that feels the strong nuclear force. Clear? Probably not, so let ‘s explain.
Continue readingReflections on reflections
My four-year old niece from Otago phoned her grandmother in Bay of Plenty: "Grandma, do you have reflections in the North Island?" "I think so dear, why?" "Well, find a spoon and have a look." Now, I think it most likely that niece was intruiged by the right-way-up / upside-down reflections from the convex and concave […]
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