Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist of the band Spinal Tap, modified his amplifier for a higher energy state. Something that he could go to that was louder than the loudest, for when "10" wouldn't do. His amplifier goes up to "11." And he needs it for that special moment in the song "Hell Hole," I guess.
Philip Moriarty is the guest for this episode of Ikonokast. The interview is a wide-ranging tour of education in the US and the UK, where Professor Moriarty teaches physics and is delighted on the first day of term to see all of the t-shirts with the names of metal bands, as the students file into class.
Music depends on waves. Wave functions depend on, um, waves, too. So music and quantum physics are naturally related in form, if not always function. The humanities and science are not so easily separated. In Moriarty's book and in this podcast the two are firmly forged.
A selection if things mentioned in the podcast:
Get me off Your Bleeping Mailing List (Peer reviewed PDF)
We are back!
[caption id="attachment_321" align="alignright" width="199"] Bill Schutt, auther of Pump: A Natural History of the Heart[/caption]
Join us with part one of an interview with zoologist and author Bill Schutt, as we discuss his latest book, Pump: A Natural History of the Heart, a delightful and informative exploration of the heart, in all its (anatomical) forms.
We have changed our format a little, and hope you enjoy it. Feedback is welcome as long as you are nice about it.
Material discussed in this and the next episode:
Pump: A Natural History of the Heart
Meteorite Crash-Landed in Canada Woman's Bed
COVID-19 slows birth rate in U.S., Europe
Bat guts become less healthy through diet of 'fast food' from banana plantations
Threatened rattlesnakes' inbreeding makes species more resistant to bad mutations
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist who earned her PhD at the University of New England, in Australia. She hosts the skeptical podcast Monster Talk with Blake Smith (subscribe, you'll thank us!) She is also a prolific author, having published academic works, non-fiction as well as fiction.
In this episode, we open with the ways in which we judge and stereotype each other based on the dialect and language that we use and move on to the meanings of words and how the change in time and space. Not only does the cafe lose the accent after a time, but bad words turn good and good words turn bad. It's hysterical, how that works.
We marked this episode "explicit" because we discuss some of the words that are not used in polite language and how the relative offense of using some words varies based on where the speaker is as well as how the audience may be.
Check out her Amazon Author's Page Here and also check out Monster Talk.