by Len Fisher | 22 Dec 2017 | Stray Thoughts
Sir Francis Galton was a Victorian explorer, statistician, student of intelligence and heredity, and all round polymath. In his role as a statistician he came up with a way to analyze the power of prayer by arguing that royalty, being prayed for so frequently in the...
by Len Fisher | 22 Nov 2017 | Stray Thoughts
My latest Science Show broadcast for Australian ABC Radio National, where I argue that lazy and habitual thought processes are causing untold damage. Here is the link:...
by Len Fisher | 6 Oct 2017 | Stray Thoughts
My opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sarah-Palin-should-hand-out-the-Nobel-medals-12256755.php). OK, it’s tongue-in-cheek, but there is a serious point here for communicating about science. Too often...
by Len Fisher | 12 Jul 2017 | Stray Thoughts
The calving of a huge iceberg from Antarctica is a serious issue in the context of global warming, but has also sparked an ongoing debate on the best unit of measurement to describe its size. “The size of Delaware” screamed the initial, U.S.-based news...
by Len Fisher | 11 Jul 2017 | Stray Thoughts
Even some physicists are surprised to learn that “jerk” is a scientific measure. That’s right! A “jerk” is the time rate of change of acceleration, or (equivalently) the third derivative of distance with respect to time. Which reminds me...
by Len Fisher | 26 Jun 2017 | Stray Thoughts
I live a divided life, spending half the year in Australia and the other half in the UK. While in Australia, I recorded several programmes for ABC Radio National on various aspects of the science in our lives. They are now all available on podcast. Enjoy! 1. Science...