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Starts With a Bang! |
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Starts With a Bang! |
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Ars Technica - link below |
This produced an environment where the material's electrons behave remarkably like relativistic particles, with a "speed of light" that they can adjust. Additionally, the researchers could change the spacing between molecules in a way that the masses of the quasiparticles changed, or cause them to behave as though they are interacting with electric and magnetic fields—without actually applying those fields to the material. This setup will potentially help us explore new physics that may arise in these environments.
Wikipedia: Higgs mechanism
Ars Technica: Researchers mimic relativity and the Higgs field in graphene-like material
BWB © 19 March 2012, the Griot Poet
Driving While Black…no, he was
Walking While Black…
Being While Black…
Trayvon Martin’s crime was
Iced tea and a bag of skittles, the riddle of walking
In a hoodie in the rain during an intermission of the NCAA All-Star Game.
His English teacher said his major was “cheerfulness.”
Other than his hoodie that most teenagers wear,
George Zimmerman became Klansman and executioner,
The 2012 version of Emmett Till’s asthmatic whistle that got him tragically killed.
Mamie Till allowed an open casket view
To look at the ugliness that they’d visited on her son.
That brave act steeled backbone in the Civil Rights Movement;
A personal tragedy in a pre-racial reality.
Now, in the post-racial reality of having a
Black president, Trayvon’s spirit cries out for justice,
And the DOJ has a black attorney general, the force of law being:
“Hate Crime” – defined as “a traditional offense like
Murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias.”
For the purposes of collecting statistics,
Congress has defined a hate crime as a "criminal offense
Against a person or property motivated in whole or in
Part by an offender's bias against a race, religion,
Disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation." (FBI.gov)
Every black and brown parent hugs their kids closer tonight;
Every black and brown child hides their Obama t-shirts and posters,
Else flirt with disaster.
These were the fights they’d see only in February/September-October
– once-a-year – in Black and Hispanic History (Month), or You Tube reels.
The young would roll their eyes and say:
“that’s old; it don’t happen anymore.”
Well…
Trayvon’s blood was spilled on a police department’s
Floor as his father called his cell for THREE days
And NO ONE answered until they got their “story” straight.
They’d protect Invader Zimm through Florida’s
“Stand Your Ground” law, because if they
Prosecute Zimmerman, they risk [for themselves] lawsuit!
Trayvon’s blood calls out to God as Abel’s
Did for Cain’s slaughter of him.
And just to remind you – Trayvon’s “sin” so to not long ponder this riddle:
Driving While Black…NO, he was
Walking While Black…
Being While Black…
…with the deadly weapons of a hoodie, an iced tea and a bag of skittles!
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Full report here |
AAAS Science Mag - Poll: Many U.S. Voters Have Gloomy View of America's Science Future
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NYT Photo |
China has even more scientists in key positions in the government. President Hu Jintao was trained as a hydraulic engineer and Premier Wen Jiabao as a geomechanical engineer. In fact, eight out of the nine top government officials in China have scientific backgrounds. There is a scattering of scientist-politicians in high government positions in other countries as well. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a doctorate in physical chemistry, and, going back a bit, Margaret Thatcher earned a degree in chemistry.
It's also my observation that politicans have "emotional intelligence," meaning they can "move a crowd," a skill they need if they want to maintain a job. A skill unnecessary in a laboratory. Tech types tend to be self-motivated.
This would, unfortunately create a new "class" of being that only specialized knowledge would allow the ascendancy to the governing body. Since it would only require a select few, much as our current system of governance, it would become quite evident that the shift of power would favor one group (s) over others. The world does not work like Star Trek, or Vulcan. Our baser instincts would prevail. (Besides, it ultimately didn't work so well on the fictional home of Superman - they, er... blew up.)
However, the current pandering to focus groups and "the base" needs to cease. Our leaders need SOME appreciation of science for clear decision-making, else they will model an anti-intellectualism that will soon become the "new normal," one we will not recover from...for maybe a generation.
OK: It's kind of a rant, but hopefully a thought-provoking one.
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Screeneddotcom |
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Quantum Biology |
PhysOrgdotcom:
Physics arXiv links:
Physics World: Graphene in new 'battery' breakthrough?
Physics arXiv:
Self-Charged Graphene Battery Harvests Electricity from Thermal Energy of the Environment
Zihan Xu1†*, Guoan Tai1,3†, Yungang Zhou2, Fei Gao2, Kim Hung Wong1
Introduced to fulfill the needs of the semiconductor physics community whose research was becoming more applied, SST has gone from strength-to-strength over the years under the leadership of its eminent Editors-in-Chief, Tony Stradling, Erich Gornik, Gareth Parry and Laurens Molenkamp.
IOP Science: Semiconductor Science and Technology
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LED |
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National Fusion Research Institute Image |
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The J-Walk Blog |
You made your choice, now it's up to me
To bow out gracefully
Though you hold the key, but baby
Whenever you call me, I'll be there
Whenever you want me, I'll be there
Whenever you need me, I'll be there
I'll be around
I, knew just what to say
Now I found out today
That all the words had slipped away, but I know
There's always a chance
A tiny spark remains, yeah
And sparks turn into flames
And love can burn once again, but I know you know
Whenever you call me, I'll be there
Whenever you want me, I'll be there
Whenever you need me, I'll be there
I'll be around...yeah
Whenever you call me, I'll be there
Whenever you want me, I'll be there
Even if I have to call, I'll be there
I'll be around
Just call me at home, I'll be there
I'll never leave you alone, I'll be there
Just call out your name you know I know you know
I'll be around
Spinners,
"I'll Be Around"
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Topological qubits imagined as lanterns |
The multiparticle cluster state at the centre of the current work was first proposed in 2001 by Robert Raussendorf and Hans Briegel, who were then at the University of Munich. Now at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Raussendorf is also involved in this latest research. Such a cluster could be used to perform "one-way" quantum computing, in which the states of individual particles are measured in a specific sequence so that the quantum state of the remaining particles gives the result of the computation.
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"Spooky action at a distance" - Einstein |
Artist's view of a single molecule sending a stream of single photons to a second molecule at a distance, in quantum analogy to the radio communication between two stations. Image: Robert Lettow
The results of the study published in Physical Review Letters provide the first example of long-distance communication between two quantum optical antennas in analogy to the 19th century experiments of Hertz and Marconi with radio antennas. In those early efforts, dipolar oscillators were used as transmitting and receiving antennas. In the current experiment, two single molecules mimic that scenario at optical frequencies and via a nonclassical optical channel, namely a single-photon stream. This opens many doors for further exciting experiments in which single photons act as carriers of quantum information to be processed by single emitters.
Research and Development: Two molecules communicate via single photons
Eh: that's how CNN described it, as in "hacking a loogie" at the Earth (I know we're made of "star stuff," but that's taking the analogy a bit far):
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Dr Ian Robinson with the NPL watt balance |
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1st Single Atom Transistor - University of New South Wales |
Revealed on Sunday in the academic journal Nature Nanotechnology, the research is part of a decade-long effort at the University of New South Wales to deliver a quantum computer — a machine that would use the seemingly magical properties of very small particles to instantly perform calculations beyond the scope of today’s classical computers.
...the New South Wales team — lead by professor Michelle Simmons — advanced the cause by demonstrating that Ohm’s Law of electrical resistivity extends to the world of very small particles, and now, together with Gerhard Klimeck and his team at Purdue, they’ve made a more significant breakthrough by placing a single-atom transistor exactly where they want to place it.
Wired: Physicists Foretell Quantum Computer With Single-Atom Transistor
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Maps of the World - Africa |
Africa is quietly undergoing a tech revolution that could transform the continent. CNN's African Voices has highlighted 10 leading tech voices from different African countries. Each one comments on the role technology plays in boosting entrepreneurship and empowering communities in Africa.
CNN links:
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
"High Flight"