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The Return...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 10, 2016 at 6:26am
"Star Trek" is coming back to TV in 2017 via CBS Television Studios. Here, the original Starship Enterprise model hangs in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum


Topics: NASA, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Star Trek, STEM


I'm not saying we'll ever develop warp drive (though, we appear to be working on it). I'm reminded of Jules Verne: From Earth to the Moon. He posited a space gun, and did some rough calculations. He was way off, but think of when he wrote it, and fired the imaginations of scientists and engineers for four generations: 1865. We made it 103 years later on a rocket, though some still sadly doubt.

We've become too focused on our minor worlds of apps on phones, news feeds and million player online games; we've become consumers, not producers or dreamers. We nostalgically reach backwards to halcyon days that never existed except for personal myths, comforting though they may be.

Star Trek inspired a generation of scientists and engineers where some of the things we take for granted - automatic doors, cell phones, nanotechnology, remote control, robotics, WI-FI - were all inspired by a fictional story of going to strange new worlds and not being afraid of the different-than-us: but to boldly seek out challenges. We looked forward to the future; we weren't afraid of it, and we all...looked up.

Move over, James T. Kirk, "Star Trek" has another captain now. CBS Studios has tapped "Hannibal" creator Bryan Fuller — a veteran Trek writer — as a co-creator for its new Trek TV series launching in 2017.

Fuller has written for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," and brings a deep appreciation of the "Star Trek" world to the new show, according to CBS Studios representatives. The new show will air on CBS All Access, a digital streaming platform. (The first episode will air on live TV.) [1]

*          *          *          *          *

“For the past 50 years, Star Trek has been a groundbreaking franchise that not only changed the landscape of television, but made a significant impact on pop culture,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “When we began discussions about the series returning to television, we immediately knew that Bryan Fuller would be the ideal person to work alongside Alex Kurtzman to create a fresh and authentic take on this classic and timeless series. Bryan is not only an extremely gifted writer, but a genuine fan of Star Trek. Having someone at the helm with his gravitas who also understands and appreciates the significance of the franchise and the worldwide fan base was essential to us.”

Fuller most recently served as executive producer and writer on NBC’s Hannibal, based on the characters from the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. He got his start writing Deep Space Nine, followed by Voyager, where he worked his way from freelance writer to staff writer to co-producer. Fuller went on to create the critically acclaimed series Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls. Also, he served as writer and co-executive producer on the first season of Heroes, before leaving to create the Emmy Award-winning Pushing Daisies. Fuller is currently executive producing along with partner Michael Green an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods for the STARZ network. [2]

1. Space.com: New Star Trek TV Series Beams Up Bryan Fuller as Co-Creator
Sarah Lewin
2. StarTrek.com: Brian Fuller Named Co-Creator of New Star Trek TV Series

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Short 1-week sale :)

Posted by Brandon Hill on February 9, 2016 at 6:59pm

Greetings, all! 

Just dropping a line to let you all know that my 3-story compilation e-book, Lifemates is going on sale tonight on Amazon for only $0.99!  It is the first in a collection of tales set in the world of "Wild Space Saga," a webcomic created by yours truly and my cowriter, Terence Pegasus. 

Though the comic is on hiatus at the moment pending acquisition of a layout artist, our DeviantArt page is still very much alive, presenting tons of character art and background information by the both of us.  As for where to find Lifemates, just click on the magic link right here: 



Lifemates contains 3 stories:

The Hunter and the Tiger 

Ni’Linya, a indentured Feylan pleasure girl is the only friend in the life of Cole, a world-weary human assassin for the Second Imperium. For the past four years, each finished job takes him back to the penthouses of Xiao, and into the arms of his “Tiger”: the beautiful female to whom he pours out his heart, and whose bed he shares. As they indulge their nights, his Tiger sweetly calls him “Hunter,” and to his chagrin, refuses his money until the events surrounding one fateful mission to a hostile planet bring about revelations and changes in the small world of the star-crossed couple, both tragic and blessed. 


Combat Pay Blues 

Desperate for the considerable pay offered by a shady android, Isibar, a freelance spy for the Planetary Alliance and sometimes space pirate, takes on an assignment that no one has yet been brave (or crazy) enough to accept: infiltrating the reclusive world of Icona, the heart of the despotic, expansionist Second Imperium, in order to divulge their deepest, darkest secrets and ensure the safety of the free human worlds. Despite its initial ease, Isibar soon learns that this is a job that comes with far more hitches than he ever bargained for, and reveals far more sinister goings-on than he ever would have ever imagined. 


Her Hand in Mine 

Zynj used to be the shining capital planet of all human worlds until that fragile First Imperium fractured in a series of horrific wars. Now it is a burnt, polluted husk, with all humans living in underground cities and scrapping the once proud cities of the surface for raw materials to sell off-world. On this planet of provincial attitudes, Jules Galway, a lonely scrap hauler, reunites with Sar'vana Van, a Felyan friend from his childhood, who has returned with her people for routine maintenance on the systems that keep life for humans possible on the ruined world. The two happily continue their relationship where it left off ten long years ago, only to discover that in spite of the purist ways of Jules’s society, their feelings have grown beyond the puppy love of their youth. On a world that chafes under the fact that they live by alien charity, Jules and Sar’vana, having lived mutually peaceful lives until now, are exposed to internal and external perils they never thought would find them.

As you can see, Lifemates has a lot to offer. It is 3 works of what I call "Open-minded sci-fi." So I hope this tickles your fancy for a wonderful deal. Come and get it while you can, because the sale ends on Saturday, 2/12/16 at 11PM PST. Come with us on this journey, and if you want to check out our DeviantArt page, just follow the link here: 

And please, if you liked the book ... or even if you didn't ... leave a review and rating. It really means a lot. 

Happy reading!

-Brandon
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Quantum Heat Transfer...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 9, 2016 at 6:27am
Image Source: Low Temperature Lab, Aalto University School of Science


Topics: Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics, Superconductors, Thermodynamics


Physicists in Finland have shown that it is possible to conduct heat over macroscopic distances at close to the maximum efficiency permitted by quantum mechanics. By directing photons along a superconducting waveguide, the researchers transferred heat between two resistors spaced up to a metre apart – some 10,000 times further than previously possible at the quantum limit. They say their technique could someday be used to cool chips inside quantum computers.

Quantum mechanics tells us that heat flow, like electric current, can be quantized. If a wire is so thin that an electron's cross-sectional wavefunction can only assume one possible configuration as it travels along the wire, there is an upper limit to the rate at which electrical energy can be transmitted for any given voltage. Likewise, there is a maximum rate at which heat energy can be transferred along a single channel connecting a hot bath to a cold one when the baths are at given temperatures. This is the quantum of thermal conductance, which is reached when the hot bath emits energy perfectly, the cold bath absorbs perfectly, and there is no heat loss along the way.

Physics World: Quantum-limited heat conduction smashes long-distance record
Edwin Cartlidge

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At long last, 'The Priestess Returns'....

Posted by H. Wolfgang Porter on February 8, 2016 at 11:20pm

At long last, 'The Priestess' returns! A new Saga begins as the whereabouts of Little Fish is revealed. The young man with the tremendous power growing within him must find his way back home to the Valley Realm. But before he can do so, he must face down a long dormant power brought back into the world of Chief Svengald's ancestors. If the Chief's people are wiped out, will all of history be undone? Find out Monday February, 15th as Season 4 of 'The Priestess' begins!

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State Officials: Yucca Mountain isn't a safe site for those living nearby

Posted by Cortez R Law III on February 8, 2016 at 5:48pm

*Here's another background story on America's issue with nuclear waste from The Waste Lands Report*
​
Reported by: Antonio Castelan
Published: 11/20/2015 6:49 pm
Updated: 11/20/2015 6:56 pm
 
LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) -- The plan for storing U.S. nuclear waste just hit another roadblock. The state is telling the federal government Yucca Mountain isn't a safe site for those living nearby Amargosa Valley.

State nuclear regulators say 14-hundred people living in Amargosa Valley would be in danger if radioactive waste made its way to nearby Yucca Mountain. 

Bob Halstead with the State Agency for Nuclear Projects said, "It's not a question of whether radioactive contamination would come out of the repository. It's a matter of when it would come out. How much would come out? How far it would travel. How quickly it would travel the groundwater gradient through Amargosa. Valley."

Bob Halstead with the State Agency for Nuclear Projects helped draft the 53-page report. 

Halstead stresses groundwater contamination is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to Yucca Mountain being used as nuke dump site. 

Halstead said, "We were very disappointed that the nuclear regulatory commission having found that the Department of Energy had done a difficult job is assessing impacts failed to correct those deficiencies."

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What becomes of America's nuclear waste?

Posted by Cortez R Law III on February 8, 2016 at 5:47pm

Within the context of my science fiction/thriller, S.Y.P.H.E.N., I question the ever present issue of the United States' nuclear waste disposal system. Just what is the best tactic to take to get rid of and or store this country's dangerous spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste from our power plants and war machine production? S.Y.P.H.E.N. doesn't lay out any definite plans, but it does raise questions: Was the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada really a scientific bust as a site to store the waste/radioactive material underground? Were Washington politics to blame for the closure of the proposed facility? Nevada residents, environmentalists and a vehement Democratic Nevada Senator Harry Reid opposed on one side and other residents who touted the jobs and boost to the Nevada economy supported it on the other. Currently, the waste material is stored at the WIPP, or Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, in New Mexico where some mistakes made caused a leak in 2014 and brought into question not only the urgency to find a long-term solution to the problem, but even shines a light on just how safe WIPPs facilities are as well.

If this nation increases its reliance upon nuclear power, it will require additional disposal capability. The Yucca Mountain issue is a deep one that garners support on both sides. What's stated here only scratches the cliched surface. The bottom line, like the fight against terrorism, is that the issue isn't going away. It will increase its presence forcing this country to have to come to the conclusion that we can't continue to kick this challenge down the road for other generations and administrations to deal with it. Within the context ofS.Y.P.H.E.N., I hope to add fuel to the fire to stoke the powers that be into more concerted actions before we hit critical mass with the issue. I'll be posting various updates from around the country about this subject and will simply title them, The Waste Lands Report. To many, we've been there for some time now. It's past time to find a permanent solution(s) before we're all wearing Fallout 4 gear in a landscape akin to S.Y.P.H.E.N.s cover.

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Atlanta's X-Men Homicide Squad Double Feature

Posted by Cortez R Law III on February 8, 2016 at 5:41pm

Hey fans, welcome to my new blog, Cops, Criminals, Commandoes and Creatures in Christ (Sometimes!) Blog. With this new blog, I’ll delve into some of the inner workings of what I do, what’s on the horizon pertaining to my next release, what’s going on in the publishing industry, maybe some movie and TV reviews, sports talk and discussion of life in general to keep the blog varied.

I’ll start this initial blog post with this question: What do you do when you start a new life, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead…” (Philippians 3:13), and your past taunts you again?

That’s one of the provocative questions at the heart and soul of my  first Metro Black & Blue Books police procedural suspense novel, Kremlin Tide. Kremlin Tide, tells the story of the elite Atlanta Police Department’s Homicide Squad known as,‘The X-Men’, who attempt to decipher if the series of crimes they’re investigating are the work of a psychotic serial killer and or a ruthless group of individuals with malicious intent on their darkened minds?

In the sequel, Cold Lick, the Atlanta X-Men Homicide Squad investigate the deaths of a pair of Atlanta Police officers. The crime sets off a series of interconnected events that reveals an underbelly of a criminal organization with a trail of guilt and innocence from suspects and allies alike that collide on every side. We're witnessing a great deal of suspect police investigation that in some cases lead to unexpected deaths across the country. American citizens need to respect the authority in their cities and the police need to abide by the laws that govern its citizenry and their enforcement obligations. Some government officials believe they can operate above the law with impunity and Cold Lick delves into some of that dynamic.
 
With these stories, I hope to add my name one day to the pantheon of other formidable and anointed writers penning tales from a biblical viewpoint in the mystery, suspense, thriller and speculative genres like authors Ted Dekker, Steven James, Brandilyn Collins, James Scott Bell, Dee Henderson and others. In addition, I’m hoping to add in African-American perspectives to the who-done-it, why-done-it or what done-it goings on too like Tyora Moody, Bonnie Calhoun, Brandon Massey, Tananarive Due, Eric Jerome Dickey, Rasheedah Prioleau, Walter Mosley, Steven Barnes, the late Octavia E. Butler and others.


Thanks to all for your support of Kremlin Tide, Cold Lick and my latest release,S.Y.P.H.E.N. and be sure to tell your spheres of influence to give these books a shot and leave reviews on the various retailer and social media sites too. Thanks again and may you experience compelling reading until the next post.​

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Occam's Razor...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 8, 2016 at 7:18am
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


Topics: Astrophysics, Dyson Sphere, Exoplanets, Kardashev Scale, Kepler Telescope, SETI


It's looking less likely that a swarm of comets or an "alien megastructure" can explain a faraway star's strange dimming.

The star (nicknamed "Tabby's Star," after its discoverer, Tabetha Boyajian) made major headlines last October when Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, suggested that it could be surrounded by some type of alien megastructure. A more likely idea — one that's far less exciting — is that the star is orbited by a swarm of comets. But scientists can't be sure either way.

The first signs of the star's oddity came from NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which continually monitored the star (as well as 100,000 others) between 2009 and 2013. Astronomers, citizen scientists and computers could then search for regular dips in a star's light — a sign that an exoplanet has passed in front of that star. The largest planets might block 1 percent of a star's light, but Tabby's star dropped by as much as 20 percent in brightness. That, in and of itself, would be weird. But the periodic dimmings didn't occur at regular time intervals, either — they were sporadic. The signature couldn't be caused by a planet, scientists said.

Scientific American:
Comets May Not Explain "Alien Megastructure" Star's Strange Flickering after All
Shannon Hall, Space.com
#P4TC: Needle In A Haystack...

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James Webb...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 5, 2016 at 7:26am
Inside a massive clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the James Webb Space Telescope team used a robotic am to install the last of the telescope's 18 mirrors onto the telescope structure.
Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Hubble, James Webb, NASA, Space Exploration


Biography:

NASA Administrator, February 14, 1961-October 7, 1968

James Edwin Webb was the second administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, formally established on October 1, 1958, under the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

Born on October 7, 1906, in Tally Ho, North Carolina, he was the son of John Frederick and Sarah Gorham Webb. His father was superintendent of schools in Granville County for 26 years. In 1938 he married Patsy Aiken Douglas and they had two children: Sarah Gorham, born on February 27, 1945, and James Edwin Jr., born on March 5, 1947.

Mr. Webb was educated at the University of North Carolina, where he received an A.B. in education in 1928. He became a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and served as a pilot on active duty from 1930-1932. He also studied law at George Washington University from 1934-1936 and was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia in 1936. More at: NASA/biographies.

* * * * *

The 18th and final primary mirror segment is installed on what will be the biggest and most powerful space telescope ever launched. The final mirror installation Wednesday at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland marks an important milestone in the assembly of the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope.

“Scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install these incredible, nearly perfect mirrors that will focus light from previously hidden realms of planetary atmospheres, star forming regions and the very beginnings of the Universe,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “With the mirrors finally complete, we are one step closer to the audacious observations that will unravel the mysteries of the Universe.” [1]

* * * * *

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has accurately measured parts designed for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The NIST-measured composite titanium and stainless steel parts, which support the skeleton for the telescope’s massive mirror, will be used in the final round of NASA’s vibration tests on the mirror assembly before the telescope’s scheduled launch in October 2018.

The Webb telescope will travel to an orbit beyond the Moon, contain a mirror much larger than the Hubble’s, and be able to observe the formation of some of the first stars and galaxies more than 13.5 billion years ago. The telescope is the largest piece of precision metrology (measurement) equipment that NASA has been involved in creating. With its size, and the sophistication of its parts, extreme care must be taken to ensure the mirror and instruments remain properly assembled and aligned as they travel into space and face significant temperature changes throughout their journey. [2]

1. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Primary Mirror Fully Assembled
Felicia Chou & Rob Gutro
2. NIST Performs Critical Measurements for James Webb Space Telescope, Ben Stein

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Starting my Next Book!

Posted by Brandon Hill on February 4, 2016 at 8:40pm

Greetings, all!  

It is my pleasure to announce that I have begun work on my next "War of Millennium Night" story, which I have titled, "Ghost, Lover, and Slave."  As you may already know, I've posted the prologue chapter's first draft on DA here.  But unlike before, where the chapters were kept on DA indefinitely, I will only be keeping each chapter posted until ONE WEEK AFTER THE NEXT CHAPTER IS POSTED.  This eliminates the risk of theft, or any copyright issues that may ensue once the work is published.  After all, I only publish these stories for the purposes of critiquing ... And I do welcome your insight!  It is my hope that you will have good constructive criticism, so please leave your comments freely, if you feel so inclined, and just remember that this is only a first draft released for the purposes of review.  The end product may differ greatly. 

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Spaghetti Monster...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 4, 2016 at 7:30am
Image Source: Urban Dictionary


Topics: Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, STEM


Beyond the non-rigid, this may have applications in realistic prosthetic limbs, like a replaced finger or hand severed in an unfortunate accident.

I tweeted this yesterday, and gave it a face lift, of a sort. This made me smile quite broadly, and chuckle! You have to admit: the resemblance is uncanny, and likely from highly imaginative nerds, not at all accidental.

Smiley


Nature: Meet the soft, cuddly robots of the future, Helen Shen

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WHAT IS AFROFUTURISM

Posted by Carles CJ Juzang on February 3, 2016 at 4:00pm

To a few of my creative friends, Peeps and associates I have posted this to their pages in various social media so All will be able to express their views of this term with transparency....

 

Question: What is AFRO - FUTURISM to you as One of its creators? Have posted My definition on My FB PAGE. Do you agree or disagree? How so? To you What factors warrant something to be LABELED under this Term or movement or YOUR definition of what it is?

 

What is AFRO - FUTURISM to you as One of its creators?

AFRO-FUTURISM is the AFFIRMATION that we as people of African descent are a visible, active and controlling hand in the future of this Planet and Realty.

 

To you What factors warrant something to be LABELED under this Term or movement or YOUR definition of what it is? I believe if it does not affirm, involve, reference or include anything of cultural, artistic and/or communal value to the continent of AFRICA, it does not earn the right to be called by that term. On a personal note (meaning MY personal opinion) the story may have other races and creatures involved but if the protagonist (main Character) is not of or from the Continent (Africa - pick your country) then it is JUST a INCLUSIVE futurist story... NOT AFRO - FUTURISM.

 

I state this because I hear, read and see this term starting to be sprinkled over social media and the BLACK FAN BOY/ GIRL sites. But have not really seen or for that matter AGREED with what the term is and about. I am busy personally defining and challenging my creative peeps to step up and give me feedback. Here is the beginning of a reading list provided by AfroFuturism849.com

http://afrofuturism849.com/

(Thank You Karla Dennis from Facebook for this)

 

Reading or have read sofar....

 

Nelson, Alondra. “Afrofuturism: Past-Future Vision.” Colorlines 3, no. 1 (2000).

 

Hamilton, Elizabeth C. “Analog Girls in a Digital World: Fatimah Tuggar’s Afrofuturist Intervention in the Politics of “Traditional” African Art.”Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 33, (2013): 70-79.

 

Griffith, Rollefson. J. “The “Robot Voodoo Power” Thesis: Afrofuturism and Anti-Anti-Essentialism from Sun Ra to Kool Keith.” Black Music Research Journal 28, no. 1 (2008): 83-109.

 

Bristow, Tegan. “We Want the Funk: What Is Afrofuturism to the Situation of Digital Arts in Africa?” Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research10, no. 1 (2012): 25-32.

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Not Fermi...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 3, 2016 at 6:11am


Topics: Fermi Paradox, Planetary Science, Space Exploration, SETI


Well, this is news! Tipler in particular kind of (ahem), went over the edge in the theory world, and thus everyone kind of treats him like your very strange uncle. He apparently plays in the story of the Fermi Paradox that wasn't...

If Fermi wasn't the source of this pessimistic idea, where did it come from?

The notion “... they are not here; therefore they do not exist” first appeared in print in 1975, when astronomer Michael Hart claimed that if smart aliens existed, they would inevitably colonize the Milky Way. If they existed anywhere, they would be here. Since they aren’t, Hart concluded that humans are probably the only intelligent life in our galaxy, so that looking for intelligent life elsewhere is “probably a waste of time and money.” His argument has been challenged on many grounds—maybe star travel is not feasible, or maybe nobody chooses to colonize the galaxy, or maybe we were visited long ago and the evidence is buried with the dinosaurs—but the idea has become entrenched in thinking about alien civilizations.

In 1980, the physicist Frank Tipler elaborated on Hart’s arguments by addressing one obvious question: where would anybody get the resources needed to colonize billions of stars? He suggested “a self-replicating universal constructor with intelligence comparable to the human level.” Just send one of these babies out to a neighboring star, tell it to build copies of itself using local materials, and send the copies on to other stars until the Galaxy is crawling with them. Tipler argued that absence of such gizmos on Earth proved that ours is the only intelligence anywhere in the entire Universe—not just the Milky Way galaxy—which seems like an awfully long leap from the absence of aliens on our one planet.

Hart and Tipler clearly deserve credit for the idea at the heart of the so-called Fermi paradox. Over the years, however, their idea has been confused with Fermi’s original question. The confusion evidently started in 1977 when the physicist David G. Stephenson used the phrase ‘Fermi paradox’ in a paper citing Hart’s idea as one possible answer to Fermi’s question. The Fermi paradox might be more accurately called the ‘Hart-Tipler argument against the existence of technological extraterrestrials’, which does not sound quite as authoritative as the old name, but seems fairer to everybody.

Scientific American: The Fermi Paradox Is Not Fermi's, and It Is Not a Paradox
Robert H. Gray

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Sterile Neutrinos...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 2, 2016 at 6:00am
A section of CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron, which could be home to the SHiP experiment by 2026.
(Courtesy: Piotr Traczyk)


Topics: CERN, Cosmology, Dark Matter, Neutrinos, Particle Physics, Theoretical Physics


This is very interesting. Sterile neutrinos are dark matter candidates. From APS Physics, April 24, 2014:

A hypothetical neutrino that does not interact through the weak force could be the source of a recently detected x-ray emission line coming from galaxy clusters. However, previous models using this so-called “sterile” neutrino as a form of dark matter were not able to satisfy constraints from cosmological observations. Now, writing in Physical Review Letters, Kevork Abazajian of the University of California, Irvine, shows that a sterile neutrino with a mass of 77 kilo-electron-volts (keV) could be a viable dark matter candidate that both explains the new x-ray data and solves some long-standing problems in galaxy structure formation.

* * * * *

A new experiment to search for hypothetical particles known as sterile neutrinos has been given the green light by scientists at the CERN particle-physics laboratory near Geneva. The SFr 200m (£140m) Search for Hidden Particles experiment (SHiP) would be built at CERN and start up a decade from now. The lab's member states will, however, need to approve the project before construction.

Predicted by certain extensions of the Standard Model, sterile neutrinos – if they exist – would interact extremely weakly, if at all, with ordinary matter. However, sterile neutrinos would transform into and out of standard neutrinos, revealing themselves via a greater- or lesser-than-expected rate of oscillation between the different types, or "flavors", of neutrinos. Physicists working on the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico between 1993 and 1998 saw some evidence for such a transformation, but other experiments have failed to see a similar signal.

There are other plans to look for these hypothetical particles, but these experiments would focus on light sterile neutrinos with masses of less than one electronvolt. SHiP, in contrast, would seek more massive sterile neutrinos known as heavy neutral leptons. Weighing a few gigaelectronvolts, such particles would, very occasionally, decay into ordinary matter. According to SHiP spokesman Andrey Golutvin of CERN, their existence, unlike that of their lighter counterparts, could explain the predominance of matter over antimatter in the universe and the nature of dark matter. "Finding a light sterile neutrino would be a Nobel prize discovery, but it wouldn't solve the problems of the Standard Model," he claims.

Physics World: CERN gives thumbs up to new sterile-neutrino detector
Edwin Cartlidge

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Cam Musings...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 1, 2016 at 7:17am

Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, HBCU, Women in Science


I have in recent postings, avoided saying specific things about African American/Black History Month, Women's History Month; Hispanic Heritage Month not because I don't appreciate or celebrate them. It's partly due to sheer exhaustion: double posting (as I've done in the past) is kind of taxing. Most of what you see I decide on days or hours before it appears. Also, the workload in my (now) day job has increased exponentially.

I participate in a Facebook group called Quantum Physics. I post things thus related to Quantum Physics when it applies, and an administrator decides to post when s/he deems it fits their posting criteria.

I was quite surprised to have this exchange:


I immediately thought he meant the Copenhagen Interpretation by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg (mentioned when I learned Quantum Mechanics from Dr. Tom Sandin at North Carolina A&T State University); I also thought of the famous Bohr-Einstein debates at the dawn of Quantum Mechanics that eventually led to the Copenhagen Interpretation.

However, I was taken aback by the statement: "There is no need for a rebuttal, it is just questioning why such an effort is made to disprove some minority who don't understand quantum mechanics."

Now, if the minority he's referring to is a numerical naivete with respect to the larger physics community, I'll give him a pass on his grammar; if he was referring to ME, "doesn't" sounds much better. The fact he stopped replying/trolling was revealing. Note that in my responses, I didn't really insult him. Recall that my post had to be approved, so his problems are essentially with the Facebook administrator, Physics Today and the researchers that published their findings.

I call this "Cam Musings," as my home state's team, the Carolina Panthers is in Super Bowl 50. I'm cheering not because Cam Newton and I are both African American, it's because I'd like to see the Panthers "bring the trophy home."

I have also read the vitriol and racism of others that feel he's not behaving with "dignity" when he celebrates a touchdown or a win. The obvious comparison is to Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning - reserved for sure, but a convenient dodge to what the real issue is for some. I'm old enough to remember when there was a common notion African Americans were not "smart enough" to play as a quarterback until Doug Williams broke through that barrier.

Another hero of mine, Dr. Ronald E. McNair - also of NC A&T, died in the Challenger Disaster 30 years ago on 28 January 1986. He had to re-accomplish his research at MIT over three weeks of no sleep as someone sabotaged it. I know this because I spoke with him sadly, the month before his fatal mission.

If Dr. McNair had, Cam Newton or I spent too much time coddling the fantasies of racist trolls, we would not get much work done. I will cheer for Cam and the Panthers because I want my home team to win for no other reasons than being from North Carolina and having the best record in the league. For my appallingly xenophobic foil, I leave this quote from Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman (who investigated, and found faulty O-rings the cause of Challenger's loss) for him to meditate on:

"The difficulty really is psychological and exists in the perpetual torment that results from your saying to yourself, "But how can it be like that?" which is a reflection of uncontrolled but utterly vain desire to see it in terms of something familiar. I will not describe it in terms of an analogy with something familiar; I will simply describe it. There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time. There might have been a time when only one man did, because he was the only guy who caught on, before he wrote his paper. But after people read the paper a lot of people understood the theory of relativity in some way or other, certainly more than twelve. On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. So do not take the lecture too seriously, feeling that you really have to understand in terms of some model what I am going to describe, but just relax and enjoy it. I am going to tell you what nature behaves like. If you will simply admit that maybe she does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possible avoid it, "But how can it be like that?" because you will get 'down the drain', into a blind alley from which nobody has escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that."

Richard P. Feynman, The Messenger Lectures, 1964, MIT

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4-D Printing...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 29, 2016 at 6:44am
Image Source: Harvard Gazette


Topics: 3D Objects, 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, Biology


If you are tired of the hype around 3-D printing, brace yourself, because it’s time to add another “D.” Yesterday, researchers unveiled a new process they can use to “4-D print” flat objects that change into complex shapes when they are immersed in water.

The new demonstration builds on the microscale printing process developed under the leadership of Jennifer Lewis, a materials scientist at Harvard. The images are captivating, but they aren’t just pretty pictures; they also hint at a fundamental new capability that could be applied in useful ways.

This is not the first time we’ve heard about 4-D printing, which refers to printing things that are “programmed” to change shapes later on. Three years ago Skylar Tibbits, a research scientist in MIT’s architecture department, introduced the term at the TED Conference. Tibbits’s process employed two materials, a rigid one and a softer one that expands when put in water.

Technology Review:
Gorgeous New 4-D Printing Process Makes More Than Just Eye Candy, Mike Orcutt

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Lasers, Nerves and Magnetic Fields...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 28, 2016 at 6:35am
Image source: Technology Review

Topics: Biology, Biophysics, Electrical Engineering, Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Physicists have worked out how to measure the magnetic fields generated by single nerves from outside the body and at room temperature.

Biologists have known that nerves produce and respond to electrical signals since the 18th century, when Luigi Galvani discovered that the muscles in a frog’s leg twitch when stimulated by a spark.

However, the systematic study of the electrical signals that nerves produce had to wait until the early 20th century for the development of sensitive electrical recording equipment such as the cathode ray oscilloscope.

This development revolutionized the understanding of nervous function. The ways nerves conduct signals can be a powerful indicator for diseases such as multiple sclerosis and can even detect certain types of intoxication.

And yet the method has some drawbacks. For example, measuring electrical signals in nerves by inserting a needle-like electrode is somewhat invasive, and the mere act of attaching an electrode to a nerve can change the signal, making the results hard to interpret. So neuroscientists have long hoped for a noninvasive technique that could do the job instead.

That may be about to happen thanks to the work of Kasper Jensen at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and a few pals who have developed a way to easily measure the magnetic fields associated with electrical signals in nerves. The technique could pave the way for a new generation of diagnostic tools for spotting diseases linked to nervous function and for understanding the basic function of nerves.

Physics arXiv:
Non-invasive detection of animal nerve impulses with an atomic magnetometer operating near quantum limited sensitivity
Kasper Jensen, Rima Budvytyte, Rodrigo A. Thomas, Tian Wang, Annette Fuchs, Mikhail V. Balabas, Georgios Vasilakis, Lars Mosgaard, Thomas Heimburg, Søren-Peter Olesen, Eugene S. Polzik

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What We Value...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 27, 2016 at 7:23am
Image Source: The Daily Show, skit


Topics: Commentary, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize, NSBP, NSHP, Steven Weinberg


I can say I've met a Nobel Laureate in Professor Weinberg, and potential ones in my life (one of his students in particular, he and his wife personal friends). I can state I haven't been disappointed in them as people, warm, approachable and knowledgeable about physics and life. I lament I am too young to not have lived when Einstein was alive.

Open carry became law in the state of Texas this month on January 1st; August 1st for the campuses. Some businesses have the ability to mitigate them as likely, their customers don't want to think about weapons next to their groceries or lattes...

Dr. Weinberg - in the brief time I met him at the NSBP/NSHP conference in Austin - probably doesn't do "too much fuss" well. He likely endures it, but would rather not.

There is not one scintilla of evidence that a "good guy with a gun" thwarts a bad guy. There's more data that flying lead tends to have an exponential multiplier effect, and that sometimes tragically with trained law enforcement personnel...and citizens.

So, this is a very bold stance, but an important one: what do we value as a culture? Is it knowledge, as in the competitive knowledge needed for 21st Century employment in a global economy, or macho John Wayne/G.I. Joe fantasies of shootouts with cap pistols/paint balls, and a cartoon (no death) reset?

Everyone in this country has the right to every single amendment of the Constitution. We tend to overlook this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. I'd think part of that happiness is coming home in the same shape you left in.

A professor: any level, anywhere - Nobel Laureate, Tenured, Assistant, Associate, Teacher K-12 - has to teach with a certain impunity to tell the student sometimes hard things, such as you didn't master the material. That's usually known as drop before the last date, or accept the less-than-"C" grades. No one wants to feel held hostage in their classrooms. Hormones and hurt feelings: what could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Hopefully, a flagship university values having a Nobel Prize winner as part of their science research faculty. If not, I'm sure any other campus will welcome him with open arms and demands met, or as he has alluded, he might retire. Other scientists, engineers and other fields might follow the example of his exodus.  It could possibly be a great loss to the university, to science; the epitome of a Pyrrhic Victory.

Entropy - the tendency of systems to go from order to chaos/disorder - is how we came to measure something called time and its changes; it claims us all eventually.

It just needn't be as sudden as our current national asylum.

Texas Tribune:
Nobel Laureate Professor: I'm Banning Guns in My UT Classroom, Matthew Watkins
Nobel Laureate Becomes Reluctant Anti-Gun Leader, Madlin Mekelburg

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Closing Bell's Loopholes...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 26, 2016 at 7:52am


Figure 2. The locality loophole arises from the possibility that hidden signals between Alice and Bob can influence the results of their measurements. This space–time diagram represents an entangled-photon experiment for which the loophole is closed. The diagonal lines denote light-speed trajectories: The paths of the entangled photons are shown in red, and the forward light cones of the measurement-basis choices are shown in blue. Note that Bob cannot receive information about Alice’s chosen basis until after his measurement is complete, and vice versa.

Citation: Phys. Today 69, 1, 14 (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3039



Topics: Bell's Theorem, Entanglement, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Theoretical Physics

The predictions of quantum mechanics are often difficult to reconcile with intuitions about the classical world. Whereas classical particles have well-defined positions and momenta, quantum wavefunctions give only the probability distributions of those quantities. What’s more, quantum theory posits that when two systems are entangled, a measurement on one instantly changes the wavefunction of the other, no matter how distant.

Might those counterintuitive effects be illusory? Perhaps quantum theory could be supplemented by a system of hidden variables that restore local realism, so every measurement’s outcome depends only on events in its past light cone. In a 1964 theorem John Bell showed that the question is not merely philosophical: By looking at the correlations in a series of measurements on widely separated systems, one can distinguish quantum mechanics from any local-realist theory. (See the article by Reinhold Bertlmann, Physics Today, July 2015, page 40.) Such Bell tests in the laboratory have come down on the side of quantum mechanics. But until recently, their experimental limitations have left open two important loopholes that require additional assumptions to definitively rule out local realism.

Now three groups have reported experiments that close both loopholes simultaneously. First, Ronald Hanson, Bas Hensen (both pictured in figure 1) [see link below], and their colleagues at Delft University of Technology performed a loophole-free Bell test using a novel entanglement-swapping scheme.1 More recently, two groups—one led by Sae Woo Nam and Krister Shalm of NIST,2 the other by Anton Zeilinger and Marissa Giustina of the University of Vienna3—used a more conventional setup with pairs of entangled photons generated at a central source.

Physics Today: Three groups close the loopholes in tests of Bell’s theorem
Johanna L. Miller

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