Be a Part of Science History

Interested in being a part of science history? Mathematician and researcher Marcus du Sautoy has created a group of symmetries as part of a quest to discover the nature of symmetry in mathematics. What is this group of symmetries called? That's where you come in.

du Sautoy and New Scientist magazine are offering one lucky New Scientist reader the chance to name the group of symmetries. Name it after yourself. Name it after your dog. Whatever you want, if you're the winner. More details are here, but note that that page has a broken link to the actual contest entry page, so use this link instead.

Can You Explain String Theory?

A little while back, I posted a news article about a test for String Theory, but I realized afterward that I hadn't taken the time to explain what String Theory is. So I thought I'd put together another post explaining what String Theory is and what it represents for physics. But have you ever tried to explain String Theory succinctly, in a way that people will understand?

Turns out it would take me something book-length to pull it off, and that's not what I'm trying to do with this blog. Maybe you can explain it better than I can.

If so, Discover Magazine has a deal for you. They're having a contest that challenges people to create a video explaining String Theory in Two Minutes or Less. That's probably even more daunting a task than trying to explain it in a blog posting, but that's why it's a contest.