Category Archives: Philosophy of Science

Is there any such thing as “nothing”?

Posted on 12/05/2013 by

That’s a question I got on twitter just now after the Feynman gig from @elainepixie. I said (broken down into 140 character chunks): One definition of “nothing” is “vacuum”, by which physicists mean “lowest energy state”. That exists. But in … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Philosophy of Science, Physics, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

Rumours of the Higgs at ATLAS

Posted on 24/04/2011 by

At The Guardian.

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Having the Higgs in the room

Posted on 22/04/2011 by

Also at The Guardian It is a beautiful thing that Peter Higgs did. He took a very complicated description of reality that explained some things so well it could not be ignored, and utterly failed to explain other things, things … Continue reading →

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When A times B isn’t B times A

Posted on 29/01/2011 by

Paul Dirac: The Matrix has you. At The Guardian.

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Weak gravitational lensing and weak arguments

Posted on 23/01/2011 by

Bending of light by dark matter is a vital observational tool in cosmology. So if you are going to use cosmology to accuse financial institutions of a “blind faith in maths”, you might at least google it first. At The … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Cosmology, Philosophy of Science, Science | Tagged ,

Boredom: symmetry, god and x-factor

Posted on 27/11/2010 by

Also at The Guardian. I gather that my last post wasn’t very popular- I emailed it to my mother and she emailed me back with a story about Benedict Cumberbatch (it was a good one) and thanks for the advent … Continue reading →

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God, Stephen Hawking and M-Theory

Posted on 03/09/2010 by

At The Guardian PS “Speak My Brains”, hat-tip to the Day Today.

Posted in Cosmology, Philosophy of Science, Physics, Science | Tagged , , , ,

Dreamt of in your philosophy

Posted on 16/03/2010 by

I strive to retain respect for philosophy and philosophers, really I do. Some of my best friends are philosophers. I’d hate to dismiss a whole area of intellectual endeavour as a sterile playground for clever wasters creating and demolishing pointless … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Philosophy of Science, Science | 13 Comments