Whether it be from just generally being awesome or for research into the early history of the universe, it’s a hot time for Berkeley professors to get their 15 minutes.

Two Berkeley physics professors, George Smoot and Paul Richards, recently won awards for their contributions to physics teaching and research, respectively.

Richards’ work included organizing MAXIMA, or the “Millimeter Anisotropy eXperiment IMaging Array” (naturally), and figuring out the geometry of the universe is basically Euclidean. Good news, guys, the Pythagorean theorem still works!

Smoot received the Oersted Medal, awarded by the American Association of Physics Teachers, and comes with $10,000. Along with two other researchers, Richards shares the Dan David Prize and the $1 million that comes with it.

We take our invisible-yet-quite-massive dark matter hats off to you, gentlemen.

Paul Richards, George Smoot honored for astrophysics research and teaching [NewsCenter]

… Except it has nothing to do with Batman or sonar. OK, so the title is wildly misleading, but a partnership between UC Berkeley and Nokia has managed to develop a technology that uses cell phones to monitor and surveil real-time traffic flow.

As drivers go tankin’ around town, GPS data will periodically (rather, whenever the cell phone crosses certain arbitrary lines) and anonymously be sent to a faceless and soulless set of servers. The data, which might include velocity, jerk, capacitance or heat flux density—or not—will then be integrated with a high-tech traffic model that might consist solely of red dots and green dots on a giant CRT monitor. Or it might not.

Fancy equations—probably with lots of greek letters, upside-down triangles and no equality signs—will then estimate the traffic flow around you. Because, you know, you can’t gauge traffic using your eyes.

Interested wannabe participants should keep in mind the vast quantities of information, which could go up to hundreds of bits, necessitate some sort of unlimited data plan.

The Clog hopefully sees this project culminating in the creation of user-friendly, British English-speaking cell phones that politely suggest or dissuade their users from switching lanes to beat the rush. But won’t everyone be doing that?

Image Source: cordydan under Creative Commons
UC Berkeley, Nokia turn mobile phones into traffic probes [PhysOrg]
Mobile Millenium [Site]

It seems the controversial statements were

The misconception that one always has to choose between science and religion is incorrect. Of course, some religious beliefs explicitly contradict science (e.g., the belief that the world and all life on it was created in six literal days); however, most religious groups have no conflict with the theory of evolution or other scientific findings. In fact, many religious people, including theologians, feel that a deeper understanding of nature actually enriches their faith. Moreover, in the scientific community there are thousands of scientists who are devoutly religious and also accept evolution.

as well as a side link to several religious groups’ statements concerning evolution. The question, however, is whether that constitutes an endorsement of specific religions at the expense of others.

The Clog hopes that linking to some sites doesn’t entail an endorsement, because that would be terrible. Lucky for us, the appeals court’s decision upheld common sense. Phew!

In particular, the court found that the injured parties, offended by the informational site, weren’t actually offended or injured … or at least couldn’t prove being offended was actually, you know, worth anything (legally).

Thus continues every American’s right to be offended by factual statements!

Image Source: Richard Fannin under Creative Commons
Court tosses local couple’s evolution suit [Press-Tribune]

A Berkeley researcher, working with a University of Michigan psychologist, has discovered the secret to feeling better when you’re down. His suggestion? Think of thermometers: “When negative emotions become overwhelming, simply dial the emotional temperature down a bit in order to think about the problem rationally and clearly.”

For those who didn’t understand the scientastic technobabbular doowackness, analyzing one’s emotions from a “distant,” detached perspective has shown to be effective in studies. Apparently some eastern philosophical schools have known this for, like, ever, so props if you’re a practicing meditator.

If you’re interested, the study itself involved participants recalling an emotionally devastating experience with varying degrees of detachedness, from reliving the experience to having their thought process interrupted by unrelated facts like “Sherlock Holmes doesn’t exist, but he wears a hat.” It’s science!

Image Source: Camera Capers under Creative Commons
Step back to move forward emotionally, study suggests [Science Centric]
Earlier: How To: Prevent Pesky Food Thieves

Berkeley teachers, that is. PZ Meyers and the Daily Planet tell us an elementary school teacher at the Berkeley Unified School District, to the shock and awe of many students, told her class that neither Harry Potter, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny are real. But God is.

Apparently, the third grade teacher then told her classroom she didn’t believe in evolutionary theory or the Big Bang, which understandably brought many of her 8-year-old wards to tears. Being told that a fat bearded man doesn’t break into your house once a year as well as that any population’s gene pool does not undergo beneficial change over time would be enough to make anyone scared and upset.

No word as to whether the district will pursue disciplinary action against the teacher, though. On the bright side, it could have been worse—she wasn’t, for example, promoting Prosperity theology.

Image Source: Sweet One under Creative Commons
Berkeley notices a creationist [Pharyngula]
Parents Say Teacher Espoused Creationism [Daily Planet]

We are, of course, referring to the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, a probe whose principal investigator is a Berkeley scientist working with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

As we understand it, the survey measures the “distribution” of galaxies throughout the universe in a way that hasn’t been done before, doubling the number of “luminous red galaxies” that can be effectively seen at one time.

Crudely, the distribution of galaxies over time is related to dark energy (believed by some to be a cause of the universe’s accelerated expansion), and studying the distribution might answer questions about if Einstein’s theory of general relativity is missing something or whether dark energy exists at all. Neato!

A unique way to measure dark energy with galaxies and quasars [Science Centric]

A Berkeley postdoc student recently published a theory on why the star—affectionately known by some as the Dread Lord Eta Carinae, Star-King of the Universe—was able to survive an explosion that cost it an amount of mass equal to ten times that of the sun.

At the heart of the theory is the idea that a star can undergo small explosions before finally dying, much like how a mob boss or cruel dictator in real life undergoes small explosions before finally dying.

The previous theory was that Eta Carinae’s loss of mass was caused by stellar winds pushing off layers of gas on the Dread Lord, but the velocity of the outer layers was too fast for this explanation to make much sense.

If the theory is correct, many stars may show signs of being near death by small(er) explosions that lead up to the final bang.

But don’t worry if you thought the same fate that belongs to the Star-King will happen in our own solar system: Supernovae only occur in stars 20 times the mass of our sun or more.

But like all things Popperian, the jury is still out on the matter—astronomers are on the lookout for similar phenomena for possible falsification. It’s science!

Image Source: Ethan Hein under Creative Commons
Theory Links Supernovae To Smaller Set of Outbursts [Daily Cal]

Science itself has been dealt a harsh blow, placing the epistemological fabric of the entire universe in peril. You hopefully ask, “What’s the cause?” expecting to get out of that 3 hour physics lab on Friday. The answer, to be perfectly frank, is money. (Isn’t it always?)

Federal funding fell for UC Berkeley labs (about $1 gajillion or so, rounding to the nearest gajillion) over the last couple years, meaning fewer resources are going to research (Seriously, who does research in a research university?), development and hiring grad students.

But on the bright side, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wasn’t included in the National Science Foundation’s report, so that means it’s doing well, right? Oh wait, no. No it isn’t. Since June, the lab lost 300 employees due to a 13 percent budget decrease. But hey, at least the Bevatron hasn’t exploded. Yet.

For the average chem student, this probably means a shortage of safety equipment since, you know, that stuff always gets cut first during money woes. Just don’t forget that sage advice: Carol never wore her safety goggles. Now she doesn’t need them.

Image Source: bill_canada under Creative Commons
Study Shows Scientists, Labs Struggling with Lack of Funding [Daily Cal]
Universities Detail Declines in Federal R&D Funding for Science and Engineering Fields [NSF]

Tree-sitting ninjas may be able to disappear, but new research by Cal scientists will make it possible for them to become truly invisible. The results of research into “metamaterials” (artificial materials that influence the path of electromagnetic radiation—in this case, visible light) are expected to be published in the science journals Nature and Science this week.

The findings, funded by the military, add to previous research that was able to create the same effect with microwaves.

“So,” you ask, “will I get to wear a real invisibility cloak for the next Harry Potter movie premier or do I have to stick with my mom’s old linens?” Well, even though the nature of this technology shares features with science fiction—or fantasy—that’s where the similarities end. Unlike on TV, where the heroes crank out new technologies with startlingly superhuman rapidity, real life is more … well, realistic.

And because the research was funded by the military, you can bet any developments for practical use won’t be commercially available for a while.

So it looks like for now, tree-sit supporters will have to stick with old fashioned Ninjutsu—after all, the ninja understands that invisibility is a matter of patience and agility.

Image Source: vernhart under Creative Commons
Science close to unveiling invisible man [Times Online]

Remember the days when you could walk into a cafe, find a stranger to talk to and say, “isn’t it great how Cal produces more Ph.D. hopefuls for U.S. doctoral programs than any other university … in the WORLD?” Neither do we. But the point is that those days are over.

It’s not that we lost our No. 1 spot to Stanford or Harvard, which might be forgivable, but to two foreign institutions—Beijing and Tsinghua Universities, says The Mercury News.

How did this happen? Well, according to the National Science Foundation, the majority of doctorates—over 60 percent by our calculations—awarded in 2006 were in science or engineering. And it’s no secret that Americans are losing interest in science. The result? Americans aren’t very interested in harnessing the awesome power of an advanced science education.

If the newcomers decide to stay in the U.S. and maybe give our ailing economy a little boost, then we don’t mind that much. But what if they’re stealing our secret science knowledge for more Chinese uses?

In that case, we hope the Lawrence Hall of Science’s new strategy for generating interest in science is up to the task of competing with 1.3 billion Chinese.

Until we learn more, we’ll spend our summer blissfully not studying for the summer classes we aren’t taking—for better or worse.

Image Source: FHKE under Creative Commons
Chinese take lead from UC-Berkeley in producing Ph.D. hopefuls [The Mercury News]