PHYS 150 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Current Events and Further Reading
Physics of the Headlines
One of the great things about this course is that the things you're learning show up in the news all the time. Throughout the course I'll intermittently link to articles that pertain to the material we're covering. Feel free to send suggestions!
2017
- Apr. 18, 2017 (Vox): A closer look at how rich countries "outsource" their CO2 emissions to poorer ones
- Apr. 13, 2017 (LLNL, via Vox): American energy use, in one diagram Annual flowchart of US energy use from Lawrence Livermore National Lab (DOE)
- Apr. 7, 2017 (Vox): Is 100% renewable energy realistic? Here's what we know
- Mar. 27, 2017 (NYT): A Dream of Clean Energy at a Very High Price Status report on ITER, the international fusion test plant
- Mar. 27, 2017 (WaPo): One of the most troubling ideas about climate change just found new evidence in its favor New evidence that climate change may change the jet stream, and with it weather patterns
- Mar. 16, 2017 (NPR): Digitization Unearths New Data From Cold War-Era Nuclear Test Films: Newly digitized and released videos of the 210 atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by the U.S., 1945-1962
- Mar. 12, 2017 (NYT): Struggling with Japan's Nuclear Waste, Six Years After Disaster What to do with the waste from Fukushima?
- Mar. 11, 2017 (Science): Planets' escape velocities, illustrated (GIF) Just for fun...
- Mar. 9, 2017 (Economist): Here, there, and everywhere: quantum technology is beginning to come into its own A look at developments in quantum devices for sensors, communications, computing, and more.
- Feb. 25, 2017 (Economist): Renewable energy: a world turned upside down Wind and solar are disrupting our markets for distributing electricity.
- Feb. 18, 2017 (NYT): The Murky Future of Nuclear Power in the United States update on the challenging economics of nuclear power, despite expectations of a revival.
- Feb. 8, 2017 (NYT): A Conservative Case for Climate Action A "carbon dividend" plan from a group of Republican economists
- Jan. 30, 2017 (LAT): Obituary of Harold Rosen, creater of first geosynchronous commuinication satellite
- Jan. 18, 2017 (NYT): Earth Sets a Temperature Record for the Third Straight Year
- Jan. 15, 2017 (NYT): It Can Power a Small Nation. But This Wind Farm in China Is Mostly Idle
2016
- Dec. 23, 2016 (New Yorker): World War Three, By Mistake essay by Eric Schlosser on the possibilities of an accidental nuclear exchange, during the Cold War and now
- Dec. 12, 2016 (Vox): Interactive map comparings costs of different power plant technologies around the country illustrates why natural gas and renewables are beating out coal.
- Nov. 29, 2016 (BBC): The colossal African solar farm that could power Europe
- Nov. 29, 2016 (NYT): Giant Arch, a Feat of Engineering, Now Covers Chernobyl Site in Ukraine
- Oct. 31, 2016 (Bloomberg): No One Saw Tesla's Solar Roof Coming Home battery packs and solar roofs.
- Oct. 28, 2016 (Vox): America isn't using nearly as much renewable energy as Americans think
- Aug. 29, 2016 (NYT): Japan’s $320 Million Gamble at Fukushima: An Underground Ice Wall. Sealing in the meltdown site
- Aug. 29, 2016 (Vox): Millions of used electric car batteries will help store energy for the grid. Maybe.. What to do with old electric car batteries?
- Aug. 24, 2016 (Vox): The falling costs of US solar power, in 7 charts.Coming to your roof soon?
- Aug. 22, 2016 (LAT): Nuclear accident in New Mexico ranks among the costliest in U.S. history. Be sure to read the part about the kitty litter...
- July 29, 2016 (NYT): Does the Disappearance of Sea Ice Matter? A taste of the complexities of climate modeling.
2015
- June 24, 2015 (Bloomberg): What's really warming the world? Great visualization of the relative effects on climate of various natural and human-induced factors.
Some Further Reading
If you liked the material in this course and want to learn more, here are some suggestions for further reading. If something specific piqued your interest, ask the professor for where to learn more!
Energy, Power, and Alternative Energy
- Energy for Future Presidents, Richard Muller
- The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Daniel Yergin
Atoms and Heat
- The Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, Sam Kean
Gravity, Force, and Space
- ... The Heavens and the Earth: A political history of the Space Age, Walter McDougall
Chain Reactions, Nuclear Reactors, and Atomic Bombs
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes
- Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser
Climate Change
- Up-to-date intro at climate.nasa.gov
Relativity
- Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, Kip Thorne
- Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time, Peter Galison
The Universe
- Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The story of the scientific quest for the secret of the Universe, Dennis Overbye
- Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the invisible Universe, Jeremiah Ostriker and Simon Mitton