Bookworm @ Arxiv visualizing trends #physics

Arxiv.org is a great place to put your papers, which is in waiting for the journal line.
This is also useful to get the time stamp on your work too. Moreover, by putting the pre-print in arxiv, you will be doing a favor to many readers who wants to read your paper off the campus/institution.

They have a tool called bookworm which can search for particular words/terms that you might be interested. It is very handy to visualize how the terms are being used in the published papers.
For example, I searched for the use of "entropy", and mutual information in physics, to get the following graph.

You can use bookworm to visualize interesting trend in the use of terms for the papers submitted to arxiv. Source

See how the use of graphene has "exploded", while qubit is kind of saturated, while superluminal neutrinos spiked recently

As you can see, the  graph is very useful to see the trends of certain terms being used. Please feel free to comment whether it helps to visualize anything about the scientific field.

 

Matlab's Plot Gallery with codes

Matlab is one of the popular software for technical computing.

Everyone has his/her own stories of learning curve with programming. Nevertheless, references and galleries are always helpful when you are at it. 

I would like to suggest you to browse the MATLAB Plot Gallery[Link]. It is a bunch of File Exchange entries from which one can view and download the MATLAB codes.

Happy Coding!

What does pi taste like to the ear?

The number is pi (π). Approximated mostly as 3.14, the march of 14th is celebrated many as pi day. There are arguments whether 22/7 i.e. 22nd of July shall be the real pi day. Moreover, people are also saying that it is merely a half tau day (let me google that for you!)

Anyways, you probably know how pi tastes like. Well, it tastes like a pi. But have you heard how pi sounds like?

Here are couple of videos trying to play the sound of pi (or half tau, if you wish).


You can also go to http://pi.highsign.de/ to compose the pi music.
One more thing: pi-music can not be copyrighted!
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Grackles fly, merge and cluster in North TX

The Grackle(s) look like crows with extra feathers, little longer.
With the arrival of the Spring, these guys migrate through North Texas. They travel in huge numbers as a group, and can be source of nuisance to some [Link].

As a physicist, it would be interesting to learn about their flocking behavior.
There are statistical physics papers about such behaviors... and Physics Today had a cover story about it 2/3 years(?) ago... Please point the article if you could.

In this post, I present you the flocking swarm of Grackles as they settle down for the night. Please feel free to share.

NASA Mars Orbiter Catches Twister in Action - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

"Dust devils occur on Earth as well as on Mars. They are spinning columns of air, made visible by the dust they pull off the ground. Unlike a tornado, a dust devil typically forms on a clear day when the ground is heated by the sun, warming the air just above the ground. As heated air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler air above it, the air may begin to rotate, if conditions are just right."

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the image on Feb. 16, 2012, while the orbiter passed over the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. In the area observed, paths of many previous whirlwinds, or dust devils, are visible as streaks on the dusty surface.

Read more ...
NASA Mars Orbiter Catches Twister in Action - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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