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Existence...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 26, 2015 at 2:11pm

Topics: Astrobiology, Biology, Existentialism, Philosophy, Science, Research


Note: This is a series by Quanta Magazine titled "In Theory." Though intriguing, I almost hesitated because of the title. However, the theoretical discipline has been misunderstood and caricatured by self-described "Google professors"; pseudoscience and conspiracy provocateurs. I prefer that term (provocateurs) to "theorist" for that reason. All theories are eventually proven or disproved by experimental scientists, not opinions, cognitive dissonance, revelation, visions, hunches, hoopla or mumbo-jumbo.

About Quanta Magazine:


Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent online publication launched by the Simons Foundation to enhance public understanding of science. Why Quanta? Albert Einstein called photons “quanta of light.” Our goal is to “illuminate science.”

Our reporters focus on developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences. The best traditional news organizations provide excellent reporting on developments in health, medicine, technology and engineering. We strive to complement and augment existing media coverage, not compete with it.
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My Pointless Genealogy

Posted by G.H. Wright on July 24, 2015 at 6:00pm
My great-great grandfather was a Welshman. Which is incidentally the most boring type of British you can be. They're not known for their fighting, drinking or dry wit (Scottish, Irish and English) respectively. At best I 've inherited the ability to take down armored knights from 200 paces. If you don't get it, Its because the Welsh don't even have a good stereotype. Aaahhh!!!! Where's my longbow?
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Earth 2.0...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 23, 2015 at 6:17am
The artistic concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers may have confirmed K2's first discovery of star with more than one planet. Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Climate Change, Exoplanets, Kepler Telescope, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

There's an announcement coming out today at 12 noon EST. True to form, IFLS and Hopes and Fears have given their usual breathless hyperbole. I don't know if it's "another Earth," or even if it matters. Since our fastest propulsion gets us to Pluto in ~ nine years, we currently don't have a spare hyper/warp drive to get us there in current human lifespans, though Monday's post is a good step in the interplanetary direction. Climate change is a slow-mo existential train wreck, and despite warnings by the Pentagon no less, we can't seem to get our leaders to act on: I fear we're already out of options. I don't plan to be here in fifty years when Greenland's ice sheet disappears, and Florida's coasts are under water. Neither of our presidential candidates, some of whom and their constituents are apparently willing to debate the Pope, but not science publicly.  I'd rather, take care of the planet we're on as the expense would bankrupt the global economy; such an enterprise (pun intended) would take generations, not weeks.

NASA will host a news teleconference at 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT) Thursday, July 23, to announce new discoveries made by its planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope.

The first exoplanet orbiting another star like our sun was discovered in 1995. Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago. Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years -- another Earth.

The teleconference audio and visuals will be streamed live at:

JPL: NASA Hosts Media Telecon About Latest Kepler Discoveries

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Prepare For Christmas Ebook Sales Now

Posted by LN Gibson on July 22, 2015 at 2:43pm

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat… On our freelance writing blog, I start reminding writers about the importance of Christmas sales from July onwards. If you’re a Kindle author, you need to create an ebook publishing strategy for the holidays NOW too.

The holidays are the big spending days of the year

Companies small and large make the bulk of their income over the holiday season, and here’s why — people are spending money. Think of all the new Kindles, iPads, phones and other devices which will be given as gifts over the holiday season. Shouldn’t some of your ebooks grace these electronic toys?

I’ll answer that question for you — YES, they should. So start writing. :-)

Ebook publishing: Christmas can be both fun, and profitable

I reminded a student about Christmas ebooks last week, and he complained that he didn’t have any ideas. No ideas? Of course you have ideas. Writers get ideas more easily than pets get fleas.

Here’s what I suggested to start him thinking:

  • Nonfiction: Christmas recipes; how to create hand-made paper for gift wraps and cards; recipes for easy Christmas treats you can cook and bake to give as gifts; how to create gorgeous decorations…
  • Fiction: a series of ten short stories with a Christmas theme, in a mix of genres, or in a single genre; a mystery novel with Santa Claus as either the sleuth, or the corpse; a romance novel with a hero and heroine who are both alone during the holidays, and…

I’m sure that you can come up with any number of ideas for Christmas-themed ebooks. Make a list now. Use Trello to collect ideas, or my new fave app, Quip. I use Quip as my ideas notebook, accessible to me anywhere, on any device.

Continued...

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A new review for The Warrior from Monde!

Posted by Sylvia Petro on July 22, 2015 at 10:55am

My last beta reader has just completed my manuscript. He loved the book, and wrote a long, glowing review. I'm on a roll right now! So far, I've had no bad reviews (fingers crossed). Below is a snippet of the review from my last beta reader, Steven Farmer a comedian, actor and independent film screen writer. The full review is loaded with spoilers--sorry, can't share that. Not unless you're an agent or publisher. : )

“I’ll start by saying I was completely blown away by your book. I’m impressed by how well made this book is. Not just the story, but the formatting. It’s an easy read. That being said, the story is excellent. It transcends so many genres. You have a small scale story of a soldier kidnapping a woman, and turn into a burgeoning romance novel, and it would have been good enough with just that. Then you added the backdrop of a looming war, the political effects of taking a foreign woman with child, and the sci-fi element. Combined them, and then you took the sci-fi to the next level. Never a dull moment. And it all flows together seamlessly.” - Steven F.

Read the first 25 pages of The Warrior from Monde: https://snpetro.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/first-25.pdf

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Smooth Operator...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 22, 2015 at 6:58am
Illustration of the programmable photonic circuit. Photons enter from the left, are processed and exit to the right. The connector at the centre top of the circuit is to the external control system. (Courtesy: Jacques Carolan et al./Science).


Topics: Consumer Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Optics, Photonics, Quantum Computer, Semiconductor Technology


Note: "Smooth operator" is in the link title of the above photo in the article. No insult or creative infringement to Helen Folasade Adu (the singer Sade) was intended.

A group of physicists in the UK has made a programmable photonic circuit that can be used to carry out any kind of linear optics operation. The researchers say that the device provides experimental proof of a long-standing theory in quantum information, and could help speed the development of photonic quantum computers, as well as establishing whether quantum computers are fundamentally different from their classical counterparts.

The research builds on work carried out back in 1897 by German mathematician Adolf Hurwitz, who showed how a matrix of complex numbers known as a unitary operator can be built up from smaller 2 × 2 matrices. A unitary operator provides a mathematical description of a linear optical circuit. This is any circuit that uses fairly standard optical components – such as mirrors, half-silvered mirrors and phase shifters – to route photons and cause them to interfere with one other. The operator has as many rows as there are output ports in the circuit and as many columns as there are input ports. With only one photon in the circuit, the probability that it travels from a particular input to a particular output is given by the square of the corresponding matrix entry.

Physics World: Physicists build universal optics chip, Edwin Cartlidge

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The Scalpel and Rosie...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 22, 2015 at 6:55am
Image Source: da Vinci Robotic Surgery


Topics: Applied Physics, Biology, Computer Science, Medical Physics, Robotics


The paper describes the usage of robotics for minimally invasive surgery in mostly urology and gynecology; in my case it was sinus surgery. The 144 deaths out of 10,624 (1.4%) robotic surgeries is only small to the statisticians, not the families. I am not against these surgeries (and, if your medical provider is has experience in it, please go with their expertise and judgment), just that we obviously have a few kinks to work out yet. Even though my last thought before surgery was "this looks like Star Trek," I think we're still a few years away from Starfleet Medical.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Robotic surgeons were involved in the deaths of 144 people between 2000 and 2013, according to records kept by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And some forms of robotic surgery are much riskier than others: the death rate for head, neck, and cardiothoracic surgery is almost 10 times higher than for other forms of surgery.

Robotic surgery has increased dramatically in recent years. Between 2007 and 2013, patients underwent more than 1.7 million robotic procedures in the U.S., the vast majority of them performed in gynecology and urology. “Yet no comprehensive study of the safety and reliability of surgical robots has been performed,” say Jai Raman at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a few pals.

Physics arXiv:
Adverse Events in Robotic Surgery: A Retrospective Study of 14 Years of FDA Data
Homa Alemzadeh, Ravishankar K. Iyer, Zbigniew Kalbarczyk, Nancy Leveson, Jaishankar Raman

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At the limit of Moore's law: scientists develop molecule-sized transistors

Posted by William Hayashi on July 21, 2015 at 2:56pm

Scientists have created a transistor made up of a single molecule. Surrounded by just 12 atoms, it is likely to be the smallest possible size for a transistor – and the hard limit for Moore’s law.

The transistor is made of a single molecule of phthalocyanine surrounded by ring of 12 positively charged indium atoms placed on an indium arsenide crystal, as revealed in the scientific journal Nature Physics.

Click here for the full story

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On A Roll...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 20, 2015 at 9:00am
Image Source: Science Alert


Topics: Boeing, Lasers, Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, Star Trek, Star Wars


Earlier this year, Boeing patented a force field. Now, companies pursue patents largely for protection of intellectual property, but these pursuits have been legitimate good press beyond just the occasional TV commercial that blurs by in 30 seconds or so. If it works (the force field), it would only be good at this time for jeeps on the ground in conflicts that involve Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This fusion jet would change the game of propulsion terrestrially as well as for interplanetary travel. Like the previous patent filing, this is just a concept at the moment.

This is another neat idea that brings fusion propulsion a little closer. I don't think we'll be breaking the champagne bottles christening Utopia Planitia shipyards just yet.

Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an application from Boeing’s Robert Budica, James Herzberg, and Frank Chandler for a laser-and-nuclear driven aeroplane engine.


Boeing’s newly-patented engine provides thrust in a very different and rather novel manner. According to the patent filing, the laser engine may also be used to power rockets, missiles, and even spacecraft.

As of now, the engine lives only in patent documents. The technology is so out-there, that it’s unclear if anyone will ever build it.

Science Alert:
Boeing just patented a jet engine powered by lasers and nuclear explosions
Benjamin Zhang, Business Insider

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Chase Vapor

Posted by Corran Lindsay on July 18, 2015 at 3:03pm

Why Chase Vapor is important: Chase Vapor is a show anyone can enjoy, but it is a show FOR geeks, most specifically kids who don't know they're geeks yet. Being a geek or nerd or whatever your preferred nomenclature is, can be a hard sad lonely time. The world isn't kind to people who don't fit in, especially when you're young. Weirdness is seldom treated as the commodity that it should be. As a weird young kid whose brain was full of 'What ifs' Star Trek was the perfect show. Every episode a 'What if' with a mystery and a moral conundrum thrown in., and ultimately a franchise about good people struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is. A universe where you could be a large gruff crinkly headed alien, and still have a ship full of friends who respected you, or a morphing glob of goo who solved crimes and was uncomfortable in social situations, but still got invited to them. And like any space faring sci-fi show, it gave you the stars. No matter how bad your day was you just had to wait 'til nightfall and look up. To a geek the night sky is no mere black curtain with holes poked in it, every star becomes an adventure just waiting to be imagined.
The outcast, picked on, left out kids of the world need that. The opportunity to turn a speck of distant light into a spark of magic. That spark can turn you from feeling like a loser, to chasing the dream of becoming an astronomer, or an engineer, or an astronaut, or a doctor, or if you're very unlucky a writer. It is vitally important that the next generation believe that they can save the world just like Chase, because they will very likely need to. Right now there is a child sitting somewhere feeling left out cause she isn't really into the pink princess doll she got for Christmas, or feeling confused because no one the same color as him ever seems to save the day in any of the shows he watches. Give them Chase Vapor, Chase Vapor will give them the stars.

Please go here https://studios.amazon.com/projects/79693 Check out the show and Rate and comment on what you see.

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Fear of a black galaxy -- Black people in science-fiction

Posted by LN Gibson on July 17, 2015 at 9:15pm

The other day I was listening to the podcast The Auteur Cast. In discussing The Empire strikes back, one of the hosts used the character of Lando Calrissian to question why there are so few black people in science-fiction. It’s not a new question. In 1976, on the album Bicentennial Nigger, Richard Pryor observed:

“I don’t like movies when they don’t have no niggers in ‘em. I went to see, I went to see Logan’s Run, right. They had a movie of the future called Logan’s Run. Ain’t no niggers in it. I said, well white folks ain’t planning for us to be here. That’s why we gotta make movies. Then we be in the pictures.”



It would be nice to say that times sure have changed in the 37 years since. There’ve been nineteen black astronauts in NASA, there’s a black president, a black attorney general and countless other black people have attained positions of power or advanced science (it's even fair to say that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a household name). But that's science-fact and in Hollywood science-fiction the future remains so white you’ve gotta wear shades.

Most space operas depict a universe populated by aliens with prosthetic alterations to their eyes and ears and in all shades of skin tone… almost invariably played by white people. If one tries to think of an alien played by a Latino, I can think of Edward James Olmos (in blue contacts) in Battlestar Galactica as Caprican (of Tauron descent) Commander Bill Adama and that’s it (OK, and Tahnee Welch in the Cocoon movies). Ricardo Montalban as Khan doesn’t count because firstly, Khan Noonien Singh was apparently supposed to be South Asian, given his title “Singh,” and a native of earth -- not an extraterrestrial. Speaking of Asian aliens – are there any besides Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless, emperor of the planet Mongo (obviously meant to be the face of yellow peril and who was also always played by white actors)?

Continued...

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I saw a future where........

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on July 17, 2015 at 8:43am

Was watching morning news show, saw a couple of guys riding elongated skate boards carrying poles for balance and momentum. They looked like gondoliers in Venice..........

A skateboard city? Pedestrian sidewalks for walkers, wide streets and long skateboards with one driver and four passengers. It is a striking sight, how folks get on board, get in sync together and ride with a sort of mindless ease. Carrying stuff, reading their ePads and chattering back and forth with effortlessness. There is an apparent laid back attitude as if this mode of transport is preferred, even for the aged.  Wide skateboards carrying goods, delivering food, the precision of the riders to navigate is uncanny. The poles they carry to balance and propel are mostly plain but some are ornate and some are high-tek concealing lights, weaponry and safety items.

There are solitary blade skaters zooming about who often link shoulder to shoulder resembling a centipede to share power and aerodynamics for long trips in high speed lanes.

There is an ultra speed lane that has a unique feature, a crew of pushers. They patrol the byways looking for a flag signal from linked groups to speed-assist. The pusher has motorized wheels and emergency clearance to break riding rules. Pushers keep things moving, quick to point out or teach "good form" which is the law.

As with any city an element that skirts "good form" exists. They are slightly to overtly out of sync, somewhat arrogant and always dress the part. Shorts and tees and the fake tattoos they change like chameleons to hide and allude. They inhabit the skate parks and are all about extending their "terror-tory". They shout "remember the old school when skating was free and off grid?". They hate that boarding has become normalized, yet they don't prefer to walk.

There is always talk of the gliders of the future, no more wheels. Sure water gliders are as old as boats but land gliders? That is the holy grail of boarding. Come on, you got to believe the Silver Surfer is god. Ok, he's a herald of a galaxy eater. Not to worry, NASA has the TUMS project to protect us. So SS can once again be Harold the skateboard rider.   

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Our Loss, The Universe's Gain...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 17, 2015 at 6:30am

As a research scientist, she inspired a generation, especially young women, to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

This weekend was one of great excitement for the planetary science community as the New Horizons spacecraft moved in on Pluto following decades of hard work. But that optimism took on a somber tone Saturday as news quickly traveled that pioneering scientist Claudia Alexander had died at age 56. Friends and family writing online tributes reported she suffered from breast cancer, but no official cause of death was given.

Alexander was an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the final project manager for NASA’s Galileo mission. But her public profile rose dramatically last fall due to her duties asproject scientist for NASA’s role in the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

"The passing of Claudia Alexander reminds us of how fragile we are as humans but also as scientists how lucky we are to be part of planetary science,” James Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in a statement. “She and I constantly talked about comets. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in particular. She was an absolute delight to be with and always had a huge engaging smile when I saw her. It was easy to see that she loved what she was doing. We lost a fantastic colleague and great friend. I will miss her."

I still can't believe it...

Astronomy: Pioneering Rosetta mission scientist Claudia Alexander dead at 56, Eric Betz

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Tracking, Calculus and Mozart...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 17, 2015 at 6:13am
Image Source: Amazon.com, 1990 edition


Topics: Calculus, Cosmos, History, Humor, Research, Science, Scientific Method


Note: Post title derived from the paper by the author as it appeared in Skeptic Magazine (link below).

Louis Liebenberg does a really good job in his work "The Art of Tracking: The Origin of Science." The book actually came out three years ago on Amazon, and apparently an earlier version with not much fanfare (and surprisingly, FREE e-book versions at Cyber Tracker, 2nd link below). His premise - and experience learning tracking skills from native foragers - that it was the habits of hunter-gatherers, then and now that caused our brains to reason and develop what we now call science and The Scientific Method. I recall reading in Carl Sagan's Cosmos a similar observation of trackers.

 Liebenberg goes a bit deeper into the differentiation between inductive-deductive reasoning and hypothetical-deductive reasoning. The first has to do with direct observations and conclusions from those observations. An example given is "the sun appears to rise in the east, so it must always rise in the east." It is a bit conservative and non-questioning. The hypothetical-deductive poses: "perhaps the Earth is rotating and not the sun moving, and if I were to travel to say, the North Pole, the sun wouldn't appear to move at all." Both are paraphrased quotes from an article I read by the author that appeared on Skeptic Magazine.

 It takes nothing away from Ibn al-Haytham and his mighty contribution to The Scientific Method (or Monty Python). It takes nothing from the designers of pyramids in Egypt and the Americas (they just weren't "ancient astronauts" as the fuzzy-haired guy on H2 insists). It's a little expanded from the Ionian settlement (modern day Turkey) originating philosophy that led to debate; logic and the hypothesis of the atom as the smallest division of matter. Also, the author does an excellent job of the interrelation between inductive-deductive and hypothetico-deductive reasoning: one sticks with conventional wisdom and knowledge; the other asks questions and opens itself to debate. It's probably the origins of the combative art of peer review. It may be the reason we feel impelled to explore electronics, music; atoms, quarks and quasars.

All links below are from or relate to the author Louis Liebenberg:

Amazon.com: The Art of Tracking - The Origin of Science
Cyber Tracker: The Origin of Science
Skeptic Magazine:
Tracking Science: The Origin of Scientific Thinking in Our Paleolithic Ancestors

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W. M. Keck Foundation Award...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 16, 2015 at 7:10am
Mark G. Raizen, Professor of Physics


Topics: Atomic Physics, Optical Physics, Laser Cooling, Nanotechnology, Nobel Prize, Research


In a society of near instantaneous gratification, this represents years of painstaking research and discipline. You can see more of Mark's research here at the research groups' home page. I salute this achievement and am proud to call he and his wife Alicia good friends of the family.

AUSTIN, Texas — The W. M. Keck Foundation has awarded scientists at The University of Texas at Austin two grants totaling $1.5 million to develop a powerful, alternative method for cooling atoms and involve more undergraduate students in using new advanced technologies for research.

Known for supporting high-impact research with the potential to reshape scientific understanding, the Keck Foundation’s contributions to The University of Texas at Austin total more than $7 million with the two new grants announced this month.

A grant of $1 million from the Keck Foundation’s Science and Engineering Research Grant Program will support the “Ultra-Bright Atom Laser” project led by Mark Raizen, a professor in the Department of Physics. The project proposes a new method for cooling atoms in a gas phase toward absolute zero.

Until now, laser cooling has been the standard method for cooling atoms and was recognized by a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Raizen's method could be far more effective than the existing laser-cooling practice and result in an ultra-bright atom laser, predicted to surpass the current state-of-the-art by a factor of 100 million. Applications of the powerful new atom laser include innovations in nanoscience, tests of fundamental physics and new, noninvasive detection of gravitational anomalies, such as underground tunnels or oil and gas reservoirs.

UT News:
Keck Foundation Awards $1.5 Million for New Method to Cool Atoms and Student Research

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Pentaquark...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 15, 2015 at 2:28pm
CERN: An illustration of the possible layout of quarks in a pentaquark (Time)


Topics: Large Hadron Collider, LHC, Particle Physics, Quarks, Quantum Mechanics, Theoretical Physics


Actually, the idea of a pentaquark - penta = 5; quark, the building blocks of matter consists of 4 quarks and 1 antiquark bound together has been around for a while, at least quarks theoretically since the 1960s. The LHC - the celebrated particle accelerator of Higgs Boson fame, found strong evidence , but the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia saw experimental evidence in 2003, and hints at the LHC recently. I'm going to go with Time (also source of the illustration) and the BBC write ups, excerpted because of their gasping fan "cuteness." However, I do appreciate the attempt at increasing the physics literacy of the general public that's of late is hostile to all things science. Note on the link to "LHCb collaboration": there are a LOT of collaborators, but if you want, they're #2 on the page search results at the link.

Time: The discovery may provide hints as to what happens when giant stars collapse

Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN in Switzerland announced the discovery of a new particle, the pentaquark.

The Collider, which smashes atoms together, showed signs of the pentaquark in 2011 and 2012, but scientists wanted to make absolutely sure of its existence before announcing its discovery. Tanya Basu

BBC: Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have announced the discovery of a new particle called the pentaquark.

It was first predicted to exist in the 1960s but, much like the Higgs boson particle before it, the pentaquark eluded science for decades until its detection at the LHC.

The discovery, which amounts to a new form of matter, was made by the Hadron Collider's LHCb experiment.

The findings have been submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters. Paul Rincon

Physics arXiv:
Observation of J/ψp resonances consistent with pentaquark states in Λ0b→J/ψK−p decays
LHCb collaboration

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Citrus Woes

Posted by G.H. Wright on July 15, 2015 at 11:20am
Went to the grocery store and lemons were a dollar apiece. Did we lose the Lemon Wars or something I gotta pay better attention to the geopolitical situation. Important for a science fiction writer
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And Pluto...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 14, 2015 at 9:12am
Latest photos of Pluto's puzzling spots.
Source: John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Planetary Science, Space Exploration


..."and Pluto," the end of the memorized verse we recited to my teacher Mrs. Flynt showing our mastery of the [then] nine planets for a good grade. Pluto - apart from my elementary school science classes - has entered our imaginations again. By the time this auto posts, several images will have been broadcast around the globe. An ounce of the ashes of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh - the discoverer of Pluto - is on board poetically for this journey. I'll likely update this post with some video embed when available.

When New Horizons rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 19, 2006, Pluto was the ninth planet in our solar system. It was demoted to dwarf planet a scant seven months later.

Tombaugh's widow and two children offered up an ounce of his ashes for the journey to Pluto. The ashes of the farm boy-turned-astronomer are in a 2-inch aluminum capsule inscribed with these words:

"Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system's 'third zone.' Adelle and Muron's boy, Patricia's husband, Annette and Alden's father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997)" *

A truth from fiction, Clyde Tombaugh has gone "where no one has gone before." \\//_

The promised embed:

NASA: Pluto and Charon: New Horizons' Dynamic Duo
New Horizons: NASA's Mission to Pluto
* USA Today:
Astronomer's ashes nearing icy world he discovered: Pluto, Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

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Blind Spotting...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 13, 2015 at 9:04am
Source: Technology Review


Topics: Acoustics, Humor, Materials Science, Radio Frequency Microelectronics, Sonar


I had the brief temptation to call the post "Bat Sonar," but for the youth that missed the exposure to the campy antics of Adam West/Burt Ward Batman and Robin, the metaphor would have been over their heads due to lack of exposure and severely dated me (not that I haven't numerous times already).

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Acoustic "Radar" Spots Stowaways Inside Metal Cargo Containers

Seeing people on the other side of metal walls has never been possible despite the array of high-tech sensors that can peer through other materials. That looks set to change.

The detection of stowaways in lorries, shipping containers, and train carriages is an increasingly important activity as countries all over the world attempt to tackle the illegal movement of people across borders. Various technologies are designed to help but all have significant limitations.

Passive millimeter wave sensors can see through walls but require a source of illumination such as the sky. That generally rules out the detection of stowaways hidden away from sunlight.

Microwave radar systems provide their own source of illumination but generally struggle to detect motionless people. In any case, these signals do not pass through metal walls and so are unsuitable for cargo containers and the such-like.

Then there are systems based on the detection gamma rays. These pass easily through metal walls and are designed primarily for the detection of nuclear materials. But they pose a significant health hazard for humans and so are not suitable for spotting stowaways.

Finally, there are acoustic sensors, which can certainly send signals through metal walls but have never been powerful or sensitive enough to detect humans accurately on the other side.

Until now. Today, all that changes thanks to the work of Franklin Felber at Starmark, a scientific consulting company based in San Diego, who has built and tested an acoustic sensor that is both powerful and sensitive enough to detect the breathing motion of an otherwise stationary human on the other side of a cargo container wall.

Physics arXiv: Demonstration of novel high-power acoustic through-the-wall sensor,
Franklin Felber

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Book Review: Everything I Know About Zombies, I Learned in Kindergarten

Posted by Rasheedah Prioleau on July 12, 2015 at 1:30am

I am still just reeling from this book. I was a skeptic when this became the Blerd Book Club read, but I have to say the club got it right. A nine year old quick thinking girl, Letitia, goes to a her sister’s kindergarten class to save her and ends up saving about a dozen of her classmates as well from certain death during the zombie apocalypse.

MORE...

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