Happy 80th birthday, sir! You are one of my heroes...
Biography: "Hammering" Hank Aaron
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Energy could be moved over long distances by quantum teleportation, according to calculations done by a team of physicists in Japan. While energy teleportation is not a new concept, it had been thought that the amount of energy that could be sent dropped rapidly beyond short distances. The new proposal removes this shortcoming, allowing energy to be transferred much farther. The team believes that the theory could be verified in a semiconductor device and that similar energy teleportation could have occurred in the early universe.
Quantum teleportation is a remarkable idea that was first proposed by IBM's Charles Bennett and colleagues in 1992. It involves two parties, usually called Alice and Bob, who "teleport" a quantum state between each other. The scheme allows Alice to send information about an unknown quantum state to Bob, who is then able to construct a perfect copy of that state. To do so, the pair exchange classical information while sharing particles that are entangled quantum mechanically with each other. Physicists have since been able to teleport atomic states over distances of several metres and photon states over distances greater than 100 km.
While this formulation of quantum teleportation does not provide a means to exchange energy, in 2008 Masahiro Hotta of Tohoku University unveiled a theory explaining how energy could be teleported. In Hotta's formulation, Alice sends Bob the information that he needs to extract energy from the vacuum. This extraction is possible because in quantum field theory the vacuum is not devoid of energy but contains virtual particles that continually bubble-up and then vanish.
Physics World: Energy can be teleported over long distances, say physicists
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| WCPO 9, Cincinnati, Ohio |
From "The African History Network":
Did you know that Crest Toothpaste, Folgers Coffee, Bounce Fabric Softener and Safeguard Soap were all created by an African-American Man? I have talked about Dr. Herbert Smitherman Sr. before on The African History Network Show before. In 2011 I spoke at an 8th grade graduation and told the audience about him to show them their potential. Most of the audience including parents had never heard of him and were amazed by his story.
Dr. Herbert Smitherman was a pioneering executive and professional chemist at Proctor & Gamble who led the way for other African-Americans at the prestigious company in the 1960s. He was the first black person with a doctorate hired at Proctor & Gamble.
With a PhD in physical organic chemistry, Dr. Smitherman developed a number of incredibly popular patents, including Crest toothpaste, Safeguard soap, Bounce fabric softeners, Biz, Folgers Coffee and Crush soda, to name a few. Not only are they still on the shelves, but many of them are on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center in the featured exhibit, “America I AM: The African-American Imprint.”
Nicknamed the “Jackie Robinson of Proctor & Gamble,” Dr. Smitherman spent 29 years there before turning in his labcoat to work as a professor at Wilberforce University. But after serving at the historically black college, Smitherman turned his attention to starting a high school called the Western Hills Design Technology School to help black students perform better in math and science.
A child of the south, Dr. Smitherman’s family lived in Birmingham, Alabama, where his father served as a reverend. A young Smitherman would see his father’s church burn down twice during their push for voting registration and voting rights.
He died on Oct. 9, 2010.
Black America Web: Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Sr.
Cincinnati Herald: Dr. Herbert C Smitherman Sr broke barriers
Cincinnati NAACP: Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman
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| Image credit: Physics arXiv link below |
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Quantum teleportation is the ability to transmit from one location to another without travelling through the space in between. Matter itself doesn't make this journey, only the information that describes it. This is transmitted to a new body that takes on the identity of the original.
But while science fiction fans have focused on body involved, quantum physicists are more interested in the information. For them, teleportation is the enabling technology behind a new generation of information processing technologies including a quantum internet that allows information to be transmitted with perfect security.
One of the building blocks of the quantum internet will be quantum routers that can receive quantum information from location and route it on to another without destroying it. So the race is on to demonstrate this kind of technology, which has the potential to revolutionise communications.
Today, Felix Bussières at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and a few pals say they’ve taken an important step towards this. These guys have teleported quantum information to a crystal doped with rare-earth ions—a kind of quantum memory. But crucially they’ve done it for the first time over the kind of ordinary optical fibre that telecommunications that are in use all over the world.
Physics arXiv:
Quantum teleportation from a telecom-wavelength photon to a solid-state quantum memory
WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH PARTY!!! Feel Free to leave comments, requests and questions right here. We will have a giveaway every hour!
The blog tour is coming to an end! I want to thank BSFS and Genesis Science Fiction Radio for kicking off the American Spector blog tour weekend! The interview was incredible and you can listen in here: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/127374
The book launches tomorrow and in celebration I am having a Virtual Book Release Party, on Facebook, Twitter and right here on the BSFS website from 3pm-9pm EST. You can sign up ahead of time on my website www.rasheedahprioleau.com for early bird giveaways.
If you want a sneak peak here you go:
American Specter Sneak Peeks!
Prologue: http://t.co/SISMC5iQhx
Chapter 1:http://t.co/q7d6TMT85R
Chapter 2: http://t.co/EtzNVAefEf
Prologue: http://t.co/SISMC5iQhx
Chapter 1:http://t.co/q7d6TMT85R
Chapter 2: http://t.co/EtzNVAefEf
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Meanwhile, the US has yet to get a clue...
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| T-shirt Guru |
Further details have emerged of a new £270m initiative being funded by the UK government to convert quantum-physics research into commercial products. The five-year initiative, which will include the creation of a network of quantum-technology centres, was one of a number of measures revealed by the government in its Autumn Statement in early December 2013 to boost the UK's science base. The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne says that the money was "additional investment" in research and that science was a "personal priority" of his.
The initiative, which will begin in 2015, will focus on areas such as chip-scale atomic clocks for improved GPS communication, quantum-enabled sensors, quantum communication and quantum computing. Some cash will go to existing university research groups, while about £30m per year will go to the Technology Strategy Board – the UK's national innovation agency – to support immediate commercialization of technology. There will also be money for PhD students and postdocs, while some £4m will go on equipment for the new Advanced Metrology Laboratory being built at the National Physical Laboratory.
Physics World: UK splashes out £270m on quantum technology
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| Source: Memory Alpha link below |
Reading for Uhura...
Naming Uhura...
Discussing Uhura...
Memory Alpha: Nyota Uhura, literally "star freedom" or "freedom star," an allusion to the Underground Railroad. In some translations, Uhuru also means "truth."
The book Ms. Nichols refers to: "UHURU: A Novel of Africa Today," Hardcover – January 1, 1962, Robert Ruark.
Frontiers of Quantum Information Science was the theme for the 31st Jerusalem winter school in theoretical physics, which takes place annually at the Israeli Institute for Advanced Studies located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The school took place from December 30, 2013 through January 9, 2014, but some of the attendees are still trickling back to their home institutions. The common denominator is that our very own John Preskill was the director of this school; co-directed by Michael Ben-Or and Patrick Hayden. John mentioned during a previous post and reiterated during his opening remarks that this is the first time the IIAS has chosen quantum information to be the topic for its prestigious advanced school–another sign of quantum information’s emergence as an important sub-field of physics. In this blog post, I’m going to do my best to recount these festivities while John protects his home from forest fires, prepares a talk for the Simons Institute’s workshop on Hamiltonian complexity, teaches his quantum information course and celebrates his birthday 60+1.
The school was mainly targeted at physicists, but it was diversely represented. Proof of the value of this diversity came in an interaction between a computer scientist and a physicist, which led to one of the school’s most memorable moments.
Quantum Frontiers: Reporting from the ‘Frontiers of Quantum Information Science’
Physics Database: In this course from the Perimeter Institute Carl Bender introduces the basics of mathematical physics. The covered topics include: perturbation theory, asymptotics, Schrodinger equation, Shanks transform, eigenvalue problems, Euler summation, divergent series and others. For more physics lectures check out our lecture page.
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| Source: Omega Deone Wilhite on FB |
The Challenger Disaster happened 28 years ago last month, 28 January 1986. Dr. McNair, along with Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Christa McAuliffe, and Gregory B. Jarvis became the sad reminders of the sometimes grim price of exploration and adventure.
I open African American/Black History Month ("ouverture" - en Francais) with some recollections I've posted previously on this blog, as well as Langston Hughes' "I Too" poem reenactment, born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Mr. Hughes and Dr. McNair were fraternity brothers in the Greek Letter organization known as Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc (part of the "Divine Nine"). I do not know if either man ever met the other...
Discovery article: The Physics of...Karate
I recalled having met Dr. McNair when I was an undergraduate Engineering Physics major at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro back in '84. He's an alumni of the university, and we celebrated him being the 1st black astronaut from an HBCU. I was in Air Force ROTC, marched in the parade in his honor after his first mission, and introduced him at the Army/Air Force ROTC joint banquet. It was a busy weekend.
"Whenever you're in Texas, you should give me a call."
So I did. I lived in Austin, Texas at the time, stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base (now the airport). Back then, I called information; asked for Dr. Ronald E. McNair in Houston, Texas. That was as close to "Google it" as we got back then.
I got to speak to him for a good three hours. I found out some things:
- 5 weeks before his dissertation defense, someone purged his data (also known as sabotage). Without data, he'd essentially have failed to get his PhD. He said he stayed up for 3 weeks and re-accomplished 5 years of research. He slept for a week after that.
- He was planning to leave NASA and go into academia. Challenger would be "his last mission." That was sadly true. It devastated me, and inspired some creative writing in his honor.
- A lot of his determination he learned as a participant on the school karate team, which a the time. According to my Calculus instructor and his teammate Dr. Gilbert Casterlow (Sensei), you could get a disqualification for "unnecessary redness of the skin." The rule was designed not to favor African Americans, obviously.
Recalling this makes me determined to stay in science, contribute, help when and if I can, and stand on the shoulder of this and other giants (he was actually only 5'6", but you get the idea).
“When getting an education is a revolutionary act & dreams are the province of men,” Stanley Tucci.
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| The "one-shot" memory devices that recent NIST research might make possible can be envisioned as physical keys that can only be used a single time, a useful feature for computer security applications. Credit: Talbott/NIST |
Computer security systems may one day get a boost from quantum physics, as a result of recent research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Computer scientist Yi-Kai Liu has devised a way to make a security device that has proved notoriously difficult to build—a "one-shot" memory unit, whose contents can be read only a single time.
The research, which Liu is presenting at this week's Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science conference,* shows in theory how the laws of quantum physics could allow for the construction of such memory devices. One-shot memories would have a wide range of possible applications such as protecting the transfer of large sums of money electronically. A one-shot memory might contain two authorization codes: one that credits the recipient's bank account and one that credits the sender's bank account, in case the transfer is canceled. Crucially, the memory could only be read once, so only one of the codes can be retrieved, and hence, only one of the two actions can be performed—not both.
"When an adversary has physical control of a device—such as a stolen cell phone—software defenses alone aren't enough; we need to use tamper-resistant hardware to provide security," Liu says. "Moreover, to protect critical systems, we don't want to rely too much on complex defenses that might still get hacked. It's better if we can rely on fundamental laws of nature, which are unassailable."
Unfortunately, there is no fundamental solution to the problem of building tamper-resistant chips, at least not using classical physics alone. So scientists have tried involving quantum mechanics as well, because information that is encoded into a quantum system behaves differently from a classical system.
NIST: Quantum Physics Could Make Secure, Single-Use Computer Memories Possible
Hello everyone,
The campaign to get the Earth Squadron futuristic, 3D, Sci-Fi, action film made is well underway!
The team has been working hard behind the scenes on pre-production work so this film will be great.
We have been putting in many weeks of work and late nights creating characters, ships and environments this awesome project.
We need your help to help with the financing of this epic film. Be a part of something groundbreaking project.
Please make a donation towards getting this futuristic tale today at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/earth-squadron-movie-project
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| FIG. 2. SEM micrographs of the KTN thin films deposited on (a) MgO and (b) LaAlO3. Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 115, 024103 (2014); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4858388 |
ABSTRACT
The dielectric properties of a KTa0.65Nb0.35O3 ferroelectric composition for a submicronic thin layer were measured in the microwave domain using different electromagnetic characterization methods. Complementary experimental techniques (broadband methods versus resonant techniques, waveguide versus transmission line) and complementary data processing procedures (quasi-static theoretical approaches versus full-wave analysis) were selected to investigate the best way to characterize ferroelectric thin films. The measured data obtained from the cylindrical resonant cavity method, the experimental method that showed the least sources of uncertainty, were taken as reference values for comparisons with results obtained using broadband techniques. The error analysis on the methods used is discussed with regard to the respective domains of validity for each method; this enabled us to identify the best experimental approach for obtaining an accurate determination of the microwave dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin layers.
© 2014 AIP Publishing LLC
Scitation:
Intercomparison of permittivity measurement techniques for ferroelectric thin layers
Dern and Alita rushed through a narrow trench that plunged as deep as eight feet in places.
“The cave is a hundred yards up ahead,” she directed, stepping lightly over sharply uneven ground.
In his suit, Dern moved with a surefootedness verging on grace. Suddenly he stopped, looking around, scrutinizing dim surroundings through ultra-violet optics. A trace of motion thirty yards above triggered faster than normal reflexes. Dern vertical jumped out of the trench, landing on a ridge. He aimed and targeted. Particle clusters flickered from his bracelet, ripping into something that burst apart in a scintillating spray.
Alita had no night sight. Nevertheless, her ears picked up a faint vibratory sound. An object--the sound’s source--floated into the trench a few feet in front of her. She leveled her assault rifle and opened fire. A ripple of rounds penetrated the object. It sputtered and clattered to the ground, rolling functionless at her feet.
She glanced up from the trench to see Dern scurrying along the ridge. “Tracker drones!”
Dern jumped back into the trench. “I know. We’d better make haste. For certain Hooper’s follow-up won’t be so harmless.”
Hooper, like the typical crime lord presiding over an illegal settlement, had an assortment of weapons in his arsenal. Being more prosperous than his peers enabled him to procure the occasional first generation weapons system. Corruption ran deep in parts of the Coalition where avaricious generals and opportunistic arms dealers occasionally conspired to meet the demands of an illicit clientele. For Hooper, one of the benefits of that collaboration was the SkyGuard, a high altitude, aerial bombardment craft armed with Shatter Buster bombs.
The massive blue tinted, wedge configured craft soared like a sluggish carrion bird over the canyon. Bomb bay doors retracted and a tubular object dropped out, plunging several hundred feet before thrusters and stabilizers kicked in. Sensors processed data sent by the trackers and guided the bomb to the fugitives’ last known coordinates.
Dern and Alita bounded into the cave, startling the sleeper ship’s crew.
“It’s just us,” Alita announced. “We ran into a little trouble”
The cave boasted far more space than its small entrance conveyed. Surviving crewmembers were scattered throughout its cool interior, two glow strips alleviating the darkness. The healthy ones tended to the wounded, whose injuries ranged from moderate to the cusp of severe. All would live…for now. Their faces lit with a semblance of hope when they saw Dern.
“I’m just glad you made it back,” said the captain. His expression turned glum when he noticed that Alita was empty handed. “You didn’t get it.”
Alita sighed dejectedly. “Sorry Captain. We were spotted. The pod was destroyed…but I did manage to get a signal off. It hit a contact.”
The captain looked suddenly encouraged.
Dern hated to sour the man’s optimism. “We don’t know who or what the contact is.”
“Maybe it’s a patrol ship,” a crewman with a bandaged eye speculated. “If not, whoever received the signal could reroute it to an available patrol.”
“That could take a long time, longer than we can afford.” Dern removed his helmet. He inhaled deeply, taking in a lungful of dry, musk-tinged air. “In the meantime, we can’t stay in this cave indefinitely.”
“What do you propose?” Asked the captain.
“We get off this planet.”
“With what?”
“The sleeper ship. I’m going to retake it.”
“I have no doubt you could do so with your capabilities,” the captain began. He shook his head, troubled. “But we’ll be shot down before we clear a thousand feet.”
“That’s where Alita comes in,” said Dern. “She operated combat shuttles and quite well I might add.” He turned to the woman. “How about we do a hijacking of our own and seize one of Hooper’s planes. You can provide escort, keep the bogies away from us.”
Alita shrugged agreeably. “Sounds like a great plan to me…”
A deafening boom flooded the cave, followed by a bone jarring jolt that sent anyone standing crashing to the ground.
Rocks large and small rained down blocking the cave entrance, sealing everyone inside. Clouds of dust bubbled into the cave following the rockslide.
Between hacking coughs, Alita scrambled to her feet. “What happened?!?”
The Captain moved to calm panicked crewmembers while Dern dashed toward the blocked entranced.
“Looks like Hooper called in an airstrike,” Dern replied. He half turned. “Everyone get down.” He raised his bracelet arm and a brief splash of daylight illumined the cave as a plasma beam blasted a hole through tons of small rocks and boulders.
A second explosion shattered the stillness, near enough to cause a mild tremor, but far enough away to not precipitate a second rock slide.
“Sounds like that one landed a quarter of mile away,” Alita estimated. “Thanks to the trackers, they have a general idea of our location, but not an exact position.”
The captain looked to Dern. “What now?”
“The plan is still on,” said Dern with a cast iron look of determination. “We’re getting the hell off this planet.”
“Perhaps we just hold out here.” Uncertainty and fear clung to the captain’s words. “Maybe…maybe a patrol ship picked up the distress…maybe help is on the way…”
“And maybe it’s not,” Dern dismissed curtly. “Better to take the initiative than wait around hoping for a rescue that’s not likely to occur.” He ventured toward the cave’s mouth and ducked through to the outside. “If not I’m back by daylight, you can start making your own plans.”
Once outside, Dern pulled up directional data on his display. His suit had calculated the last known location of the sleeper ship and from there, estimated Routh’s distance. He was looking at a 43 mile trek to the settlement…50 if he chose a roundabout route. Either way, Hooper’s enforcers…the bulk of them, he was sure… were out here in the middle of nowhere looking for him. None of those goons were expecting him to head to the settlement. And for certain no one in Routh would be expecting an armored intruder in their midst. Not that Dern planned his visitation to be so conspicuous. Chances were Hooper didn’t have all of his aerial assets in play. Otherwise, they would all be in the sky. Perhaps, in light of the craft Dern shot down earlier, Hooper was taking no chances with deploying low altitude flyers.
Dern fine tuned his visual enhancers and active sensors for tracker detection and proceeded forward on ground choked with rocky debris.
Deep within the bowels of the Internet, past decrepit Geo-Cities archives, below Live Journal post regarding unwavering love for Hansen, tucked in a forgotten corner of a low-baud rate server, there exists a lively classifieds bulletin board.
However, this is no ordinary "missed connections", "soiled futon " market place. This is market for wonders, for forbidden objects found where brave men fear to tread. It is a market for outdated technological marvels, arcane works, eldritch objects from a beyond the borders of the ordinary.
The denizens of these boards engage in a brisk trade, seeking to acquire or unload nameless horrors from the Deep, insane robots from a nightmarish future, hire teams of blind ninja assassins, or just adopt a couple of genetic monstrosities.
Below is just a taste of the terrifying and degenerate ads that populate these boards.
For sale: partially operational #weather #machine, fog only, needs new #reactor ,bearer bonds or gold only. #chaosclassified #fantasy #SciFi
Wanted:personal assistant. Salary negotiable, good health plan; small arms, #hacker, #combat skill needed. #chaosclassified #fantasy #scifi
Wanted: #architect / #Design firm for construction of private #research facility in #Antarctica. #biohazard experience preferred, sign #nda
Wanted: team of #blind #assassins for #temporal hit. #payment on #timestream alteration #eunuchs preferred #chaosclassified #Scifi #fantasy
Check here, or the Moorsgate Media Twitter feed for more Chaos Classifieds.
My wife has 6 cats, I have them too only one or two at a time. The Egyptians held them in high regard. I keep them in kibbles, my fingerprints worn off from petting. God they love petting.
There is a secret language the cats have. Not between themselves, but with humans. They sit and watch, fixed eyes, transfixed stares and speak in gestures. I believe they can interpret the temple walls, sitting there taking it all in whole like a cameras shutter, then with a meow, a turn of the head agreeing, walking off to do as prescribed. Sounds funny but they sit by their empty bowls of kibbles and of water. They stare unblinking, wrinkling the corner of their eyes ever so slightly, then turning their head, you realize they have not really moved at all. They got you. I am so compelled to fill the bowls, to care for them, not forget them. The grip of compassion, the expressions of comfort, the hand extension and the expectation of feeling the softness of feline fur and hearing the affirming purrrrrr..........damn, they got me trained!
You can go now, I've got things to do and don't tell anyone I spoke to you, humans are such blabber mouths.
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| “For the first time, we will identify continents and oceans—and perhaps the signatures of life—on distant worlds,” says NASA in its 30-year vision for astrophysics. (Credit: Technology Review) |
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: The past 30 years has seen a revolution in astronomy and our understanding of the Universe. That’s thanks in large part to a relatively small number of orbiting observatories that have changed the way we view our cosmos.
These observatories have contributed observations from every part of the electromagnetic spectrum, from NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory at the very high energy end to HALCA, a Japanese 8-metre radio telescope at the low energy end. Then there is the Hubble Space Telescope in the visible part of the spectrum, arguably the greatest telescope in history.
It’s fair to say that these observatories have had a profound effect not just on science , but on the history of humankind.
So an interesting question is: what next? Today, we find out, at least as far as NASA is concerned, with the publication of the organisation’s roadmap for astrophysics over the next 30 years. The future space missions identified in this document will have a profound influence on the future of astronomy but also on the way imaging technology develops in general.
So what has NASA got up its sleeve? To start off with, it says its goal in astrophysics is to answer three questions: Are we alone? How did we get here? And how does our universe work?
It is a vision I will most likely not live to see the full fruition, but I will delight in seeing its "baby steps" forward. For the young that will take up this mandate: I wish you well.
Be kind to our neighbors...
Physics arXiv: Enduring Quests-Daring Visions (NASA Astrophysics in the Next Three Decades)
