Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Makemake Moon...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 28, 2016 at 6:08am

Dwarf planet Makemake and its newly discovered moon.
The newly discovered moon, MK 2, found in Hubble data orbiting Makemake.
NASA, ESA, A. Parke

Topics: Astronomy, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration, Spaceflight

Once a lonely ice block, now it seems the dwarf planet may have a close-in companion.

In 2005, Caltech astronomers Mike Brown and Chad Trujillo discovered dwarf planet Makemake, currently believed to be the third largest object in the Kuiper Belt after Pluto and Eris. But at the time, astronomers believed it was alone out there on its long path around the Sun. But new data from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal a moon around the tiny world, and offer a little explanation as to where it was hiding.

“The satellite that we found was not that faint and not that close to Makemake,” says Alex Parker, principal investigator of the research and a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. “It popped right out of the data when we looked.”

It turns out it was always there. But the newly found object, provisionally called MK 2, orbits Makemake nearly edge-on from our point of view, meaning most of the time it’s obscured by the comparatively bright dwarf planet. Makemake is 886 miles (1,434 km) in diameter, while the new object appears to be only 100 miles (161 Km). Current scenarios also paint it as a dark companion compared to bright Makemake.

Astronomy:
Astronomers Find a Moon Hiding Around Makemake in Hubble Data, John Wenz

The Silicon Wall...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 27, 2016 at 5:31am

Image Source: MIT Technology Review

Topics: Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Moore's Law, Semiconductor Technology

It was inevitable. I joined the industry after the US Air Force in 1989. The epitome of the industry was the nineties. As gate feature sizes shrank, we looked forward to the future, spurred on by two Star Trek series: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. This was when the Internet became commercial; flip phones looked an awful lot like Star Trek communicators. I went to my oldest son's school with scrapped wafers, bunny suits at his teachers' requests, eager to clone myself in their enthusiastic eyes and lives.

We'll still manufacture semiconductors in some form, like Gate-All-Around FETs. The transition from the old to the new is (for me) pausing and poignant.

In the next five years, it will be too expensive to further miniaturize—but chip makers will innovate in different ways.

Moore’s Law has been slowing for a while. But the U.S. industry that exploits it has finally recognized that it is about to die.

The Semiconductor Industry Association—made up of the likes of Intel, AMD, and Global Foundries—has published the 2015 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. It suggests that, after decades of miniaturization, transistors look set to stop shrinking in size altogether by 2021. After that date, the report claims, it will not be economically efficient to reduce the size of silicon transistors any further.

The prediction is an acknowledgment that Moore’s Law—which states that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years—isn't simply slowing. It’s grinding to a halt.

MIT Technology Review:
Chip Makers Admit Transistors Are About to Stop Shrinking, Jamie Condliffe

To the 22nd Century...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 26, 2016 at 6:07am

Image Source: YouTube embed below

Topics: Mars, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration, Spaceflight

(July 15, 2016) - The Boeing Co marked its centennial on Friday with plans to sharpen its focus on innovation, including ambitious projects for supersonic commercial flight and a rocket that could carry humans to other planets.

But innovation at Boeing will be "disciplined" and not endanger the future of the world's biggest plane maker, Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told reporters at an event marking the company's founding on July 15, 1916.

The enterprise established by William Boeing in a Seattle boathouse has faced numerous "bet the company" moments over its 10 decades to bring out new planes such as the 707 and 747.

"We have won for 100 years because of innovation," Muilenburg said. "The key is disciplined innovation. We'll take risks. We'll invest smartly."

Chicago-based Boeing has managed to stay ahead of European rival Airbus in plane production and is a major defense and space contractor, producing fighter jets, aerial refueling tankers, communications satellites and rockets.

The company is exploring the possibilities of commercial supersonic and hypersonic planes, Muilenburg said. It also is at work on a manned mission to Mars. Though those are perhaps many decades away, "I'm anticipating that person will be riding on a Boeing rocket," Muilenburg said.

Reuters: Boeing aims for supersonics and Mars at outset of second century, Alwyn Scott

Physics and History...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 25, 2016 at 5:22am

Galileo Galilei shows the doge of Venice how to use a telescope in this 1858 fresco by Giuseppe Bertini.
Citation: Phys. Today 69, 7, 38 (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3235

Topics: Civil Engineering, Economy, Education, History, Physics, Science, STEM

Spoiler alert: I'll sound parental, but hopefully not too pedantic.

A Skype conversation with my youngest son revealed two things: 1) he liked working at his now third Civil Engineering summer internship (he's completing a project for an airbase in Japan); 2) he wished he could just do THAT and not return to school for his last year in the fall. My wife and I of course, encouraged him to do just that and the goal would be to get a job after graduation so presumably he would enjoy that too.

He gave an observation I think I had at his age: "why do they have you take all these classes that are unnecessary?" As you'd guess right, the unnecessary classes are those that didn't apply to Civil Engineering.

I told him I appreciated the classes that weren't engineering or physics classes; that sometimes you need "a mental break" from having to do designs and differential equations. It was a respite for me at least.

Plus, part of the entire matriculation experience isn't what you'll GET at the end: it's what you're becoming, and the process of that journey changes you from how you started to how you complete at least the undergraduate leg opening you up to other possibilities. For example, as a Freshman I only had ear for one type of music: Parliament Funkadelic. As a junior studying Thermodynamics and after a "rude" awakening by Al Jarreau singing "Roof Garden," I suddenly developed an appetite and appreciation for Jazz music. Personal research revealed its origins in my own culture and the root art of many popular music forms we take for granted today. If not for art, literature and music we would be stiff and joyless automatons, fulfilling the whims of an employer only; creativity - the fuel of innovation and invention would be significantly lessened. For nothing else, the trifecta is the stuff of "Star Trek" and "Star Wars." I hope I influenced him to think further on his viewpoint.

This article in Physics Today is kind of related to our video conference, which up to being a young adult wasn't only impossible without sophisticated video equipment, it was the stuff of science fiction and "The Jetsons" Saturday cartoon show.

But of course, that in and of itself is an appreciation...of history.

Just as physics is not a list of facts about the world, history is not a list of names and dates. It is a way of thinking that can be powerful and illuminating.

Some things about physics aren’t well covered in a physics education. Those are the messy, rough edges that make everything difficult: dealing with people, singly or in groups; misunderstandings; rivals and even allies who won’t fall in line. Physicists often do not see such issues as contributing to science itself. But social interactions really do influence what scientists produce. Often physicists learn that lesson the hard way. Instead, they could equip themselves for the actual collaborative world, not the idealized solitary one that has never existed.

History can help. An entire academic discipline—history of science—studies the rough edges. We historians of science see ourselves as illustrating the power of stories. How a community tells its history changes the way it thinks about itself. A historical perspective on science can help physicists understand what is going on when they practice their craft, and it provides numerous tools that are useful for physicists themselves.

Physics is a social endeavor

Research is done by people. And people have likes and dislikes, egos and prejudices. Physicists, like everyone else, get attached to their favorite ideas and hang on to them perhaps long after they should let them go. A classic case is the electromagnetic ether, an immensely fruitful concept that dominated physics for most of the 19th century. Even as it became clear that ether theory was causing more problems than it solved, physicists continued to use it as a central explanatory tool—even for many years after Einstein’s 1905 theory of special relativity declared it superfluous. The history of physics is littered with beautiful theories that commanded great loyalty.

People come from places too, and physicists want to protect their homes as much as anyone else. It is easy to forget that 100 years ago during World War I, British scientists refused to talk to their German colleagues on the other side of the trenches. Even after the end of the fighting, Germans and their wartime allies were officially forbidden from joining international scientific organizations. During World War II, the specter of an atomic bomb in the hands of Adolf Hitler terrified Allied physicists into opening the Pandora’s box of nuclear weapons. Many of the scientists involved bemoaned their actions afterward, but war and nationalism make for a potent impetus.

Those incidents are not exceptions. Physicists are not disinterested figures without political views, philosophical preferences, and personal feelings. The history of science can help dismantle the myth of the purely rational genius living outside the everyday world. It makes physics more human.

Physics Today: Why should physicists study history? Matthew Stanley

Semiconductor Defects...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 22, 2016 at 7:56am

Configuration coordinate diagram, showing important energies and optical transitions. For this example, Etherm gives the acceptor level relative to the CBM.

Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 119, 181101 (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4948245

Topics: Education, Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology, STEM

Abstract

Point defects affect or even completely determine physical and chemical properties of semiconductors. Characterization of point defects based on experimental techniques alone is often inconclusive. In such cases, the combination of experiment and theory is crucial to gain understanding of the system studied. In this tutorial, we explain how and when such comparison provides new understanding of the defect physics. More specifically, we focus on processes that can be analyzed or understood in terms of configuration coordinate diagrams of defects in their different charge states. These processes include light absorption, luminescence, and nonradiative capture of charge carriers. Recent theoretical developments to describe these processes are reviewed.

Introduction

Every material contains defects; perfect materials simply do not exist. While it may cost energy to create a defect, configurational entropy renders it favorable to incorporate a certain concentration of defects, since this lowers the free energy of the system.¹ Therefore, even in equilibrium, we can expect defects to be present; kinetic limitations sometimes lead to formation of additional defects. Note that all of these considerations also apply to impurities that are unintentionally present in the growth or processing environment. Of course, impurities are often intentionally introduced to tailor the properties of materials. Doping of semiconductors with acceptors and donors is essential for electronic and optoelectronic applications. In the following, we will use the word “defect” as a generic term to cover both intrinsic defects (vacancies, self-interstitials, and antisites) and impurities.

Since defects are unavoidable, we must consider the effects they have on the properties of materials. These effects can be considerable, to the point of determining the functionality of the material, as in p- or n-type doping. Point defects play a key role in diffusion: virtually all diffusion processes are assisted by point defects. Defects are often responsible for degradation of a device. Even in the absence of degradation, defects can limit the performance of a device. Compensation by native point defects can decrease the level of doping that can be achieved. Defects with energy levels within the band gap can act as recombination centers, impeding carrier collection in a solar cell or light emission from a light-emitting diode. Sometimes, these effects can be used to advantage: luminescence centers in wide-band-gap materials can be used to emit light at specified wavelengths; or single-spin centers (such as the nitrogen–vacancy (NV) center in diamond) can act as an artificial atom and serve as a qubit in a quantum information system.^2,3 Finally, sometimes, one deliberately wants to grow materials with many defects. Examples are materials for ultrafast optoelectronic switches or semiconductors used to optically generate THz pulses, where defect densities should be large enough so that carrier lifetimes are as short as a few picoseconds.⁴

Journal of Applied Physics:
Tutorial: Defects in semiconductors—Combining experiment and theory
Audrius Alkauskas¹, Matthew D. McCluskey² and Chris G. Van de Walle^3,a)

Simpler, Faster, Cheaper...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 21, 2016 at 6:10am

To prevent cores of single-wall carbon nanotubes from filling with water or other detrimental substances, the NIST researchers advise intentionally prefilling them with a desired chemical of known properties. Taking this step before separating and dispersing the materials, usually done in water, yields a consistently uniform collection of nanotubes, especially important for optical applications.
Credit: Fagan/NIST
View hi-resolution image

Topics: Carbon Nanotubes, Electrical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology

Just as many of us might be resigned to clogged salt shakers or rush-hour traffic, those working to exploit the special properties of carbon nanotubes have typically shrugged their shoulders when these tiniest of cylinders fill with water during processing. But for nanotube practitioners who have reached their Popeye threshold and “can’t stands no more,” the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has devised a cheap, quick and effective strategy that reliably enhances the quality and consistency of the materials—important for using them effectively in applications such as new computing technologies.

To prevent filling of the cores of single-wall carbon nanotubes with water or other detrimental substances, the NIST researchers advise intentionally prefilling them with a desired chemical of known properties. Taking this step before separating and dispersing the materials, usually done in water, yields a consistently uniform collection of nanotubes. In quantity and quality, the results are superior to water-filled nanotubes, especially for optical applications such as sensors and photodetectors.

The approach opens a straightforward route for engineering the properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes—rolled up sheets of carbon atoms arranged like chicken wire or honey combs—with improved or new properties.

“This approach is so easy, inexpensive and broadly useful that I can’t think of a reason not to use it,” said NIST chemical engineer Jeffrey Fagan.

NIST:
Simpler, Faster and Cheaper: A Full-filling Approach to Making Carbon Nanotubes of Consistent Quality, Mark Bello

Wearable Photovoltaics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 20, 2016 at 5:25am

Ultra-thin solar cells are flexible enough to bend around small objects, such as the 1mm-thick edge of a glass slide, as shown here.
CREDIT: Juho Kim, et al/APL

Topics: Consumer Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Photovoltaics, Solar Power

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2016 -- Scientists in South Korea have made ultra-thin photovoltaics flexible enough to wrap around the average pencil. The bendy solar cells could power wearable electronics like fitness trackers and smart glasses. The researchers report the results in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

Thin materials flex more easily than thick ones -- think a piece of paper versus a cardboard shipping box. The reason for the difference: The stress in a material while it's being bent increases farther out from the central plane. Because thick sheets have more material farther out they are harder to bend.

“Our photovoltaic is about 1 micrometer thick,” said Jongho Lee, an engineer at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. One micrometer is much thinner than an average human hair. Standard photovoltaics are usually hundreds of times thicker, and even most other thin photovoltaics are 2 to 4 times thicker.

AIP: Ultra-thin Solar Cells Can Easily Bend Around a Pencil, Catherine Meyers

Exciton Condensate...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 19, 2016 at 6:06am

Figure 1: A Coulomb drag experiment measures the interactions between charges in two closely spaced layers. The experiment entails running a current through the “drive” layer (here, the top layer) and measuring the resulting flow of charge in the “drag” layer (the bottom layer). The panels indicate three (of many) possible drag scenarios associated with two sheets of bilayer graphene (grey). At left, exciton pairs form between holes (red) in the drive layer and electrons (green) in the drag layer, giving rise to a large drag effect. At center, holes drag electrons in the same direction (positive drag) because of momentum transfer between the charges in different sheets. At right, holes drag electrons in the opposite direction (negative drag), an observation in bilayer graphene that is yet to be explained.

Topics: Atomic Physics, Bose-Einstein Condensate, Condensed Matter Physics, Quantum Mechanics

Superfluids (fluids with zero viscosity) and superconductors (materials with zero resistance) have a common ingredient: bosons. These particles obey Bose-Einstein statistics, allowing a collection of them at low temperatures to collapse into a single quantum-mechanical state, or Bose-Einstein condensate. Bosons in superconductors consist of two paired electrons, but the pairing is weak and only occurs at low temperatures. In a quest to build devices that carry electricity with low dissipation at higher temperatures, researchers have therefore explored the possibility of engineering electrical condensates [1] out of strongly bound pairs of electrons and holes, or excitons. Now, two research groups have, independently, fabricated and characterized a graphene-based device that is thought to be a promising platform for realizing an exciton condensate [2, 3]. Neither group has yet found evidence for such a condensate—the ultimate goal of such experiments. But their measurements lay the groundwork for future searches.

Excitons form in semiconductors and insulators. The binding energy between the exciton’s electron and hole can be quite strong, greatly exceeding their thermal energy at room temperature. Unfortunately, excitons recombine quickly, too fast to allow a condensate to form. Although excitons coupled to light confined within a cavity can form hybrid particles (exciton-polaritons) that do live long enough to condense [4], such condensates require a continuous input of light.

APS Viewpoint: Chasing the Exciton Condensate
Michael S. Fuhrer, Alex R. Hamilton

A New Migration...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 18, 2016 at 5:34am

Topics: Climate Change, History, Octavia Butler, Politics, Science Fiction

It's been a breathtaking seven days that puts into context what a president has to do: gather information, calm fears for now the second police shooting - the first generated by Alton Sterling and Philando Castile's executions; a terrorist attack by truck in Nice, France in the backdrop of two political conventions poised to pick this president's successor in a volatile world. This election will be a reflection of our fears and our character, beyond our own self-deluding mythology, who we really are.

Some context: "The Great Migration" was of approximately six million African Americans from the rural south to northern cities for opportunities in the budding industrial revolution and (hopefully) AWAY from the De Jure and De Facto segregation, Jim Crow and racial terrorism they were all fleeing. Notable ex-patriots: The ancestors of First Lady Michelle Obama (documented in "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson); James Lee Boggs, deceased husband of Grace Lee Boggs and author of "The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker's Notebook," in which he predicted the impacts of automation and what he referred to at the time "cybernation" that we recognize as the advent of computers in what were once jobs done by humans and less robotics or apps.

Note the plot synopsis from "Parable of the Sower" written by Octavia Butler in 1993:

Set in a future where government has all but collapsed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy – the ability to feel the perceived pain and other sensations of others – who develops a benign philosophical and religious system during her childhood in the remnants of a gated community in Los Angeles. Civil society has reverted to relative anarchy due to resource scarcity and poverty. When the community's security is compromised, her home is destroyed and her family murdered. She travels north with some survivors to try to start a community where her religion, called Earthseed, can grow. Wikipedia

Now look at the plot of the US as it relates to a heating climate (I'm sure the same applies overseas as well):

The previous migration was a drive for opportunity and fairness; the next one will be for the first level of Maslow's hierarchy: comfort. The strain on resources will split humanity along tribal and factional lines like never before. Those who "have" will hoard and build up walled cities; defended castles to maintain their bounty from the hungered herds of "have not's." For those youth that will still be around (I'm not anticipating I will), as 2050 approaches they will see how far we've actually migrated...from the caves.

Scientific American: U.S Cities Are Getting Dangerously Hot [Graphic]
A dramatic rise in “danger days” is underway, Mark Fischetti

Scientism...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 15, 2016 at 5:30am

Source: izquotes.com

Topics: History, Physics, Philosophy, Science

Scientism: It's an old word, so old it has to be added to your online dictionary almost everywhere you might type it. It also at first glance sounds reasonable, and in my own oft-used urban descriptor: "science-y."

This description at the beginning of the article from The American Association for the Advancement of Science is instructive and concise:

Historian Richard G. Olson defines scientism as “efforts to extend scientific ideas, methods, practices, and attitudes to matters of human social and political concern.” (1) But this formulation is so broad as to render it virtually useless. Philosopher Tom Sorell offers a more precise definition: “Scientism is a matter of putting too high a value on natural science in comparison with other branches of learning or culture.” (2) MIT physicist Ian Hutchinson offers a closely related version, but more extreme: “Science, modeled on the natural sciences, is the only source of real knowledge.” (3) The latter two definitions are far more precise and will better help us evaluate scientism’s merit.

A History of Scientism

The Scientific Revolution

The roots of scientism extend as far back as early 17th century Europe, an era that came to be known as the Scientific Revolution. Up to that point, most scholars had been highly deferent to intellectual tradition, largely a combination of Judeo-Christian scripture and ancient Greek philosophy. But a torrent of new learning during the late Renaissance began to challenge the authority of the ancients, and long-established intellectual foundations began to crack. The Englishman Francis Bacon, the Frenchman Rene Descartes, and the Italian Galileo Galilei spearheaded an international movement proclaiming a new foundation for learning, one that involved careful scrutiny of nature instead of analysis of ancient texts.

Descartes and Bacon used particularly strong rhetoric to carve out space for their new methods. They claimed that by learning how the physical world worked, we could become “masters and possessors of nature.”(4) In doing so, humans could overcome hunger through innovations in agriculture, eliminate disease through medical research, and dramatically improve overall quality of life through technology and industry. Ultimately, science would save humans from unnecessary suffering and their self-destructive tendencies. And it promised to achieve these goals in this world, not the afterlife. It was a bold, prophetic vision.

From the seeds of this formed the basis for utopia: H.G. Wells was the first science fiction writer to tackle it; Utopia was written I think before the genre was invented by Mary Shelly ("Frankenstein," fairly dystopian to say the least). Star Trek and the proclivities of Gene Roddenberry (an atheist) embodied it in Mr. Spock and the planet Vulcan: human contact with an entire species of beings supposedly led fully by logic and reason. The Earth - post Armageddon - surviving its own hubris and learning to cooperate beyond borders, languages, religions and the previous things that separated the human tribe and made "Mutually Assured Destruction" (M.A.D.) possible in a hopefully fictional Trek timeline.

New Thought: It apparently started in the 19th century originating from Phineas Parkhurst Quimby - imitated ad nauseum by opportunistic others, branching into several realms via modern communications (radio, television, Internet) from faith healers, prosperity gospel, pseudoscience and general quackery. As the link indicates, the enduring appeal is humans feeling empowered in an unpredictable and often cruel cosmos. Many traditional, non denominational, modern and/or New Age gurus have cashed in on this uncertainty quite lucratively. You can see its sustained and prosperous modern incarnations with a simple exercise of channel-surfing.

I would say scientism in its modern expression would be (a representative off-the-top-of-my-head trio) Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Neil deGrasse Tyson. They ARE scientists, but have made a lucrative living speaking and writing about the virtues of science; how if we all thought more rationally we wouldn't have to wait for heaven on Earth: we could design it ourselves. Sociologist Jeffrey Guhin in New Scientist challenged the idea that Tyson forwarded of a nation totally run by logic, reason and science (sounds familiar? \\//_). He posits the very simple question that gives one pause: what does "rational" mean? Things that "sounded" rational and science-y like Eugenics was used for wholesale discriminatory behavior by Hitler's Third Reich (you know: concentration camps and gas chambers). If we just "follow-the-data" of standardized test scores, then the often debunked thesis behind "The Bell Curve" sounds rational, because one does not have to take into account generations of poverty vis-à-vis slavery; sharecropping (a word that is a contradiction in terms on its own); racial terrorism; Jim Crow; De Facto and De Jure segregation; bank red lining; differentiated education (for me, torn and outdated books supplemented by xeroxed copies my teachers purchased at their own expense) and no career opportunities to climb the economic ladder to a better life. The better correlation is wealth of parents and guardians to academic achievement, most of which happens to be the dominant culture.

The National Science Foundation (I think) was right to commission a study on Science Literacy and the public good, as more than anything that will determine the outcome of nations as we share and contest resources on this Earth, or prepare as a species to inhabit other worlds to extend us beyond the fate of the dinosaurs.

The broad brush of "all we need is science" is the proportional equivalent to its antithesis: "all we need is (fill in the blank): Buddha, Chia Pets, Gaia, Jesus, Odin, Mood Rings, Mood Rocks, Positive Thinking, Possibility Thinking, Prayer Cloths, Quantum Physics (since we travel < c, highly doubtful), Holy Water; Thor."

What we could all use is a return to actually teaching civics to our respective populations, and leave proselytizing to family units. Methinks both camps need to step back and consider a true "separation of church and state" (& science). It will benefit both camps better to stay in their lanes, without either one harmfully denigrating the other. We need to survive together as a species, or in the words of Dr. King "perish together as fools." The Earth does not need us to circumnavigate the sun, and the universe if we were so foolish wouldn't blink at our hubris...or departure.

Neural Networks and H2O...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 14, 2016 at 6:00am

Schematic showing water molecules in the denser water phase (left) and the ice phase. (Courtesy: Tobias Morawietz)

Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Artificial neural networks have been used to simulate interactions between water molecules and provide important clues about the remarkable properties of this live-giving substance. The study has been carried out by physicists in Germany and Austria, who used the networks to perform simulations 100,000 times faster than possible with conventional computers. Their work offers explanations for two key properties of water – its maximum density at 4 °C and its melting temperature – but the technique could be expanded to include other aspects of this ubiquitous substance.

Physicists and chemists have long found water's unusual properties difficult to explain. Its density, for example, peaks at around 4 °C, which means that frozen water floats on liquid water – a property that is vital for aquatic creatures that have to survive in cold climates. Massive computer simulations have shown that hydrogen bonds between water molecules play a key role, but these simulations do not tell the whole story.

One key challenge is understanding the role of van der Waals interactions, which arise from quantum fluctuations in the electrical polarizations of water and other molecules. Van der Waals interactions have traditionally been hard to include in computer simulations, but Tobias Morawietz and colleagues at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the University of Vienna have now used artificial neural networks (ANNs) to model them in water. ANNs are computer algorithms that "learn" how to perform a specific task by being fed data related to that task. An ANN could, for example, learn how to recognize an individual's face by being fed photographs of people and being told which images are of the target person.

Physics World: Neural networks provide deep insights into the mysteries of water
Hamish Johnston

Genesis Planet...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 13, 2016 at 5:27am

Image Source: Daily Galaxy link below

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Big Bang, Cosmology, White Dwarfs

I took the title from the Daily Galaxy's original post. It seemed apropos and succinct, but I am aware of the strong feelings it may generate.

Science strives mightily to fight "confirmation bias" : "the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories." The way scientists try to weed out minutiae is through peer review. Feelings are bruised, but truth is winnowed from social and preconceived chaff. Previous theories once held in high regard are thrown away. As new technology and instruments become available, this disciplined process is repeated. A scientific discovery may or may not confirm already preconceived notions. It's usually the latter. Such is not science, but the seeds of the boondoggle, pseudoscience and superstition; it is the natural tendency in an ever-changing world to reach for the comfortable instead of lighting "a candle in the dark" (Carl Sagan).

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

"I would rather have questions I can't answer, than answers I can't question."

Richard Feynman

In 2015, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope precisely measured the mass of the oldest known planet in our Milky Way galaxy. At an estimated age of 13 billion years, the planet is more than twice as old as Earth's 4.5 billion years. It's about as old as a planet can be. It formed around a young, sun-like star barely 1 billion years after our universe's birth in the Big Bang. The ancient planet has had a remarkable history because it resides in an unlikely, rough neighborhood. A few intrepid astronomers have concluded that the most productive to look for planets that can support life is around dim, dying stars white dwarfs.

"In the quest for extraterrestrial biological signatures, the first stars we study should be white dwarfs," said Avi Loeb, theorist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation. Even dying stars could host planets with life - and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade.

The ancient planet orbits a peculiar pair of burned-out stars in the crowded core of a cluster of more than 100,000 stars. The new Hubble findings close a decade of speculation and debate about the identity of this ancient world. Until Hubble's measurement, astronomers had debated the identity of this object. Was it a planet or a brown dwarf? Hubble's analysis shows that the object is 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter, confirming that it is a planet. Its very existence provides tantalizing evidence that the first planets formed rapidly, within a billion years of the Big Bang, leading astronomers to conclude that planets may be very abundant in our galaxy.

The Daily Galaxy:
Hubble Space Telescope Reveals "The Genesis Planet" --The Oldest Known Planet in the Milky Way (Today's Most Popular)

cQED...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 12, 2016 at 6:30am

A. Houck/Princeton

Figure 1: Scanning defect microscopy provides a map of photons in a resonator lattice. Houck and colleagues demonstrated the technique using 49 resonators (grey lines) that were coupled together to form a kagome lattice. This configuration consists of a triangular arrangement of three resonators at each point in a honeycomb lattice.

Topics: Electrical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Quantum Electrodynamics

A scanning probe detects the quantum states of photons in a microwave circuit, providing the information needed for quantum simulations.

Quantum mechanics rules the dynamics of light and matter. Yet performing a quantum-mechanical simulation of a material from first principles is practically impossible on a classical computer because the complexity of the simulation increases exponentially with the number of particles involved. The solution, according to Richard Feynman, was to build a machine out of quantum building blocks that could directly emulate the material itself [1]. Prototypes of such quantum simulators that are based on ultracold atoms, ions, photons, and superconducting microwave circuits are now available [2], with the latter, in particular, having attracted Silicon Valley’s interest. The challenge with these circuit-based simulators, however, is that they are 2D, which complicates the readout of their constituent elements. Andrew Houck from Princeton University, New Jersey, and colleagues have now delivered an attractive solution by developing a technique [3], called scanning defect microscopy (Fig. 1), that determines the number of photons occupying each mode of a 2D microwave circuit. It is this information that would serve as the fundamental input and output for certain quantum simulations.

Superconducting microwave circuits combine electronic and photonic degrees of freedom [4, 5]. The main element of the circuit is a transmission line, which is made up of a central superconducting wire separated by a gap from two grounded plates. All of these structures are on a single plane, as if one had taken a 2D slice through a coaxial cable. When truncated, the transmission line becomes a resonator, which can host discrete photon modes within its gaps. Large lattices of resonators can be engineered in various 1D or 2D geometries by coupling two, three, or more resonators together via a capacitive interface. In many ways, photons in such devices behave similarly to electrons in a solid.

To make microwave circuits that can simulate quantum phenomena faster than a classical computer, however, resonator lattices have to be integrated with superconducting qubits. Such qubits are controlled with electrical currents in a Josephson tunnel junction, and in many respects, they behave like artificial atoms, which couple to the photons in the circuit. As a result, superconducting microwave circuits can be used to explore the coupling between the quantum states of light and matter, the regime of circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED). Photons in these devices often exhibit striking matter-like behavior [6, 7], providing the basis for the simulation of complex materials. Such circuits can be fabricated on a substrate using standard lithographic techniques, with qubits and resonators that are hundreds of micrometers or even millimeters in size.

APS Viewpoint: A Bird’s Eye View of Circuit Photons
Sebastian Schmidt, Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

Fuels and Futures...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 11, 2016 at 6:30am

Figure 1. The correlation between hydrocarbon-based power consumption and economic output for most countries on Earth. A power-law fit finds that annual GDP per person is G = $10 500 (C/kW)^0.64, where C is hydrocarbon-based energy consumption per second per person. The tight power-law relationship indicates that economic prosperity is not currently feasible without consumption of hydrocarbon fuels. The power law is reminiscent of scaling laws in biology; 15 the flow of petroleum through economies resembles the flow of blood in mammals. On average, the hydrocarbon power consumed in the US is 8 kW per person, the same as 80 incandescent 100 W bulbs burning continuously. If the US were to rely only on its currently available renewables—biomass cogeneration, wood, hydropower, geothermal, wind, passive solar, and photovoltaics—power consumption would drop to four bulbs per person; eliminating hydropower and biofuels would reduce the number to one or two. The reduction would entail such a change in lifestyle as to make the US unrecognizable. 16 (Data source: Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, 2015; DOE/Energy Information Administration, 2015.)

Citation: Phys. Today 69, 7, 46 (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3236

Topics: Alternative Energy, Economy, Green Energy, Green Tech, Politics

President George W. Bush famously said: "we're addicted to oil." That's an understatement, as it is evident this is the underpinning of the planetary economy.

The sad part is, without physics to give an intervention of sorts, the kind of utopia envisioned by Gene Roddenberry in Star Trek is highly unlikely. We're already showing the strains of automation, globalization and trade deals without a forethought on the impacts with populations at the bottom of societal ladders. It makes way for demagogues in the US, the UK and elsewhere that don't quite have a clue how to solve the problem, but play into xenophobic fears (as evidenced) to their advantage.

To contend with the challenges of fueling modern society, the physics community must collaborate with other disciplines and remain broadly engaged in research and education on energy.

For how long and in what ways can humans sustain the energy-intensive way of life we take for granted? That consequential question is one that physicists must help answer. As we pass the middle of 2016, oil prices are at a 10-year low, partly because of the surge in production of oil and natural gas from fracking. The current fracking boom may ease the transition to a new mix of energy resources. Conversely, it may make us complacent and delay the transition or incite popular resentment and impede the transition.

The physics community must participate in shaping how energy issues play out over the coming decades. The development of fusion reactors, photovoltaic cells, and other potential energy sources clearly requires contributions from physicists. As educators, many of us occupy the central position of teaching students the very definition of energy and the fundamental limits on extraction of free energy from heat. Beyond the classroom, we should all be concerned with the public’s understanding of what energy means. Even in the specific case of fossil fuels, there is room for our increased technical engagement through collaboration.

Physics Today: Physics, fracking, fuel, and the future
Michael Marder, Tadeusz Patzek and Scott W. Tinker

Octavia, One Day...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 8, 2016 at 5:26am

Image Source: Fusion Article
Why is Hollywood ignoring this incredible black science fiction writer?

Topics: #BlackLivesMatter, Biology, Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Science Fiction, Women in Science

You probably haven't heard of Octavia Estelle Butler unless you've read her work, or follow online forums like Black Science Fiction Society (as I do). It might not be important to you if you're not a part of the culture. What will likely be somewhat related and familiar is Justin Timberlake's first #inspired to Jesse Williams' speech at the BET Awards and his rejoinder to black twitter (when they accused him of appropriating the culture, but not the struggles for profit). It's unfortunate, but not equivalent to the dismissive #alllivesmatter (just clumsy). Daily there are those who strive mightily to make the Diaspora infantile based on its concerns, political choices, perspectives...and tastes in science fiction. The deaths... no: the executions of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota proved again "we're all one bullet from being a hashtag." The Dallas shooting, opposite the peaceful protest of these assassinations was an action-reaction to congressional inaction to previous mass shootings; action-reaction to a Justice System blind and mute to black bodies abused by overzealous officers. This "~~post-racial~~ society" isn't.

In my readings on the subject of "Afrofuturism," I've come across the notion many times that the transatlantic slave trade was essentially the first "alien abduction," replete with advanced technology; different dialects; aloof foreign-looking men appropriating black bodies on mother ships - the 1st christened hauntingly as the "Good Ship Jesus."

In a post February 3, 2015 I titled "The Grand Dame," I said this:

I came to Octavia Butler in "Mind of My Mind" midway in the Patternist series; followed by "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents." It was a respite from often, science fiction clearly written without other cultures in mind. Literary whitewashing tends to translate in realities where diversity cannot be tolerated. She sadly left us in 2006 due to poor health. It is a wonder some of her books haven't made it into the theaters, especially the Parable series. I can only hope they will be one day.

One day...

I purchased her novel "Dawn" at the news on Facebook (via io9) it was optioned to be made into a television series. As with most of her works I've read, it is exciting and disturbing at the same time. The aliens seem to have three genders: male and female Oankali and Ooloi - a third sex. When it was written, it was groundbreaking but not without precedent: some Native American tribes recognized FIVE genders before the European invasion and the imposition of authoritarian rule. In today's expansion of LGBT rights, it could be a hit in the current zeitgeist post the Supreme Court ruling last year. The Oankali and Ooloi, if depicted as my mind's eye does during the rapt reading on my Kindle, have to be digested in bites; sexuality between not just humans, but whole other alien SPECIES (through the Ooloi) is a bit much. I envisioned Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix would at least take it up, since traditional network television tends to go for the what I call the "dominant default": the space hero must be a clone of Buck Rogers and John Wayne; any minorities other than Lieutenant Uhura being conveniently placed in the infamous "red shirts" with short series and/or screen time.

I literally just found this here, but it's what I see in my mind's eye some FX guru could bring to life.

One day...

Kinda...The artist had a different definition, but some of his comments recalled Butler's book.

Then I read this article in Fusion:

There is no better time for Octavia Butler’s work to be adapted. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she did not deal with robots, mechanized suits of war, or quantum physics. She eschewed these to explore aliens, mutants and mutagens, space travel, and biological manipulation. Her hyperspace was the body. With body hackers and body modification techniques experiencing exponential growth, and scientists engaging in genetic tinkering with the likes of Crispr, Butler’s Xenogenesis saga would be the visual representation of the early 21st century’s zeitgeist, despite being written decades ago.

We should be seeing Butler’s work on screen. We need more science fiction film and television from a black perspective. We have seen multiple visions of utopian and dystopian futures from white men. We’ve yet to see science fiction worlds from a hyper-marginalized lens.

When you see the world as one not to be conquered or defended, but as one that is oppressive and limiting and dangerous, you will tell more than just good-versus-bad stories. You will avoid the typical tropes of science fiction. And you will give voice to, and render visible, the voiceless and the unseen. Octavia Butler does this, and so much more. The question is still out there: Why hasn’t any of Butler’s work been adapted for the screen?

We, her many fans, are still patiently waiting...one day.

Related link:
Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy: A Biologist’s Response
by Joan Slonczewski, presented at SFRA, Cleveland, June 30, 2000

Quantum Break Up...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 7, 2016 at 6:00am

On the left is experimental data showing the distribution of strontium atoms after dissociation has occurred. The centre panel shows the quantum-chemistry simulation of the distribution, and the panel on the right is the quasi-classical model. (Courtesy: M McDonald et al./Nature)

Topics: Chemistry, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Mechanics

A new study of how light causes diatomic molecules to break apart has revealed significant flaws in the traditional theory describing the photodissociation process. The work has been carried out by physicists and chemists in the US and Poland, and suggests that the dissociation of molecules prepared in pure quantum states is best described by a recently developed quantum-chemistry model. As well as providing further insights into the quantum nature of molecules, the experimental technique could form the basis of a new source of entangled atoms for matter-wave experiments.

Photodissociation occurs when a molecule is blown apart by absorption of a photon, and it has long been used to study the physics and chemistry of molecules. The process usually involves the electric-dipole moment of the molecule coupling to the oscillating electromagnetic field of the photon – although symmetry considerations forbid this interaction in some situations.

The process is usually studied by creating an ultracold, supersonic molecular beam that is irradiated with light from a pulsed dye laser. However, the minimum achievable temperature of such a molecular beam is too high to allow molecular ensembles to be prepared in pure quantum states before dissociation. Instead, what is observed is the average of the dissociation patterns of multiple quantum states. These observations are described very well by the quasi-classical model for electric-dipole dissociation that was developed in the 1960s by Richard Zare and Dudley Hershbach of the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963. Hershbach shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on molecular beams.

Physics World: Molecules break up under quantum control, Tim Wogan

Beauty and Symmetry...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 6, 2016 at 6:33am

Figure 13.8, the center vertical position for the unusual mirrored structure in the parliament building in Berlin
Jim Zuckerman on Composition: Symmetry

Topics: Geometry, Mathematical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Theoretical Physics

www.worldsciencefestival.com

DATE: Saturday, June 4, 2016

TIME: 2:00 PM-3:30 PM

VENUE: NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts

MODERATOR: John Hockenberry

PARTICIPANTS: Robbert Dijkgraaf, David Gross, Alan Lightman, Maria Spiropulu

From a bee’s hexagonal honeycomb to the elliptical paths of planets, symmetry has long been recognized as a vital quality of nature. Einstein saw symmetry hidden in the fabric of space and time. The brilliant Emmy Noether proved that symmetry is the mathematical flower of deeply rooted physical law. And today’s theorists are pursuing an even more exotic symmetry that, mathematically speaking, could be nature’s final fundamental symmetry: supersymmetry. Join some of the world’s preeminent scientists to explore the core role symmetry plays in our unraveling of nature’s deepest secrets—and catch a glimpse of profoundly important symmetries that may be awaiting us just over the horizon.

The Big Ideas Series is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation.

Image Credit: Miles Verkade

Brexit and Exits...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 5, 2016 at 8:04am

Image Source: Clean Technica

Topics: Existentialism, Politics

There is a typical mythology around the fear of unification, cautionary tales of the abuse of power by strongmen that would misuse the levers of republic meant for the common good. The League of Nations - precursor to the United Nations - was formed in the wake of the Great War, (as World War I was known, until it had a sequel). The idea behind it was to always have lines of communication between nations such that war between particularly European nations would be unthinkable, and economically impractical. The European Union formed in the wake of the sequel and the ruins of Europe and WWII, with similar goals and reasons to avoid internal conflicts (The Irish Republican Army comes to mind).

Enter the conspiracy provocateurs. Foaming at the mouth about obscure ancient texts in Holy Writ warning of nation state confederacies: the dragon; 7 heads, 10 horns; the "mark of the beast" (usually compared to RFID chips currently found in your smart phones), and of course: the onslaught of refugees either from Mexico or Syria. Doom must be avoided so as not to give supreme authority to an overarching, powerful figure that will show no mercy to humanity: the Antichrist. He was given a limited run as Damien in the Omen movie series, and several world leaders including presidents 43 and the current 44 have been accused of being the antidemocratic prince of darkness.

In a Facebook forum, I said these short comments the day after Brexit:

The Brexit vote has two parallels within the US: the disdain and disrespect for expertise and xenophobia for the future.

There was a time we lamented access to "The Information Superhighway" as the Internet was referred to in the age of phone lines and dial-up modems. Home computers cost on average $2,500 in the 90's, making purchase and access prohibitive to people of color in the US. Now that we have the equivalent of supercomputers in our hip pockets, we comment on every article without reading them; our attention spans to information is fleeting; we share a preponderance of cat videos; we become "Google scholars" and everyone with a URL, a loud mouth and with a large following becomes an "expert," despite no academic preparation in their curriculum vitae.

Brexit split along generational and cultural lines: the older more conservative wanting to exit the EU, remembering Halcyon days of empire (when the UK actually had one) instead of the interconnected world we now have. Racist and xenophobic forces used the refugee crisis to their crass advantage, putting out the British equivalent of the "Willie Horton ads" during the 88 election by George HW Bush and his political adviser Lee Atwater. Fear is an excellent motivator to bring constituents to the polls, inevitably voting against their own best interests as many in the UK are now becoming cognizant to. Within the US, conservatives have voted for small government, family values representatives that continue to treat them less than constituents and more like Pavlovian canines they manipulate with Jingoism, Sloganeering and scripted. faux 3-point-sermons they obviously don't actually believe by their demonstrated lifestyles. It points to the demonstrated fact that all elections are about the apportionment of power and a sophisticated display of tribalism. We're not nearly as advanced beyond the caves as we delude ourselves to think.

In my previous state, Texas is considering its own version in "Texit" - which is somehow more sophisticated than the a traditional, unconstitutional secession. Despite the dodge of states' rights, articles of secession from the Confederacy were not so pandering, and mention slavery numerous times as their raison d'etre. That apparently goes away if the reality TV blowhard they have a hard on for becomes our 45th president. The Halcyon days they wish for in Dixie is a return to the 1850s: Eisenhower had the tax rate for top earners at 91%, and the nascent Civil Rights movement was energized by Brown vs. Board and Emmett Till's execution in the "Happy Days" 1950s. We started trying to afford pesky things like roads, education, integration and a space program. In the 1850s we had dirt roads, plantations, "free labor" and mint julep tea.

,,,"all elections are about the apportionment of power and a sophisticated display of tribalism."

As the demographics of nations diversify, the dominate cultures of those nations perceive an immediate loss of power and a need to protect it from "the others." Immediately after Brexit, there were reports of xenophobic attacks. Hate crimes sadly rose in breathtaking percentage estimates post-Brexit. The motivation for the UK's exit from the European Union - immigration, especially now during the Syrian refugee crisis - would probably be better managed within the EU.

Ironically, the countries that would have loved to witness an actual Brexit in their by-force-colonized lifetimes is an exceptionally long list.

Not to say the EU doesn't have its flaws, and free trade has had a disproportionate impact on blue collar workers on both sides of the pond. The Bilderberg Group is an actual "thing," but so is the Council on Foreign Relations, just a little more accessible. NAFTA is the favorite boogie man of the aforementioned provocateurs and doomsday preppers, ignoring the history of Ronald Reagan in 1984; George HW Bush thereafter as well as both parties in Washington in its implementation. In the UK and the US, globalization has enriched the 1%, who usually own the dominant industries and media outlets in their countries, as well as finance the politicians running for office that map out trade deals. Trade agreements allow them to pursue any cheaper labor force outside of their host nations of origin, thereby "taking jobs" from those not as educated or prepared for changes in the global economy. The caveat is simply eliminating trade agreements isn't an answer either: Foxconn in China just replaced 60,000 workers with robots, so even the cheapest labor force isn't safe from the automaton. In my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, someone who wasn't "college material" could make a reasonable living and raise a family at Hanes Dye and Finishing (as my father did) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (where my sister retired from). Both companies have reduced their presence substantially in the US, most of their manufacturing operations shipped overseas. When manufacturers go for cheap labor and profits, it reduces the quality of life and even education in the municipalities they expatriate. The crass idea that companies can sell their product back in their host countries is born out by the facts they have been so far wildly successful. Blaming the immigrant and/or refugee for "taking jobs" is a convenient dodge at the moment, until the crowds with torches and pitchforks become painfully aware that they have been bamboozled.

The irony being that in two demagogues with exceptionally bad hairdos in the UK and the US, to protect their foaming-mouthed followers from "the other"; to ensure no nefarious New World Order confederacy is formed (or more likely: reasonably trying to avoid conflict, and fairly employ citizens in their home countries) we're about to turn over the reins of power not to Damien-type avatars from the pit: but two* loudmouthed racist, xenophobic nincompoops. With the North Korean supremely badly-quaffed leader, I guess we have a trifecta of idiocy: an "axis of evil" pompadours?

Oh well, I guess that's far better than being under the boot of Beelzebub.

* I wrote this before the London head mop and his UKIP stooge bowed out of managing the mess they've made. They're political pyromaniacs: 1) they lit a fire; 2) gleefully watched the castle burn; 3) on charged with accountability, denies having lit said fire.

Eyes on Juno...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 4, 2016 at 6:25am

Image Source: NASA.gov

Topics: Jupiter, Moon, NASA, Space Exploration

I've had some fun with the following app, courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Lab:

At the bottom of the NASA mission pages, I found this link: Eyes on Juno. The app is versatile for any mission NASA is currently undertaking, plus your curiosity will be pleased with the excellent motion simulation. Juno is currently going at 9,187 miles/hour, not "warp speed," but faster than our respective cars. I'll update once more info comes up on the local news.

Enjoy your holiday if in the US. I hope yours is a safe one, with respect to current situations around the world.

Here's more info I found at NASA.gov:

Monday, July 4 – Orbit Insertion Day
Noon -- Pre-orbit insertion briefing at JPL
10:30 p.m. -- Orbit insertion and NASA TV commentary begin

Tuesday, July 5
1 a.m. -- Post-orbit insertion briefing at JPL

To watch all of these events online, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

http://www.ustream.tv/nasa

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

Live coverage on orbit insertion day also will be available online via Facebook Live at:

http://www.facebook.com/nasa

http://www.facebook.com/nasajpl

I found this related and quite funny. This parody is pure satire, funny and sad in its true depiction of our online selves. I said in sharing it: "we're seriously doomed."

Tomorrow: Brexit and Exits

Juno Genesis...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 1, 2016 at 6:47am

Topics: Jupiter, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

This Independence Day, millions of Americans will look to the sky to watch dazzling fireworks. But across the country, scientists will be looking up for an entirely different reason: On July 4, NASA's Juno spacecraft will enter an orbit of Jupiter, giving us an unprecedented window into the history of our solar system's oldest planet.

Jupiter is a strange world, but Juno will make it a little more familiar. In doing so, it could give scientists valuable insight into our own origin story — and clues in the ongoing hunt for alien life.

Jupiter is a planet unlike any other. If every other planet in our solar system teamed up to form one massive monolith of a world, Jupiter would still be two and half times heavier. That incredible mass only becomes more impressive when you consider the fact that Jupiter is a gas giant: With the exception of a rocky core that may or may not exist at its very center, the planet is made entirely of gaseous and liquid elements. When a quarter of your mass comes from helium molecules, it takes a lot of space to carry any real weight. More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

At that size, Jupiter comes close to being more of a sickly star than a powerful planet. In fact, scientists have found many alien stars that bear a striking resemblance to the fifth planet from the sun. Some even have raging storms like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which has been churning in the planet's atmosphere for hundreds of years.

"Jupiter is a planet on steroids," principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute said during a June 16 press briefing. "Everything about it is extreme."

Washington Post: How NASA’s Juno mission could help tell us where we came from
Rachel Feltman