science

Open Access to Scientific papers … the pressure is growing

by

The academic rebellion initiated by Cambridge mathematician Tim Gowers is growing in strength. First a bit of context. The Victorian model of academic publishing has become obsolete because of the Internet and so historical momentum is the only reason these publishers continue to own and profit from researchers’ copyrights, review work and editorial efforts. If … Read more

Liberating Science

by

There is some really encouraging news in the Guardian today concerning the highly annoying pay-walls that lock a lot of very interesting things away. In a pre-internet era it all made sense. Various publishers took responsibility for the printing and distribution of credible peer-reviewed journals. That obviously involved costs, so they charge, and of course … Read more

Gods as Topological Invariants

by

A very interesting paper is available from the Cornell University Library entitled “Gods as Topological Invariants“. The abstract reads … We show that the number of gods in a universe must equal the Euler characteristics of its underlying manifold. By incorporating the classical cosmological argument for creation, this result builds a bridge between theology and … Read more

Unintelligent design … the debate continues

by

As a parody of “Intelligent design”, Keith Gilmour, a UK-based secondary school teacher set up a website called “The Centre for Unintelligent design” last year. In response Creationists have been popping up and scribbling a few daft claims to him to put him right … except what they are claiming is simply making them look even sillier … Read more

It is Pi day today

by

Not only is today Pi day, but right now the time is Pi. Are you thinking ???. OK … pi = 3.14159…. but you knew that (unlike the folks from Indiana in 1897). Today is 14th March, or to use the US format … 3.14 … and right now (as I publish this, it is … Read more

Exit mobile version