To suggest topics or sites for Web Watch, please visit http://www.physicstoday.org/suggestwebwatch.html. Compiled and edited by Charles Day
Since 1996, the online magazine The Edge has covered developments in science and society. In a recent issue, two physicists, Lee Smolin of the Perimeter Institute and Len Susskind of Stanford University, debate the merits of the anthropic principle. The debate, Smolin vs. Susskind: The Anthropic Principle, takes the form of an e-mail exchange followed by closing arguments.
The National Geomagnetism Program of the US Geological Survey provides calibration, measurement, and other services to clients in government, academia, and business. But it also offers the general public a host of educational resources about Earth’s magnetic field, including movies of how the field fluctuates.
For reassurance that Earth is indeed rotating, you can watch the precession of the Foucault pendulum installed in the physics department at Colorado State University. Named in honor...