Mush! Fermilab physicist races sled dogs

Fermilab physicist Jen Adelman-McCarthy's sled dogs pull her across the Main Ring on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Jen Adelman-McCarthy likes to get dragged through the snow, and she's willing to let you watch.

During educational demonstrations in late January and February, the physicist, who specializes in data processing for CMS and astrophysics projects at Fermilab, will explain why lashing yourself to 55-pound dogs and whizzing past trees is fun.

"It's an adrenaline rush for everybody. Sometimes it's everything you can do to stay on the sled," she said of her dog sled racing hobby. "It's a break from everyday reality."

She took up the sport five years ago as a way to get her adopted, abused Siberian Husky, Behr, out from under the kitchen table and used to people. It worked better than she hoped. Behr now eagerly awaits public demonstrations where he can show off for "his fans" and sneak quick pets from watching children.

You can see him in action Feb. 12-16 at Chicago's Snow Days in Grant Park and Jan. 24-25 at Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

Adelman-McCarthy, along with the Adopt-A-Husky foundation and Green Valley Dog Drivers, will demonstrate race skills and equipment as well as explain why they disagrees with critics who call the sport harmful.

"There are thousands of years of breeding to make these dogs want to run and pull," she said. "Not letting them do what they are bred to do is more cruel." Nearly 90 percent of the dogs raced by Green Valley were adopted from homes that gave them up because of their boundless energy.

Recreational runs through Cook and DuPage county forest preserves, and occasionally Fermilab, give the dogs an outlet. Adelman-McCarthy uses the solitude to mentally work through computer code formatting problems.

Adelman-McCarthy and Behr focus on four-to-eight mile dog sled races and two-mile skijor races, where one dog pulls a cross-country skier. The duo averages 7 to 8.5 mph in those Midwestern events. They hope to build up to the mid-sized 25- to 55-mile races.

Professional teams can reach speeds of 30 mph in four-mile sprints and cover close to 100 miles a day in races such as the 1,000-plus mile Alaskan Iditarod.

--Tona Kunz

C2ST presents energy sustainability lecture Jan. 20

Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe will give a lecture on pursuing more sustainable energy on Jan. 20. Titled "How To Save the Planet and Keep the Lights ON," the lecture will include the five elements Rowe believes necessary for the next presidential administration's energy policy. He will discuss the role of science and technology in driving innovation to create new low-carbon energy solutions. Rowe will also explain Exelon's comprehensive plan to address climate change. Registration, with the lecture to follow, will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Palmer House in the Hilton Adams Ballroom at 17 E. Monroe, Chicago. The program is free to C2ST members and teachers and students with an ID. Admission for all other audiences is $15 on a first-come, first-serve basis. To RSVP, e-mail info@c2st.org or call (312) 503-0891. Visit www.c2st.org for more information.

Physics lab aids bird conservation effort

From symmetrybreaking, Jan. 14, 2009

While experimenters at Fermilab track the flight of subatomic particles from collisions in three-story detectors along the Tevatron accelerator ring, nature lovers hover above them tracking the health of American bird populations.

Members of area Audubon societies, the Chicago Wilderness organization, and other bird enthusiasts migrated to the 6800-acre laboratory 40 miles outside of Chicago on Dec. 20 for the annual Christmas bird count.

Similar teams through North and South America conducted counts in December and January. About 50,000 volunteers at 2000 sites, including several in Illinois, make up the North American team. The count allows avian experts to get a record of bird migration and population trends that can help tell the health of a species and whether actions are needed to prevent a specific species from joining the endangered animals list.

The tradition started in December 1900, when Frank Chapman, an early member of the Audubon Society, challenged people to replace the bird hunting Christmas tradition with one of bird counting.

Read more

Do the maths

From Times Online, Jan. 14, 2009

Experts say we're getting worse at maths and science. But now we have shiny new labs and cutting-edge teaching methods, were we really better off in the past? John Cornwell joins two leading scientists at their former schools to find out

"Five out of six applicants I interviewed recently for Cambridge entrance for engineering couldn't do a simple maths calculation: two to the power of 10." The tense, fast-talking professor has been complaining like this since we left Cambridge for Birmingham. "That's why," he goes on, "students doing university science and engineering spend their first and even second years catching up on the maths my generation did at school."

Read more