As a scientist, I think that science education is really important, and that science is also fun to write about. From time to time, I post about areas of science that I find interesting or that I have some expertise in. The goal of these posts is to communicate scientific and mathematic ideas to a non expert.

Below are a list of the posts and a brief description. If you would like to know about some topic I haven’t covered, feel free to ask me. I’m always looking for new ideas for posts.

Astronomy:

• The scale of the universe– just how big is stuff in the cosmos anyways?
• Vacuums and pressure– what is the pressure in deep space and inside a neutron star, and how many particles are involved?

Chemistry:

• Crystals– Fun pictures of crystals, and some discussion of why they look the way they do.
• Crystals: Part II– More fun pictures of crystals.
• Platinum– Why is it so expensive, and what do we use it for?
• Helium– Why the stuff we put in our balloons is actually rare and special.
• Lithium– The stuff of our laptop batteries and our anti-mania drugs.

Materials science:

• The science of snowflakes– Why snowflakes are unique, and the crystal structure of water.
• How does figure skating work?– A more complicated question than it seems, the surfaces of substances are special.
• Corrosion and how to make a battery– two metals in contact through an electrolyte form an electrochemical cell, which can be destructive or cool, depending on your goals.

Social Science:

• Americans are odd statistical samples– a summary of an article about the appropriateness of sample groups used in sociology experiments.
• Art resembling science– a fun example I found of a painting that resembles a chemical reaction.

Biology:

• Enzymes– The catalysts of the body are very specific proteins that are essential to life.