I recently came across this list of 16 reasons why people fail in their careers. It is really a review (by Harvey Schachter) in the Globe and Mail Business section on the book "Why People Fail" by Simon Reynolds, but in summarizing the book, it provides a concise and insightful list.

My favorite is really a rewording of the old adage 'brain over brawn': Not enough thinking: An obsession with doing, doing, doing will ultimately do you in. Instead, you must think, think, think.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/morning-... 

Any undergraduate students interested in writing the Lloyd G. Elliot University Prize Exam sponsored by the Canadian Association of Physicists should contact Prof. Jeff Hutter as soon as possible to make arrangements.  This year's exam will be held on Tuesday, February 7 at 1 pm.

The University Prize Exam takes place each February and is designed to provide an interesting as well as challenging experience.  The exam content includes all of the core areas of undergraduate physics, and their applications to both familiar and unfamiliar situations.

The exam website contains more information, as well as sample exams from previous years.  Note, however, that the exam guidelines were changed beginning in 2011 to make the exams less impossible, so don't be too traumatized by what you see.

What's in it for you?  The top student at each university is listed on the CAP site, and there are cash prizes available for the top three in the overall competition.

Poster: http://www.physics.uwo.ca/colloquia/Colloquia%20Notices/2011_2012/SODDU%20Research%20Talk.pdf

The University of Western Ontario
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM

Date:           Thursday, 2^nd February 2011
Time:          1:30 p.m.
Location:    Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22

Dr. Andrea Soddu
University of Liège
Liège, Belgium

“Neuroimaging in patients with disorders of consciousness: listening to a shy brain when the heart is shouting”

ABSTRACT

Patients who survive a severe brain injury, patients in coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state and locked in syndrome represent a problem in terms of diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and daily management. The use of appropriate standardized behavioural scales at the bed side has been proven to be a relevant step for a proper diagnosis but chances to miss signs of consciousness are still not marginal. The possibility to support behavioural evaluations with neuroimaging techniques offers an additional tool to reduce the chances of misdiagnosis. Multimodal approaches combining different neuroimaging data sets are very promising and the importance of centres offering different techniques appears nowadays to be strategic for the studies of these disorders.

The first glide waxes were made of pine tar. Glide wax needs to be hydrophobic so that it can repel water. A coating of pine tar over the old wooden skis fit the bill, and was already available from the ship building industry.

Modern waxes now tout the 'NANO' slogan, and can come if powder, hard, or liquid form.Their manufacturers (Holmenkol, the oldest ski wax maker in the world) claim to have improved not only the chemistry, but the physics of the wax,

They keep some of this research secret, but the physics may well pertain  to improving not only the gliding properties of a ski but the texture and surface structure of the ski base, which is important with respect to reducing suction on wet snow, for example.

Interestingly, modern ski waxes vary their hydrophobic properties by varying the amount of fluorocarbon in the mix.  This has turned out to be a potential health risk for those subjected to the smoke and fumes associated with ski waxing.

See: History of ski waxes (source for the above)

See also: Ski wax and the environment

Free public observatory night, tonight at 7:00pm. More info: http://www.physics.uwo.ca/outreach/public_nights.html

Before you throw away that copy of the CAUT Bulletin that appeared in your mailbox this week, have a look at the piece by Bela Joos (a physicist from U. Ottawa) on  pp. A4-A5. He presents his views on the recent changes to our favorite NSERC funding program, and their implications for the future of research in Canada.

The other day, Pauline posted about how we were going to be hit by a massive solar storm.  This caused some really impressive aurorae and a gorgeous photo of one made the Astronomy Picture of the Day.  

Yesterday, NASA announced that Kepler has found 11 planetary systems with a total of 26 new planets.  This triples the number of stars known to have multiple planets in orbit.  

Additionally, each of these new planetary systems contains between two and five planets with close enough orbits that the gravitational interaction between the planets accelerate their orbits.  This acceleration changes the orbital periods of the planets, which allows astronomers working with Kepler a new way to verify the existence of these planetary systems (check the link for a video explaining this).  

TODAY

The University of Western Ontario
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM

Date:           Thursday, 26^th January 2011
Time:          1:30 p.m.
Location:    Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22

Dr. Blaine Chronik
Physics & Astronomy Department
The University of Western Ontario

“Variable fields in MRI: progress, opportunities, and challenges”

ABSTRACT

Over the past 8 years or so, we have worked on Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods and technology which are distinguished because of their focus on the use of rapidly varying, strong magnetic fields.

Our approach has evolved, from what was purely “laboratory,” preclinical implementation, to our current efforts which focus on systems for use in clinical MR scanners.

In this talk, I will describe a new method of MRI in which we strive to produce very specific MR image contrast due to the presence of a chemical contrast-agent, only when that agent is bound to target molecules of interest. This represents a means to achieve contrast specificity in MRI that has not been previously available. The method is called “dreMR”: delta relaxation enhanced MR (reference: Magn Reson in Med, 61(4):796-8002 (2009)). This technique requires a major change to the MRI system architecture – specifically, the ability to vary the main magnetic field strength as a function of time. I will review the concept behind the method, our preclinical technological implementation, and we will discuss the applicability of the method for human-scale subjects. Along the way, we will also review the wider range of MR system developments we've worked on, and some of our future projects.

Coffee & cookies will be provided.

If, like me, you are a fan of Lego, science, and creative kids, you will love this:

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120808--toronto-teens-send-lego-man-on-an-a-balloon-odyssey-24-kilometres-high?bn=1