Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Ouverture...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 1, 2014 at 8:00am

Source: Omega Deone Wilhite on FB

The Challenger Disaster happened 28 years ago last month, 28 January 1986. Dr. McNair, along with Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Christa McAuliffe, and Gregory B. Jarvis became the sad reminders of the sometimes grim price of exploration and adventure.

I open African American/Black History Month ("ouverture" - en Francais) with some recollections I've posted previously on this blog, as well as Langston Hughes' "I Too" poem reenactment, born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Mr. Hughes and Dr. McNair were fraternity brothers in the Greek Letter organization known as Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc (part of the "Divine Nine"). I do not know if either man ever met the other...

NASA: Ronald E. McNair, PhD
#P4TC: A 25th Anniversary

Discovery article: The Physics of...Karate

I recalled having met Dr. McNair when I was an undergraduate Engineering Physics major at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro back in '84. He's an alumni of the university, and we celebrated him being the 1st black astronaut from an HBCU. I was in Air Force ROTC, marched in the parade in his honor after his first mission, and introduced him at the Army/Air Force ROTC joint banquet. It was a busy weekend.

"Whenever you're in Texas, you should give me a call."

So I did. I lived in Austin, Texas at the time, stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base (now the airport). Back then, I called information; asked for Dr. Ronald E. McNair in Houston, Texas. That was as close to "Google it" as we got back then.

I got to speak to him for a good three hours. I found out some things:

5 weeks before his dissertation defense, someone purged his data (also known as sabotage). Without data, he'd essentially have failed to get his PhD. He said he stayed up for 3 weeks and re-accomplished 5 years of research. He slept for a week after that.
He was planning to leave NASA and go into academia. Challenger would be "his last mission." That was sadly true. It devastated me, and inspired some creative writing in his honor.
A lot of his determination he learned as a participant on the school karate team, which a the time. According to my Calculus instructor and his teammate Dr. Gilbert Casterlow (Sensei), you could get a disqualification for "unnecessary redness of the skin." The rule was designed not to favor African Americans, obviously.

Recalling this makes me determined to stay in science, contribute, help when and if I can, and stand on the shoulder of this and other giants (he was actually only 5'6", but you get the idea).

“When getting an education is a revolutionary act & dreams are the province of men,” Stanley Tucci.

One-Shot Memories...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 31, 2014 at 11:23am

The "one-shot" memory devices that recent NIST research might make possible can be envisioned as physical keys that can only be used a single time, a useful feature for computer security applications.
Credit: Talbott/NIST

Computer security systems may one day get a boost from quantum physics, as a result of recent research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Computer scientist Yi-Kai Liu has devised a way to make a security device that has proved notoriously difficult to build—a "one-shot" memory unit, whose contents can be read only a single time.

The research, which Liu is presenting at this week's Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science conference,* shows in theory how the laws of quantum physics could allow for the construction of such memory devices. One-shot memories would have a wide range of possible applications such as protecting the transfer of large sums of money electronically. A one-shot memory might contain two authorization codes: one that credits the recipient's bank account and one that credits the sender's bank account, in case the transfer is canceled. Crucially, the memory could only be read once, so only one of the codes can be retrieved, and hence, only one of the two actions can be performed—not both.

"When an adversary has physical control of a device—such as a stolen cell phone—software defenses alone aren't enough; we need to use tamper-resistant hardware to provide security," Liu says. "Moreover, to protect critical systems, we don't want to rely too much on complex defenses that might still get hacked. It's better if we can rely on fundamental laws of nature, which are unassailable."

Unfortunately, there is no fundamental solution to the problem of building tamper-resistant chips, at least not using classical physics alone. So scientists have tried involving quantum mechanics as well, because information that is encoded into a quantum system behaves differently from a classical system.

NIST: Quantum Physics Could Make Secure, Single-Use Computer Memories Possible

Permittivity Measurements...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 30, 2014 at 6:52am

FIG. 2.
SEM micrographs of the KTN thin films deposited on (a) MgO and (b) LaAlO3.
Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 115, 024103 (2014); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4858388

ABSTRACT

The dielectric properties of a KTa0.65Nb0.35O3 ferroelectric composition for a submicronic thin layer were measured in the microwave domain using different electromagnetic characterization methods. Complementary experimental techniques (broadband methods versus resonant techniques, waveguide versus transmission line) and complementary data processing procedures (quasi-static theoretical approaches versus full-wave analysis) were selected to investigate the best way to characterize ferroelectric thin films. The measured data obtained from the cylindrical resonant cavity method, the experimental method that showed the least sources of uncertainty, were taken as reference values for comparisons with results obtained using broadband techniques. The error analysis on the methods used is discussed with regard to the respective domains of validity for each method; this enabled us to identify the best experimental approach for obtaining an accurate determination of the microwave dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin layers.

© 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

Scitation:
Intercomparison of permittivity measurement techniques for ferroelectric thin layers

Are We Alone?...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 29, 2014 at 7:02am

“For the first time, we will identify continents and oceans—and perhaps the signatures of life—on distant worlds,” says NASA in its 30-year vision for astrophysics. (Credit: Technology Review)

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: The past 30 years has seen a revolution in astronomy and our understanding of the Universe. That’s thanks in large part to a relatively small number of orbiting observatories that have changed the way we view our cosmos.

These observatories have contributed observations from every part of the electromagnetic spectrum, from NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory at the very high energy end to HALCA, a Japanese 8-metre radio telescope at the low energy end. Then there is the Hubble Space Telescope in the visible part of the spectrum, arguably the greatest telescope in history.

It’s fair to say that these observatories have had a profound effect not just on science , but on the history of humankind.

So an interesting question is: what next? Today, we find out, at least as far as NASA is concerned, with the publication of the organisation’s roadmap for astrophysics over the next 30 years. The future space missions identified in this document will have a profound influence on the future of astronomy but also on the way imaging technology develops in general.

So what has NASA got up its sleeve? To start off with, it says its goal in astrophysics is to answer three questions: Are we alone? How did we get here? And how does our universe work?

It is a vision I will most likely not live to see the full fruition, but I will delight in seeing its "baby steps" forward. For the young that will take up this mandate: I wish you well.

Be kind to our neighbors...

Physics arXiv: Enduring Quests-Daring Visions (NASA Astrophysics in the Next Three Decades)

Nanoantennas...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 28, 2014 at 7:40am

Source: Link below

Researchers at Harvard University in the US have made an optical antenna structure on graphene that can be tuned over a broad wavelength range. The device might find use in applications such as reconfigurable “metasurfaces”, adaptive optics and optoelectronics.

Conventional antennas are used to transmit radio or TV signals, but they can be made to work at optical frequencies if shrunk to the nanoscale. Nanoantennas possess "plasmonic modes" that can be tuned to resonate with the optical transitions in molecules nearby and it is these modes that increase the interaction between light and matter on sub-wavelength scales in the near field region of the antennas. However, although normal antennas are easy to tune, these nanodevices are not because of their small size.

Graphene, a monolayer of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms, comes into its own here. Its conductivity and optical constant can be tuned by simply applying a gate voltage applied to it. This is because the applied voltage changes the carrier (electron and hole) concentration in the material. Indeed, earlier this year, a team of scientists at Harvard, led by Federico Capasso, found that graphene placed in the nanogap of a dipole antenna acts as an electrically tuneable nanocircuit element and can therefore be used to control the resonance of the antenna.

Nano Tech Web: Optical nanoantenna goes wide wavelength

Calculus of Fly Balls...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 27, 2014 at 8:12am

You just didn't know you were doing it. Baseball season is coming...

World Science Festival: The Calculus of Catching Fly Balls

Science Literacy...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 26, 2014 at 8:09am

From the National Science Education Standards: a succinct definition.

The COSMOS reboot in March needs our viewership, support, conversation...and literacy. A lot of myths and untruths are being pushed for an agenda that enriches a few and damages many (and the planet). Prepare for the self-deluded and ignorant to be lit. I speak from experience, and don't want anyone surprised.

Quoting part 3 of Bill Moyers' interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson:

January 24, 2014

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson unwittingly triggered a controversy in the blogosphere last week when he said this on our show: “If you have a religious philosophy that is not based in objective realities that you then want to put in the science classroom, then I’m going to stand there and say no, ‘I’m not going to allow you in the science classroom.’”

This week on Moyers & Company, Bill weighs in on that debate with an essay on politicians and others who refuse to accept the reality of evolution and climate change.

And in part three of their conversation, Bill and Tyson discuss why science literacy is important for the future of our democracy, economy and standing in the world: “Science literacy is an inoculation against charlatans who would exploit your ignorance of scientific law to then take your money from you or your opportunity from you.” And that literacy is at risk, Tyson concludes.

A Disservice to Both...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 25, 2014 at 10:33am

More on COSMOS, and a little commentary:

I've personally encountered the impassioned defense of "creationism/intelligent design" and personal direct attacks on me as "I don't know science." Holding my ground, it turned out these particular individuals didn't know much at all.

My questions are simple:

1. What other country is addressing this "debate" of creationism/intelligent design"?

2. What other country has attempted to introduce this "debate" into their science classrooms and curriculum?
3. What other country has a tax-funded "Creation Museum" (apparently, in financial difficulty)?

4. Are the top countries in the O.E.C.D. results advancing this in their science classrooms?

5. If not, why are WE insisting on doing this?

The answer is, this has nothing to do with religion or science, and is a disservice to both.

The Founding Fathers were at most Deists and Free Thinkers that crafted a Constitution separating Church and State, despite David Barton's refuted obfuscations. Deity does not need "talebearers," and there are more noble pursuits: income disparity, gender equality and the reduction of violence towards women in society and the media; gang violence, imprisonment inequity, re-fighting the Civil War to our own detriment as corporations ship jobs overseas are good fields to till; science and politics are not.

We are inundated with sociopathic, manipulative shysters - that we tend to sadly elect because of insincere, memorized 3-point sermons on "family values" - encouraging all to chase chimeras and unicorns; dueling windmills as the republic crumbles.

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Huffington Post) regarding science and religion:

"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism."

Asimov on Science...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 24, 2014 at 8:08am

Not only was the late Isaac Asimov a writer of great science fiction, he was a biochemistry professor. His assessment of whether there will be a reconciliation between the two in an interview with Bill Moyers leads into tomorrow's posting (more COSMOS, and part 2 of his interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson).

Schwarzschild Kugelblitz...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 23, 2014 at 2:58pm

Source: Discovery link below

The fastest object ever built by the human species is the Voyager 1 space probe, moving at a speed of 18 miles per second. If it were heading toward Proxima Centauri (which it’s not), Voyager 1 would reach our nearest stellar neighbor in about 80,000 years.

Clearly, if interstellar travel is to be accomplished on human timescales, much greater speeds are required. At 10 percent of the speed of light (a thousand times faster than Voyager 1, but a conceivable speed for likely soon-to-be-realized fusion engines), Proxima Centuri could be reached in approximately 45 years -- less than a human lifetime.

In his 1955 paper Geons, John Wheeler, one of the pioneers of the theory of black holes, coined the term "Kugelblitz" -- which translates literally to "ball lightning." He suggested that if enough pure energy could be focused into a region of space, that energy would form a microscopic black hole, which could be described by the equations of Karl Schwarzschild -- a "Schwarzschild Kugelblitz" (or SK).

Fast forward 19 years to the ground-breaking work of Stephen Hawking, who realized that quantum mechanical effects near a black hole’s event horizon (the boundary beyond which no light or other radiation can escape) would give rise to the emission of radiation, so-called "Hawking Radiation." The smaller the black hole, the greater its radiated power and the less its mass, but the shorter its lifetime until it completely evaporates.

To be useful, a SK would need to be small enough to expel the required energy, light enough to be reasonably accelerated, but large enough to have a sufficiently useful lifetime. Such a Schwarzschild Kugelblitz would be incredibly small, smaller than even a proton, which is one of the basic constituents of an atom.

Despite being so miniscule, Schwarzschild Kugelblitzes are incredibly heavy. A typical SK weighs more than two Empire State Buildings, and has a power output of approximately 129 petawatts (1 petawatt = 10 quadrillion watts). This is 10 million times the July 2013 power consumption record of New York City!

In 1993, Schwarzschild Kugelblitzes pierced the realm of popular culture, albeit under a pseudonym. In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Timescape", an artificial quantum singularity (i.e. Schwarzschild Kugelblitz) is revealed to be a Romulan Warbird’s power source.

Thermodynamics: the study of energy and its transformations (description from my undergraduate textbook). Along with fusion power eventually becoming a reality, this could substantially change the way we generate power, wean us of our need for fossil fuel from countries not-to-friendly and change the Calculus of our geopolitics...hopefully for the better.

Discovery: Kugelblitz! Powering a Starship With a Black Hole
Jeff Lee, Icarus Interstellar
Harvard Abstracts: Geons, by John Wheeler
(Note: Dr. Wheeler taught at UT Austin, Texas)

Wide Bandgap Semiconductors...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 22, 2014 at 7:30am

Hidden inside nearly every modern electronic is a technology -- called power electronics -- that is quietly making our world run. Yet, as things like our phones, appliances and cars advance, current power electronics will no longer be able to meet our needs, making it essential that we invest in the future of this technology.

Today, President Obama will announce that North Carolina State University will lead the Energy Department’s new manufacturing innovation institute for the next generation of power electronics. The institute will work to drive down the costs of and build America’s manufacturing leadership in wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor-based power electronics -- leading to more affordable products for businesses and consumers, billions of dollars in energy savings and high-quality U.S. manufacturing jobs. 1

*****

President Obama has declared 2014 a year of action, and while he will continue to work with Congress on new measures to create jobs and grow the economy, he will also use his executive authority to get things done. After shedding jobs for a decade, our manufacturers have added 568,000 over the past nearly four years, including 80,000 over the past five months. Manufacturing production has grown since the end of the recession at its fastest pace in over a decade. The President is committed to building on that progress.

In last year’s State of the Union address, the President proposed a series of three new manufacturing institutes that the Administration can create using existing resources—this is the first of those institutes. In May, President Obama launched a competition for these three new manufacturing innovation institutes with a Federal commitment of $200 million across five Federal agencies—Defense, Energy, Commerce, NASA, and the National Science Foundation, building off the success of a pilot institute headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio. The additional two institutes led by the Department of Defense—focused on Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation and Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing—are still in the selection process and will be awarded in the coming weeks. 2

1. Energy.gov: Wide Bandgap Semiconductors: Essential to Our Technology Future

2. NIST.gov: President Obama Announces New Public-Private Manufacturing Innovation Institute

Seeing Bifrost...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 21, 2014 at 8:23am

Credit: Link below

A breakthrough using data from the Gaia-ESO project has provided evidence backing up theoretically predicted divisions in the chemical composition of the stars that make up the Milky Way's disc -- the vast collection of giant gas clouds and billions of stars that give our Galaxy its 'flying saucer' shape.

By tracking the fast-produced elements, specifically magnesium in this study, astronomers can determine how rapidly different parts of the Milky Way were formed. The research suggests that stars in the inner regions of the Galactic disc were the first to form, supporting ideas that our Galaxy grew from the inside-out.

Using data from the 8-m VLT in Chile, one of the world's largest telescopes, an international team of astronomers took detailed observations of stars with a wide range of ages and locations in the Galactic disc to accurately determine their 'metallicity': the amount of chemical elements in a star other than hydrogen and helium, the two elements most stars are made from.

Immediately after the Big Bang, the Universe consisted almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with levels of "contaminant metals" growing over time. Consequently, older stars have fewer elements in their make-up -- so have lower metallicity.

"The different chemical elements of which stars -- and we -- are made are created at different rates -- some in massive stars which live fast and die young, and others in sun-like stars with more sedate multi-billion-year lifetimes," said Professor Gerry Gilmore, lead investigator on the Gaia-ESO Project.

Science Daily:
Milky Way May Have Formed 'Inside-Out:' Gaia Provides New Insight Into Galactic Evolution

Dr. King: Science Advocate...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 20, 2014 at 6:14am

I often admired Dr. King and my own pastor during this time period: Dr. Warnie C. Hay (deceased). Neither man seemed at all threatened by science, its conclusions and its implications. In Dr. King's case, illustrated by what's said in the embed above from Ms. Nichelle Nichols, he knew the power of imagery and its implications/impact on the self-perceptions of young people. This, and the responsible teaching of scientific reasoning and critical thinking skills will be the "rising tide that lifts all boats." (JFK)

Quotes are from the article: "Martin Luther King: Science Advocate," by Cara Santa Maria on Huffington Post.

"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism."

On the Vietnam War:

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

On the "amoral majority" bending scientific findings to fit their ideology:

"So men conveniently twisted the insights of religion, science, and philosophy to give sanction to the doctrine of white supremacy...they will even argue that God was the first segregationist. 'Red birds and blue birds don't fly together,' they contend...they turn to some pseudo-scientific writing and argue that the Negro's brain is smaller than the white man's brain. They do not know, or they refuse to know, that the idea of an inferior or superior race has been refuted by the best evidence of the science of anthropology. Great anthropologists, like Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Melville J. Herskovits agree that although there may be inferior and superior individuals within all races, there is no superior or inferior race. And segregationists refuse to acknowledge that there are four types of blood, and these four types are found within every racial group."

"Slavery in America was perpetuated not merely by human badness but also by human blindness...Men convinced themselves that a system that was so economically profitable must be morally justifiable...Science was commandeered to prove the biological inferiority of the Negro. Even philosophical logic was manipulated [exemplified by] an Aristotelian syllogism: 'All men are made in the image of God. God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro. Therefore, the Negro is not a man.'"

On man's brotherhood:

"Through our scientific and technological genius we've made of this world a neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of it a brotherhood. We must all learn to live together as brothers--or we will all perish together as fools. This is the great issue facing us today. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone. We are tied together."

...and I am grateful sir, in the time of your brief light, that you "did not sneeze."

Troll Taming...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 19, 2014 at 6:00am

SMOSH: The 18 Types of Internet Trolls

My wife often asks me: "WHY do you engage these people?" I believe I've encountered a few of the eighteen in some epic exchanges.

My answer is very simply stated: they engage me, as the example illustrates below often by name. As you know, I don't look for confrontations. But some trolls I assume feel I've upset their sensibilities, or their viewpoints I've intruded upon as a resident of the "reality-based community" (no apologies that science as an enterprise is "the substance of things observed; the evidence of things measured, defined and cataloged"). Here in this instance for once, I wasn't discussing science, though I can see where the sensitive would feel umbrage with my general assessment. The exchange is brief and I hope you find my rejoinder at the end of the embed entertaining.

Hey: for one Sunday, I'm not ranting...(and hopefully, Gollum will not self-identify).

Troll Taming

Comic-con and COSMOS...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 18, 2014 at 7:10am

The promised "more"...

Rebooting Carl Sagan's seminal "Cosmos" miniseries three decades later is almost impossible — unless you happen to be renowned astrophysicist and science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson.

For those who may have missed the original back in 1980, "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" was a documentary series on PBS that explored the universe as well as the history of scientific discovery. Sagan's topics of discussionranged from Japanese folklore to debunking astrology to the ultimate fate of the stars and galaxies that surround us.

During a roundtable discussion at New York Comic Con this past October, Tyson explained why it's time for a new iteration of the beloved astronomy documentary, and how he and his team of scientists and entertainers hope to engage and enlighten a new generation of viewers. SPACE.com sat in on this roundtable, which also included Ann Druyan, Brannon Braga and Mitchell Cannold, all producers for the 2014 reimagining of "Cosmos."

Druyan is the producer of the original "Cosmos" as well as Sagan's widow. Braga was a producer on three "Star Trek" series, while Cannold is a major Hollywood producer with a background in journalism. Not present was Seth MacFarlane, the creator and voice actor behind "Family Guy," who first went to bat for "Cosmos" on Fox and is now its executive producer.

Space.com: Rebooting 'Cosmos' by Marshall Honorof

Dear. Mrs. Flynt..

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 17, 2014 at 7:17am

I came across this note from you in an incredibly over-packed memorabilia album. Mom managed to cram K-12 report cards as well as my undergraduate physics transcripts! Thankfully, my graduate ones are in PDF form...Sadly, she's no longer here to hoard them. The unique spelling of your married name (you insisted upon, and now I see why) is the Old English word for "stream."

I found this note from you Mrs. Flynt, your last encouragement to me before I embarked on the journey to the big unknown: middle school, which at this time in most of the country was after the 6th grade. I only regret that I never in this life thanked you for your support and encouragement; encouraging my curiosity with our school science experiments - in and outside of the classroom; correcting my writing, grammar and spelling; making sure I was OK as I faded in-and-out of consciousness after a bully head-butted me "for a place in line" ahead of me, as I recall. I also clearly remember waking up in the school nurse's office - ice pack on face; you by my side as my parents came to school to see about the matter.

I think of you now as education "reform" in this Internet age you never lived to see is taking the shape of computer-delivered lessons replacing teachers; drill-baby-drill to standardized tests that didn't exist in your time. The human species has always best learned via the format of craftsman: journeymen; teacher: students; master: disciples. There is a dearth of critical thinking skills that used to be expected and encouraged. It is instead becoming germane and replaced with national reflection only on the superficial. When I briefly taught high school math and physics, I saw teachers that are just like you were: passionate about their subjects and dedicated to their students. I hope in my tenure I measured up to that as well. The teachers now are blamed for the problems in education by those who can't teach (won't ever teach), but make laws adversely affecting teaching, and ultimately this democratic republic. Another important role of teachers is to prepare the citizens to be informed, and critical of authority and holding it accountable when it wields the reins of power to adverse effects. Some things I wish had not so modernized. Human interaction is in our DNA, and this "reform" is making us more distant, more...cold towards one another.

You along with my parents have exited this stage. I'd like to think, though it be wishful, that you are still reading over my shoulder; correcting my syntax and grammatical errors; and hope you still think I have some talent at writing.

Sincerely,

Your "little scientist" (...humbly, thanks you)

Something From Nothing...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 15, 2014 at 7:01am

A discussion between Lawrence M. Krauss and Richard Dawkins. Admittedly, both are enthusiasts of scientific, critical thinking and, ahem..."not friendly" to theistic viewpoints, to say the least.

Source

I personally don't think there is a Venn diagram intersection between science and faith. I think both have helped society - Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Civil and Voting Rights - and both have contributed to errors and wrongs, e.g.: The Inquisition; Salem Witch Trials; Eugenics; the atomic bomb. I don't think either professor is willing or able to absorb the intrinsic needs of society into the halls of science. I think both pursuits should endeavor to "stay in their lanes" and not intervene with/demean the other.

Meanwhile: enjoy their discussion. It is enlightening.

Dating Methods...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 14, 2014 at 6:45am

Image Credit: Huffington Post

Similar to "Flat Earth Society" conspiracy theorists (they ironically have a web site and a Facebook "info" page, go figure), I hear a lot of "young Earth" enthusiasts that confuse, or blatantly obfuscate the distinct differences between Carbon 14 dating and Radiometric dating. Both are related to the decay of isotopes over time as measured by the half lives of the materials read to date it. However, the difference is where the elements are found, how they occur in nature, and what they tell us. This short primer hopefully, clears up any misconceptions and clarifies the inaccuracy of holding onto the notion - sometime propagated by our elected officials - of an Earth only a few thousand years old. Or, for that matter after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and International Space Station is flat or an oblong Frisbee-like disk (though it's not "round," it's not a flying saucer).

Carbon 14 dating

Essentially called so because it involves us "carbon-based life forms," to use a Trek techno-babble phrase. It has a limit of around 50,000 years and uses things like wood, bone, cloth, hair, plant fibers. (1) Page 2 of the "How Stuff Works" link has an excellent graphic on the natural manufacture of the phenomena. Cosmic rays collide with energetic neutrons creating Nitrogen-14, eventually turning into Carbon-14 that is absorbed by plants, that are then consumed/used by animals or humans. Following death and burial as the link implies, word and bones change from Carbon-14 to Nitrogen-14 by Beta particle decay. The key to understanding this is Carbon-12 is considered a stable, i.e. non-decaying isotope, whereas Carbon-14 is unstable. (2) C-14 decays over time, and tells us how long ago an organism died and stopped producing it. This rate, or knowledge of how long this process should take, is how scientists date something using this method. However, it is not without some controversy as decay rates may have been accelerated, or at least different in the distant past. More info at "The Straight Dope" link below, discussing some assumptions in the process and thereby limits to the accuracy. (3) However, the key to this method is what's measured originates from living things.

Radiometric dating

This is on the order of larger and longer time scales, billions of years, starting with the destruction of a distant star by supernova, which gave us the elements in our own bodies ("We are made of 'star stuff' - Carl Sagan) as well as what I'm about to discuss next. The death of distant stars gave us for better or worse: uranium, as such a heavy metal has to be manufactured in an atomic fusion process. (4) Some of that expended material finds its way to forming accretion disks, proto-solar systems of dust and rock that attract one another. The center will eventually become hot enough to become a sun itself and the outer, less thermally energized rings will coalesce into eventual planets. The Earth was initially in a molten state; uranium, silicon and zirconium form ZrSiO4 (Zircon). A faux diamond popularly sold is based on Zirconium (non-radioactive, I might add to alleviate any worries). Once locked into the lead-free crystal, ²³⁸U can decay in a similar fashion to C-14 dating, with a half-life of 4.46 x 10⁹ years. The decay eventually leads to ²¹⁰Pb (Lead). Moon rocks brought back from the Apollo missions are even older, and used as a comparison to the oldest rocks found on Earth, thus 4.54 billion years is the usual time scale given for the age of the globe, give-or-take a few million years (4). Geologic time is admittedly an approximation, and not as precise as any notion of "exactness" (5), but it is the best estimate of how old the planet is that's reported. Dr. Roger C. Wiens gives a primer on radiometric dating "from a Christian Perspective," his concern stated here:

Radiometric dating--the process of determining the age of rocks from the decay of their radioactive elements--has been in widespread use for over half a century. There are over forty such techniques, each using a different radioactive element or a different way of measuring them. It has become increasingly clear that these radiometric dating techniques agree with each other and as a whole, present a coherent picture in which the Earth was created a very long time ago. Further evidence comes from the complete agreement between radiometric dates and other dating methods such as counting tree rings or glacier ice core layers. Many Christians have been led to distrust radiometric dating and are completely unaware of the great number of laboratory measurements that have shown these methods to be consistent. Many are also unaware that Bible-believing Christians are among those actively involved in radiometric dating. (6)

That is an admittance that may disturb some on both sides of a politically contrived "debate." However, this Tweet from Bill Nye (a bit off-color, I will admit), says the point succinctly in less than 140 characters:

Adherence to the Scientific Method produces tangible, often profitable results - for the theist or skeptic alike - and it doesn't discriminate.

Sources:

1. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/carbon-14.htm

2. http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/carbon-14-dating-faq.htm

3. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1836/how-does-carbon-14-dating-work

4. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_scientists_tell_the_age_of_the_Earth?#slide=1

5. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html

6. http://asa3.org/ASA/resources/Wiens.html

Vortex Whiplash...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 13, 2014 at 8:09am

Image Source: B&N

My first B&N link, like...ever! I saw a lot of this image on the way to work in Winter Storm Hercules (that was ahem: after digging my car out). NOTHING in New York, or should I say nothing rarely, stops for snow.

I sincerely hope we're over it.

I earlier posted a widget from 4hiroshimas.com (see original link at "we're over it" above). You can see it below my Facebook badge. It's quite impressive.

Like I said, I'm sincerely hopeful we're over it. It snows in the northeast regularly enough. That cold was biting! My Labrador gained 10 pounds according to the vet. "She's not walking very far," I replied. To put it bluntly, she became...extremely efficient in very short distances. As I personify her: "...1!...2! OK, let's go back in!" (She's a Texas gal, after all.)

This is a good link on it with a very humorous title:
What Is The Polar Vortex And Why Is It Doing This To Us? So personal I know, but that's how one feels at -8 degrees Fahrenheit (reread the Lab's personification).

CNN gives a primer on it as well, walking the delicate line of whether it's global warming or not - can't upset the armchair experts too much, or Donald Trump. [Personally, I tend not to trust billionaires tied to reality shows that can't purchase a decent toupee or hair implants from "Hair Club for Men."]

I'm not holding my breath that my widget nor the fluctuating temperatures will change anyone's mind. The irrational, made-up mind is beyond logical discussion. Besides, climate denial makes for good ratings when preaching to the convinced choir.

Related links from Science blog:

Yes, it was a remarkable cold snap, but in what way? posted by Coby
Go home Arctic, You're Drunk, Greg Laden
More on weather whiplash and the Polar Vortex, Greg Laden