Not much physics on this turkey

So it’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, and like all good Canadians, I tried to find relevant physics literature to share with the family.  Unfortunately, my colleagues have left this holiday fairly lacking in terms of witty turkey-themed papers and puns.

The best reference I could think of was Robert Laughlin‘s swipe at string theory (which  Mark Twain fans can appreciate).

Robert B. Laughlin, A Different Universe: reinventing physics from the bottom down:

String theory is, in fact, a textbook case of Deceitful Turkey, a beautiful set of ideas that will always remain just barely out of reach.

For some practical physics themed Thanskgiving advice:

• From the Washington Post: Using Salt and Science, We Can Roast a (Nearly) Perfect Bird

• From Science Daily: Physics Talks Turkey This Thanksgiving — Tips From Science On How To Cook A Better Bird

• From About.com: Turkey Physics – The Thermodynamics of Thanksgiving

• From Wired: Give Thanks? Science Supersized Your Turkey Dinner

• From Suite101.com: The Physical Properties of Cranberry Sauce

• From Physics Today, 1949: APS at Thanksgiving

Gobble, gobble, gobble?

Weirdly, in Canada, this holiday doesn’t really seem to be about sharing what you’re thankful for, so I’m a little out of practice, but I’d say this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for WMAP and the almost 10 years it spent giving us amazing insight into the nature of the universe.  You will be missed, WMAP.

I guess I’m also thankful for the fact that today happens to be 10-10-10, (101010 in binary = 42 in base 10), and that’s just cool.