Recent content by Vannay

I came across an online article discussing p-values which tries to justify this claim: If you observe a P value close to 0.05, your false discovery rate will not be 5%. It will be at least 30% and it could easily be 80% for small studies. It seems pretty convincing to me but I am by no means...

One thing that I think should be emphasized is, while ligand binding, hydrolysis, etc. can make certain conformations more favorable, the force that ultimately causes the proteins to move is through collisions with neighboring molecules. Thermal interactions provide the kick the protein needs to...

It sounds like a "back of the envelope" problem. Estimation! How much force do you think a mosquito is capable of? Why? How much area do you think it's pointy mouth acts on?

Every once in awhile I'll change my writing set up to use thicker lead, differently lined paper, type of notebook, etc. I never seem to be satisfied with anyone of them and it can be a hassle trying to keep everything in one place if they're all in different formats. At the moment, I'm writing...

Took a graduate level mathematical methods for physics course and came out the other side feeling a bit lacking in solving stuff like the heat equation, wave equation, laplaces equation and so on. I'm still unsure of the Green's Function method for them, how to look at them with Fourier series...

I know there is a pi phase shift when going from an area of lower index of refraction to higher. Is this phase shift still pi when going from a non-conducting dielectric with index of refraction n and reflection off a "good" conductor?

I'm in a physics graduate program shopping around for research advisors and I met with my number one pick today. He works with biological systems using calorimetry and other lab methods a biologist would know. He saw my enthusiasm and liked it but was wary about my lack of biochem knowledge. He...

I was reading the Feynman Lectures awhile back and I remember reading something he said about the Uncertainty Principle and it seemed slightly odd to me. I don't remember the exact quote and combing through some of the lectures online I can't quite find it. I've heard it more than once from...

I was reading through a paper about the first case of experimentally proving that electron transfer can occur over the length of a bacterial nanowire. The paper mentioned that, previously, electron transfer was only measured across the thickness of the wire. "Thus far, there has been no...

I would definitely check out other sources for problems if the classes aren't challenging enough. If certain topics are skipped in class then go over them independently and ask the professor about them after class to get some feedback. Look up what other Calculus and Physics classes cover at...

I think it becomes less and less relevant as time goes by but never quite irrelevant. People are always interested in your history.

Looking at different graduate programs to apply to for physics focusing on biological physics. Very different research going on from school to school in the field so most of the criteria I'm basing where I apply is what kind of research is listed. My understanding of the process at your given...

Increasing the distance between all particles is pretty different than the situations you mentioned. In shifting the universe, rotating it, freezing time, "boosting", those are effectively changing the coordinate system. Increasing the distance between particles... Well that's a little vague...

I'm beginning the wondrous process of applying to graduate schools. Long story short in my last semester of undergrad stuffs I took Modern Optics instead of taking Quantum Mechanics II. Modern Optics is still a 400 level course but at the time I wasn't considering applying to physics graduate...

I'm having a hard time picturing the system you're describing. I'm not sure where the background you're talking about is located or the shapes. Do you think you could rephrase it or draw a picture?