It’s a moot point that perhaps only one of Einstein’s papers went through the modern scientific peer review process and I often wonder whether an email received from him today suggesting that he’s overturned Newton’s work with talk of warped space-time and wormholes wouldn’t simply fail at the first or second step of my “Fraudulent Invention Debunkifier” flowchart mentioned around this time last year on the Pivot Points column. Indeed, as a lowly chemist by training I am often at a loss to distinguish the ludicrous from the luminous when I read fundamental physics papers, and that’s despite a year of undergraduate physics with my generation’s latterday Brian Cox – Professor Paul Davies who was at Newcastle University at the time but was swallowed up by the Australian brain drain during the scientifically crushing Thatcher years. Anyway, ludicrous or luminous? In which camp does dark matter sit? It certainly isn’t [...]

Nuclear energy is at the forefront of many scientific minds these days. The Fukushima crisis shined a spotlight on possible dangers associated with the locations of nuclear plants, as well as the logistical and human health nightmares that can occur with meltdowns. But these aren’t the only concerns about nuclear power on which scientists are focusing. Nuclear waste management is also actively perplexing engineers, policy-leaders, and decision-makers, as the concern over how to best dispose of High Level Waste (HLW) continues to grow. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) defines HLW as “the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors.” HLW takes two forms: Spent or Used reactor fuel (SNF/UNF) when it is accepted for disposal, and waste materials remaining after spent fuel is reprocessed. According to the NRC, “spent nuclear fuel is used fuel from a reactor that is no longer [...]

It was a dark and stormy night. Annette was bored with Angry Birds and was dreaming of a way she could expand her horizons, advance her skills and learn more about a particular subject. She was especially interested in working with a certain genius in her field and wondered to herself if there was a fellowship or grant available for which she could apply to aid her in attaining her goal. She did some online research, but lo, there was no grant to be found. But fear not! Annette was not discouraged – she knew that when opportunity does not knock, is not advertised, or may not even exist, she could either find it herself, or even better – she could make opportunity happen all on her own. And that is what she did. Annette contacted the Einstein with whom she pined for a partnership and requested an informational interview [...]

We all worry about passwords although some people are at the “all-for-one and one-for-all” end of the spectrum where a pet’s name or even “password1″ is fine and others use only unique, multiple complex, randomized alphanumeric strings with mixed case character sets and symbols. Either way, your password can be cracked. How long it takes to crack depends on the other aspects of security enabled on the site with which you entrust your data. If the site forces you to use a complex password, you might imagine you are more secure, but how many characters does it allow? Even short random strings may be no more secure than a word in the dictionary. There are numerous password strength-tests online and many sites assess the password you choose when you sign up and force you to choose something they consider stronger if your initial choice is too weak. Protection against dictionary [...]

A fictional diary entry to celebrate the 100th Birthday of Wernher von Braun, the father of rocket science, on March 23 It has been a long time since I last saw Wernher. We, a bunch of kids from the neighbourhood, were going to the Tiergarten in Berlin. We went past Wernher’s house to ask him if he wanted to join us to play some football but he was beginning to prefer studying to sports. His mother, Emmy was wondering why, and asked him about the sudden change of mind. He said that he was inspired by a publication of Herman Oberth and that he would not have time to play before he understood exactly what Oberth meant in his book. Until today, I have no idea who Herman Oberth is and what his book was about, but the next time I saw Wernher – now converted into one of the [...]