NOVA's Physics Blog: The Nature of Reality.
With the same high production value as the NOVA documentaries, this
blog brings together writings about the
edge of human understanding of
the universe. Organized under six themes, Gravity, Particle Physics,
Quantum Physics, The Cosmos,
Thought Experiments, and
Unification, it highlights the work being done on the frontiers of
physics. With discussions of black
holes, quantum field theories,
and the Higgs boson, this is not high school physics material. Two
dozen researchers/science
writers, including a Nobel
Prize winner and a Fulbright scholar, have contributed over 90 articles
to the blog to date. Despite
the impressive research
credentials of the average contributor, the content is intelligible to
the layperson and is mathematics-free.
Posts are typically 800 to
1500 words. However, the frequency of new posts has decreased over the
life of the blog to one
to two per month. Visitors can
browse posts chronologically or in themed groupings. Clicking on a
contributor's name brings
up a biography and a full
listing of all his/her posts.
A search box is available to search the content of the blog; however, the relatively small size of the blog and the solid
browsing options decrease its importance. A prominent link to the NOVA
website, itself an excellent resource, takes visitors to a large
selection of short and full-length documentaries, and the
right sidebar includes links
to a dozen other physics blogs. One standout feature is the Go Deeper
section, listing an editor's
recommendations for further
reading. These resources are well chosen to complement each post and
include links to related
blogs, videos, books, original
peer-reviewed papers, and audio files. This feature, coupled with the
accessible writing, makes
this a great jumping-off place
for nonscientists to learn about some of the biggest questions in
physics. Summing Up: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Lower- and upper-division undergraduates and general audiences.
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