Mathematics Plus: A truly wonderful zine

A friend of mine sent me an innocent email just a few minutes ago. It read:

Dave,

I like Cambridge U.'s Plus Math-zine.
They came out with their new quarterly
issue this month:
http://plus.maths.org/issue43/

Greg C.

So, I ambled over to this site not knowing what to expect. Was I in for a most pleasant surprise!

Here's a beautiful zine that gives the most beautifully illustrated articles on so many topics. I think anyone who goes through these zines, the current issue or past issues (hit the archives button) will be in for a treat.

I've spent some time just now downloading and printing articles on Euler, special relativity, game theory, Godel, among others.

The articles have links to other sites, animations, videos, code listings, and each article is available as a pdf file so you can easily print them. Some you'll want to read on-line, see the animations, play the videos, and enjoy. Others you can print for later.

Enjoy, I know I will.

Science toys at home

I ran across this site while waiting for a program to run. It's pretty neat.

I love the theme of science-oriented toys you can make at home with everyday things around your house.

Peet to peer Patents

Peer-to-Patent opens the patent examination process to public participation for the first time.

Become part of this historic pilot program. Help the USPTO find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications.

Become a community reviewer and improve the quality of patents.

This is an idea whose time has come. There will be kinks to work out, processes to improve, but it's almost impossible to believe that the patent office cannot benefit from this. Kudos to everyone who made this possible.

Here's a good interview on this.

Portraits of Scientists

The Wisconsin Historical Society presents portraits of scientists. It's worth some time to thumb through them.