Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Warp Drives and Wormholes...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 25, 2015 at 8:42am

Topics: FTL, Space Exploration, Spacetime, Star Trek, Wormholes

Since the 1994 paper by Miguel Alcubierre (and the physics caveats to attaining it), there has been some interest in this area just because of the vastness of interstellar space and the limitations since the Mercury Space Program of Newtonian Space Travel.

Also, it is unlikely we will come in contact with 5-dimensional hyper-humans that want to see to their ancestors' survival by popping up a wormhole next to Saturn (note: not a spoiler to "Interstellar" by now).

The problem being addressed is species survival - dinosaurs were animals with small brains that had a really BAD day 65 million years ago. We homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man") are not. With our demand for energy and resources going unabated, and the fact that our neighboring planets are so far uninhabitable, we are reduced to several options:

1. Conservation and resource restrictions: This has proven untenable as our economy at this point in history has been based on scarcity and charging a premium for that scarcity.

2. Plus, we'd have to forgo our Victorian compunctions regarding birth control, and stop encouraging both large families and early teen motherhood by ignorance of the same.

3. Terra-forming other planets: Which, I guess is the attraction to Mars and the four presumed volunteers to a one-way mission to the Red Planet (good luck). Mars has no breathable oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere; it is roughly 1/3 g, so bones would lose calcium and muscles would atrophy; temperatures can dip below -87 degrees Celsius (or, -124.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Getting there would take 150-300 days unless the VASIMR plasma rocket is available by 2020.

4. Conversion to non-fossil fuels based energy infrastructure: see #1.

Alpha Centauri is 4.367 light years away, that's if we had a craft that could attain 99.9999% of c, the speed of light. It sounds ideal until you take into account the affects of time dilation: that would be roughly 3,088 years for any twins our astronauts had back on Earth. The "right stuff" would be similar to those embarking on Mars One - not just the vastness of space, but of time itself as a gulf.

That's also if there's a habitable but largely uninhabited planet around its twin or triple star system. It would take our Newtonian conventional rockets 165,000 years to reach it (75,000 by Dr. White's comparison to Voyager), enough time and 6,600 generations in the first case for our descendants to forget WHY they were sent there in the first place. If they survive at all, humanity would be decidedly different than the breed that left the cradle of Sol and Earth Millennium ago. What is now us, would be a distant or forgotten memory.

Whether eventually warp or non-causality impacting relativistic speeds, humanity will have to decide it wants to travel to another world, and try not to replicate the mistakes we've made on this one on the next.

Dr. Agnes A. Day...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 24, 2015 at 7:15am

Image Source: History Makers [link below]

Topics: Biology, Breast Cancer, Microbiology, Research, STEM

Microbiologist Agnes A. Day was born on July 20, 1952 in Plains, Georgia to Annie Lee Laster and David Laster. The youngest of thirteen children, Day was raised by her third-grade teacher, Reverend Mrs. Rose Marie Bryon. Day’s interest in science began when she and her older brother would walk through the woods catching insects and animals. After graduating from Mainland Sr. High School, Day attended Bethune-Cookman College in Florida where she received her B.S. degree in biology. Day then attended Howard University, graduating with her Ph.D. degree in microbiology in 1984.

After obtaining her graduate degree, Day became a research fellow in the Bone Research Branch at the National Institute of Dental Research, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She left in 1988 to join the faculty at Howard University as an assistant professor. Since 1992, Day has served as a tenured associate professor of microbiology in the College of Medicine at Howard University. She also has held the position of chair of the department of microbiology. In addition to instructing students in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and coordinating graduate courses, Day is known for her research on drug-resistant fungi and breast cancer health disparities. She serves as a Scientific Reviewer for research grants submitted to the National Institutes of Health, The National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense Cancer Research Initiatives. Day is in demand as a science expert, having been interviewed as part of a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) special and TheGrio’s Black History series. In addition, she has served on numerous panels as a scientific expert in microbiology and breast cancer research.

History Makers: Agnes A. Day, PhD

The Inner, Inner Core...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 24, 2015 at 7:11am

Image Source: Link Below

Topics: Earth, Inner Core, Geology, Geophysics, Research

There appears to be more to Earth's inner core than previously thought. Researchers at the University of Illinois and Nanjing University in China have determined that there is a mystery material at our planet's inner core. The researchers say they founded a distinct inner-inner core in the Earth using seismic waves.

Xiaodong Song, a professor of geology at the University of Illinois, says in a statement, "Even though the inner core is small - smaller than the moon - it has some really interesting features. It may tell us about how our planet formed, its history, and other dynamic processes of the Earth. It shapes our understanding of what's going on deep inside the Earth."

Science, Space and Robots: Scientists Find Earth's Inner Core has an Inner Core

Speculative Futures #10...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 23, 2015 at 7:41am

Topics: Diaspora, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction

The Last King

By A. Yamina Collins

Twenty-eight year Emmy Hughes has never quite fit in---she's six feet tall, dark-skinned, and daydreams of being Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. But when she is badly injured in a car accident that kills her mother, Emmy does not dream of fantastical worlds anymore---she just wants her shattered life to be normal again. Unfortunately, normalcy is the last thing in store for her once she meets Lake George's newest arrival, Dr. Gilead Knightly. Granted immortality from a line of people whose Great Ancestor marched into the Garden of Eden and ate from the Tree of Life, Gilead has been alive for centuries and has met everyone from Nubian kings to Napoleon.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon.com Author Page: The Last King, A. Yamina Collins

War On Science

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 23, 2015 at 7:30am

Topics: Economy, Education, Politics, STEM, NASA, Space Exploration

This has always fascinated me in the intensity, and frankly the audience it comes from. I saw this cover in the grocery store and bought the magazine. I got the image above from the NatGeo site, and provide the link below. The title of the post came from the magazine cover. As a "hook," it did its job.

I got into an exchange twice individually with two younger men (I presume don't still) believe the moon landing occurred, i.e. it was faked. Even my testimony as a living eyewitness was not enough to dismay or sway their confidence in the Oracle of You Tube. They are in their thirties, and showed considerable sophistication in accessing and using technology otherwise.

The democratization of information has diminished what used to be the arbiters of what is true: The Encyclopedia Britannica; Colleges and Universities; Clergy; Civics; Congress; Engineering; Global Knowledge; Mathematics; Public Discourse; The Public Library, The Military; Professors; Science; Teachers; Technology and NASA. We now confuse "armchair quarterbacks" with actual trained professionals; conspiracy theorists with theoreticians; "millions-of-hits" online with peer review.

We are in the throws of hunted-for confirmation bias and willful (or, willed) ignorance. There is a disdain for deep expertise in any subject area, as if the "University of Google" - with noted "graduate" Jenny McCarthy - equips one fully for any rigorous endeavor. (Experiment: Use the same credentials on a mother giving birth, and see how far that gets you!) We now have Measles in Disneyland, a resurgence of Whooping Cough and Meningitis at Princeton. As we advance technologically, regressive minds in the U.S. and the world over reach back for the "good old days" whose date they can never quite pin down, nor explain with clarity why backwards time travel - a violation of causality and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics - is a rational path to pursue. To quote a part of the article:

In this bewildering world we have to decide what to believe and how to act on that. In principle that’s what science is for. “Science is not a body of facts,” says geophysicist Marcia McNutt, who once headed the U.S. Geological Survey and is now editor of Science, the prestigious journal. “Science is a method for deciding whether what we choose to believe has a basis in the laws of nature or not.” But that method doesn’t come naturally to most of us. And so we run into trouble, again and again.

* * * * *

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."

"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge."

"Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense."

Carl Sagan

National Geographic:
Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science? Joel Achenbach

Dr. Warren M. Washington...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 22, 2015 at 10:51am

Image Source: NOBCChE (below)

Topics: Climate Change, Global Warming, Meteorology, Nobel Prize

Following the rousing opening luncheon at the 2011 NOBCChE National Meeting, Dr. Warren M. Washington, a renowned climate-change scientist who received a National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama in 2010 and who was one of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winners, gave the Henry A. Hill Lecture, entitled, “Present and Future Climate Change: Grand Challenges for the Science, Engineering, and Society.” The Henry A. Hill Lecture honors the first black president of the American Chemical Society, and was co-sponsored by the ACS Northeast Section and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Chemistry Department.

Dr. Washington is a senior scientist and Chief Scientist of the DOE/UCAR Cooperative Agreement at National Center for Atmospheric Research in the Climate Change Research Section of the center's Climate and Global Dynamics Division. The Climate Change Research Section (CCR) is part of the Climate and Global Dynamics (CGD) Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Dr. Washington became one of the first developers of groundbreaking atmospheric computer models in collaboration with Akira Kasahara when he joined NCAR in the early 1960s. These models, which use fundamental laws of physics to predict future states of the atmosphere, have helped scientists understand climate change. As his research developed, Dr. Washington worked to incorporate the oceans and sea ice into climate models. Such models now include components that depict surface hydrology and vegetation as well as the atmosphere, oceans, and sea ice. His current research involves using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to study the impacts of climate change in the 21st century. His models were used extensively in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, for which NCAR scientists, including Washington, and colleagues around the world shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. *

As the second African-American to earn a doctorate in the atmospheric sciences, Washington has served as a role model for generations of young researchers from many backgrounds. He has mentored dozens of graduate students, as well as undergraduates in the UCAR-based SOARS program (Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science).

National Organization for the Professional Advancement of
Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE): Dr. Warren M. Washington

* Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"

"The Nobel Peace Prize 2007". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 8 Feb 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/

STEM and Other Biases...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 22, 2015 at 10:48am

Image Source: eGFI

Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Education, STEM, Women in Science

Related: The Columbia Law School and African American Policy Forum just published - "Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected." The young "sassy" African American female in school is typically on track to become the "angry black woman," or the favorite racial dog whistle of Ronald Reagan: "welfare queens," lamenting they are not "pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps" and irresponsibly pregnant as teens when we are making education a privilege of the elite and a burden to the poor; preferring "abstinence only" as sex education in many municipalities - like Texas - with exploding teen pregnancy rates. The ability to control when and what time one can and wants to get pregnant is the first stage of empowerment in women, regardless of culture; the second is an education that is affordable, meaningful and doesn't put the young in crushing debt. I lament the sex education we got in the 1970's that I used to laugh at - is far in advance of what happens now. My undergraduate degree was paid by my parents until an AFROTC scholarship picked up the rest and I served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force. We will no longer be Winthrop's "shining city on a hill" making it difficult for women in general to be more independent, and African American women in particular. This is cutting off our noses to spite our faces to our own national peril. This is the way you create a third world country.

At a time when organizations urgently need workers with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and math, new research suggests that women, and especially women of color, might be leaving STEM fields thanks to pervasive gender and racial bias.

Organizations today face a dilemma: Thanks to the growth in technology, they urgently need workers with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), but the number of qualified individuals with these skills isn’t keeping pace. What’s worse, it’s possible the growth in supply is actually being hampered by destructive workplace conditions.

That’s because women, and especially women of color, might be exiting the STEM fields thanks to pervasive gender and racial bias at work, according to a report by Joan C. Williams of the University of California, Hastings College of Law; Katherine Phillips of Columbia Business School; and Erika Hall of Emory University’s Gouizueta Business School.

Columbia Business School:
Workplace Bias Could Be Alienating Valuable STEM Talent

Speculative Futures #9...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 21, 2015 at 9:33am

Topics: Crime, History, Horror, Speculative Fiction

Blind Corners
Written by Jemir Johnson

Art by Luis Sierra & Winston Blakely

This comic-book stars Jemir Johnson’s seminal character Jay Nova, a tough female Private Investigator who has a secret power to read minds. And while you’d think that would be an extremely useful ability in that line of work, it also has the unfortunate side-effect of causing her massive pain, therefor she only tries to use it as a last resort. There are 4 short stories in this book, the first three illustrated by Luis Sierra and the fourth and final story is illustrated by Winston Blakely.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/featured-comic-book
Amazon.com Kindle: Blind Corners, (W) Jemir Johnson, (A) Luis Sierra, Winston Blakely

Self Caricature...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 21, 2015 at 9:30am

Image source: [4] below

Topics: Commentary, Disrespect, Dog Whistle Politics, President

To the (never-once) honorable former Mayor Rudy Giuliani:

The legacy of your reign of terror in New York is evident in the malcontent police and their disrespect for your current successor. If Europeans abroad, as you've said, lament the racism of New York City's police force, perhaps supporting the cavalier and violent enforcement of "broken windows" (an ironic analogy of the movie "Minority Report") is a reason why.

CNN has opined your fall as America's Mayor; you've deemed yourself non-racist because you share the same culture as the president's deceased mother. Your excuse was amateurish; sophomoric. Perhaps before you cast stones at glass houses, you should patch up the damages in your own.

“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Mr. Giuliani said at the event. “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country.”

1. 300,000,000+ Americans and their various demarcations: African, African American, Asian, European, Hindi, Hispanic, Muslim, Sikh...were not brought up the way either you or I, or anyone else were brought up with respect to each other. This is the meaning of diversity, and a refute of the "melting pot" we tout so often in our ideals we seem never capable of living up to. At the base of the Statue of Liberty is the poem "New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. Midway it says:

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.

You would do well sir, if you've ever read these words, to read them again in their entirety.

2. Neither your son or daughter wanted anything to do with your campaign in 2008. Perhaps it was the callous way you treated their mother as you romanced your mistress (who became your third wife, and presumably First Lady had you won the presidency).

3. "The rebellious daughter of former law-and-order Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was busted today for allegedly stealing makeup from an upscale beauty and skin care shop near her Upper East Side home, officials said.

"Cops said Caroline Giuliani, 20, a student at Harvard University, was arrested after security cameras caugh her stuffing makeup into her jacket pocket at a Sephora store at E. 86th Street and Lexinton Avenue shortly before 2 p.m." The New York Post used to be kinder to you.

4. An entire page is devoted to you, generated in the background of the aforementioned 2008 campaign, detailing your father and uncle's ties to the mob; your sexual and marital improprieties; the corruption in your administration and the source of the photo above.

So I conclude and say again: Perhaps before you cast stones at glass houses, you should patch up the damages in your own.

You are a sad caricature, a fallen icon, self-deluded in your own importance. If you had a career beyond mayor of New York City - a "noun, a verb and 9-11" (Vice President Joe Biden), it is now hopelessly gone, lost in the seams of your drag queen dress. Your only audience that you now soak callously and annually for million dollar speaking engagements are the declining rabid, toothless canines you dog whistle to.

Dr. William M. Jackson...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2015 at 7:48am

Image Source: History Makers [link below]

Topics: Astrophysics, Astrochemistry, Lasers, Mentoring, Photochemistry, Research

Chemist and academic administrator William M. Jackson was born on September 24, 1936 in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Morehouse College in 1956 and Catholic University of America, CUA in 1961, respectively. His expertise is in photochemistry, lasers chemistry, and astrochemistry.

Jackson has been a research scientist in industry at Martin Co (now Lockheed-Martin) and the government at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He has been an academician at the University of Pittsburgh (1969-1970), Howard University (1974-1985), and the University of California, Davis (UCD). He joined the faculty at UCD as a chemistry professor in 1985. He then became a distinguished professor in 1998, and chair of the chemistry department from 2000 to 2005. He was awarded millions of dollars in research and education grants and has taught and mentored under representative minority students at Howard University and UCD. Under his direction, the minority student population of the UCD chemistry graduate students increased. He continues to do research, as well as, recruiting and mentoring minority students in chemistry, even though he is officially retired.

History Makers: William M. Jackson, PhD

NuSTAR...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2015 at 7:43am

Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast out radiation and ultra-fast winds, as illustrated in this artist's conception. NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescopes show that these winds, containing highly ionized atoms, blow in a nearly spherical fashion. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Topics: Black Holes, Einstein, General Relativity, NASA, Space Exploration

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and ESA’s (European Space Agency) XMM-Newton telescope are showing that fierce winds from a supermassive black hole blow outward in all directions -- a phenomenon that had been suspected, but difficult to prove until now.

This discovery has given astronomers their first opportunity to measure the strength of these ultra-fast winds and prove they are powerful enough to inhibit the host galaxy’s ability to make new stars.

"We know black holes in the centers of galaxies can feed on matter, and this process can produce winds. This is thought to regulate the growth of the galaxies," said Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. Harrison is the principal investigator of NuSTAR and a co-author on a new paper about these results appearing in the journal Science. "Knowing the speed, shape and size of the winds, we can now figure out how powerful they are."

Supermassive black holes blast matter into their host galaxies, with X-ray-emitting winds traveling at up to one-third the speed of light. In the new study, astronomers determined PDS 456, an extremely bright black hole known as a quasar more than 2 billion light-years away, sustains winds that carry more energy every second than is emitted by more than a trillion suns.

NASA: NASA, ESA Telescopes Give Shape to Furious Black Hole Winds

Speculative Futures #8...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 19, 2015 at 7:47am

Topics: Diaspora, Speculative Fiction

Dumisai And The Covenant Of The Ancestors
by Christopher R. Obie

Dumisai, a first-generation American child born of African immigrants, discovers that he has been chosen to wield an awesome power. He soon realizes however, that with his new-found power comes a tremendous responsibility. If he is to keep this power known as the Gift of Great Consequence, he must use it for the betterment of the world. In his search to understand the meaning of the Gift, Dumisai is told by the village elders that he represents the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and has been chosen to help rescue the world from its deliberate path toward disaster.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon: Dumisai And The Covenant Of The Ancestors. by Christopher R. Obie

Rise of the Taikonauts...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 19, 2015 at 7:44am

Image Source: http://aragec.com/taikonauts.html

Topics: Astronaut, China, Economy, NASA, Space Program, STEM, Taikonaut

(Reuters) - China's space program is catching up with that of the United States and Washington must invest in military and civilian programs if it is to remain the world's dominant space power, a congressional hearing heard on Wednesday.

Experts speaking to Congress's U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China's fast advances in military and civilian space technology were part of a long-term strategy to shape the international geopolitical system to its interests and achieve strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific.

They also reflect an enthusiasm for space exploration which in the United States has faded since the Apollo Program which landed Americans on the moon in 1969, they said.

"China right now is experiencing its Apollo years," Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, told the hearing. "China gets the funding its needs."

Meanwhile (literally, "back at the ranch")...

Slate: Texas Public Schools Are Teaching Creationism
An investigation into charter schools’ dishonest and unconstitutional science, history, and “values” lessons.
Zack Kopplin

Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up
John Rennie

For clarification: I am very happy China has the clarity and sense of mission to expand their knowledge of STEM fields, thus their economy and cultivate a pool of candidates for their expanding space program. That, like the Apollo program, will have spin off dividends in their economy.

I only say this tongue-in-cheek because Texas is not only a big state: it's a big education book market affecting the buying decisions and curriculum outside their borders, and so the nations'. Thus, other states are taking their lead in the curriculum - charter or public - they decide to expose their students to. China is apparently disabused of such illusions. Sadly...

KING HENRY V:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;...

'Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' speech of Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, 1598.

Meaning: let's try this one more time (see link).
Though, we seem to be trying and doing, over and over, all the wrong things!

Reuters: U.S. must invest to keep ahead of China in space, hearing told
DAVID BRUNNSTROM

Dr. Estella Atekwana...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 18, 2015 at 8:31am

Image Source: Oklahoma State University Faculty Page [2]

Topics: Biogeophysics, Geophysics, Research, Tectonics, Women in Science

Estella Atekwana, PhD
Geophysicist
Oklahoma State University

Estella Atekwana grew up in Cameroon. “My parents very much wanted me to do medicine,” she writes. “So I got into sciences with that intention. However, I took a course in geology in high school and the teacher indicated that geology was not for girls. I was challenged then to demonstrate that girls could do geology and perform the same as boys or even better. I ended up with the science award that year in chemistry, biology, and geology.” She moved to North America to study the geosciences, earning a bachelor’s and master’s in geology from Howard University and a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in Canada. “Today, they call me Doctor and that’s fine with my parents.”

She is now Sun Chair at Oklahoma State University, where she is a leader in the new field of biogeophysics. [1]

1. Science Update: Estella Atekwana, PhD
2. Oklahoma State University: Estella Atekwana Faculty Page

Quantum Random Walks...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 18, 2015 at 8:27am

In the experimental test by Robens et al., the caesium atom moves in one of two possible optical fields, here indicated in red and blue. The fields have a periodic "egg-carton"-like potential. The authors prepared the atom in a superposition of two atomic states, which was equivalent to the atom simultaneously sitting in the red optical carton and the blue optical carton, and determined the atom's position by detecting its fluorescence as the two cartons were slid apart. (Courtesy: Phys. Rev. X 5 011003)

Topics: Cesium, Macrorealism, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Random Walks, Quantum Superposition, Superposition

Is there a limit on how large a quantum superposition can be or can macroscopic objects, such as humans or say cats, also exist in a superposition of quantum states? Our daily experience seems to suggest that large objects do not obey the rules of quantum mechanics and are said to behave classically. This suggests that there could be a fundamental boundary between the quantum and classical worlds.

To try and nail down exactly where this boundary lies, researchers in Germany have tracked the motion of a large atom in an optical lattice. They found that the atom moves in a non-classical way, behaving as a quantum superposition that occupies more than one location at any given time.

Boundary conditions

Probing the classical–quantum boundary is currently of great interest to physicists, with a variety of different experiments trying to work out where such a cut-off may lie. Indeed, in the past few years, physicists have been placing ever-larger objects into states of quantum superposition. These are often interference experiments, whereby large molecules are sent through a double slit and made to interfere with themselves.

But in 1985 Anthony Leggett and Anupam Garg took a decidedly different approach to the quest by developing a theory known as "macrorealism". Instead of showing that quantum theory holds, they aimed to show that anything apart from a quantum description would disagree with experimental observations. In explicit contrast with quantum theory, the theorists posited that in the worldview of macroscopic realism, large objects must be in one determinate macroscopic state at any given time, allowing for no superposition or blurriness in the system. Macrorealism has two main criteria: that macroscopic superpositions are not allowed and that it is possible to make a measurement of the system without influencing the system in any way, meaning that you can always measure, say, the location of a large object without disturbing it.

If macrorealism were true, repeated measurements, at different times, of a single macroscopic system would only be statistically correlated up to a certain degree, giving what they called the Leggett–Garg (LG) inequality. The aim then was to violate the inequality with experimental evidence. This is similar to the Bell inequalities, which set out to show that another basic quantum effect, known as entanglement, is indeed possible. The difference is that for Bell's inequalities, the measurements are made at different points in space, while for the LG inequality, the experiments take place at different times. Over the years, a number of experiments on photons, nuclear spins and superconducting circuits have been carried out to violate the LG inequality.

Physics World: Quantum random walks put a limit on superposition
Tushna Commissariat is a reporter for physicsworld.com
Quantum random walks - an introductory overview, Julia Kempe

Speculative Futures #7...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2015 at 8:19am

Topics: Afrofuturism, Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Speculative Fiction

Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture
By YTASHA L. WOMACK

In this hip, accessible primer to the music, literature, and art of Afrofuturism, author Ytasha Womack introduces readers to the burgeoning community of artists creating Afrofuturist works, the innovators from the past, and the wide range of subjects they explore. From the sci-fi literature of Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, and N. K. Jemisin to the musical cosmos of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, to the visual and multimedia artists inspired by African Dogon myths and Egyptian deities, the book’s topics range from the “alien” experience of blacks in America to the “wake up” cry that peppers sci-fi literature, sermons, and activism. With a twofold aim to entertain and enlighten, Afrofuturists strive to break down racial, ethnic, and social limitations to empower and free individuals to be themselves.

More at: http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Afrofuturism-World-Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Culture/dp/1613747969

"The Day We Surrender to the Air" by Antonio Jose Guzman

An article that appears on io9.com by Jess Nevins, 9/27/12. I include a link below to a remarkable, mentioned and available book "Light Ahead for the Negro," by Edward A. Johnson

Africans, and those of African descent, have not been treated well by speculative fiction, both inside its texts and in real life. Anti-African racism is a fact of life in Western culture, and was even more pronounced before 1945. Not surprisingly, the number of works of speculative fiction written by black writers is low. But that number is not zero, and it's worth taking a look at the fantasy and science fiction stories that black writers produced before 1945.

Top image: "The Day We Surrender to the Air" by Antonio Jose Guzman

io9.com The Black Fantastic, Jess Nevins

Light Ahead for the Negro, Edward A. Johnson

But a Whimper...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2015 at 8:15am

Image Source: Technology Review

Topics: Ebola, Biology, Mathematical Models, R0 ("r naught"), Research, STEM

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

The last, easily remembered and often quoted stanza of T.S. Elliot's poem "The Hollow Men." It bears reading (link provided) in light of current events.

A simple search on this site for Ebola will likely now bring up this article and others written during the faux panic. Due to the "medical expertise" of now infamous anti-vaccination activists (who have been previously mentioned), measles has made a resurgence, and if not shut down, at least exacerbated the profits of the Magic Kingdom.

Presented here is what will likely not make the local or national news with exception of braver souls that take their duty to inform (not entertain) the citizenry seriously over the altar sacrifice to the Moloch of Nielsen:

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: On March 17, 2014, doctors diagnosed a single case of Ebola in the county of Lofa in Liberia, West Africa. This was the first, patient zero, in an epidemic that has so far infected more than 20,000 people and killed almost 8000.

On August 15, the World Health Organization and other bodies began a major drive in Liberia to halt the epidemic. The strategy has two parts. The first aims to limit the spread of the disease from people who have been infected by ensuring that everyone with symptoms goes to an official treatment center.

The second is to prevent the spread of the disease after death by ensuring that every Ebola victim is buried in a way that prevents further infection. That means wearing protective clothing to place the body in a body bag and then in a coffin before transporting it to a grave. Finally, the aid workers must disinfect the victim’s home and ensure appropriate washing for all those involved in the disposal of the body.

Together, these measures appear to have had a significant effect on the spread of the disease. But an important question remains: when will the epidemic end?

Today, we get an answer thanks to the work of Lucas Valdez from the National University of Mar del Plata in Argentina and a few pals. These guys have created a mathematical model of the way the disease spreads that predicts an end to the epidemic for the first time.

Abstract

The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa, causing thousands of deaths. When developing strategies to slow or halt the epidemic, mathematical models that reproduce the spread of this virus are essential for understanding which variables are relevant. We study the propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia by using a model in which people travel from one county to another in order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are in good agreement with World Health Organization data. We also find that reducing mobility delays the arrival of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks, and as a consequence, is insufficient to contain the epidemic. Finally we study the effect of a strategy focused on increasing safe burials and hospitalization under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii) one in mid-August, which was the actual time that strong interventions began in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the epidemic would have been reduced by three months and the total number of infected individuals reduced by 80\%, when compared to scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii) is that the spreading will cease by mid-spring 2015.

Physics arXiv: Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies
L. D. Valdez, H. H. A. Rêgo, H. E. Stanley, L. A. Braunstein

Dr. Patricia Bath...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2015 at 8:46am

Image Source: Link belo

Topics: Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Inventor, Ophthalmology, Patents, Women in Science

Patricia Era Bath (born November 4, 1942, Harlem, Manhattan, NY) is an American ophthalmologist, inventor and academic. She has broken ground for women and African Americans in a number of areas. Prior to Bath, no woman had served on the staff of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, headed a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, or been elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center (an honor bestowed on her after her retirement). Before Bath, no black person had served as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University and no black woman had ever served on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath is the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Her Laserphaco Probe is used to treat cataracts. The holder of four patents, she is also the founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington, D.C.

Source: Dr. Patricia Bath, Wikipedia

Cooling Light...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2015 at 8:40am

Schematic of the Michelson–Sagnac interferometer used in the cooling experiment. Laser light enters from the left and is split into two beams that make their way round a triangular path and create an optical cavity. The mirror to be cooled is the square object that breaks the beams in the middle of the cavity. The output port is at the bottom of diagram where the light encounters a signal-recycling mirror before travelling to a detector (not shown). (Courtesy: Andreas Sawadsky and Roman Schnabel/Leibniz University of Hannover)

Topics: Laser, Modern Physics, Optics, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics

A new technique for cooling a macroscopic object with laser light has been demonstrated by a team of physicists in Germany and Russia. Making clever use of the noise in an optical cavity, which normally heats an object up, the technique could lead to the development of "stable optical springs" that would boost the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors. It could also be used to create large quantum-mechanical oscillators for studying the quantum properties of macroscopic objects or to create components for quantum computers.

Physicists already have ways of cooling tiny mirrors by placing them in an optical cavity containing laser light. When the mirror is warm, it vibrates – creating a series of "sidebands" that resonate with light at certain frequencies. The first lower sideband has a frequency equal to the difference between the resonant frequency of the cavity and the vibrational frequency of the mirror. So when a photon at that frequency enters the cavity, it can be absorbed and re-emitted with an extra quantum of vibrational energy. As a result of this "dispersive coupling" process, the mirror cools because energy from it is removed.

Dispersive coupling works best when the bandwidth of the cavity is much smaller than the vibrational frequency of the mirror. This is possible for relatively small mirrors with vibrational frequencies in the hundreds of megahertz. However, for more massive mirrors with vibrational frequencies in the hundreds of kilohertz, optical cavities with sufficiently narrow bandwidths are simply not available.

Physics World:
Physicists reveal new way of cooling large objects with light
Hamish Johnston, editor of physicsworld.com

Speculative Futures #6...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 15, 2015 at 10:35am

Topics: Indy Publishing, Speculative Fiction

God Cell: Gate of the Gods Paperback

by Arthur Bellfield, Ra'Chaun Rogers, Vince White, Tony Kittrell, Cloves Rodrigues, Rachel Rodrigues,and Eric Battle

God Cell: Gate of the Gods is a mini-series from the creative minds behind some of the hottest independent comics (The Legend of Will Power, Titan The Ultra Man, War's Chosen and Hierophants) chronicling an epic story that couldn't be told until now! Four visionaries (Vince White, RaChaun Rogers, Arthur Bellfield and Tony Kittrell) came together with this special tale to create an entertaining, well-crafted story that will fascinate ALL readers! The end result was the creation of GOD CELL: Gate of the Gods!

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/featured-comic-book
Amazon: God Cell: Gate of the Gods