Thursday, February 19, 2009

Dumbed-Down Physics Sci-Am style

How do you get copies of New Scientist flying off the news stand? Put one of the following in large font on the cover {Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Cosmology} and stir in "Why Einstein was wrong about ...".

The relentless tabloidisation of New Scientist has unfortunately spread to Scientific American, with "Was Einstein Wrong?: A Quantum Threat to Special Relativity" emblazoned across the current edition.


In best NS tradition, the piece says absolutely nothing new about Einstein, quantum entanglement, EPR, special relativity or cosmology and resolutely declines to answer its own question.

The only silver lining is that Professor Albert and assistant Professor Galchen do give a good, simple tutorial on the essentials of both entanglement and EPR.