Sho-Nuff from the Last Dragon
These are two recent characters from a series Ive been working on.
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| Photos at top show students at Chicago State University (CSU), a minority serving institution on Chicago's South Side, engaged in active learning environments that have been shown to aid diverse groups of students develop a deep understanding of physics. In top photo Ebony Spells, Angela Moore, and Sharif Onihale work on a physics lab experiment. |
Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Politics, STEM, Women in Science
I’m not sure if putting it in The Back Page section of the APS newsletter was a smooth move politically, but I’m grateful for the lucidity and clarity of Dr. Chandralekha Singh’s arguments affirming the need for diversity in our national STEM competitiveness, and the utterly vapid statement by one with the title “Chief Justice.”
Not that I've heard a lot from Chief Justices, but I don't recall Rehnquist saying something so demonstrably out-of-touch with the rest of the country; his mind is in the 1950's behind a white picket fence. The Chief Injustice is a microcosm of a privileged mindset that hasn't quite grasped we're in a global competitive environment, and more than his culture needs to row in the collective national boat.
Sadly, due to financial stresses, this valuable asset will likely close this year. When such actions - intentional or unintentional - take place, "lifting yourselves up by your own bootstraps" is about as asinine as starting a sprint chained to the starting block six seconds after the gun fires the race. For want of "nostalgic," anachronistic prejudices of the mid 20th Century, we're setting ourselves up to be a banana republic in the 21st.
On December 9, 2015, Chief Justice Roberts asked the question "What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?" during the discussion of a case on affirmative action at the university level. It appears that he chose a physics class because he felt that this discipline definitely does not need diverse perspectives. As a female physicist who has been teaching at the University of Pittsburgh for two decades, I feel that the Chief Justice’s question suggests a lack of familiarity with urgent issues in education that must be addressed to maintain U.S. competitiveness.
The question first implies that it is the perspective of the minority student that is the critical feature rather than the presence of the minority student in the physics class. We need to attract minority students to disciplines that need their talents. Currently, approximately 20 percent of undergraduate and Ph.D. students in physics programs across the U.S. are females, which is significantly lower than the percentage in many European and Asian countries. What is perhaps more alarming is that only about 9 percent of physics undergraduate degrees and 6 percent of Ph.D. degrees are awarded to students from underrepresented races and ethnicities.
APS Physics: In the Matter of Minority Physics Students v. Chief Justice Roberts
By Chandralekha Singh
so i'm doing an anthology ebook called DREAMNASIUM TALES for sale on AMAzon but, since still too many don't know about it, I thought I'd give out some free ones, just for fun. Here's one.
The Flying Bullet Blog #1: The Adventure Begins
My name is Christopher Love and I am the creator of the Flying Bullet.
The concept of the photo novel came about due to my love for the old black and white sci-fi serials and films of 40s, 50s and 60s like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, King of the Rocket Men and Son of Ingagi.
WHAT IF!!! there was a black and white photo novel starring an African American hero. I imagine the hero would be based on real African American heroes of that era. The Tuskegee Airmen were heroes of the highest caliber who fought discrimination and the right to defend a country that didn't always defend them.
So now I have my hero, LT Curt Masters, a Tuskegee Airman, who is kidnapped by a UFO and goes on the high octane sci-fi adventure and exploring what it is to be a man and a human being. The photo novel will be presented in Black and White to keep with its inspirational roots.
This photo novel is a 100% classic science fiction story. I took the rich history of african americans and combined it with the science fiction genre. The story deals with the struggles of african americans to be counted as full citizens of the United States in defense of their country during WWII. Curt Master soons discovers that the planet Earth is entangled in a bigger intergalactic struggle.
Writer and artist John Byrne created a photonovel for a Star Trek story. He used still footage of the Star Trek tv show to tell a new tale.
I decided to create the story by shooting actual scenes via my cell phone and adding it to the photonovel layout. I am using a platform called Comic Life 3. It's a program that let's you create a comic book.
The photonovel will be available paperback, ebook and something more
.PREVIEW OF PAGE 24
PREVIEW OF PAGE 25
PREVIEW OF PAGE 26
The photo novel and ebook will be released on December 01 2016. Please help me by spreading the word and coming back for more updates.
-Chris Love
The photo novel and ebook will be released on December 01 2016. Please help me by spreading the word and coming back for more updates.
-Chris Love
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| Artist's impression of how electrons (blue sphere) are accelerated by a large electric-field gradient (cerise waves) created by an intense laser pulse. (Courtesy: Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science) |
Topics: High Energy Physics, Laser, Particle Physics, Plasma Physics
In the era of xenophobic flight to suburbs, they termed the cities "doughnuts," meaning they were empty of value, like doughnut holes; the suburbs sweeter and of more worth.
It's not that good science is not being done here in the US: it's no longer what we're known for primarily. Now, it's creation museums, conspiracy provocateurs; reality TV stars running for president. We are becoming a doughnut hole nation.
Accelerator physicists in five European countries are developing plans for the world's first high-energy laser plasma accelerator facility for use by science and industry. If built, the facility will deliver high-quality beams of electrons with energies up to 5 GeV. The EuPRAXIA consortium includes researchers at 16 institutes in the European Union (EU), including the DESY lab in Germany, the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, the French national research council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the UK. EuPRAXIA also has 18 associate partners worldwide, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the US, RIKEN in Japan and CERN in Switzerland.
The idea of laser plasma acceleration has been around for more than 30 years, and in 2014 physicists using the LBNL's Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator managed to accelerate electrons to energies as high as 4.2 GeV. The process involves firing very intense laser pulses into a gas to create a plasma. As a pulse travels through the gas, it rips electrons away from the positive nuclei, therefore creating a huge electric-field gradient in its wake. This gradient can be thousands of times greater than that found in conventional particle accelerators – and therefore can accelerate electrons to high energies over much shorter distances than conventional facilities.
Physics World: Consortium sets out to build European laser plasma accelerator
Hamish Johnston
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| Image Source: Universe Today Hawking radiation near an event horizon. Credit: NAU. |
Topics: Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity, Phonons
IN BRIEF
Scientists may have found signs that phonons, the very small packets of energy that make up sound waves, were leaking out of sonic black holes, just as Hawking’s equations predicted.
SURVIVING A BLACK HOLE
Some 42 years ago, renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking proposed that not everything that comes in contact with a black hole succumbs to its unfathomable nothingness. Tiny particles of light (photons) are sometimes ejected back out, robbing the black hole of an infinitesimal amount of energy, and this gradual loss of mass over time means every black hole eventually evaporates out of existence.
Known as Hawking radiation, these escaping particles help us make sense of one of the greatest enigmas in the known Universe, but after more than four decades, no one’s been able to actually prove they exist, and Hawking’s proposal remained firmly in hypothesis territory.
But all that could be about to change, with two independent groups of researchers reporting that they’ve found evidence to back up Hawking’s claims, and it could see one of the greatest living physicists finally win a Nobel Prize.
Futurism:
Physicists Made a ‘Black Hole’ in a Lab That May Finally Prove Hawking Radiation Exists
Legends Parallel Teaser II from Bill McCormick on Vimeo.
LEGENDS PARALLEL is a, single story, comic book which spans twelve issues. It tells the tale of five Earths, each very different from the others, and the one woman who wants to control them all.
A man, his mom, and her lover have to save the worlds. No one said this shit would be easy.
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| Dipole-dipole interactions between two chromophores were imaged on the atomic level using scanning tunneling microscopy. Image credit: Guoyan Wang and Daping Sun |
Topics: Biology, Materials Science, Quantum Mechanics, Solar Power
Photosynthesis and other vital biological reactions depend on the interplay between electrically polarized molecules. For the first time, scientists have imaged these interactions at the atomic level. The insights from these images could help lead to better solar power cells, researchers added.
Atoms in molecules often do not equally share their electrons. This can lead to electric dipoles, in which one side of a molecule is positively charged while the other side is negatively charged. Interactions between dipoles are critical to biology -- for instance, the way large protein molecules fold -- often depend on how the electric charges of dipoles attract or repel each other.
One process where dipole coupling is key is photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, dipole coupling helps chromophores – molecules that can absorb and release light – transfer the energy that they capture from sunlight to other molecules that convert it to chemical energy.
Intriguingly, a consequence of dipole coupling is that chromophores may experience a strange phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Quantum physics suggests that the world is a fuzzy, surreal place at its very smallest levels. Objects experiencing quantum entanglement are better thought of as a single collective than as standalone objects, even when separated in space. Quantum entanglement means that chromophore properties can strongly depend on the number, orientations and positions of their neighbors.
Inside Science: Scientists Capture 'Spooky Action' In Photosynthesis, Charles Q. Choi
Dear Sci Fi Readers and Enthusiasts:
I've recently finished writing my first novel of science fiction featuring the first adventure of the first African American family to the stars. Titled Sojourners, the Strong family will face unimaginable perils as they explore the frontiers of intergalactic space.
The book is the first in a series and is now available for purchase via Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com ($13.99) and in Kindle/E-book formats ($3.99/download). As I write this, it will soon be available in bookstores across the US.
Upon purchasing this new novel in whatever format you wish, I do hope you all will enjoy the story. My promoters have all asked that you please pass this on to any who love reading an adventure in possibilities. I also posted an announcement on my Facebook page.
Best regards,
Ben Davis Jr.
(440) 786-8735 (H)
(440) 321-6460 (C)
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| Image Source: Second Link below |
Topics: Laser, Optical Physics, Photonics, Physics, Politics, Research
Omid Kokabee was a PhD student and researcher at the University of Texas, Austin in Laser Physics until his capture in 2011 during a family visit to Iran, and wrongful conviction by an authoritarian Iranian court. His health is fading; cancer claiming his right kidney. It was removed finally, but he's still in considerable pain and in real danger of dying. Instead of thinking of his scientific contributions to the US and the world at large, I fear our letting him languish this long is due to his being "other."
As much as I think the Iranian nuclear arms deal is a good thing - avoiding species extinction always is - an individual like Omid Kokabee is going through his own personal extinction albeit in a kind of psychopathic slow-motion.
Omid Kokabee was awarded the Andrei Sakharov Prize from the American Physical Society for “his courage in refusing to use his physics knowledge to work on projects that he deemed harmful to humanity, in the face of extreme physical and psychological pressure.” He has also been suffering from a number of serious health problems that have not been treated.
The timing of the petition delivery is critical: following a concerted effort on his behalf by a number of organizations and thousands of activists around the world, Iran’s Supreme Court recently vacated the ten-year sentence and is now going to review the case against Omid Kokabee. October 28 also marks the official presentation to the United Nations of the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed. Iran’s human rights record will also be closely scrutinized when its Universal Periodic Review in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is conducted starting October 31.
The delegation delivering the petitions to the Iran UN Mission is calling for Omid Kokabee to be immediately and unconditionally released so that he can receive urgent medical treatment for his numerous and severe health problems.
The letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader calling for the release of Omid Kokabee is endorsed by the following 31 Nobel laureates in physics: Leon Neil Cooper (1972), Brian David Josephson (1973), Anthony Hewish (1974), Burton Richter (1976), Samuel Chao Chung Ting (1976), Philip W. Anderson (1977), Arno Allan Penzias (1978), Sheldon Lee Glashow (1979), James Cronin (1980), Nicolaas Bloembergen (1981), Klaus von Klitzing (1985), Jack Steinberger (1988), David. M. Lee (1996), Douglas D. Osheroff (1996), Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1997), William D. Phillips (1997), Daniel Tsui (1998), Eric A. Cornell (2001), Wolfgang Ketterle (2001), Masatoshi Koshiba (2002), Alexei Abrikosov (2003), Anthony Leggett (2003), David Politzer (2004), David J. Gross (2004), John Hall (2005), John Mather (2006), Toshihide Maskawa (2008), Konstantin Novoselov (2010), Andre Geim (2010), David J. Wineland (2012) and Peter W. Higgs (2013).
This is grand and noble, but it's also from an entry on Iranian Human Rights' site in 2014.
To remind what exactly authoritarianism is and why it's so destructive, I give this Eric Fromm ("Escape From Freedom") primer:
Authoritarianism: Fromm characterizes the authoritarian personality as containing a sadist element and a masochist element. The authoritarian wishes to gain control over other people in a bid to impose some kind of order on the world, they also wish to submit to the control of some superior force which may come in the guise of a person or an abstract idea.
Destructiveness: Although this bears a similarity to sadism, Fromm argues that the sadist wishes to gain control over something. A destructive personality wishes to destroy something it cannot bring under its control.
Conformity: This process is seen when people unconsciously incorporate the normative beliefs and thought processes of their society and experience them as their own. This allows them to avoid genuine free thinking, which is likely to provoke anxiety.
We're seeing this the world over: Iran, Europe and especially the United States. There is and always has been a war on science by authoritarian regimes be they religious or secular (fossil fuels has no cathedral I'm aware of, but they and other business interests control a considerable amount of news media and therefore modulate consent). Science tends to report what "is," not what business interests, the liturgical or the state wishes reality to be. It is this reason why we can't get any action on Climate Change in the United States and therefore adversely affecting the planet elsewhere with no "plan B." It is a formula for species extinction. Homo Sapiens literally translates from Latin to "wise man": this clearly is NOT.
I've created a White House Petition: http://wh.gov/ioO5v. There are others out there, I know, but 100,000 signatures in 30 days with social media makes me confident we can reach that simple milestone, and get our physicist home.
We are all Omid: those of us that support and participate in any level of science, K-12 and post secondary education or industry can suddenly find ourselves in a virtual or real gulag for being ourselves; for researching, advancing academically - thinking. Thoughtcrime is not so Orwellian anymore, refer to the Fromm primer above.
This is an election year, and in the off possibilty republicans take back the White House, I feel Dr. Kokabee's chances of returning to Austin and Physics research exponentially reduce from slim to nil.
I would attend the rally were I still living in Austin. I complete this post with tears for Omid, and a swelling of hope in my chest at this activism for a fellow scientist.
I've never been prouder being a physicist.
Related sites:
If you're submitting your material for publishing, music, art, writing, whatever, read this. I tried to cover all the sins people make when they submit their creative product for review. Some NSFW language. Grow up and read it anyway.
READ IT RIGHT NOW!
It's no secret that everyone has their "place". That one location that seems to spark greatness. For me, I have come to realize, that space is the 4:34 train home. It seems odd to me. It's at the end of the workday when my mind is usually the most tired, but the moment the train pulls off, my brain is in motion.
My place used to be right on top of my grandfather's old station wagon. I would climb up there and stare at the clouds. Clouds became images, shifting from floating cotton balls to flowers, fairies, witches and more. Before long I had planned out an entire scene in my head. When my mother would call me to come inside, I'd run to my stack of notebooks and write down all that I had imagined.
I suppose as we grow, shift, change (quite like those clouds), that place of inspiration does as well. For me now, it is the train ride home. It fuels me and gets me ready for my 5-year-old who will be in either ninja mode, ready to take down the villains who chase our car as we drive home or video gamer mode, telling me of all the levels we have to beat in order to make it to safety. My imagination runs wild on that train ride home so that I am able to keep up with him.
Yesterday's Ride sparked me to type up this on my phone: A start of something new? Its unfinished but hopefully you enjoy it!
Derailed
Have you ever caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye but when you looked, it wasn't there?
This is what happened.
Riding the Metra home from another long day at the office. Four days in a row, same location Just at the pickup point for the train’s workers. We stop, usually at this point I'm looking at my phone catching up on what's happening on Facebook. The usual, killings in the city, politics the freak show that is the presidential campaigns, on and on and then, there it is. Large, black and in the corner of my eye. I turn started but there is nothing. A sigh of relief and on with my scrolling. This job is stressing me out.
The fifth day, I don't see it. The ride is smooth. Halfway way to my destination. Just another fifteen minutes until I trot to my car 22 minutes until I dig into that pint of cherry vanilla ice cream waiting for me. The train stops. Everyone is obviously annoyed by the delay, me in particular. I want my ice cream!
This is nothing new. It happens. I sit, wait, and plug my phone into the convenient outlet next to my leg. As I pop the cord into my phone, the lights flicker and then go out. The tape that lines the floors walls and doors start to glow. It is later now, much later than my usual ride home. A Thursday, I stayed two extra hours to avoid surrendering another Friday night to the time clock.
Some people sigh, others start to complain. I slowly pull my jacket tighter around me. I don't do well in the dark. Especially on a train sitting just after the 87th street stop. I remember the post I read about a shooting that occurred just blocks away the day before. I want to duck for cover.
The conductor comes. He assures us everything is fine, just a power outage, we will be up and running in no time. Right, because what else would he say? We're all screwed and help is an hour away or more?
The battery on my phone is at 80% but just in case I switch the power saving mode on, close all apps and put it in my pocket. Maybe they will let us walk to the nearest stop. I could call a ride.
Screams from the car ahead of us startle me. Moments later the sound of nails, large, scratching against the side of the train, ring out. We all try to look out to see what it is but there is nothing, only darkness outside of the tinted windows.
The old woman across from me is clutching the pendant hanging around her neck, I cannot see what it is but she starts to pray and I send up a silent plea for safety of my own.
“Is there a doctor? Someone, please help! Call 911!” The Cries ring out in succession.
Then the train shakes. Over and over something slams into the side until we start to tilt. I jump and move to sit next to the woman. I hold her tight to me and brace as the train makes its final tilt before crashing into the ground. My body serves as a cushion for the old woman who weeps on my arm. I have no time to comfort her. Ahead of us in the car there are screams again. This time, no words, just sheer panic. I wait with everyone else in silence. The roar, the growl, something is there. We have to move. I try to help the old lady but she tells me no. She cannot make it. Instead, I cover her as best I can in bags, and clothing from others. “Be still, be quiet,” I whisper as I leave her behind and hope for her safety.
The window where I sat before is shattered. I can make it through. It takes effort but I do, I climb and I am on top of the toppled train. I hear the beast, whatever it is, moving through the cars headed for us.
My cell works. I call 911 but they can’t hear me as I whisper into the mike. I try again and the same. “Please, ma’am you have to speak up!” My third attempt at reporting the incident is halted. It enters the car where I once was. Large, black and covered s in a thick matted fur it stalks the remaining survivors. If I speak, even a whisper it will spot me. I end the call and lock my eyes on the old woman. I can see only the tip of her show. I pray it misses her. I cannot explain it but I care only for her.
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| ESA/Hubble/NASA The star system α Centauri is more than 4 light years from the Sun. |
Topics: Physics Humor, Space, Space Exploration, Special Relativity, Star Trek
0.20 x 3.00 x 108 m/s = 6 x 107 m/s isn't warp drive, but it's still pretty fast. We'll also get to see some phenomena in the universe that would normally take us decades to visit, and within our lifetimes so long as our sturdy cell-sized craft and their respective sails aren't punctured with micro meteors or picked off by V'Ger. The benefit to us on Earth will be the spin off technology. As with the original space race, we won't be the only ones with small ships and tall sails out there.
Space has long fascinated humans, but few have dared to initiate an interstellar space programme. Now a coalition of entrepreneurs and scientists aims to design a fleet of laser-powered spacecraft that could reach α Centauri, the star system closest to the Solar System, in just two decades. The group envisions probes that could complete that journey — a distance of 4.37 light years (1.34 parsecs) — at 20% the speed of light.
“For the first time in human history we can actually do more than observe the stars,” said Yuri Milner, a Russian Internet billionaire who is funding the initiative, at a 12 April press conference in New York. “We can reach them.”
Called Breakthrough Starshot, the programme is based on an idea that has been around for decades: the solar sail. The theory is that a lightweight space sail could harness the momentum carried by photons in order to travel without fuel.
The Breakthrough Starshot team is betting that a burst of concentrated lasers, fired from the ground, could rapidly accelerate a mobile-phone-sized device equipped with microelectronics and a tiny sail — providing much more energy than could be harnessed from the Sun. Whereas NASA’s plutonium-powered New Horizons spacecraft took nine years to reach Pluto, the “nanocraft” envisioned by Breakthrough Starshot would pass by the dwarf planet and exit the Solar System in three days.
Nature: Billionaire backs plan to send pint-sized starships beyond the Solar System
Jeff Tollefson
Related link
Tech Insider: 'Starshot' wants to launch tiny robots to a star 25 trillion miles away
Kevin Loria
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| The photons are indicated by the clusters of energy shown in green. (Courtesy: CERN) |
Topics: Large Hadron Collider, LHC, Particle Physics, Theoretical Physics
Last year, the LHC's ATLAS and CMS experiments both reported a small "bump" in their data that denoted an excess of photon pairs with a combined mass of around 750 GeV. As this unexpected bump could be the first hint of a new massive particle that is not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, the data generated hundreds of theory papers that attempt to explain the signal. Of these, four different theoretical explanations – a particle predicted by a lesser-known version of supersymmetry; a particle linked to a new kind of strong nuclear force; a Higgs-like boson; and a decay product from other very heavy particles – have been selected for publication in this week's issue of Physical Review Letters.
Physics World: Theorizing about the LHC's 750 GeV bump, Edwin Cartlidge
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| A new, extremely stretchable polymer film created by Stanford researchers can repair itself when punctured, a feature that is important in a material that has potential applications in artificial muscle. Credit: Bao Research Group |
Topics: Biology, Chemistry, Materials Science
I remember going to play basketball with my friends Milton and Dwayne, we the "Three Musketeers," our heroes with names like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar fresh on our young minds. Racing across a rocky parking lot with broken glass, I managed to trip over my fourteen-year-old Pro-Keds donned feet, tumbling head over heels and scraping my back of skin from my left hip to midway my right shoulder. Pain like that - white hot like a poker from a fire - is not easily forgotten. My friends took me back to my mother, who they knew was a nurse.
After cleaning me with mild soap and Hydrogen Peroxide, she applied something called "new skin." It stung worse than the injury, but it sealed my back while it slowly healed. I wore loose shirts and had for a moment "street creds" (quite literally, since pieces of the street skid-marked in my back caused my dilemma).
This is obviously a lot better than new skin, as the application extends beyond the epidural. Hopefully this application is not as painful to future clumsy teens, and that there's a mother with bandages and brownies for their troubles.
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If there's such a thing as an experiment that goes too well, a recent effort in the lab of Stanford chemical engineering Professor Zhenan Bao might fit the bill.
One of her team members, Cheng-Hui Li, wanted to test the stretchiness of a rubberlike type of plastic known as an elastomer that he had just synthesized. Such materials can normally be stretched two or three times their original length and spring back to original size. One common stress test involves stretching an elastomer beyond this point until it snaps.
But Li, a visiting scholar from China, hit a snag: The clamping machine typically used to measure elasticity could only stretch about 45 inches. To find the breaking point of their one-inch sample, Li and another lab member had to hold opposing ends in their hands, standing further and further apart, eventually stretching a 1-inch polymer film to more than 100 inches.
Bao was stunned.
"I said, 'How can that be possible? Are you sure?'" she recalled.
Today in Nature Chemistry, the researchers explain how they made this super-stretchy substance. They also showed that they could make this new elastomer twitch by exposing it to an electric field, causing it to expand and contract, making it potentially useful as an artificial muscle.
Phys.org:
Carrie Kirby And Tom Abate
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| FIG. 1. One dimensional arrangement of masses forming strings in tension. |
Topics: Astrophysics, Classical Mechanics, Kinematics, Planetary Science
Abstract
Here we show that bodies of the same size suspended uniformly in space constitute a system (a “suspension”) in a state of uniform volumetric tension because of mass-to-mass forces of attraction. The system “snaps” hierarchically, and evolves faster to a state of reduced tension when the bodies coalesce spontaneously nonuniformly, i.e., hierarchically, into few large and many small bodies suspended in the same space. Hierarchy, not uniformity, is the design that emerges, and it is in accord with the constructal law. The implications of this principle of physics in natural organization and evolution are discussed.
Introduction
Recent progress on the physics basis of evolutionary organization in nature1,2 continues to bring together phenomena that were previously considered unrelated. To the animate and inanimate examples (animal locomotion, river basins, turbulence) that were unified as a phenomenon of free-morphing flow design for greater access over time,1–18 we are now adding examples that belonged traditionally to solid mechanics. For example, the natural occurrence of hexagonal basalt columns is attributed to a principle of maximum energy release.19 The occurrence of cracks in solids is based on the same principle.20–22 Soil cracking under the drying wind was explained as a phenomenon of evolutionary design that enhances mass flow and accelerates drying.23 The aggregation of dust particles into clusters and dendrites was shown to be the result of the same tendency, to relieve electrostatic forces of attraction faster, through the evolutionary design of configuration.24
Here we add to this growing list of evolutionary phenomena the natural occurrence of multi-size hierarchy of bodies suspended in space. The hierarchy of sizes is researched intensely and described regularly in planetary science and astrophysics.25–31 Hierarchy emerges in two ways, through accretion (coalescence) and fragmentation resulting from collisions. Viewed from thermodynamics,32 the system of bodies in space is in a state of internal tension because of gravitational attraction between neighboring bodies. This system “snaps” freely by flowing internally and changing its configuration. Bodies coalesce into larger bodies, and their collision (with fragmentation) dissipates the tension and resulting kinetic energy, en route to reduced body-body attraction throughout the system. This phenomenon has been studied in celestial mechanics under several scenarios,25–27 and is recognized as the basis for the formation process of planets and the asteroid belt.
Sizes increase over all scales through accretion.31 Yet, the natural phenomenon is not only the growth of the body sizes but also the spontaneous hierarchy. The fundamental question that we address here is why “hierarchy” happens spontaneously, and why a uniform distribution of bodies of the same (growing) size does not happen. We show that the gravitational effect alone does not explain the hierarchy of sizes of bodies in space. The additional physics principle is the natural evolution (selection) of flow configuration during accretion such that the flow and evolution to equilibrium are facilitated.1,2
Journal of Applied Physics: The physics origin of the hierarchy of bodies in space
A. Bejan1,a) and R. W. Wagstaff1
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0300, USA
Composite image of the gravitational lens SDP.81 showing the distorted ALMA image of the more distant galaxy (red arcs) and the Hubble optical image of the nearby lensing galaxy (blue center object). By analyzing the distortions in the ring, astronomers have determined that a dark dwarf galaxy (data indicated by white dot near left lower arc segment) is lurking nearly 4 billion light-years away. Credit: Y. Hezaveh, Stanford Univ.; ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Dark Matter, Einstein, General Relativity, Gravitational Lensing, Radio Astronomy
Subtle distortions hidden in ALMA’s stunning image of the gravitational lens SDP.81 are telltale signs that a dwarf dark galaxy is lurking in the halo of a much larger galaxy nearly 4 billion light-years away. This discovery paves the way for ALMA to find many more such objects and could help astronomers address important questions on the nature of dark matter.
In 2014, as part of ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign, astronomers studied a variety of astronomical objects to test the telescope's new, high-resolution capabilities. One of these experimental images was that of an Einstein ring, which was produced by the gravity of a massive foreground galaxy bending the light emitted by another galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away.
This phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, was predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity and it offers a powerful tool for studying galaxies that are otherwise too distant to observe. It also sheds light on the properties of the nearby lensing galaxy because of the way its gravity distorts and focuses light from more distant objects.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory:
Dwarf Dark Galaxy Hidden in ALMA Gravitational Lens Image
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| (Credit: CruZeWizard/Shutterstock) |
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Geophysics, Moon, Planetary Science
When I saw this, it sparked a recent memory that is surprisingly related. It sounds like screenwriters with active imaginations paid close attention in science classes, another benefit of a STEM education.
Ou peut-être parce que les scénaristes et les scientifiques sont de la France ?
Mune: Guardian of the Moon (also known as Mune The Guardian of the Moon) (French: Mune, le gardien de la lune) is a 2014 French 3D computer-animated adventure fantasy film directed by Benoît Philippon (which he co-wrote with Jérôme Fansten) and Alexandre Heboyan.
In an imaginary world, a small Sun and Moon were made by the first Guardians to warm up a small planet inhabited by different marvelous people. The first Guardian of the Sun harpooned a star to keep it close to the planet, and hung it by chains to a mobile temple that is like a huge quadruped animal made of rock. The first Guardian of the Moon descended into the world of dreams and carved the Moon in a quarry of oneiric stones, and threw it into the sky. Since then, the Guardians follow generation after generation and preserve the harmony of the world. The people of the day and those of the night live in relative harmony, even though they are very different from each other. But in the depth of the planet, Necross awaits the opportunity to set darkness over the world. Wikipedia
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To solve a mystery about Earth’s core, scientists looked to the moon.
Viewed from space, Earth is a serene blue sphere. But beneath its surface, there is a roiling mass of liquid, nickel-iron alloy and solid iron almost 6,000 miles in diameter. The inner and outer core comprise almost a third of Earth’s mass, and together they generate a magnetic field that shields life on this planet from harmful charged particles emanating from the sun.
But Earth’s core, perhaps, can’t take all of the credit for saving humanity.
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research in France say the the moon plays a key role keeping life on Earth safe. Although the moon sits some 230,000 miles away, researchers believe its gravitational tug churns iron alloy in the core, which, in turn, helps maintain the magnetic field that protects our planet.
Discovery Magazine: The Moon: Our Silent Guardian, Nathaniel Scharping
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Magnetic order in (Sr,Na)Fe2As2: The crystal structure contains planes of iron atoms (shown as red spheres). Half the iron sites have a magnetization (shown as red arrows), which points either up or down, but the other half have zero magnetization. This shows that the magnetism results from the constructive and destructive interference of two magnetization waves, a clear sign that the magnetic electrons are itinerant, which means they are not confined to a single site. The same electrons are responsible for the superconductivity at lower temperature.
Topics: Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science, Superconductors
A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory has discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing a conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism in these materials.
The discovery allows for a clearer understanding of the magnetism in some compounds of iron, the iron arsenides, and how it helps induce superconductivity, the resistance-free flow of electrical current through a solid-state material, which occurs at temperatures up to 138 degrees Kelvin, or minus -135 degrees Celsius.
"In order to be able to design novel superconducting materials, one must understand what causes superconductivity," said Argonne senior physicist Raymond Osborn, one of the project's lead researchers. "Understanding the origin of magnetism is a first vital step toward obtaining an understanding of what makes these materials superconducting. Given the similarity to other materials, such as the copper-based superconductors, our goal was to improve our understanding of high-temperature superconductivity."
Argonne National Laboratory:
New magnetism research brings high-temp superconductivity applications closer
Angela Hardin
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| Image Source: Good Housekeeping |
Topics: Commentary, Diversity, Education, Internet, Politics
Before the Internet, any letters to a publication had to go to its editor, with a 140-word limit (unlike 140 characters now). If you made publication, you got to see your name in print and if you were a writer, increase your notice and curriculum vitae/"clips" to showcase with potential book publishers for fiction, non-fiction, poetry you were trying to market. That process used to take weeks and a lot of patience. Editors were and are impressive, credentialed and revered. To impress one is a big deal.
There's always a downside with every technological leap. We're selecting vis-a-vis an election cycle cum reality show this country's next chief executive. Everyone promises to "bring jobs back," even if their own companies were part of the many that took advantage of trade agreements and cheaper labor overseas. What neither of them will tell you is some jobs due to robotics and software innovations WON'T ever come back because there's no need for them to. James Boggs called it "automation and cybernation" in a very prescient read. The educational system is a testing havoc, enriching test publishing companies simultaneously NOT preparing our citizens for future jobs that pay cheaper salaries offshore, nor that our democratic republic was formed before the advent of "point and click" and American Idol. Meanwhile, we're in a cycle of ignorance about science and birth control at a present count of 7 billion people that all share the same resources - some with more success (those with lawyers; offshore tax shelters) than others.
The Internet allows writers to show their skills to potential agents and publishers through blogs and web sites. The Query Letter has evolved from hard copy to email; rejection letters however still take some time for the agent or publisher to click "send."
The comments section of this blog has some lively activity depending on the article, many of it spam that after repetition I delete without publishing; many trolls whose sensitivities I've somehow offended. It usually boils down to politics, religion or some combination of the two. Some exchanges I've had to terminate with a posted link from the FBI's cyber crime unit and a promise to meet the offender in court if they persist. I've also used the fine art of blocking that's available and empowering in social media.
This space of time we're in also warps our understanding of Civics that used to be taught in schools. Even the Governor of Oklahoma failed this test:
Gov. Fallin said she believes the final decision on the monument’s fate should rest with the people.
“You know, there are three branches of our government. You have the Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the people, the people and their ability to vote. So I’m hoping that we can address this issue in the legislative session and let the people of Oklahoma decide,” she said.
The article goes on correctly to say the legislative (Congress: Senate and House of Representatives), executive (President and Vice President) and judicial branches (HERE'S where the Supreme Court comes in), correcting the Governor's Faux Pas.
It is this lack of understanding that is frightening; this callous disregard from even elected officials knowing the simple basics of governance, not caring about important details on every level of the electorate.
I'm old enough to recall the concerns regarding the "Information Superhighway," back when a home computer cost in the range of $2,500 (my wife's then "employee discount" with Dell Computers) using a Pentium 486. That left understandingly a lot of minority households priced out of the luxury.
We now have faster, more powerful computers somewhere in the vicinity of our hip pockets. Our demand for the speedy novelty of sharing cat videos has driven economics to sweat shops where our electronic pacifiers are assembled by the equivalent of slave labor. The resources used to manufacture stolen in manufactured wars from tribes in third world countries starving, unable to benefit from the wealth beneath their feet.
This instantaneous nature gratifies us on a primal level; what used to take time to acquire we now expect in nanoseconds, be it legislation, product ordered online or pornography. Our notions of distance in the jet age similarly have succumbed to the same forces as our notions of process, rejection and time.
And sadly in doing so, we have empowered sociopaths.
The Guardian: The dark side of Guardian comments
As part of a series on the rising global phenomenon of online harassment, the Guardian commissioned research into the 70m comments left on its site since 2006 and discovered that of the 10 most abused writers eight are women, and the two men are black. Hear from three of those writers, explore the data and help us host better conversations online
by Becky Gardiner, Mahana Mansfield, Ian Anderson, Josh Holder, Daan Louter and Monica Ulmanu
