So last week I finally got out to Green Bank, West Virginia, to do some field work on our array, PAPER, or the Precision Array to Probe the Epoch of Reionization. It’s quite nice to run around outside and work on something physical to jumpstart your brain after being zombied-out in front of your computer.Continue reading “Marking the PAPER Trail”
Author Archives: Nicole G
Reflections on the Goal of College
Yesterday’s “Afternoon Inquisition” on Skepchick brought up a very interesting topic that I had relegated to the back-burner of my mind for some time now. MasalaSkeptic asked, “Is college worth it? What are the factors that make it worthwhile?” That’s a huge question with lots of individualized answers. Obviously, I’m interested in working in anContinue reading “Reflections on the Goal of College”
Happy Darwin Day!
Today we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the biologist (or naturalist, in those days) who first proposed that all species evolved from a common ancestor through natural selection. Today, we see evidence of evolution all around us, and natural selection is the explanation that is most well supported by thisContinue reading “Happy Darwin Day!”
URSI Update #3 – SETI
Since it’s been a month since my conference, I think that this will be the last in my series of round-ups from the National Radio Sciences Meeting in Boulder last month. And this time, I’m going to stray away from mainstream science into something slightly out there but totally cool – the Search for ExtraterrestrialContinue reading “URSI Update #3 – SETI”
Back in CVille!
In case you didn’t know, on a United flight back to Charlottesville from DC, the little prop plane can easily be overweight if too many passengers have reserved seats. And, if they don’t get volunteers to take the next flight 5 hours later, they will start choosing the lowest fare paying passengers to hold backContinue reading “Back in CVille!”
VLBA Sees a Beefier Milky Way
If you’ve been paying attention to the great astronomy news coming out of the AAS meeting in Long Beach, you would know that astronomers have more accurately determined the speed of rotation and size of the Milky Way Galaxy. It seems that now, our spiral home is as massive as our nearest neighbor, the AndromedaContinue reading “VLBA Sees a Beefier Milky Way”
URSI Update #1
Greetings all! I’ve been having a busy, fun, and stimulating time here at the Nat’l Radio Sciences Meeting of URSI in Boulder, CO. The mountains are gorgeous, the skies are clear, and the radio astronomy is diverse and exciting! I’ve been spending all my time in J commission, which is dedicated to the astronomy sideContinue reading “URSI Update #1”
The Scientist appreciates Art
A few days ago, I went to the Museum of Modern Art with some friends and had a fantabulous time! I’ve known these two since we were froshies in college. One majored in theatre, the other in art and marketing. So the scientist was among people of culture, and I love learning from them. (TheContinue reading “The Scientist appreciates Art”
Geomagnetic Reversal
I received a text message from a family member yesterday asking “Did you ever hear of the polar shift?” Intrigued, I replied that I did, and guessing where this was going, added that, no, we were not in for a doomsday event in the near future. Today, I was able to follow up with aContinue reading “Geomagnetic Reversal”
Seeing Extrasolar Planets, Part I: Fomalhaut b
A little while ago the first images of exoplanets were released and caused quite a stir in the astronomical community, as well as on the blogosphere! Here at UVa, like good little grad students, we read and discussed the discovery papers shortly after they were released. I read the papers and took notes of ourContinue reading “Seeing Extrasolar Planets, Part I: Fomalhaut b”