Experimenting with an electric fence...
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Image guidance, the way forward for radiotherapy
Uwe Oelfke from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, explains how image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) can address one of the key challenges in modern radiotherapy – namely how to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to a tumour while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. The problem is that radiotherapy generally involves directing an invisible beam at an invisible tumour, based on patient images acquired prior to the treatment. Oelfke explains how IGRT involves acquiring additional images of the patient in the treatment position, immediately before or during radiation treatment, ensuring that the beam is precisely targeted at the tumour.
Theory of Everything: What is Matter?
What is matter, anyway? What does it have to do with math? And why aren't you made of Jesus? Delving deeper into the theory of (almost) everything - the Standard Model of particle physics.
Other Minute Physics videos
Other Minute Physics videos
Monday 27 February 2012
Lec 1 | MIT 8.03 Vibrations and Waves, Fall 2004
With Walter Lewin.
Periodic Phenomena (Oscillations, Waves) - SHO - Complex Notation - Differential Equations - Physical Pendulum.
Periodic Phenomena (Oscillations, Waves) - SHO - Complex Notation - Differential Equations - Physical Pendulum.
Sunday 26 February 2012
Jets in viscous bubbles
When a large bubble is introduced in a fluid, a jet can develop in the bubble. This jet can be strong enough to perforate the bubble and shoot out above the free surface. This video presents the studied system from a purely artistic point of view, the experimental sequences are presented using a soundtrack from the band "Team Ghost".
More info
More info
Spinning Water
If a tank of water is spun around a vertical axis, the surface of the water takes a curved shape. In this experiment, a thin tank of water is spun at up to 270 revolutions per minute, filmed at both 30 frames per seconds and 300 fps.
I'll add the folloup videos when they become available.
I'll add the folloup videos when they become available.
Saturday 25 February 2012
Molecular imaging
Interview with Simon Cherry from the University of California, incoming editor-in-chief of the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology.
Cherry focuses on the benefits of "molecular imaging", which can pinpoint the biochemical and molecular changes that accompany the very early stages of chronic diseases such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. As Cherry explains, such information is impossible to obtain with traditional clinical-imaging techniques such as X-ray or MRI, which largely reveal structural changes in the human body.
Cherry also explains how the Cerenkov effect – a well-established physical phenomenon – is now being exploited within the medical arena. The effect occurs when certain radionuclides, in addition to emitting gamma rays, also give off charged particles that, temporarily at least, travel through tissue faster than light in that medium. The particles emit characteristic "Cerenkov radiation" that can be used for imaging purposes. "Cerenkov luminescence imaging" is particularly useful for radionuclides such as yttrium-90 that do not emit any gamma rays and so are not easy to image by other means.
Friday 24 February 2012
Lecture 2 | Modern Physics: Classical Mechanics (Stanford)
Lecture 2 of Leonard Susskind's Modern Physics course concentrating on Classical Mechanics. Recorded October 22, 2007 at Stanford University. This Stanford Continuing Studies course is the first of a six-quarter sequence of classes exploring the essential theoretical foundations of modern physics. The topics covered in this course focus on classical mechanics. Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch Professor of Physics at Stanford University.
Conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, finding the local minima of a function, principle of least time, principle of least action, lagrangian.
Other lectures from this course
Conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, finding the local minima of a function, principle of least time, principle of least action, lagrangian.
Other lectures from this course
Thursday 23 February 2012
Fire Syringe
When air is compressed very quickly, it can reach high temperatures. In this demonstration we show how cotton wool can reach the point of auto-ignition by quick compression of air in the fire syringe.
Other Veritasium videos
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Beate Heinemann: The Quest for the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider
Beate Heinemann presents a public talk at UC Berkeley on January 21st, 2012, as part of the Science@Cal Lecture Series. She describes the LHC and its experiments, the relevance of the Higgs boson and the current state of the experimental searches.
Other Science@Cal lectures
Other Science@Cal lectures
Monday 20 February 2012
TEDxPhoenix - Lucianne Walkowicz - Look Up for a Change
In her TEDxPhoenix 11.11.11 TEDxTalk, Lucianne Walkowicz explains the importance of preserving our dark night sky from the perils of light pollution and other lesser-known factors. In Lucianne's eyes, "Our night sky is a natural resource, it's like a park you can visit without ever having to travel there. But like any natural resource, if we don't protect it, if we don't preserve it and treasure it, it will slip away from us and be gone."
Other TED Talks
Other TED Talks
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 15
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002
Professor Walter Lewin
Ampere's Law, solenoids, Kelvin water dropper.
Other lectures from the same course
Professor Walter Lewin
Ampere's Law, solenoids, Kelvin water dropper.
Other lectures from the same course
Sunday 19 February 2012
Theory of Everything (intro)
A brief intro to the current theory of (almost) everything - the Standard Model of particle physics. It's like cake, only universal.
Other Minute Physics videos
Other Minute Physics videos
Newton's Cradle with a High-Speed Video Camera
Footage of a Newton's Cradle toy, shot at 300 frames per second.
Saturday 18 February 2012
Pi - Sixty Symbols
It's more of a maths symbol, but crucial to physics too... So by popular demand, we've had a look at pi (but in Professor Eaves' unique way).
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Thursday 16 February 2012
Modern Physics: Classical Mechanics (Stanford) Lecture 1
Lecture 1 of Leonard Susskind's Modern Physics course concentrating on Classical Mechanics. Recorded October 15, 2007 at Stanford University.
This Stanford Continuing Studies course is the first of a six-quarter sequence of classes exploring the essential theoretical foundations of modern physics. The topics covered in this course focus on classical mechanics.
Phase space, determinism, conservation laws.
Other lectures from this course
This Stanford Continuing Studies course is the first of a six-quarter sequence of classes exploring the essential theoretical foundations of modern physics. The topics covered in this course focus on classical mechanics.
Phase space, determinism, conservation laws.
Other lectures from this course
Wednesday 15 February 2012
Nano - Sixty Symbols
The world's most powerful microscopes are similar to old-fashioned record players.
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Bill Doyle: Treating cancer with electric fields
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the best-known methods for treating cancer. At TEDMED, Bill Doyle presents a new approach, called Tumor Treating Fields, which uses electric fields to interrupt cancer cell division. Still in its infancy -- and approved for only certain types of cancer -- the treatment comes with one big benefit: quality of life.
Other TED Talks
Other TED Talks
Tuesday 14 February 2012
CERN News - LHC to run at 4 TeV per beam in 2012
The LHC will run with a beam energy of 4 TeV this year, 0.5 TeV higher than in 2010 and 2011. This decision was taken by CERN management following the annual performance workshop held in Chamonix last week and a report delivered today by the external CERN Machine Advisory Committee (CMAC). It is accompanied by a strategy to optimise LHC running to deliver the maximum possible amount of data in 2012 before the LHC goes into a long shutdown to prepare for higher energy running. The data target for 2012 is 15 inverse femtobarns for ATLAS and CMS, three times higher than in 2011. Bunch spacing in the LHC will remain at 50 nanoseconds.
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 14
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002
Biot-Savart Law, the Leyden Jar revisited, high-voltage power lines.
Other lectures from the same course
Professor Walter Lewin
Biot-Savart Law, the Leyden Jar revisited, high-voltage power lines.
Other lectures from the same course
Monday 13 February 2012
Interview with Murray Gell-Mann at CERN
Interview with Murray Gell-Mann at CERN on 23.01.2012.
Gell-Mann talks about CERN, Higgs, electroweak theory, supersymmetry.
Gell-Mann talks about CERN, Higgs, electroweak theory, supersymmetry.
Sunday 12 February 2012
Yale: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics, Lecture 24
Professor Bailyn begins the class with a discussion of a recent New York Times article about the discovery of a new, earth-like planet. He then discusses concepts such as epicycles, dark energy and dark matter; imaginary ideas invented to explain 96% of the universe. The Anthropic Principle is introduced and the possibility of the multiverse is addressed. Finally, biological arguments are put forth for how complexity occurs on a cosmological scale. The lecture and course conclude with a discussion on the fine differences between science and philosophy.
Other lectures from this course
Other lectures from this course
Saturday 11 February 2012
Infinity - Sixty Symbols
It's a concept which intrigues mathematicians, but scientists aren't so keen on it.
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Thursday 9 February 2012
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Where Did The Earth Come From?
Do we take the Earth for granted? It gives us life and sustains us in the manner we're accustomed to, but we don't know the first thing about it: like where did it come from? And how did it form? Most people recognize that the Earth has a big explosion in its history, which they refer to descriptively as the 'Big Bang.' But there are two very good reasons why the Big Bang is not directly responsible for forming the Earth: 1) It happened 13.7 billion years ago. That's more than 9 billion years before the Earth formed (what happened during that time?), and 2) After the Big Bang the universe consisted of only Hydrogen and Helium - not great raw material for building the Earth. The truth is the big bang formed stars, which exploded and then (perhaps) formed more stars, which exploded and then formed our solar system, including the Earth. The early stars performed the vital role of making the heavier elements of which Earth is composed and we are made.
Other Veritasium videos
Other Veritasium videos
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 13
MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002
Moving Charges in B-fields, cyclotron, synchrotron, mass spectrometer, cloud chamber.
Other lectures from the same course
Professor Walter Lewin
Moving Charges in B-fields, cyclotron, synchrotron, mass spectrometer, cloud chamber.
Other lectures from the same course
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing
Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding.
Other TED Talks
Other TED Talks
Flow Visualization
National Committee for Fluids Mechanics Films.
With Stephen J. Kline, Stanford University.
Film notes.
Other videos from this series
With Stephen J. Kline, Stanford University.
Film notes.
Other videos from this series
Monday 6 February 2012
Sunday 5 February 2012
Theremin - Sixty Symbols
If ever a musical instrument was designed for physicists, it was this one.
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Yale: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics, Lecture 23
ASTR 160 - Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics
Professor Charles Bailyn
Spring 2007
Source: Yale University, Open Yale Courses
Reasons for the expansion of the universe are addressed at the start of this lecture, focusing especially on the acceleration of dark energy. Supernovae were the first evidence for the existence of dark energy. Two other proofs are presented. The first is the Cosmic Microwave Background, which is a form of electromagnetic radiation that is perfectly smooth and equal in all directions. It firmly supports the Big Bang theory. Projects attempting to measure it, such as COBE and WMAP, are discussed. Secondly, Large-Scale Clustering is introduced: by measuring the degree of clustering, astronomers hope to advance their understanding of dark energy and dark matter. Computer simulations of the evolution of the universe are shown.
Other lectures from this course
Professor Charles Bailyn
Spring 2007
Source: Yale University, Open Yale Courses
Reasons for the expansion of the universe are addressed at the start of this lecture, focusing especially on the acceleration of dark energy. Supernovae were the first evidence for the existence of dark energy. Two other proofs are presented. The first is the Cosmic Microwave Background, which is a form of electromagnetic radiation that is perfectly smooth and equal in all directions. It firmly supports the Big Bang theory. Projects attempting to measure it, such as COBE and WMAP, are discussed. Secondly, Large-Scale Clustering is introduced: by measuring the degree of clustering, astronomers hope to advance their understanding of dark energy and dark matter. Computer simulations of the evolution of the universe are shown.
Other lectures from this course
Saturday 4 February 2012
Plus or Minus - Sixty Symbols
Margins of error, the psychology of science and the centre of our galaxy.
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Other Sixty Symbols videos
Friday 3 February 2012
Thursday 2 February 2012
Innovation and Achievement in Theoretical Physics: Leo Kadanoff's Newton Lecture
Professor Leo Kadanoff, winner of the 2011 Isaac Newton Medal, gave this lecture on Friday 13 January at the Institute of Physics (IOP) in London just one day before his 75th birthday..
The Isaac Newton Medal, which was established in 2008 and is the Institute’s most prestigious award, was given to Professor Kadanoff in 2011 for inventing conceptual tools that reveal the deep implications of scale invariance on the behaviour of phase transitions and dynamical systems.
As Professor Kadanoff explains, “In 1965-71, a group of people, myself included, formulated and perfected a new approach to physics problems, under the names of scaling, universality and renormalization.
“This work became the basis of a wide variety of theories ranging from particle physics and relativity, through condensed matter physics, and into economics and biology.”
He says, “This work [on scaling, universality and renormalization] was of transcendental beauty and of considerable intellectual importance but it left me with a personal problem. What next? Constructing the answer to that question would dominate the next 45 years of my professional life.”
In his lecture, Professor Kadanoff explains how he conceptualises his own work pattern – by breaking his work up into three parts – to ensure the greatest scientific benefits.
Professor Kadanoff describes these three parts as, firstly, helping to broaden the definition of physics by working at the boundaries of the subject; secondly, ensuring that physics knowledge is used to inform discussion of the major problems of our day; and, lastly, helping colleagues via critical assessment of their work to aid advancement.
In these three endeavours, Professor Kadanoff’s work has influenced urban growth, intelligent design, large-scale computer simulations, superconductivity, redefining how models can be used in condensed matter physics, and disorder, turbulence and chaos in physical systems.
The Isaac Newton Medal, which was established in 2008 and is the Institute’s most prestigious award, was given to Professor Kadanoff in 2011 for inventing conceptual tools that reveal the deep implications of scale invariance on the behaviour of phase transitions and dynamical systems.
As Professor Kadanoff explains, “In 1965-71, a group of people, myself included, formulated and perfected a new approach to physics problems, under the names of scaling, universality and renormalization.
“This work became the basis of a wide variety of theories ranging from particle physics and relativity, through condensed matter physics, and into economics and biology.”
He says, “This work [on scaling, universality and renormalization] was of transcendental beauty and of considerable intellectual importance but it left me with a personal problem. What next? Constructing the answer to that question would dominate the next 45 years of my professional life.”
In his lecture, Professor Kadanoff explains how he conceptualises his own work pattern – by breaking his work up into three parts – to ensure the greatest scientific benefits.
Professor Kadanoff describes these three parts as, firstly, helping to broaden the definition of physics by working at the boundaries of the subject; secondly, ensuring that physics knowledge is used to inform discussion of the major problems of our day; and, lastly, helping colleagues via critical assessment of their work to aid advancement.
In these three endeavours, Professor Kadanoff’s work has influenced urban growth, intelligent design, large-scale computer simulations, superconductivity, redefining how models can be used in condensed matter physics, and disorder, turbulence and chaos in physical systems.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Rutherford's big discovery – 100 years later
In 1911 the New-Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford published a paper that was to revolutionize science. Rutherford's famous alpha-particle scattering experiment transformed our understanding of the atom and it inspired the new areas of physics including the theory of quantum mechanics.
The pioneering work was carried out at the University of Manchester where Rutherford held the Chair of Physics for 12 years. To mark the centenary of these landmark experiments, the university hosted a special week-long conference in August 2011. The event was organized by the UK's Institute of Physics.
The pioneering work was carried out at the University of Manchester where Rutherford held the Chair of Physics for 12 years. To mark the centenary of these landmark experiments, the university hosted a special week-long conference in August 2011. The event was organized by the UK's Institute of Physics.
One-Dimensional Motion in Zero Gravity
Two masses linked by a spring. Demonstrations of Newton's Laws of Motion performed on NASA's "Weightless Wonder" Aircraft, August 2010.
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