“Being able to deal with extended periods of bad luck or things not going well is something that’s also required to be a physicist…I think there is an element of emotional control that perhaps physicists learn.”
Jeff Harvey, University of Chicago, on why there are so many physicists that are pro-circuit poker players, NPR, October 23, 2010.

“You would really need something the size of a Soviet H-bomb to have effects that cross many states.”
Yousaf Butt, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, on the dangers of an EMP doing serious damage to the United States electrical grid, USA Today, October 26, 2010.

“Districts are drawn like fortresses for incumbents of both parties.”
Charles Munger, talking about his support of a ballot initiative in California to allow a citizens panel to redraw district voting lines, The Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2010.

“We must live up to the dream of 25 years with a lot of seriousness, even if we are like little kids in the candy store with all this data around.”
Maria Spiropulu, CERN, on the possible discoveries at the LHC, The New York Times, November 2, 2010.

“Light is quantized, and you can’t count half a photon.”
William Bialek, Princeton University, The New York Times, November 2, 2010.

“It’s very simple to control…You don’t have all these joints.”
Eric Brown, University of Chicago, on a robotic hand he developed that uses what looks like a stress ball to grab objects, The Washington Post, November 2, 2010.

“This university, as far as I can tell, has never been on the mayor’s radar.”
Allen Lee Sessoms, University of the District of Columbia, on the former mayor of Washington DC, The Washington Post, November 4, 2010.

“That’s not how the question phrases itself…The question is: why is everyone else so stupid?”
Freeman Dyson, the Institute for Advanced Study, on whether he ever asked himself as a child why he was so gifted, The Atlantic Monthly, November 12, 2010.

“What we found is that the cat uses fluid dynamics and physics in a way to absolutely optimize tongue lapping and water collection.”
Jeffrey Aristoff, Princeton University, The Washington Post, November 12, 2010. 

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Editor: Alan Chodos

December 2010 (Volume 19, Number 11)

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Articles in this Issue
Budget Cuts Threaten Physics Programs
Texas-Size March Meeting Heads for Dallas
PhysicsCentral’s New Look Enhances Content Access
Advocates Worry over Science Funding
APS Launches Webinar Series
Physicist Loses Congressional Race in Arizona
Laser’s 50th Birthday Sparks Yearlong Outreach Effort
APS Section Meeting Briefs
APS Plasma, Nuclear, and Laser Divisions Hold Fall Meetings
Letters to the Editor
The Back Page
Members in the Media
This Month in Physics History
Washington Dispatch
Profiles in Versatility
International News