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Amazon Smile Indie Film Fundraiser

Posted by Rasheedah Prioleau on March 16, 2015 at 10:30am

Hello BSFS!!!

This year I am taking on the challenge to become an independently produced writer.  I have decided to take on a non-profit film project to help talented at-risk young adults begin their careers behind the scenes in film making as well.  I am happy to announce that Col-Kel Education and Training Ministries has graciously partnered with us and is allowing us to use their fundraising platform through Amazon Smile from now until July 4th 2015. 

This is an exciting program for us and everyone interested in helping us without hurting their wallet.  So here's the deal, there are four major holidays coming up: Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and The Fourth of July.  Chances are you will be shopping online for at least one of these holidays, and more than likely, you will end up on Amazon because... it's Amazon. 

If you find yourself shopping on Amazon and you want to help this great effort then I encourage you to register with Amazon Smile ( http://smile.amazon.com/ ) and support Col-Kel Education and Training Ministries.  A portion of the money you use to buy products through this program will go to helping us create a space for talented at-risk young adults to learn the fundamentals of film making and begin their careers. 

Remember, in the next four months, there will be four holidays, you're already spending the money, just take that extra step and support a great cause as well. 

For more information please feel free to contact me through my website at www.rasheedahprioleau.com

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Dr. Linda B. Buck...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 16, 2015 at 8:58am
Image Source: NobelPrize.org


Topics: Biology, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Genetics, Neurophysiology, Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004

Born: 29 January 1947, Seattle, WA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system"

Field: genetics, neurophysiology

Prize share: Richard Axel


Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system"

I was surrounded by mountains, forests, and the sea. My mother was the daughter of Swedish immigrants who had come to the US in the late nineteenth century while my father's family had Irish roots on one side and ancestors extending back to the American Revolution on the other. I was the second of three children, all girls. My mother was a homemaker who was exceptionally kind and witty and loved word puzzles. My father was an electrical engineer who, at home, spent much of his time inventing things and building them in our basement. It may be that my parents' interest in puzzles and inventions planted the seeds for my future affinity for science, but I never imagined as a child that I would someday be a scientist.

During my childhood, I did the things that girls often do, such as playing with dolls. I was also curious and easily bored though, so I frequently embarked on what were to me new adventures. Aside from school and music lessons, my life was relatively unstructured and I was given considerable independence. I learned to appreciate music and beauty from my mother and my father taught me how to use power tools and build things. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother, who told me magical stories about her girlhood in Sweden and, to my delight, taught me how to sew clothes for my dolls. I was fortunate to have wonderfully supportive parents who told me that I had the ability to do anything I wanted with my life. They taught me to think independently and to be critical of my own ideas, and they urged me to do something worthwhile with my life, in my mother's words, to "not settle for something mediocre". I realize now that I internalized those lessons and that they have influenced my work as a scientist.

"Linda B. Buck - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 16 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2004/buck-facts.html

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3-D Eta Carinae...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 16, 2015 at 8:55am
Source: Technology Review

Topics: 3D Printing, Astrophysics, Computational Physics, NASA


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: In 1843, a relatively unknown star in the constellation of Carina in the southern hemisphere suddenly erupted becoming the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius. This object, called Eta Carinae, gradually decreased in brightness until it faded from view entirely some 40 years later. Since then, it has varied in brightness in a rough a five-year cycle.

Eta Carinae is curious because this variation in brightness occurs over a wide range of wavelengths and timescales. In 1998, for example, it suddenly flared up and doubled in brightness.

The explosion in the 1840s left Eta Carinae surrounded by a spectacular cloud of dust known as the Homunculus Nebula. Astronomers have long known that this eruption did not destroy the star involved, which they thought must sit at the center of this cloud.

About 10 years ago, however, they discovered that this cloud contains two stars in a highly elliptical five-year orbit. This orbit, they decided, must be the cause of the periodic changes in brightness.

But exactly why Eta Carinae is so variable over such a wide range of wavelengths is something of a mystery. Today, Thomas Madura from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a few pals provide a detailed insight into the nature of the star system using supercomputer simulations of the way they interact.

Physics arXiv:
3D Printing Meets Computational Astrophysics: Deciphering the Structure of Eta Carinae's Inner Colliding Winds
Thomas I. Madura, Nicola Clementel, Theodore R. Gull, Chael J.H. Kruip, Jan-Pieter Paardekooper

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Open Letter to S.A.E...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 11:00am

© 13 March 2015, the Griot Poet

 Dear Sigma Alpha Epsilon (founded in the Deep South; University of Alabama; “true gentlemen”):

 Some history: a mystery to you, I’m sure.

 The “Divine Nine”: Alpha Phi Alpha (1906), Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908), Kappa Alpha Psi (1911), Omega Psi Phi (1911), Delta Sigma Theta (1913), Phi Beta Sigma (1914), Zeta Phi Beta (1920), Sigma Gamma Rho (1922) and Iota Phi Theta (1963)

 Each were founded in the 20th Century,
Spanning the breath of Civil Rights history
From the lynching era, through Jim Crow to right before the Civil Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) acts,
I know you lack the knowledge
As you and your kind spent your time in college
You had, and have had privileges, not frustrations
Without the threat of your rights being stretched at the neck
By a long noose,
Nor your women raped;
Nor your men burned and castrated;
Except by faux boogie men you created
In blockbuster “Birth of a Nation” silent movies
That shouted volumes of disdain at the freest labor
This nation has ever had
That would bankrupt it and the whole world system
If they ever tried to pay reparations

 Many like my noble founders in Kappa Alpha Psi
Were the servants in your frat houses that waited your
Tables;
Scrubbed your bathrooms;
And cleaned your floors;
All the while planning their own version
Of Pan-Hellenism
Our founders knew
Education was our key
To uplift and prosperity

 Our leaders were trained
In Robert’s Rules of Order
And parliamentary procedures
To eventually elevate some
To the front of the bus
And the front of movements
Like Rosa Parks (AKA); Dr. Maya Angelou (AKA); Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Alpha); Ralph Abernathy (Kappa); Jesse Jackson (Omega)
That would and still is changing America for the better…
Your little chant: you had decades of practice with that,
Rap music didn’t fuel the venom we all heard,
You’re sorry: because before I-phones and YouTube
You would have never been caught
Big brother isn’t just watching you,
That video came from a disgusted brother
Of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
That whatever “ideals” you once taught
You completely jettisoned
In a fortnight of utter error
For the pleasure
Of slapping every African American
Across the face,
Just like 47 senators sending punk letters to Iranian Mullahs
To openly disrespect and deplore a sitting president
In support of perpetual war
Please counter now with “you use it too!”
We’re aware of that,
But yet, when our founders formed,
Their Pan-Hellenic
Respectability wasn’t just “politics,”
It was survival,
So, we have no songs to rival
The casual poison you at least had
For an impressive instance

 ON BEAT

 So, I repeat:
The “Divine Nine”: Alpha Phi Alpha (1906), Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908), Kappa Alpha Psi (1911), Omega Psi Phi (1911), Delta Sigma Theta (1913), Phi Beta Sigma (1914), Zeta Phi Beta (1920), Sigma Gamma Rho (1922) and Iota Phi Theta (1963)

 Each were founded in the 20th Century,
Spanning the breath of Civil Rights history
From the lynching era, through Jim Crow to right before the Civil Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) acts,
I already know you’re “lawyered up,” and will likely escape
The fate that canned a broadcaster at Univision
For daring to reference our lovely “let’s move” FLOTUS and “Planet of the Apes,”
You’ll be careful; measure your words;
And hope to God you’ve never again have to publically recant
And, no other turncoat brother of yours
Is present at your next racist chant!

An ironic motto...
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S.W.E...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 10:55am
Society of Women's Engineers - About


Topics: Diversity in Science, Engineering, Science, Women in Science


The Society of Women's Engineers was established in 1950, and has over 30,000 members. For more than six decades, SWE has given women engineers a unique place and voice within the engineering industry. Our organization is centered around a passion for our members' success and continues to evolve with the challenges and opportunities reflected in today's exciting engineering and technology specialties.

We invite you to explore the values, principles, and priorities that guide our initiatives and learn how together, WE can continue to make a lasting impact on the future.

Site: Society of Women's Engineers: Aspire - Advance - Achieve

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One Plus One Equals Three...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 10:52am
Guest blog post by Paul R. Zielinski, MS, MBA, Director, Technology Partnerships Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology & Chair, Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer


Topics: Economy, Industry, Investment, Jobs, NIST, Science, STEM


When you want a plant to grow, you provide water, light, and fertilizer. When you want an economy to grow you provide capital, labor, and innovation.

In today’s global markets, companies that don’t innovate generally don’t survive for long. To keep your current customers and earn new ones, you must continually look for ways to be faster, cheaper, better . . . or all three.

At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) we specialize in helping industry find those “Wow!” innovation ideas that create jobs and raise everyone’s standard of living.

Commerce.gov: Lab to Market: When One Plus One Equals Three

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Jazz...ain't it great (whether anyone's listening or not)

Posted by Clifton McMillan Jr. on March 14, 2015 at 9:11pm

As I ride home from work at night or cruise along the highway on a weekend, I generally like to turn the radio to my local smooth jazz radio station (WVSU-FM, Birmingham, AL). It's broadcast both through traditional FM radio and is streamed globally online from the campus of Samford University located in the Birmingham area. It's the nerve center of everything jazz related in Birmingham and other parts of Alabama. Every year there are jazz concerts in various parks all across Metro Birmingham.

I considered myself fortunate to be able to listen to jazz regularly in my region. However, I started to realize that I was one of the few people my age that seemed to appreciate jazz. I'm 29. I've been attending as many jazz concerts as possible in my area, but when I look around I'm one of the few people of my generation who seems to be there. And this has been at jazz events that were free as well as jazz events that I had to pay to get into. So I started doing some research as to what was going on.

One thing I realized is that most people were not exposed to jazz. How could they be exposed, if jazz was something that is not regularly heard on the airwaves these days? In the United States, there are currently 18 stations that play jazz cuts consistently. That's counting AM and FM stations together. If you're in a region that has one of these jazz radio stations and avid fans of jazz who support, great! If you're not in a region that has a jazz scene then you have one of two choices:

1. Spend money for Sirius XM satellite radio to gain access to their jazz stations or;

2. Find streaming radio stations on the Internet.

As a young jazz lover you're kind of in the musical wilderness when a lot of your associates are excitedly discussing the latest album by Drake while you're more hyped up about Bob Baldwin's new album. Now this is not an argument about whether Drake or Bob Baldwin is better. They are two artists in two different genres. Drake raps and Bob Baldwin does jazz. It's just saying that Drake's media exposure is more broad than Bob Baldwin's. Drake gets sponsored by Sprite while Bob Baldwin gets sponsored by whoever he can get.

The corporate entities tend to push radio music that is going to easily sell to teenagers and young adults. You hear the Top 40 songs (pop/hip hop/country/R&B), they are generally about 3 to 4 minutes long with simple catchy beats and lyrics that stick in your head for days on end. You can sell a ton of advertisement in between Top 40 songs. A typical Top 40 song can be generally written and recorded in a few hours. Jazz on the other hand is not something you can easily chop down into a 3 minute song.

That's even with the smooth jazz format, which was originally designed for making jazz more accessible to people. Jazz takes time to record, and requires musicians who have practiced years on instruments. Many public schools no longer have music programs so it is harder to train students (especially those in the middle and lower income levels) in various forms of instruments and vocals.

Those who are able to get music lessons are generally in more affluent families who can afford the instruments and music lessons. So that kind of makes the scene of jazz look like something that only old rich people can afford to perform and participate in.  

Is there hope for jazz? Will it be relegated to the storage closets of history as a quaint American musical form created by black people that was once loved by many? Can there be a resurrection of jazz? Can jazz coexist on a large scale with other musical genres? Only time will tell. But I can tell you this. I'll keep listening one way or the other.

I'll turn on my radio in my car after work and pretend that I'm some handsome private eye on the way to solve a case. I'll keep getting exited when I hear jazz notes in a movie or being sampled in a song. And I'll keep sharing when I can with others about the joys of jazz. Hopefully in the future somebody flying through space will throw on a Grover Washington Jr. album as they fly fearlessly throughout the galaxy.

In the immortal words of Spike Spiegel, one of the main characters in the classic anime sci fi series Cowboy Bebop (which has a ton of jazz in it's soundtrack), "See you later Space Cowboy."



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where nobody leads you and nobody follows you

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on March 14, 2015 at 10:47am

My works at Gallery 737 for Black History Month celebration. My idea was to spark imagination by any means at hand, on paper plates, using cardboard, digital tablet and printer, ideas fanciful and practical.

Local and established artist, Margaret Christian, who took part in the Harlem Renaissance, gave me much encouragement. I fret because my stuff does not follow what I see other Black artist doing. If you have already taken the red pill, the blue pill will not bring you back, it will make you purple, but that's another color. It's a big universe and purple has it's moments.

Anyway, Gallery 737 is the display space of Lorain Arts Council Gallery and Arts Center in Lorain Ohio. We are open to all the arts to give our town opportunities to let the arts become a cultural and economic uplift. Reaching out to young folk release their art has been fun. I am hoping to meet other artist (especially Black artist) to are exploring, experimenting and exhibiting this summer. Any Afro-futurist in Lorain?

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Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 14, 2015 at 8:52am
Image Source: NobelPrize.org


Topics: Biology, HIV, HPV, Nobel Prize, Physiology, Medicine. Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008

Born: 30 July 1947, Paris, France


Affiliation at the time of the award: Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Prize motivation: "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"

Field: disease transmission, immunity, virology

Prize share: Harald zur Hausen and Luc Montagnier


awarded to Harald zur Hausen "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer" (HPV), the other half jointly to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV).

HIV: a Discovery Opening the Road to Novel Scientific Achievements and Global Health Improvement

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Interview

"Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 14 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/barre-sinoussi-facts.html

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Pi Day and Einstein...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 14, 2015 at 8:48am
We're wearing them!


Topics: Blerd, Circle, Circumference, Geek, Geometry, Math, Nerd, Pi Day

...and yes as you can see, we have our official T-shirts!


Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

Ultimate nerd out: It's Albert Einstein's birthday! It's also the 100th anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity, that led to the discovery of Black Holes. Trivia: Black Holes was a subject - like quantum mechanics he couldn't bring himself to believe in, though his work contributed to both.

Info from Celebration Site: PiDay.org
Biography.com: Fascinating Facts About Pi Day & Birthday Boy Albert Einstein
NBC News Weird Science: Pi Day Hits a Milestone, Alan Boyle

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Hypatia Revisited...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 13, 2015 at 7:39am

Topics: Cosmos, Diversity in Science, History, Hypatia, Women in Science


This is Women's History Month and a re-post year-to-day with some edits and updated commentary. Hypatia also appears on the link 17 Game Changers (you'd have to click the link at the bottom, and scroll down).

I dedicate this to all the young women, in math, martial arts and physics I've had the honor of teaching...hold fast to your dreams!


Hypatia (pronounced "hi-pay-see-a"): I read her name in the book Cosmos that I downloaded to my Kindle. I looked at the "old school" Cosmos show where Carl Sagan mentions her (starts at 3:25), and her sad fate. She's described as mathematician, astronomer, physicist, philosopher, quite lovely apparently and driver of her own chariot! She was a beloved teacher and by social practice a celibate, no doubt frustrating potential suitors of her day.

Interestingly as I had predicted to some casually offline at the time, Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey had its detractors of the "young Earth" - humans with dinosaurs (think "The Flintstones") - faux debate between Evolution and so-called Intelligent Design variety. The odd and breathtaking display of hypocrisy in most of the trolls taking to the Internet - notably in 140 misspelled characters or less - created by the very science and modern physics they rail against; supporting pseudoscience in their destructive wake. As constituents, they are played by opportunistic politicians preying on their fears (science, climate change) for votes; the same who apparently have no inkling of how diplomacy is accomplished in the modern era. The backlash to their latest stunt comes from a usually friendly source. Through now quite obvious, overt bigotry, we are a living cartoon; a byword, a caricature of a former democratic republic: a reliable punchline on The Daily Show.

A certain part of the regressive reptilian portion of our minds attacks instinctively that which we think challenges our belief systems - and thus "us". Time and again, we've seen the razing of cities, the flaying of martyrs, the murder of not only the person, but new ideas that would take the species forward. This of course, all for adherence to a dogma. Supposedly through evangelism, it is meant as a "sell," and thus adherence is voluntary - zealotry and fanaticism turns it involuntary; totalitarian. Authoritarianism becomes our governance and its dogmatic ruling class the thought police. Sadly, I can't help but think if part of the mob that set upon Hypatia and ended her life so tragically were peopled by members of her own gender, suffering from what would in the 20th century gain the name "Stockholm Syndrome."

I often fear intolerance will rear its ugly head again and plunge us all over the abyss with it, as it did Alexandria, Egypt (this time, we won't just lose a library). They executed Hypatia...for the "crime" of thinking critically and independently of the lordship of patriarchal society. The saying goes "teach a woman  and you teach a generation." The library, like Hypatia, soon expired after her forced passing. As Dr. Sagan states above, we "must not let it happen again."

For the sake of civilization's continuance, and the so-called "weaker sex" that nature favors to outlive men in a pompous, male-centered society: can we?

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, also known as George Santayana




Related Links:
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On The Dot...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 13, 2015 at 7:35am
Physicists in Finland and Russia have shown how graphene quantum dots can be used to split Cooper pairs. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Mopic)


Topics: Cooper Pairs, Graphene, Modern Physics, Superconductivity, Quantum Computers, Quantum Mechanics


Superconducting "Cooper pairs" of electrons have been split to create entangled pairs of electrons in a new device built by physicists in Finland and Russia. The device employs two quantum dots made of graphene. Although other types of quantum dots have been used for this purpose, the latest research suggests that graphene quantum dots should deliver long-lived entangled electron pairs that could be used in quantum computers.

Entanglement is a quantum-mechanical phenomenon in which properties of fundamental particles are correlated so that making a measurement on one particle can instantaneously affect another particle – even across very large distances. In principle, a quantum computer can use this connectedness to perform certain calculations much faster than a conventional computer. Although practical quantum computers do not exist today, some potential designs involve using the intrinsic angular momenta, or "spin", of electrons as quantum bits (qubits) of information that can be entangled.

Superconductors provide a ready source of entangled electrons because the Cooper pairs that allow these materials to conduct electricity with little or no resistance are in fact entangled pairs of electrons with opposite spin. Splitting the pairs while preserving the electrons' entanglement can be done simply by connecting ordinary metal wires to either end of the superconductor. If the set-up is just right, each wire will carry away one electron from a pair. However, it is more often the case that both electrons will end up going down the same wire.

Physics World: Graphene quantum dots split Cooper pairs, Edwin Cartlidge

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Pencil Gladiators Contest

Posted by Carles CJ Juzang on March 12, 2015 at 2:43pm

Hit the links below for more info about the Pencil Gladiators Contest for those beginner comic artists. The First Prize is N30,000 (bragging rights of THE GLADIATOR and some other deals from our sponsors) converts to a little more than $150.00 USD and check the links for sponsor deals...

One of the Judges is MSHINDO KUUMBA so spread the word!

http://comicpanel.org/index.php/content-blog/333-comicpanel-set-to-host-drawing-competition-4

http://comicpanel.org/index.php/content-blog/306-comicpanel-set-to-host-drawing-competition-2

http://comicpanel.org/index.php/content-blog/309-meet-our-first-judge-for-pencil-gladiator-art-competition

Enjoy.

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If you are in LAGOS, NIGERIA on Saturday, March 21, 2015, you may want to check this Workshop out!

Posted by Carles CJ Juzang on March 12, 2015 at 2:30pm

COMICPANEL THE ACADEMY TRAINING WORKSHOP

 This is usually a one day training workshop held on a Saturday and on any aspect of creativity at all, be it digital painting, animation, graphics, cinematography, editing etc which we aim at introducing young individuals and giving them the basics of these skills.

 

This year, one of Nigerias Top Digital painters GODWIN AKPAN will be anchoring the class and its going to be a workshop that will teach you everything you need to know about digital coloring and using the Wacom tablets to achieve this. You can check his work out HERE

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Basics of Digital Colouring.

Understanding Photoshop CS6

Creating Realistic portraits

Creating Matte Painting for film

How to use a Wacom Tablet.

ENJOY!

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Dr. Ada E. Yonath...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 12, 2015 at 6:57am
Source: NobelPrize.org


Topics: Biology, Chemistry, Nobel Prize, Research, STEM, Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".

Born: 22 June 1939, Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)

Affiliation at the time of the award: Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Field: biochemistry, structural chemistry


I shared a rented, four-room apartment with two additional families and their children. My memories from my childhood are centered on my father's medical conditions alongside my constant desire to understand the principles of the nature around me. The hard conditions didn't dampen my curiosity. Already at five, I was already investigating the world. In one of my experiments, I tried to measure the height of our tiny balcony using the furniture from inside the apartment. I put a table on another table, and then a chair and a stool on top, but I did not reach the ceiling. Hence, I climbed up on my construct, fell down to the back yard on the ground floor and broke my arm ... Incidentally, the results of this experiment are still unknown, since the current tenants in the apartment have remodeled the ceiling.

Dr. Ada E. Yonath - Interview

"Ada E. Yonath - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 12 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/yonath-facts.html

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A Tougher Quantum Computer...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 12, 2015 at 6:53am
This photograph of the quantum-computing device shows the nine superconducting qubits arranged in a row. The qubits interact with their nearest neighbours to detect and correct errors. (Courtesy: Julian Kelly)


Topics: Modern Physics, Nanotechnology, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics


A system of nine quantum bits (qubits) that is robust to errors that would normally destroy a quantum computation has been created by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Google. The device relies on a quantum error-correction protocol, which the team says could be deployed in practical quantum computers of the future.

In principle, powerful quantum computers can be built from a collection of qubits. For a qubit based on an electron, for example, these states would be "spin up" and "spin down", with one state representing a logical "1" and the other "0". Each qubit can be in a superposition of two quantum states at the same time and N qubits could be quantum-mechanically entangled to represent 2N values simultaneously. This would lead to the parallel processing of information on a massive scale not possible with conventional computers.

However, quantum computers are extremely fragile, and a computation can be easily destroyed by "bit errors" that occur when external noise in the environment affects the values of the qubits. While it is proving very difficult to create practical qubits that are robust enough to eliminate such errors, an alternative approach is to accept that errors will occur and to try to correct for them as the quantum calculation progresses.

Now, UCSB's John Martinis and colleagues have taken an important step forward by demonstrating repetitive error correction in an integrated quantum device that consists of nine superconducting qubits. Each qubit is a small circuit consisting of a capacitor and a Josephson junction, and is made from an aluminium film evaporated onto a sapphire substrate. The qubit can be thought of as an artificial atom with information stored in its quantum states.

Physics World: How to make a tougher quantum computer, Belle Dumé, nanotechweb.org

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