Lack of sunspots

Now that the Sun has reappeared after weeks of cloud, I've been able to look for sunspots from my lab window again. If you go back to the archive post you'll see how I am safely projecting the view from binoculars onto a piece of paper. I am hoping to see darker spots on the bright image of the Sun.
There are no sunspots at the moment.
Sunspots are colder spots on the surface of the Sun caused by magnetic anomalies that turn off the convection of hot gases inside the Sun. When I say colder, I mean 4000 degrees instead of over 5000 degrees.
There was a famous period of no sunspots in the late 1600s which is called the Maunder Minimum. It coincided with really bad winters that they called the mini Ice Age. I wonder if the lack of sunspots is connected with our awful winter. Sunspots work on roughly an 11 year cycle so there should be plenty to see in the next few years.
I got most of my information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspots

Science lectures at William Howard School

There aren't many places round here that attract university lecturers to speak. William Howard School has started having a series of such lectures every February and March. I've put the poster up in my lab. Looks very interesting. Sadly there doesn't seem to be a weblink.

More BBC4 programmes

Tonight, Jim Al-Khalili is starting a history of chemistry at 9pm on BBC4. He's a physics professor so it should be from a physics perspective (hurrah!). Before that at 8pm, Michiu Kaku, one of the best physicists in the world, is continuing his programmes about time. Record them or watch them on the BBC i-player if you miss them.

University sponsorship

If you are in the Upper Sixth and going to university to study science/engineering, the Low Level Waste Repository (LLW) at Drigg might be able to help. This is the place where they store the UK's low level radioactive waste (eg things like luminous instrument dials) until they are safe. It is near Ravenglass, south of Sellafield. The train from Wigton goes past it. They are looking for students to do a placement in the summer initially (12 - 16 weeks) and then be sponsored through university. We found the advert in The Cumberland News. I have put it up on the wall of the lab.

Lucky in love?

Last summer we were doing what are called "Fermi questions" - so-called "back of an envelope" estimations of outrageous things. My favourite has been calculating your chances of becoming a rock star. Yes it is possible to do this.
I read in the paper that a man called Peter Backus has applied what is called the Drake Equation to calculate a man's chances of finding the perfect partner. It turned out to be 1 in 285,00o. He noted that this meant "There are 26 women in London with whom I might have a wonderful relationship. So on a night out, there is a 0.0000034 per cent chance of meeting one of these special people".
The Drake Equation is what scientists use to estimate the number of alien civilisations throughout the Universe. Google it.
Thanks to Linda for fetching the Metro newspaper back from London.

TV programme about chaos theory

Next Thursday night (14 Jan) on BBC4 (Freeview) Professor Jim Al-Khalili is doing an hour on chaos theory. The programme is well reviewed and he is one of the bright young things of British physics.
Here's a brief guide to chaos theory:
There are several easy types of stable motion:
1. Staying still.
2. Straight line, constant speed.
3. Regular orbital circular motion.
However, a few years ago it was recognised that there are types of stable motion that are very complex and non-repeating. The big surprise was that it is all based on simple rules. An example is the weather. It goes round and round, doing the same sorts of things at the same times every year, but it never perfectly repeats itself. However, it is a stable system and takes a lot to flip it into a totally new pattern.
Chaos theory is badly named. It is better called "complexity theory".

Photos of the Professor Harry Elliot Symposium

At the moment, the official photos of the symposium in honour of Professor Harry Elliot have been put up on the Imperial College Space Physics website. There are even a couple of pictures of me but a lot of the the famous and distinguished people who were there!
http://www.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/~sjs/Harry_Elliot_Symposium_Photos_html/