Marcus Wilson • Jul 30, 2014 •
I overheard the following conversation at the best coffee outlet on campus yesterday: "Well, winter's nearly over. We're past the shortest day so it's getting warmer. And we've had eleven frosts so far this year, and the record for Hamilton is twelve, so there can only be one more to come." - Anonymous Where do I begin? … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Dec 06, 2013 •
In the lab, my summer student has been working on a small device to keep a small piece of equipment at a stable temperature. It uses a Peltier device - in essence it's a solid-state heat pump. Pass through current one way, and heat is drawn from the top surface to the bottom; pass current through the … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Nov 27, 2013 •
Last week I attended a conference on Emergent Learning and Threshold Concepts, here at the University of Waikato. It was a very interesting couple of days. As far as academic conferences go, it was unusual in that it was really cross-disciplinary. We had engineers mixing with physiotherapists, and management consultants with dancers. It certainly was interesting to … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Oct 16, 2013 •
The last couple of days have seen our Engineering Design Show. This is where our 2nd/3rd/4th year Engineering students get to talk about and show off the various projects they've been working on in the last year. It's very interesting to see the range of activities going on, and there are some 'competitive events' - this year the 3rd … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Sep 03, 2013 •
First things first. PhysicsStop is back on-line after an enjoyable two-week break in warm and sunny southern England. Second things second. What advice can anyone give to the parents of a fourteen-month-old with jetlag who insists that 4 am is time to get up, have breakfast, and feed the chickens (or the "Choo Chuk" as he calls them)? … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Aug 25, 2013 •
This free-wheeling discussion between Science Alert’s Fiona McDonald and Vic Arcus (University of Waikato) and Greg Cook (University of Otago), with questions from the on-line audience, might give readers some a feel for the time and some of the factors involved in tackling a drug targeting effort, in this case for tuberculosis. It also offers … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Apr 03, 2013 •
Happy Easter everyone. Sorry for lack of blog activity - lots of marking has been building up that I've needed to get through. Yesterday we experienced the vacuum-packing ability of a clip-container in a microwave. In this case, it was being... Read More
Marcus Wilson • Jan 23, 2013 •
We've had a bumper crop of plums from our two plum trees. Way more than we can eat our way through in the short plum season. It appears that we aren't the only ones - the last couple of weeks have seen bucket loads of free plums turn up in the tea-room... Read More
Marcus Wilson • Sep 05, 2012 •
It's been wonderful watching Benjamin grow in the last nine and a bit weeks. He's now become fully interactive - he'll respond to what we do and what's going on around him. hearing him 'talk' is fun - he can come out with an excited string of goos and ... Read More
Marcus Wilson • Sep 08, 2011 •
I've been following with a bit of interest the "slow-motion crisis" of the European debt. One of its consequences is some unhealthy shifts in exchange rates - for example the soaring Swiss Franc. That hurts Swiss exporters. In the last couple of days, Switzerland has decided that this isn't acceptable and is taking drastic measures to reduce the value … Read More