July 23, 2009

Numerical Calculation of Second Order Perturbations

My new paper, written with Karim Malik, has just been released into the wild. We show that it is possible to numerically simulate second order perturbations for a single scalar field with a canonical action. I’ve been working on this for a long time and learned a lot about the mechanics of inflation in the process. I’ve also churned out quite a lot of python code, and learned some rudimentary parallel programming.

February 6, 2009

The Big Bang Fair

The first ever UK Young Scientist and Engineers Fair is taking place in the first week of March. The Big Bang Fair in the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster will pit hundreds of schoolchildren against each other for the main prizes of UK Young Scientist and UK Young Technologist of the Year. There will also be exhibits run by all the main science and engineering bodies in the UK including the IOP, STFC and RAS.

July 28, 2008

GradSchool Graduate

As a graduate student any time taken away from the main task at hand, getting a PhD, can seem like a wasted opportunity. Especially when the time is not actually for a resting holiday in the sun, but is focussed on those hard-to-define transferable skills we are all told to cherish. So, it may come as something of a shock to learn that I have just spent some such time away from my work, honing those tenuous skills, and have come back re-energized and full of enthusiasm.

October 11, 2007

New tools for a new year

As the new semester is starting in earnest, I think it’s time for me to post the first update for a few months. One of the main differences between post-graduate and under-graduate life is that as postgrads we don’t have a 3 month break over the summer. As seminars finish at the same time as lectures, the summer months can be more productive as long as you don’t get distracted by the summer sunshine.

July 4, 2007

Post talk and pre trip

My talk in Portsmouth was on Tuesday of last week, and with the exception of a bit of trouble with the train on the way down, it seemed to go well enough. I didn’t run wildly over time or commit any other glaring mistakes, but did get a bit of a grilling in the question session. I suppose I need some practice on how to deal with problem questions, in which an answer can’t or shouldn’t be attempted in a short space of time.

June 20, 2007

First talk imminent

So it turns out that I am going to give a talk at UK Cosmo next week. It’s only supposed to be 18 minutes long, which you might imagine wouldn’t be that difficult to put together, but as you can tell from the lack of posts here recently, I’ve been having some problems. The talk is supposed to be based on our last paper (which will soon appear in JCAP by the way), but with limited time I think I will have to speed through it pretty quickly.

June 6, 2007

The End of Cosmology

Here in Queen Mary, we hold a discussion group every Wednesday during term time. The paper we are discussing this afternoon is a recent essay by Lawrence Krauss and Robert Scherrer, which has been causing a bit of a stir in cosmology circles, both in the blogosphere and the real world. The essay won 5th prize in the annual Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition which always features some interesting reading material.

June 1, 2007

Reed Elsevier gives up its guns

Reed Elsevier, which publishes many scientific journals and magazines, has just announced that they are going to get rid of their lucrative side-business of running major armaments fairs. Earlier this year there was a lot of criticism of the company for this practice, from shareholders, rival journals and even the editors of the Lancet, one of Reed Elsevier’s most respected journals. The chief executive specifically talked about this pressure in his explanation for the change:

May 30, 2007

UK Cosmology Dates

The next UK Cosmo meeting has just been announced and will take place in Portsmouth on the 26th of June. The local website has details about how to register to attend or give a talk. There is no confirmed venue yet but keep an eye on the site for more information and travel details. The UK Cosmo meetings are always well attended, and feature a wide range of topics with researchers from all over the UK.

May 23, 2007

Scientific writing: Too impersonal?

Sorry about not posting for a while, I needed to fly home for a few days and am only back in college today. An interesting discussion has started up around the science blogosphere about science writing techniques and whether the usual conventions are necessary or even useful. Chad Orzel started off by listing his pet peeves, some of which I agree with, especially Myth 4: Scientific results are supposed to be a surprise.