Sunday, February 17, 2008

A Test for String Theory After All? Or Just PR? | Wired Science from Wired.com

A Test for String Theory After All? Or Just PR? | Wired Science from Wired.com

At last? String Theory has been around for a while. However, most authorities considered it as only an interesting speculation as there was thought to be no way to test the theory, therefore taking it out of the realm of science.

See the Wikepedia entry below:
Problems and controversy

Although historically string theory is an outgrowth of physics, some contend that string theory should (strictly speaking) be classified as something other than science. For a scientific theory to be valid it must be verified empirically, i.e. through experiment or observation. Few avenues for such contact with experiment have been claimed.[20] With the construction of the Large Hadron Collider in CERN some scientists hope to produce relevant data, though it is widely believed that any theory of quantum gravity would require much higher energies to probe directly. Moreover, string theory as it is currently understood has a huge number of equally possible solutions.[21] Thus it has been claimed by some scientists that string theory may not be falsifiable and may have no predictive power.[22][23][24][25]"

Friday, January 25, 2008

SPACE.com -- X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed

SPACE.com -- X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed

"X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 16 November 2005
01:36 pm ET

There is one question that persistently circles the community of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) true-believers: If the government has nothing to hide, UFO fans often ask, then why is it keeping so many UFO records under lock and key?"

Yes, UFO's are probably just goofy, but there is just enough out their to tease our minds.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Origins: CERN: Ideas: The Higgs Boson


The Search for the Higgs Boson. What is it? See below. Also, see CERN
There, you will learn about the Swiss-French particle accelerator that will open in April to find both the Higgs Boson and perhaps create a very small black hole!

Origins: CERN: Ideas: The Higgs Boson: "An oft-cited analogy describes it well: Imagine you're at a Hollywood party. The crowd is rather thick, and evenly distributed around the room, chatting. When the big star arrives, the people nearest the door gather around her. As she moves through the party, she attracts the people closest to her, and those she moves away from return to their other conversations. By gathering a fawning cluster of people around her, she's gained momentum, an indication of mass. She's harder to slow down than she would be without the crowd. Once she's stopped, it's harder to get her going again.

This clustering effect is the Higgs mechanism, postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s. The theory hypothesizes that a sort of lattice, referred to as the Higgs field, fills the universe."

Monday, December 17, 2007

NPR : Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million

Listen to this podcast and also read about Atul Gawande, the Harvard Medical School prof, New Yorker writer, lecturer and best-selling author. As the story notes, if there was an expensive antibiotic that was this effective, every hospital in the country would use it.

NPR : Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million: "Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million
Listen Now [7 min 19 sec] add to playlist
All Things Considered, December 9, 2007 · Dr. Peter Pronovost saved the state more than $100 million and 1500 lives over an 18-month period by teaching doctors and nurses to use checklists for intensive care unit procedures. Andrea Seabrook talks to Dr. Provonost, as well as Atul Gawande, a surgeon who wrote about the success of the checklist in The New Yorker magazine."

Monday, October 15, 2007

Windbelt - Third World Power - Wind Generator - Video - Breakthrough Awards - Popular Mechanics

Windbelt - Third World Power - Wind Generator - Video - Breakthrough Awards - Popular Mechanics

"Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, Calif., saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor. Conventional wind turbines don't scale down well—there's too much friction in the gearbox and other components. "With rotary power, there's nothing out there that generates under 50 watts," Frayne says. So he took a new tack, studying the way vibrations caused by the wind led to the collapse in 1940 of Washington's Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka Galloping Gertie)."

The new alternative energy sources keep coming on line. Any of you from the Seattle Tacoma area will be very familiar with Gertie.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Big Radio From the Stars -- Berardelli 2007 (927): 1 -- ScienceNOW

Blast from the Past!

Big Radio From the Stars -- Berardelli 2007 (927): 1 -- ScienceNOW


"By Phil Berardelli
ScienceNOW Daily News
27 September 2007
Astronomers have a new mystery on their hands. A team studying data from a recent sky survey has spotted a huge burst of radio waves that came and went in the blink of an eye and has not returned since. Figuring out what caused the cosmic broadcast could provide new insights into the dynamics of neutron stars and black holes and perhaps give astronomers another tool to figure distances to the farthest galaxies."

From Science Magazine
comes this report about a blast from the past, a giant radio signal. No signs of intelligence in the signal, though. However, what would Art Bell say??

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Discovery Channel :: News - Space :: Cave Entrances Found on Mars

Discovery Channel :: News - Space :: Cave Entrances Found on Mars

The Themis instruments on the Mars Odyssey, in orbit around Mars, shows what seem to be cave entrances. A number of proponents of manned exploration/settlement of Mars have long speculated about these features and hope to turn them into living and work quarters. However, these seem to be at high altitutes and not around the Martian equator as many have hoped. You can also see the Journal of Geophysical Research Letters for more information. See also the Mars Society's proposal or the Powerpoint proposal by Gus Frederick of Silverton, Oregon.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Antimatter molecule could lead to ultra-powerful laser - tech - 18 September 2007 - New Scientist Tech

Antimatter molecule could lead to ultra-powerful laser - tech - 18 September 2007 - New Scientist Tech

Just in time for talk like a pirate day! A pirate could sure make use of this short-lived anti-matter ray. This is from the magazine New Scientist.

"Antimatter molecule could lead to ultra-powerful laser


An exotic molecule built from electrons and antimatter is being touted as a route to powerful gamma-ray lasers.

An electron can hook up with its antiparticle, the positron, to form a hydrogen-like atom called positronium (Ps). It survives for less than 150 nanoseconds before it is annihilated in a puff of gamma radiation. It was known that two positronium atoms should be able to bind together to form a molecule, called Ps2, and now David Cassidy and Allen Mills from the University of California, Riverside, have made that happen. First, they trapped positrons in a thin film of porous silica. Those positrons captured electrons to form positronium atoms, and the pattern of decay rates signalled that some of these atoms had teamed up to form Ps2 (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature06094)."

Saturday, September 01, 2007

APOD: 2007 August 27 - Huge Void Implicated in Distant Universe

APOD: 2007 August 27 - Huge Void Implicated in Distant Universe

"Explanation: What has created this huge empty volume in the universe? No one is yet sure, and even the extent of the estimated billion-light year void is being researched. The void is not a hole in space like a black hole, but rather a vast region of the universe that appears to be mostly devoid of normal matter and even dark matter. The void is still thought to contain dark energy, though, and is clearly traversable by light. The void's existence is being postulated following scientific curiosity about how unusually cold spots came to appear on WMAP's map of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. One possibility was that this CMB region was not actually very cold but light from the spot somehow became more cosmologically redshifted than normal along the way.'

From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. That void is like my appetite is most of the time!! I still don't grasp the concept of Dark Energy or Dark Matter. Okay, maybe dark matter, but dark energy! These slow down the expansion of the universe. Also, see the Pioneer Anomaly.

Two Pioneer spacecraft, launched 30 years ago on a mission to the outer solar system, are now leaving the immediate vicinity of the solar system. While they are not yet in interstellar space, their speeds and trajectories do not match Newtonian and Einsteinian predictions. Either there is something new in gravity or problems in measurements or math. See the link for some new thoughts on the matter.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

More Energy/Climate Stuff

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Intelligence Report | PARADE Magazine

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Future Tech: Scientists Consider Mining Delicious Helium-3 on Moon For Fusion Power on Earth - Gizmodo

Future Tech: Scientists Consider Mining Delicious Helium-3 on Moon For Fusion Power on Earth - Gizmodo

Maybe this is why Japan, China and India are racing to the Moon! Go to visit the Fusion Technology Institute's site for the real poop.

SCIENTISTS PREDICT SOLAR DOWNTURN, GLOBAL COOLING��

SCIENTISTS PREDICT SOLAR DOWNTURN, GLOBAL COOLING��: "SCIENTISTS PREDICT SOLAR DOWNTURN, GLOBAL COOLING New Scientist magazine, 16 September 2006 HYPERLINK 'http://www.newscientist.com/unpwlogin.ns' \t 'linkWin' http://www.newscientist.com/unpwlogin.ns It is known as the Little Ice Age. Bitter winters blighted much of the northern hemisphere for decades in the second half of the 17th century. The French army used frozen rivers as thoroughfares to invade the Netherlands. New Yorkers walked from Manhattan to Staten Island across the frozen harbour. Sea ice surrounded Iceland for miles and the island's population halved. It wasn't the first time temperatures had plunged: a couple of hundred years earlier, between 1420 and 1570, a climatic downturn claimed the Viking colonies on Greenland, turning them from fertile farmlands into arctic wastelands."

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Those Crazy Japanese


Greetings, campers! Yes, I am back. I thought no one was reading this, but occasionally someone does. Besides, it is a good way for me to keep track of my Internet wanderings. In light of the talk about space elevators, one cannot ignore the dreams of one Japanese construction company. The XSEED 4000 is a Utopian skyscraper modeled after Mt. Fuji and would be 4000m tall! Well, we all have to dream! Also see links to other proposed super buildings by clicking here! Keep those cards and letters coming. Please comment or email. I have to use to verification system to stop the pesky robots that cruise blogs and leave messages offering me mortgages and other less mundane things.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Technology Review: Special Reports: 10 Emerging Technologies

Technology Review: Special Reports: 10 Emerging Technologies

Read about how the Internet is about to drown in digital video, new DVD technology, nanohealing, nanocharging solar and more!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Technology Review: Mining for Cheap Flights

Technology Review: Mining for Cheap Flights: "On a flight to his brother's wedding in 2001, Oren Etzioni discovered that the people sitting next to him had bought their tickets later than he did, yet had paid less. For some, this could have been an infuriating revelation, but Etzioni didn't get mad; as a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, in Seattle, he got inspired. 'I thought, 'Why don't I collect historical data [on airfares] and use that to anticipate ticket prices?''"

Trying to find cheap flights, read this article. Try Farecast
Also, try Kayak.

Let me know if they work!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Plasma process converts garbage into clean energy | The Green Geek

Plasma process converts garbage into clean energy | The Green Geek

I may have posted something similar in the past, but this site really lays it out. Garbage to Clean Energy...almost the holy grail of waste/energy! The site is also pretty nifty, "The Green Geek"!. Also, see the Sunday, March 25 2007 Oregonian Newspaper about the conversion of the Silicon Forest from semiconductors to solar panels in the article described below.

"New solar cell plant in Hillsboro may usher in better times
German SolarWorld's plant may help bring recovery after a high-tech slump"


http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1174631106288630.xml&coll=7

http://tinyurl.com/27jpb4

Similarities in making solar chips and microchips
Friday, March 23, 2007
The Oregonian

Many Oregon chip-industry veterans possess skills that readily transfer to the solar business, piquing the excitement of state economic officials.

Five categories of production-operator positions common to both industries:

Crystal growing: The same process of growing silicon-crystal ingot is used in both industries, differing mainly in the purity of the polysilicon raw material. The steps: melting and chemically doping polysilicon, dipping seed crystal, extracting ingot from molten polysilicon. Solar usually grows ingots of smaller diameter, but three times longer (about 3 feet).

Grinding: In both industries, ingots are ground to remove surface irregularities. The major differences are grinding specifications and speeds.

Wafer slicing: Both industries use similar wire saw machines to cut ingot into wafers. Solar wafers are about as thin as a business card; chip wafers are about three times as thick. Using longer ingot, the solar business cuts about four times as many wafers at a time.

Diffusion: Both industries turn wafers into an electrical device with a positive and negative side. Typically, phosphorus is diffused into the wafers. The process forms an oxide layer, which must be removed.

Printing: Many solar businesses use a screening technique to print a grid pattern on both sides of cells. In the chip industry, photolithography is extremely complex -- much more so than in solar.

-- SolarWorld Group




http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/factboxes/11746329338810.xml

http://tinyurl.com/2pv73x

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Seed: Science is Culture

Seed: Science is Culture

This is a magazine that even I can understand. I have a subscription for it. The print edition is quite dramatic.

Science and technology information from Scientific American

Science and technology information from Scientific American

This is a link to SciAm's great website. If you do podcasts, look for the links for the daily and weekly SciAm podcasts.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Strange Moon Facts

Strange Moon Facts

Strange Stuff...."The Moon is the Rosetta Stone of the Planets"

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Technology Review: A Practical Use for Waste Methane


Technology Review: A Practical Use for Waste Methane

Finally, something to do with Cow burps and Farts!

WAVE ENERGY

Previous posts here dealt with wave energy projects off of the
Oregon Coast


The above is a link to an Oregon government website on the current wave projects. Also, see my November 2005 posts by on Oregon wave energy by clicking here.

There was also a recent story on a BBC technology website about a different kind
of wave project off the coast of Portugal named Pelamis. The Pelamis is a sea snake, something
the new Portugal device resembles. The European Union has an aggressive alternative
energy program that includes wave energy. Click here for a link to the BBC World Podcast.

Speaking of energy, it appears that while Al Gore refused to rise to the bait at the Oscar
Awards ceremony and announce for President, former President Jimmy
Carter is bugging his so much about running, Gore is hiding from his calls. See a related story here.



On a closing note, I have hardly been keeping this blog up. I know, however,
that there are some readers. Please comment.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Telegraph | Business | PC World announces the end of the floppy disk

Telegraph | Business | PC World announces the end of the floppy disk

Read this article from the Daily Telegraph. One of Europe's largest PC stores is liquidating its stock of floppies. As the article notes, even a HD disk is not big enough to hold a song or a high resolution photograph. Doom! Does anyone have a 5 1/4" drive available? I need to save some of my File Scavenger very old data. Please email me.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Time Travel by Ronald L. Mallett

Time Travel by Ronald L. Mallett

Serious actual research into Time Travel. This physicist lost his father at 12 years old and began a life long search to enable him to go back in time and warn him about taking care of himself to avoid a heart attack. The irony is that it seems that if time travel is invented, one could not return to a time before it's invention!

See these previous posts:

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

What's done is done… or is it? - fundamentals - 28 September 2006 - New Scientist


New Scientist sets out to discover if the future can change the past - welcome to "retrocausality"

"Ever wish you could reach back in time and change the past? Maybe you'd like to take back an unfortunate voicemail message, or rephrase what you just said to your boss. Or perhaps you've even dreamed of tweaking the outcome of yesterday's lottery to make yourself the winner."

Read this for the description of a fascinating experiment.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Researchers Say Prehistoric Extinctions in Australia Were Mans Work, Not Natures - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

Researchers Say Prehistoric Extinctions in Australia Were Mans Work, Not Natures - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

A Dingo Ate My Baby!

He's back! Read above link to see how time really works! Also, see the Outsider's song, "Time won't Let Me Be"

Movie Review: Children of Men
The above review is from the Hollywood Reporter. I do not totally agree. I am a fan of the author of the original book, P.D. James. I really liked the book. I now see why all of the ads for the movie did not tout the author. She probably did not want them to. As a movie, it was pretty good, but not at all what I remember the book to be. I was disappointed.

Now, going to SF books (note: P.D. James is a high class mystery writer and not a SF writer), be sure and read books by the Australian author Greg Egan. He is a computer programmer and holds a math degree from the University of Western Australia.

So far, I have read Teranesia , a very good book based on genetics. I tried reading Schild's Ladder, but it was too highly mathematical for my meager mind. I am now reading Diaspora, a book about computer evolution, consciousness and intelligence. Be sure and see Egan's web page at http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/

Hypography Science Forums - TIME EXPLAINED (v2.1)

Hypography Science Forums - TIME EXPLAINED (v2.1)
"A Dingo Ate my Baby!"
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/TERANESIA/TERANESIA.html

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