Interest of the day

Alogoryx Simulation has created a new software package to help teach students physics in a fun and interactive way. The products are called Algodoo physics and Algodoo for Education. From the videos, it looks like a cool, fun, and real time physics simulation tool.

Gerard't Hooft has posted an article on How to become a a good theoretical physicist. The posting is a little dated (2009), but still contains many good references to physics materials in many fields of study. There a references to lectures and to text books that many may find handy.

New Scientist has posted a list and brief summary of popular science books suitable for gift giving this holiday season. I really enjoyed Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality and I am present pleased with reading Lisa Randall's Knocking on Heaven's Door (28% into it; it's a Kindle thing).

The Browser web site interviews physics professor Steven Gubser from Princeton University. In the interview, Steven recommends 5 books on String Theory.

The Fermi lab has a series of Physics for everyone lectures. The lecture on the search for Higgs looks very interesting.

Princeton University has posed the 2011 winners of the Art of Science contest. This years first place winner is Chaos and geomagnetic reversals by Christophe Gissinger (postdoc) from the Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences/ Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

November is shaping up to be a busy month for spacecraft. There will be launches and flyby galore.

Keep up with all the great NASA programs via Twitter. A full list of the Official NASA Twitter accounts is available. Also check out the other Space related Twitter Accounts.

Space.com has an interesting set of slides showing the early universe.

Lisa Randall discusses her new book Knocking on Heaven's Door on C-SPANS BookTV. She talks about science, how scientist think, scale, and more about extra dimensions. I very much enjoyed her book Warped Passages and am looking forward to learning more about extra dimensions and warped spacetime. Also, she even worked with a composer on an the opera Hypermusic Prologue, A Projective Opera In Seven Planes about extra dimensions.