MOSART Tests
The MOSART tests are designed to measure understanding of science concepts. The name, MOSART, stands for:
Misconceptions-Oriented Standards-based Assessment Resources for Teachers
Can You Spot the Real Outlier? by Eileen Pollack
At the Solvay Conference on Physics in 1927, the attendees included Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Niels Bohr - and just one woman (Marie Curie). Almost 90 years later, why does science remain so much of an old boys' club?
Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration
A moon-walker is suffering from visions. His proposed human-centered space exploration scheme would divert resources to adventure from science.
Scientists confirm new element 115 after atoms collide
Scientists in Sweden confirm new element 115 after atoms collide. Check out this CNN clip for information about the most recently discovered element #115.
Life's Ratchet: How Molecular Machines Extract Order From Chaos
Peter Hoffman is a physicist and materials scientist, and he brings those perspectives and sensibilities to the description of how life converts chemical energy into order and motion. The "Ratchet" in the title is Feynman's Ratchet, a gedanken experiment described in Feynman's "Lectures on Physics" and reminiscent of Maxwell's Demon.
Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines
In an attempt to get at least a little discussion of science policy into the Obama-McCain campaign of 2008, Richard Muller wrote "Physics for Future Presidents" and offered a popular course at UC Berkeley with the same title. While nearly all of the issues he raised were ignored by the campaigns and during the subsequent four years, he has returned with a book focused just on energy science and related issues.
God's Universe
Owen Gingerich is author of The Book Nobody Read, and an article about Kepler in Physics Today that I have recommended in the past.
Why is Pioneer Slowing?
The fact that spacecrafts Pioneer 10 and 11 are not moving quite as fast as they were predicted to, has led to speculation that there might be something wrong with general relativity. Einstein may be dead, but his concepts still reign.
A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos
I enjoyed so much Dava Sobel's previous books, "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter" (both of which were Hal's Picks), that I was eager to read her latest, which was judged "best science book" for Fall, 2011 by Publisher's Weekly.
The Joy of Teaching and Writing Conceptual Physics
Paul Hewitt may be the best-known physics teacher in the US. Not only has he written outstanding books for the teaching of physics and physical science, he is also the author of the very popular monthly "Figuring Physics" column of The Physics Teacher.