Monthly Archives: June 2010

Strange small things

Photography, Science, , , , , ,

I thought it may interest someone out there in cyberspace to see some of the weird things I have made in the lab, mostly by accident, and of no apparent value.  PS any apparent value that may emerge will belong to my employer anyway :).

Anyway, I must thank them (I have a very nice job), and team at the IAC at the University of Bristol, for their help taking these shots, particularly those where we have cut into the material, which was done with a beam of Gallium ions. Pretty neat hey?

Thanks,
Jarrod

Home made fly ash

This looks like fly ash, but was an accidental byproduct of recent research

Microsponge

Another accidental byproduct. Alas, the 'intended' products are just as cool, but are all hush-hush, top-secret, I could tell you but then I would have to kill you type things 🙂

Strange Section

Don't ask me. I may have made it, but I don't have a clue what it is.

House of cards

I love this one. It involved liquid nitrogen. Nuff said!

house of cards section

Here we took a cut into the structure from the previous picture to learn more...

Around Los Olivos

Photography

I randomly decided to put a few of my photos up here, its a shame to leave them gathering dust out of sight.

These pictures are all taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6, a very nice little machine.

Thanks!
Jarrod

Up Figuera Mountain Road, Spring 2010
Up Figuera Mountain Road, Spring 2010
Further up Alamo Pintado Road, 31 May 2010
Further up Alamo Pintado Road, 31 May 2010
Further down Alamo Pintado Road, 31 May 2010
Further down Alamo Pintado Road, 31 May 2010

Does your company need a corporate scientist?

Science, Science communication, The scientific method, , , , , , , , ,

Question: what is the point of having a scientific advisor?

We know the scientist type – they are pedantic, idealistic, inflexible – and socially challenged.

They are generally unable to do business in ‘the real world’. So why would you want one on the team?

We all know that business has some hard rules – the machines need to work and the numbers need to add up – but it is also an art – it is about people, about relationships, deals, loyalties, reputations. It takes care and passion. It is often irrational and is generally completely unpredictable.

So if it cannot be modelled and reduced to equations, why would you want an irritating pedant on the team?

Because in a complex world, the truth is worth its weight in gold.

A scientist’s job, is to use his or her training to filter out emotions, wishful thinking, bias and noise and identify what is true.

Just as every salesperson has their patter, every ceo will have their ‘summary’ for the board – and what they say will be wilfully spun. However, so long as they themselves know the basic truth, they will still be able to act wisely. They will also be able to maintain credibility pinning their spin on little nuggets of purest ‘truth’.

A world without a constant return to rational analysis will eventually wind up so twisted (the proverbial tangled web) that we will get entire businesses built on air.

Ok, so maybe we need someone to provide the boss with the unvarnished truth. What they then do with it then, well that’s business!

==================

Aside for accountants: To be fair, accountants are also supposed to do this, but I would argue that only a true scientist will (probably through a mental fault) put truth first. Note that I am not saying scientists are more honest than other people – they lie and cheat too, it’s a desire to find the truth that I’m talking out, which is no guarantee of a desire to speak it.