HAPTICS—A TOUCHING TOPIC
ROBOTS DO a great many things better than their human counterparts, but they have yet to achieve our sense of touch. “Brainy, Yes, but Far From Handy,” by John Markoff, … Continue reading
NETWORKING ALONG KÖNIGSBERG’S SEVEN BRIDGES
“THE SEVEN Bridges of Königsberg” sounds like a romantic novel set elsewhere than Iowa. In fact, though, it’s a classic problem of mathematics, one that led to modern mathematics’ graph theory, … Continue reading
COMMON CORE MATH
LET’S begin paradoxically with a summary: Old Math is rote memory and recitation of facts. New Math is rigor describing what numbers are. Common Core Math is intuition describing what … Continue reading
SCIENCE TIDBITS
CHERRY-PICKING SCIENCE can lead to deception. That is, sharing an interesting tidbit that stresses a single aspect of a complex matter obviously does not tell the full story. But it … Continue reading
POWER QUANTS
IT’S QUITE enough to give mathematics a bad name. “Traders Profit as Power Grid is Overworked,” in The New York Times, August 14, 2014, explains how “quants” (those mathematically trained … Continue reading
ELECTRICALLY FORCED INDUCTION
FORCING MORE air and fuel into the combustion process enhances power on demand, a great idea in these days of downsized engines for better mpg. Hitherto, forced induction has been … Continue reading
PONO SOUND
THE WORD “pono” is Hawaiian for “righteous,” and a fellow graduate of Worcester Polytech has teamed with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young to return righteous fidelity to … Continue reading
FUEL CELLS AND THE INTERNET
WE OFTEN forget that the Internet is an immense user of energy. What’s more, this is expected to follow a Moore’s Law-like trend of doubling every five years. The good … Continue reading
ARE YOU UNHAPPY? HERE’S NOT WHY, BUT HOW
A RECENT item making the rounds identifies the happiest and unhappiest cities in America. See, for example, http://goo.gl/IQPXNc and http://goo.gl/rskKG2. Superficially, it sounds like one of those social-network personality games: “Which … Continue reading
DR. ROBERT H. GODDARD—FATHER OF AMERICAN ROCKETRY
CELEBRATING, AS we are, the 45th anniversary of our first visiting the moon, we can also give a shout-out to Dr. Robert H. Goddard, rightfully known as the Father of … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 