By Stephanie Sunata, Medill Reports
It sits about two miles above sea level on an icy shelf at the most southern part of the globe. It probes microwaves from the farthest points in space. It surveys the southern sky and scientists hope it will help answer some of the universe’s biggest questions.
The South Pole telescope is one of the pivotal tools scientists use to study the universe. It explores the enigmas of dark energy and was the topic of cosmologist John Carlstrom’s recent public presentation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Continue reading “The Big Bang – View from the South Pole”
By Ted Gregory, Chicago Tribune
Some call the collaboration between the Art Institute and Argonne National Laboratory “Picasso CSI.”
It lacks a heart-pounding chase scene of a TV drama, though, and nothing explodes in flames. But there is a love story, cutting-edge science and a piece of equipment likened to the gun of adventurer Lara Croft, tomb raider in a tight outfit. And there’s eBay.
The end remains unwritten, but the partnership has produced an answer to a heated topic that has vexed the art world for decades: Pablo Picasso was the first artist to use common house paint in his work and spread that practice widely, Argonne said.
Continue reading “Physicists and X-ray help solve Picasso mystery”
By Adam Frank
I just wanted to pass a long a conversation I had last week when I gave a talk at the Chicago Council on Science & Technology. After I was done giving a presentation on my book, (in a beautiful auditorium on the Chicago campus of Northwestern University), a young man approached me. Rather than ask a question about string theory or my philosophy of science, he quite articulately described why he was happy to have found 13.7 Cosmos and Culture.
“The comments,” he said. “They are so thoughtful and civil.”
I could not agree more. When I go to other sites associated with well-trafficked media outlets and read the comments it can, sometimes, make me fear for humanity. But as the young gentleman observed, the comments on this blog are (in general) thoughtful, respectful, incisive and sometimes very, very funny. I learn a great deal from the commenters to these posts and it’s clear others do too.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air” said the young man before he left. “There is so much hostility everywhere. It’s great to see a place where there’s an actual conversation happening”.
True that.
Thanks everyone.
