Pacific Standard July-August 2013 Cover

The Physics of NASCAR

December 21, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
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WHO: Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, racecar researcher at West Viriginia University WHAT: Breaks down the physics of racing, from the heat-resistant properties of drivers’ suits, to the aerodynamics of their cars, to what makes them crash. http://youtu.be/JI67VpLf4_8 WHY: “I used to be one of those people who thought, ‘Why would anyone want to watch cars going in circles?’” Then, while channel-flipping one day, Leslie-Pelecky came across a NASCAR race just as a car skidded out and slammed into a wall—for no apparent reason. Intrigued, she started trying to figure out what had ... Read More

More like this: January-February 2013
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The Physics of Terror

September 9, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The Physics of Terror

Last summer, physicist Aaron Clauset was telling a group of undergraduates who were touring the Santa Fe Institute about the unexpected mathematical symmetries he had found while studying global terrorist attacks over the past four decades. Their professor made a comment that brought Clauset up short. "He was surprised that I could think about such a morbid topic in such a dry, scientific way," Clauset recalls. "And I hadn't even thought about that. It was just ... I think in some ways, in order to do this, you have to separate yourself from the emotional aspects of it." If the professor's ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, January-February 2011, Magazine Feature Story, Science
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Race Ball: Our National Pastime?

March 16, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment

Although half a century has passed since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, a suspicion has persisted that white fans are less than enthusiastic about rooting for black players. Among scholars, this belief can be traced to a pair of studies — one from the early 1970s, another from the early 1980s — that found an average attendance drop of 5 to 10 percent for games with an African-American starting pitcher. In a paper published in December, economist Philip Hersch of Wichita State University revisited the same question using a much larger data set, ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, March-April 2009, Research in Summary
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The Enduring Mystery of the Higgs Boson

October 22, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment

For an entity some consider the contemporary equivalent of the Holy Grail, it has an unassuming, vaguely nerdy name: the Higgs boson. Some years back, a profit-seeking publisher dubbed it “The God Particle.” Documentary filmmakers Clayton Brown and Monica Long Ross avoid that sort of overstatement in The Atom Smashers, their lively look at a group of physicist/detectives. Finding the boson — a specific type of subatomic particle — will not be like seeing the face of God. It will, however, suggest we’re starting to grasp how His mind works. The existence of the Higgs boson would ... Read More

More like this: Media, Science, Science & Environment, Views Reviews and Interviews
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