Fine Structure

March 2008 Link Archives

SpaceShipTwo

Popular Mechanics has some nice shots of Scaled Composites' SpaceShipTwo being built at their hanger in Mojave.

Dynamic Periodic Table

How useful! An awesome, browsable periodic table on the web.

Thou Shalt Have Three Generations

This is a really fine post about the three generations of quarks. I wish I understood it more deeply but even the more basic parts are fascinating.

Expelled!

I wouldn't be a good science blogger if I didn't post this link. It's got everything; suspense, mystery, humor and creationists.

Astrium Space Tourism

UT has a story on a space tourism as envisioned by Astrium. The story links to a BBC video of how they expect flights to be. I can't wait to go to space!

Beer vs Publications

"I'm afraid we can't hire you. Your beer-to-publication ratio is way too high for our institution."

Unscientific

A short, poignant comic about Mythbusters denialists. With Zombie Feynman cameo.

Orion Module Testing

The first launch-abort tests for a full-size, full-weight model of the Orion crew module start soon on the White Sands Missile Range. Additionally, there are some really great quality photos of the fake Orion module under construction from NASA here.

Brain Enhancement Drugs

Interesting article and survey by NYT on the use of brain enhancement drugs, mostly around academia. More to say about this later.

Is The Standard Model Doomed?

Tomaso reviews two papers that claim doom for the standard model. I don't quite understand everything he's saying here but the parts I do understand are fascinating. Also, plenty of (what looks like) interesting commentary below the post.

Richard Feynman Needs His Orange Juice

Burning question: pulp or no pulp?