Women in science, redux
We have heard again and again this year about the challenges of being a woman in physics. So have the Quantum Diarists, and some are wondering whether it's making a difference.

"For all the fire and brimstone inspired by [Harvard President Lawrence] Summer's comments, has any university done an external investigation on their science departments?" asks Caolionn O'Connell. "Has any science department done its own survey on the role of gender and any resulting discrimination? Can someone please tell me about someone who's done something? 'Cause other than Harvard's $50 million for their task force on women in science, I haven't heard of any action from other universities and it's starting to piss me off."

Debbie Harris also thinks it's time to take action against employers who discriminate against women. "We have to get the word out that this is NOT acceptable behavior, and that sooner or later someone...will come along and blow the whistle on you."

Big machines
Many Quantum Diarists are lucky enough to spend lots of time building big machines. And I mean really big. To get a sense of the scale, just check out the photo from Gordon Watts' former graduate student, who works on the ATLAS detector at CERN.

Sarah Phillips shares some photos of "the amazing equipment we are putting in for G0," an experiment at Jefferson Lab.