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Bernardo Alberto Houssay...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2013 at 10:06am


The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1947
Carl Cori, Gerty Cori, Bernardo Houssay

Bernardo Alberto Houssay

Born: 10 April 1887, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Died: 21 September 1971, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Affiliation at the time of the award: Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental (Institute for Biology and Experimental Medicine), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Prize motivation: "for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar"

Bernardo Alberto Houssay was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 10, 1887, one of the eight children of Dr. Albert and Clara (née Laffont) Houssay, who had come to Argentina from France. His father was a barrister. His early education was at a private school, the Colegio Británico. He then entered the School of Pharmacy of the University of Buenos Aires at the exceptionally early age of 14, graduating in 1904. He had already begun studying medicine and, in 1907, before completing his studies, he took up a post in the Department of Physiology. He began here his research on the hypophysis which resulted in his M.D.-thesis (1911), a thesis which earned him a University prize.

In 1910 he was appointed Professor of Physiology in the University's School of Veterinary Medicine. During this time he had been doing hospital practice and, in 1913, became Chief Physician at the Alvear Hospital. In addition to this he was also in charge of the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology and Pathology in the National Department of Hygiene from 1915 to 1919. In 1919 he became Professor of Physiology in the Medical School at Buenos Aires University. He also organized the Institute of Physiology at the Medical School, making it a centre with an international reputation. He remained Professor and Director of the Institute until 1943. In this year the Government then in power deprived him of his post, as a result of his voicing his opinion that there should be effective democracy in the country. Although receiving many invitations from abroad, he continued his work in an institute which he organized with the support of funds contributed by the Sauberan Foundation and other bodies. This was the Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, where he still remains as Director. In 1955 a new Government reinstated him in the University.

Nobel Prize:

Biographical, Nobel Lecture, Banquet Speech

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On The Brane...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2013 at 10:02am


This challenges a holy grail of physics, and relates to The Standard Model; how we describe the four forces of nature and how they interact, even the Higgs Boson.

I almost hesitate to post it because many who do not "believe in the Big Bang Theory" will shout: aha! I say: ah, science - self-examining, exploring; learning more tomorrow than we thought we knew yesterday. Quantum mechanics had its trials and tribulations: Weins Law, Rayleigh-Jeans Law and the "ultraviolet catastrophe" eventually getting to Max Planck (of Planck's constant) and light seen as quanta. This eventually led to Einstein and the photoelectric effect in his Annus mirabilis papers generated in a lowly patent office in Munich. Thus we have the Internet, I-phones, flat screens, etc.

This description matches some of the wording I've seen over the years of the "universe as hologram" and admittedly either didn't understand or regarded as new age mystic pop culture. This challenge will have to be peer-reviewed and experiments performed to verify. Stay tuned...

However, Pluto is still not a planet.

A few nine-year-olds will send me hate mail now...Smiley

It could be time to bid the Big Bang bye-bye. Cosmologists have speculated that the Universe formed from the debris ejected when a four-dimensional star collapsed into a black hole — a scenario that would help to explain why the cosmos seems to be so uniform in all directions.

The standard Big Bang model tells us that the Universe exploded out of an infinitely dense point, or singularity. But nobody knows what would have triggered this outburst: the known laws of physics cannot tell us what happened at that moment.

“For all physicists know, dragons could have come flying out of the singularity,” says Niayesh Afshordi, an astrophysicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada.

It is also difficult to explain how a violent Big Bang would have left behind a Universe that has an almost completely uniform temperature, because there does not seem to have been enough time since the birth of the cosmos for it to have reached temperature equilibrium.

In our Universe, a black hole is bounded by a spherical surface called an event horizon. Whereas in ordinary three-dimensional space it takes a two-dimensional object (a surface) to create a boundary inside a black hole, in the bulk universe the event horizon of a 4D black hole would be a 3D object — a shape called a hypersphere. When Afshordi’s team modelled the death of a 4D star, they found that the ejected material would form a 3D brane surrounding that 3D event horizon, and slowly expand.

The authors postulate that the 3D Universe we live in might be just such a brane — and that we detect the brane’s growth as cosmic expansion. “Astronomers measured that expansion and extrapolated back that the Universe must have begun with a Big Bang — but that is just a mirage,” says Afshordi.

Nature: Did a hyper-black hole spawn the Universe?
Physics arXiv: Out of the White Hole: A Holographic Origin for the Big Bang

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Baruj Benacerraf...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2013 at 9:38am

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1980
Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell

Baruj Benacerraf

Born: 29 October 1920, Caracas, Venezuela

Died: 2 August 2011, Boston, MA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions"

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 29, 1920 of Spanish-Jewish ancestry. My father, a self-made business man, was a textile merchant and importer. He was born in Spanish Morocco, whereas my mother was born and raised in French Algeria and brought up in the French culture. When I was five years old, my family moved to Paris where we resided until 1939. My primary and secondary education was in French which had a lasting influence on my life. The second World War caused our return to Venezuela, where my father continued to have a thriving business. It was decided that I should pursue my education in the United States, and we moved to New York in 1940. I registered at Columbia University in the School of General Studies, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1942, having also completed the pre-medical requisites for admission to Medical School. By that time, I had elected to study biology and medicine, instead of going into the family business, as my father would have wanted. I did not realize, however, that admission to Medical School was a formidable undertaking for someone with my ethnic and foreign background in the United States of 1942. In spite of an excellent academic record at Columbia, I was refused admission by the numerous medical schools I applied to and would have found it impossible to study medicine except for the kindness and support of George W. Bakeman, father of a close friend, who was then Assistant to the President of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Learning of my difficulties, Mr. Bakeman arranged for me to be interviewed and considered for one of the two remaining places in the Freshman class. I was accepted and began my medical studies in July 1942. While in medical school, I was drafted into the U.S. Army with the other medical students, as part of the wartime training program, and naturalized American citizen in 1943 I greatly enjoyed my medical studies, which at the Medical College of Virginia were very clinically oriented. I received what I considered to be an excellent medical education in the relatively short time of three war years.

Nobel Prize:

Biography, Lecture

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Multiple Personality Material...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2013 at 9:33am


Photo: In order to understand how complex materials merge at the boundary, scientists look at cross-sections of an oxide superlattices. In this picture, peaks correspond to layers of cuprate superconductor and valleys to metallic manganites (bottom region). The power of scanning tunneling microscopy allows researchers to gain insight into both the material's topography as well as its electronic properties.

ARGONNE, Ill. – Just like people, materials can sometimes exhibit “multiple personalities.” This kind of unusual behavior in a certain class of materials has compelled researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to take a closer look at the precise mechanisms that govern the relationships between superconductivity and magnetism.

Previous measurements of magnetic and electronic properties in these superconducting oxide materials relied on aggregate or “bulk” measurements of a large area. By using advanced scanning tunneling microscopy at the laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne physicist John Freeland and materials scientist Nathan Guisinger were able to develop a clearer picture of the physical and chemical behavior of boundary regions within the material.

According to Guisinger, the most important regions of study in oxide superconductors are the boundaries or interfaces.

“You can think of the sample as kind of like lasagna,” Guisinger said. “There are layers within it that have different properties, and we want to see if the ‘cheese’ in one section mixes with the ‘sauce’ in another.”

Argonne National Laboratory: A Material's Multiple Personalities

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new creative weapon of choice, the tablet

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on September 18, 2013 at 1:52pm

"I see you have constructed a new light saber, your skills are complete."

Hi all, I know many have thought of this but I thought I'd mention it because I'm having so much fun. Yeah, yeah, smartphones everybody's got one. Except me, I got an old school cellphone so that I'm not bothered by endless txt, emails and calls or my own fiddl'n with the darn thing. I was in the market for a new laptop, one with longer battery life, light weight yet some power. I kept seeing the tablets at the various stores. I resisted for so long, finally pick one up for a closer look. Smartphones/cellphones, OK, the 7" tablet, just a big smartphone, the 10" tablet..............wait, hummmmmmmmm!

Picked up a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (it's OK to get an iPad, sheeech!). It does everything I need and has Wacom touch and stylus technology to boot. I can draw on the thing. It's like having a Wacom Cintiq............almost. The apps are all Android apps, there are numerous drawing apps including Photoshop Touch, Autodesk Sketch Pro and one called ArtFlow which I like very much. The Note app is wonderful, you can insert pictures, write/draw/type your ideas. I'm always in waiting rooms, running trips, finding a quite spot, watching a vid while working. It has two cams, takes very good pictures and videos. I recorded a couple of bands, two dance troops and a walk through at a local Art festival. I take it everywhere. I'm thinking velcro dots in the car, around the house. My old Chevy has been instantly upgraded.

All done, I can transfer pics and vids to my laptop via Dropbox (cloud transfer/storage) or use a flash drive. I'm still discovering hidden functions. Tablets don't have the full power of the force, but does well with what energy it commands. 7 hour battery life, wi-fi and sci-fi (thought I'd throw that in there!). I use a lot of note pads so this device is like having an endless roll of paper towels, stacks of envelopes and sticky notes galore.

Being in my usual semi-retirement economic crunchiness, a new laptop with the weapons of glory would have cost me a grand. This thing cost me less than 1/2 a grand, most apps were free. The big time apps are free but are advance feature locked, $4-$10 to unlock. That's Photoshop for $10, ok Photoshop Touch. Still it does a lot and I can still transfer pics over to GIMP on my laptop.

So, what's so sci-fictionee about a tablet? I imagine my self like those artist sitting on the river bank, easel, brushes, paints, tam, sweet air, curious walker-bys...........only without the setup, the mess, the cleanup. I'm in the role imagined. And passer-bys? "Hi, is that a Nook or iPad?" "Why no, it's a Galaxy 10.1!" Sounds kind of spacey.

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Luis Alvarez...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 18, 2013 at 8:35am


The Nobel Prize in Physics 1968
Luis Alvarez

Born: 13 June 1911, San Francisco, CA, USA

Died: 1 September 1988, Berkeley, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Prize motivation: "for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis"

Field: Particle physics

Luis W. Alvarez was born in San Francisco, Calif., on June 13, 1911. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Chicago in 1932, a M.Sc. in 1934, and his Ph.D. in 1936. Dr. Alvarez joined the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, where he is now a professor, as a research fellow in 1936. He was on leave at the Radiation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1940 to 1943, at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago in 1943-1944, and at the Los Alamos Laboratory of the Manhattan District from 1944 to 1945.

Early in his scientific career, Dr. Alvarez worked concurrently in the fields of optics and cosmic rays. He is co-discoverer of the "East-West effect" in cosmic rays. For several years he concentrated his work in the field of nuclear physics. In 1937 he gave the first experimental demonstration of the existence of the phenomenon of K-electron capture by nuclei. Another early development was a method for producing beams of very slow neutrons. This method subsequently led to a fundamental investigation of neutron scattering in ortho- and para-hydrogen, with Pitzer, and to the first measurement, with Bloch, of the magnetic moment of the neutron. With Wiens, he was responsible for the production of the first 198Hg lamp; this device was developed by the Bureau of Standards into its present form as the universal standard of length. Just before the war, Alvarez and Cornog discovered the radioactivity of 3H (tritium) and showed that 3He was a stable constituent of ordinary helium. (Tritium is best known as a source of thermonuclear energy, and 3He has become of importance in low temperature research.)

Nobel Prize: Biographical, Nobel Lecture, Banquet Speech

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Quantum Algae...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 17, 2013 at 5:59pm
Image of the diffraction grating made by the researcher

The exoskeleton of a tiny organism has been used as a diffraction grating by researchers in Vienna, who have carried out a molecular interferometry experiment using it. The team showed that a coherent molecular beam could be diffracted from the silicon-based cell walls of a marine alga. Algae are cheap and easily available, so replacing costly nanodevices with them in interferometry experiments would be beneficial, according to the researchers.

Contrary to classical mechanics, quantum physics states that a particle can act like a wave and vice versa – an idea that was first proposed by Nobel-prize-winning physicist Louis de Broglie back in 1923. While the idea that tiny particles such as electrons could behave like a wave came as a shock, scientists now know that even objects a million times more massive than electrons, such as complex molecules, also show quantum interference. Massive molecules have very small wavelengths and therefore a grating with extremely thin and closely spaced slits is needed to observe their diffraction. Currently, such sophisticated devices are specially fabricated using nanotechnology techniques.

Physics World: Diatoms bring the quantum effects to life

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Sufficiently Advanced Technology...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 17, 2013 at 5:54pm

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke

I sadly see an arms race brewing:

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Today, Lu Lan at Zhejiang University in China and a few pals have actually created the first invisibility cloak designed using topology optimization. They carved it out of Teflon and it took them all of 15 minutes using a computer-controlled engraving machine. “The fabrication process of a sample is substantially simplified,” they say.

The resulting “Teflon eyelid” invisibility cloak hides a cylindrical disc of metal the size of poker chip from microwaves. But crucially, its performance closely matches the prediction of the computer simulation.

Physics arXiv:
Experimentally demonstrated an unidirectional electromagnetic cloak designed by topology optimization

Also:

Pro and Con, i.e. before I get too excited, I'd like to hedge my bets!

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The Feynman Lectures on Physics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 17, 2013 at 5:50pm

Volume I now available!


 

CalTech: Feynman Lectures on Physics, Feynman, Leighton, Sands
Nobel Prize: Richard P. Feynman

 

Announcements of the 2013 Nobel Prizes
PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE - Monday 7 October, 11:30 a.m. at the earliest
PHYSICS - Tuesday 8 October, 11:45 a.m. at the earliest
CHEMISTRY - Wednesday 9 October, 11:45 a.m. at the earliest
PEACE - Friday 11 October, 11:00 a.m.
ECONOMIC SCIENCES - Monday 14 October, 1:00 p.m. at the earliest
LITERATURE - The date will be set later

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Cursing The Darkness...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 15, 2013 at 8:51am


"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

"The dumbing down of Americans is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

Carl Sagan, "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark."

This is a significant date: first of all, it's Hispanic Heritage Month; 5 years ago along with the global financial meltdown, my mother celebrated what would be her last birthday this side of the grave. She lasted until the Thursday before Mother's Day in 2009. She would have been 88 today.

This is one of my favorite quotes by Carl. A shame "The Sagan Effect" is part of the lexicon. We could use some more popularizing of science (kudos to Science Channel), our consumption of which is only as end-users of high tech devices. Neil deGrasse Tyson's revival of "Cosmos" can't come soon enough.

It is quite evident by the turn of recent events, candidates for and in office; ridiculous public statements, inane sound bites parroted; conspiracy theories ad nauseum - cabals, crystals, dogs and cats living together (Ghostbusters - couldn't resist), Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, faking six moon landings (and one near-fatal attempt), pyramids by aliens, poltergeists, UFOs and our propensity to concern ourselves with the goings on of "reality shows" - this quote is more haunting than his contribution to modeling and warning the aftermath of thermonuclear war: a nuclear winter. The real cabal conspiracy is NOT wanting to teach critical thinking skills (they now "admit" a wording gaffe/faux pas); "teaching the controversy"; of the dumbing down of Americans in prime time.

A technocracy is so far only hypothetical and the basis of the fictional Superman's alien society (and, it apparently didn't work out well for them). I don't expect an overnight appreciation for science from any of our leaders, but such would help in the long run. It would help Congress's approval rating if they could regulate Wall Street instead the Citizen's United vice-versa. At least have a discussion about how technology is rapidly diminishing the need for certain career fields that can only exacerbate the income gap. Instead, for 126 days of "labor," we get meaningless votes on the taxpayer's time and dollar as we sleepwalk the "American Dream."

We slouch nonchalantly towards dystopia - somewhere between Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Octavia Butler's Parable series. We ignore evidence we think inconvenient to our beliefs; create controversies in science classes that do not exist to satisfy a constituency that thinks dinosaur bones were placed in digs by beelzebub The crazy thing is people run on this claptrap...and get elected. Then, they wish to be president and have the nuclear codes to Armageddon. The bellicose bravado expressed by certain pundits on the Syrian conflict is prime example of rushing in where angels fear to tread. With noted exception of the Iran-Contra affair star shredder and smuggler, no pundit has any military experience. There are implications for the region and the globe beyond chemical weapons. Biological life is not like "The SIMS": there is no reset button.

What is frightening is that this dumbing down process may actually be a prelude to global conflagration: idiocy before oblivion. I don't begrudge anyone's beliefs and don't impose mine, but the "New Heaven and a New Earth" hopefully has a solution to a warming climate, and post nukes - mechanism to dissipate radiative half-life followed by surviving environmental chill, or full life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on this pale blue dot...will not be possible.

Scientific American: More Cuts Loom for US Science

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Self-Assembling Quantum Devices...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 14, 2013 at 9:56am


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: One of the great goals of applied physics is to make quantum information processing a robust and common technique. To achieve this, physicists will need a simple way of storing and manipulating quantum information, preferably at room temperature.

There is no shortage of possible quantum storage devices but one sits head and shoulders above most others: a nitrogen atom that has replaced a carbon atom in a diamond lattice, an arrangement known as a nitrogen-vacancy centre.

Today, an international team of physicists say they’ve used biological self-assembly techniques to make diamond-based prototypes of the quantum information storage devices of this type. That’s a development that has the potential to profoundly influence the future of computing.

The key to all this is nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond which behave like single atoms. They can store photons, emit them again and interact with other nitrogen-vacancy centres nearby. In fact, their photon storage ability is legendary, holding them, and the information the carry, for periods stretching to milliseconds. At room temperature.

Physics arXiv: Self-assembling hybrid diamond-biological quantum devices

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V'Ger...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 13, 2013 at 7:11am
Artist conception, Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Not exactly "warp factor one," but its a start...Smiley


PASADENA, Calif -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.

New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars. Voyager is in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects from our sun are still evident. A report on the analysis of this new data, an effort led by Don Gurnett and the plasma wave science team at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, is published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.

"Now that we have new, key data, we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking -- 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."

NASA: NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space
Star Trek Memory Alpha Wiki: V'Ger

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SMITH MICRO SALE OF POSER 9, MANGA STUDIO EX4 AND ANIME STUDIO 8 at $29.99 each OR $49.99 for all 3!

Posted by Penelope on September 12, 2013 at 10:35am
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Eye See You...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 12, 2013 at 6:34am
Kenneth Chau is excited about the newly published research that explains how he and his colleagues developed a negative-index material that can be sprayed onto surfaces and act as a lens.

A team of researchers, including a University of British Columbia engineer have made a breakthrough utilizing spray-on technology that could revolutionize the way optical lenses are made and used.



Kenneth Chau, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering at UBC’s Okanagan campus,worked with principal investigator Henri Lezec and colleagues Ting Xu, Amit Agrawal, and Maxim Abashin at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland on the development of a flat lens. Their work is published in the May 23 issue of the journal Nature.



Nearly all lenses – whether in an eye, a camera, or a microscope – are presently curved, which limits the aperture, or amount of light that enters.



“The idea of a flat lens goes way back to the 1960s when a Russian physicist came up with the theory,” Chau says. “The challenge is that there are no naturally occurring materials to make that type of flat lens. Through trial and error, and years of research, we have come up with a fairly simple recipe for a spray-on material that can act as that flat lens.” (1)
A NIST team has created an ultraviolet (UV) metamaterial formed of alternating nanolayers of silver (green) and titanium dioxide (blue). Credit: Lezec/NIST

For the first time, scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses ultraviolet (UV) light in such an unusual way that it can create ghostly, 3D images of objects that float in free space. The easy-to-build lens could lead to improved photolithography, nanoscale manipulation and manufacturing, and even high-resolution three-dimensional imaging, as well as a number of as-yet-unimagined applications in a diverse range of fields.



"Conventional lenses only capture two dimensions of a three-dimensional object," says one of the paper's co-authors, NIST's Ting Xu. "Our flat lens is able to project three-dimensional images of three-dimensional objects that correspond one-to-one with the imaged object."



An article published in the journal Nature* explains that the new lens is formed from a flat slab of metamaterial with special characteristics that cause light to flow backward—a counterintuitive situation in which waves and energy travel in opposite directions, creating a negative refractive index. (2)

1. UBC engineer helps pioneer flat spray-on optical lens
2. The Better to See You With: Scientists Build Record-Setting Metamaterial Flat Lens

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The Most Astonishing Fact...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 9, 2013 at 5:44pm
An artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope observing the Universe. Credit: Northrop Grumman

The first video embed has the voice of Neil deGrasse Tyson (title credit); the second Nobel laureate John Mather.

The most astonishing fact is not just as Carl Sagan quipped we are made of "star stuff": is that we have within humanity persons threatened by that knowledge; re-fighting the war between the church and Galileo (which, by the way has yet to pardon him...just saying).

The most astonishing fact is we're more comfortable with telling our children of controversies that don't exists; information that could start careers in STEM fields; threatened by critical thinking skills while the rest of the world passes the US by.

NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) will be sensitive enough to pick out the light from the earliest stars and galaxies to form in the Universe, only about 400 million years after the Big Bang happened 13.8 billion years ago.

It will split infrared light from these objects into a spectrum, helping astronomers to find out their chemical make-up, physical properties, age and distance. NIRSpec will be able to carry out its observations on up to 100 such objects at a time.



Demonstrating its versatility, NIRSpec will also study the early stages of starbirth across our own Milky Way galaxy, and analyse the atmospheric properties of exoplanets orbiting other stars, checking the potential for life to exist there.

The most astonishing fact is that mere excerpt above to the link below (I found out Saturday to some)...is controversy.

SEN: Europe completes second instrument for James Webb Space Telescope

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O.T.H.E.R . SCI FI MAGAZINE SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE - OCTOBER 1, 2013

Posted by Penelope on September 8, 2013 at 9:53pm

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS…

TRUNCATED DEADLINE! 

OCTOBER 1, 2013

(for OCTOBER 31, 2013 launch date)

“O.T.H.E.R.” SCI FI

_________

 

OVER        THE          HORIZON          EMPIRES                     RISE

 

            OTHER Sci Fi  is a Magazine/Journal dedicated to the creation and promotion of SciFi, Speculative Fiction, Horror and Fantasy works of Epic proportion focusing on diversity and featuring diverse civilizations, subcultures, worlds and universes in alternate and crafted realities.

 

SUBMISSIONS

We are looking for works to be included in the Premier Edition to be launched on October  31, 2013:

FEATURES

  1. Focusing on Words and Artwork: We are seeking a collaboration of  written word and graphic artists where two or more individuals in any of the below subgenres have come together  in an effort to add a dimension of  realism to their work.  Both the written work (no less than 1000 and no more than 5000 words either short story or excerpt and Artwork must be submitted simultaneously. Writer and Artist short profiles and contact information will be published along with the work.

 

  1. NOVEL EXCERPT:  We are seeking an Excerpt from a Horror Novel no less than 2500 words and no more than 5000 words long. The novel must be completed and either be published (self-publishing is fine) or have a launch date set within three months of  October 31, 2013.  A short author profile and contact information will be published along with the excerpt.

 

  1. NOVELIST INTERVIEW:   We are seeking a Horror Novelist to interview via audio or video (but not the novelist submitting the above-mentioned excerpt).  The novelist should be published (self-publication is fine) and have at least one novel length work in circulation.  An author profile and contact information will be published along with the interview.

 

  1. SHORT STORY (Horror)  We are seeking a short story of no less than 1500 words and not to exceed 5000 words.  We would prefer works that have not been previously published,  but if  a work fits our criteria and has been previously published, please let us know when and where the work has been in publication. Authors do not have to be previously published.  A short author profile and contact information will be published along with the story.

 

  1. SHORT STORIES  We are seeking a short stories not less than 1500 words and not to exceed 5000 words.  We are seeking  short stories in the areas of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Alternative Reality and Subcultures and Civilizations. We would prefer works that have not been previously published,  but if  a work fits our criteria and has been previously published, please let us know when and where the work has been in publication. Authors do not have to be previously published.  A short author profile and contact information will be published along with the story.

 

THE SUBGENRES OF INTEREST FOR EXCERPTS, SHORT STORIES AND INTERVIEWS ARE AS FOLLOWS BELOW. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT IF YOUR WORKS FALL INTO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

FANTASY:  Beyond the common tropes of sprites, and knights universes of fantasy exist that have yet to be completely explored. Here is where the fantastical takes shape. Successful Fantasy submissions must focus on more alternate fantastical elements, specifically those created by diverse authors and which focus on characters and lands which show cultural divergence from the common fantasy themes.

HORROR:  Digging into the fertile grounds of diverse cultural memes and backgrounds the successful submissions will explore the concept of “horror” in new and alternative universes and/or with creatures, beings, gods and monsters reflective of this world’s diverse populations.

SCIENCE FICTION:  Without actual science “science fiction” is really magic or fantasy.  Successful submissions in this area will focus on stories based in either hard or soft science,  the issues and themes that are commonly associated with  “science” fiction, space opera, etc.  and reflective of this world’s diverse populations and cultures.

ALTERNATE REALITIES:       One of the most intriguing areas of speculative fiction is the alternate reality construct.  Successful submissions will provide readers with either people or places already known and familiar while twisting or modifying them to create a unique literary experience.

SUBCULTURES & CIVILIZATIONS:           Ethnicities, species, languages, physiology, religion, geographic locations, prejudices, preferences and more all play a role in the development of cultures and subcultures. Successful submissions will create compelling cultural constructs and develop realistic cultures that we can identify with.

 

SEND SUBMISSIONS TO:

administrator @otherscifi.com .  Please send all submissions in an attachment in either  rtf or WORD format.

If you have any questions regarding the submissions process  contact me at penelope@penelopeflynn.com

 

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Confronting Willful Ignorance...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 8, 2013 at 8:30am
Image source

I'm a live-and-let-live kind of person. I accept others may or may not agree with how I look at life. My viewpoints are shaped by my experiences, observable and measurable experimental evidence and logic.

However, two instances of confrontation occurred Saturday, one in real space and the other on Facebook.

Real space: walking my Labrador retriever. Picking up after her is like shoveling the droppings of a horse! I passed a young couple who in my vision allowed their beagle to plop down excrement and walked past me smiling...

I picked it up and deposited it in the dog waste bins provided by our complex. I saw them on our 2nd lap ("our": got to count Raven!).

Me: Do you live here?

Them: No, we're here visiting my parents (him).

Me: I picked up your dog's droppings. Just to make you aware, that is a policy of the apartment complex.

Them: Oh! We didn't know.

Me: OK. Thanks. [Continued walk...]

Facebook: I rebroadcast a humorous meme with two well-known politicians. One believed the earth was 9,000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs existed together; the other believed the earth 10,000 years old and that God destroyed the dinosaurs for humans. My only comment at the time was an emoticon: (((o_0))).

Someone felt the need to reply: "I believe God created the heavens and the earth and rested on the 7th day."

Me: That's fine, [name omitted]. However, I don't believe the authors of the bible had the information from astronomy, carbon dating nor the scientific method. If so, the bible would need a forklift as the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics in its 94th edition is 2,668 pages: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.

Him: Good point I still believe the Bible story though the Earth is to (meant: "too" - grammar) complex to come from a big bang theory. The Bible is really not clear as to how old the earth is. So some things we have to take by faith even science does not hold all the answers the more you learn the more you realize how much you don't know.

Me: That is science. Your statement however, was not.

I left the link I embed below. He did not reply. Guess whatever button I pushed he was done.

Live-and-let-live: a position I feel (or, at least I hope) lacks arrogance. The couple that didn't think they would be asked about their responsibility seemed slightly appalled at my stating the facility policy; my theological debate was started by someone whom I wasn't addressing directly, has no knowledge of my life experiences nor asked about what my views in his area of concern were: this person just assumed me hostile.


Live-and-let-live: that means I don't care what you believe or how you choose to live (unless it included ignored dog droppings). The choices - and they are choices - you make in your life are based on your life experiences, which I have no inkling of, nor the conclusions you've made from those experiences and how you interact with the wider world based on them. You and I have a right to them without attack, criticism or judgement as long as we follow stated rules and regulations; standards of civility, courtesy and common decency.

Science is an iterative process of investigation: it often holds strong convictions until evidence clues otherwise, e.g. the  luminiferous aether was once thought to explain the propagation of light - experiment and the miracle year of Einstein - provided correction. It is by no means a perfect process - the scientist and engineers are only human, subject to human frailties, foibles and flaws in their thinking. Thus, a relentless adherence to the Scientific Method is the central arbiter of what is and is not acceptable science, removing one's persuasion from consideration. Science often doesn't know; therefore explores the unknown.

Related link: How Science Really Works

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The problem with sci-fi and Sun Ra illustrated

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on September 8, 2013 at 7:43am

The problem with sci-fi is that no ones lives there.

We visit, we dream, we stage and act, etc.

What about that guy who dressed in tights and proceeded to be a super hero? What was in his mind?

This brings me to Sun Ra. I've listened to his music at times, heard him spout off some cosmo jargon. I've listened to his explaining himself in interviews and watched his movie "Space is the Place". I was wondering if he was acting and when would we see his normal self.

The other day I stumbled across Sun Ra poetry and that he did lectures at a college. I already had heard that Sun Ra schooled jazz musicians including Walter Williams, historian and researcher of ancient Egypt and religions. I realize many jazz cats were expanded by his views, like Pharaoh Sanders. Well I've got to go but one thing I can say is that Sun Ra lived in sci-fi. He was into ancient wisdom, Egypt and Mystic teachings.

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Xzytovhorre. Part Four. Xzytovhorre VS Skyron.

Posted by Barry K. Nelson on September 8, 2013 at 5:21am

Sparky could not beleive the situation he was now in. The giant alien monster, Xzytovhorre had bitten down on a large chunk of the ground that he was standing on and was now carrying it, and him, in it's mouth while flying high above the ground. Sparky gave a frightened whine as he peered past Xzytovhorre's huge teeth to glimpse the many lights from the buildings on the ground far below.

         As long as you don't accidently swallow or sneeze I'll be fine, was his nervous thought.

         Through his mental communion with this monster Sparky overlooked a small detail that he had just now noticed. Xzytovhorre was not only an escaped alien criminal. Xzytovhorre was also a female.

Just my luck. My first date in years and it ends up being with a five story tall alien ex-con. I wonder if stuff like this happens to pitt bulls?

         Xzytovhorre made a sharp tilt to the left, causing Sparky to lose his footing and roll across the heap of dirt and smack into one of the monster's teeth.

         Hey. Take it easy, honey. I'm not a sack of potatoes here.

         Xzytovhorre growled.

         Ok. Take it easy. I'm not getting fresh here.

        Sparky was a captive passenger on this trip as Xzytovhorre was flying to reach the city of Pittsburgh and confront the second alien monster, Skyron. It only took Xzytovhorre a few minutes to reach the city. Sparky recongized the numerous tall buildings below. He was forced to dig his feet into the dirt as Xzytovhorre made a sharp dive to the ground.

        Easy sweetheart. Not so fast.

        Looking out through Xzytovhorre's mouth Sparky saw that they here diving towards the ruined area surrounding market square. Several buildings in the surrounding area were demolished and reduced to heaps of rubble that buried the streets. laying among the rubble was the wreckage of downed helicopters and the attacking jet planes that were assaulting Skyron earlier. Xzytovhorre landed near the edge of the square. Touching down it created a loud boom. Sparky was shaken off his his feet by the impact and rolled onto his back. He jumped back to his feet and looked out from Xzytovhorre's mouth to see the most prominent building several yards across the square. PPG Tower. Attached to the surface of the building were large, green clusters of Skyron's eggs. They had now tripled in size from the last time Sparky had seen them. Standing in front of the building was their main target. Skyron.

        When Skyron saw Xzytovhorre it raised it's two scythe forelimbs high into the air. The tentacles on it's back thrashing about. It opened it's large toothy mouth and let out it's screeching roar. In response, Xzytovhorre spat out the mound of dirt she was carrying in her mouth. Along with sparky. Sparky rolled across the ground but quickly jumped back to his feet. Xzytovhorre opened her mouth to let out a roar of her own. Loud, long and deep toned. Skyron took a step backward. There was a tense silence as the two huge monsters locked their gaze on each other.

        Looks like I'm caught in the middle of an alien cat fight, Sparky thought. This isn't going to be pretty. Sparky ran off the the far left side of the square and took refuge beside a mailbox.

        Xzytovhorre let out another roar and then leaped into the air. She spread out her huge, silvery wings and climbed high into the air. Sparky watched as Xzytovhorre flew off away from the area, then made a sharp turn and headed back at a high speed. She flew down on a fast, direct course towards Skyron. Xzytohvorre slammed head first into Skyron. Her two horns smashing into the monster's toothy face. There was an explosive boom as the impact sent Skyron tumbling backward into a building at the left side of PPG Tower. The building was instantly shattered as Skyron's body burst through it and kept rolling. Skyron tumbled across several streets beyond market Square until it landed in the river, creating a large splash.

        Sparky barked twice with glee. Good one darling! Kick her ass!

        Xzytovhorre raised it's head and let out another roar. She backed away towards the other side of the square.

        Looking across the square and through the cloud of dust from the demolished building, Sparky saw Skyron storming back. It was bearing a long gash in between a row of it's eyes. A stream of thick green blood spilling out from the wound. Skyron lunged for Xzytovhorre, raising it's two scythe forelimbs. Xzytovhorre raised it's huge right fist and swung it around to deliver a potent punch to the side of Skyron's head. Skyron screeched as it staggered backward. It quickly recovered from the blow and made a second charge at Xzytovhorre. Xzytovhorre reacted by giving Skyron a powerful left cross punch to it's face. Skyron let out another screech and again staggered back. Xzytovhorre quickly followed up on the attack by spinning her body around and slamming her massive tail into Skyron. The impact knocked Skyron to the right and sent it rolling over to collide with a building on the other side of the square.

        From his safe vantage point next to the mailbox, Sparky was thrilled at witnessing the titanic battle. And the fact that Xzytovhorre appeared to be winning. Great shot baby! You really nailed that bitch! Take it to her!

        Sparky's eyes glanced over to PPG tower. Skyron's eggs were still pulsating and growing. Through the eggs slimey membranes he could see things moving inside. Sparky feared that Skyron's eggs were about to hatch any moment. Uh oh! Big problem about to come bigger! We're about to be up to our ears with these freaks!

        Sparky dashed away from the mailbox and ran out to the middle of the square. Barking frantically along the way to get Xzytovhorre's attention. Eggs! Eggs! The eggs, sweetheart!

        Xzytovhorre turned and looked at Sparky. Sparky was still barking as he was facing the PPG building, infested with alien eggs. Xzytovhorre turned and faced the building. She growled. Then she opened her mouth wide and belched out a large jet of fire intermingled with jagged streams of lightning like energy. The firepower streaked across the square and struck the base of the building. It created four large fiery explosions as it burned it's way up to the top of building. The entire building became engulfed in flames. Skyron's eggs were instantly incinerated.

        Fried eggs sunny side up, thought Sparky. Just the way I like them.

        Skyron Recovered from Xzytovhorre's attack and rushed over to the buring building. It let out a high pitched screech and circled the building, tapping it's scythe fore limbs and tentacles into the flames in an attempt to save her eggs. Then Skyron turned and faced Xzytovhorre. It clenched it's arsenal of sharp teeth and let out a long, menacing hiss.

        Sparky whinced. Holy mama. That's one pissed off bug.

        Xzytovhorre backed away as Skyron remained still. The long tentacles on it's back lashing through the air. Then Skyron made a high leap into the air towards Xzytovhorre. Xzytovhorre jumped back to avoid Skyron's scythe fore limbs. The large blades dug deep into the ground. Skyron quickly pulled out the forlimbs and rapidly slashed them down again while it charged at Xzyrovhorre. Xzytovhorre rapidly darted to the left and right as she backed away from the assaulting blades. Both monsters exited market square and crossed Fifth avenue. Xzytovhorre backed into a tall building and leaped into the air just as Skyron was reaching for her with it's tentacles. Xzytovhorre flew in a circle and then dove down behind the row of buildings. SKyron hesitated. Looking left and right to try to determine which building Xzytovhorre was hiding behind. Then it moved to the left. It's tentacles whipped through the air and thrust themselves deep into the side of a tall grey building. Several of the building's windows shattered. Showering the sidewalk with broken glass, as well as concrete debris. Skyron took a step back, pulling out it's tentacles. In the process it pulled Xzytovhorre out through the building. A huge gaping hole was ripped through the building as Xzytovhorre was pulled out. Her arms and neck caught in the tight grip of Skyron's tentacles.

        Xzytovhorre slammed into Skyron and both monsters began to tumble back towards market square. As a precaution Sparky moved back further away from the area to watch the battle from a safer distance. The monsters continued to roll over each other. Then they stopped with Xzytovhorre resting on the ground while Skyron was on top of her. Skyron's tentecles were still wrapped around her neck and arms. She appeared to be immune to the tentacles dissolving effect. But they were still holding her fast. Skyron raised it's two scythe fore legs and brought them down towards Xzytovhorre's face.

        Sweetheart! Sparky exclaimed as his ears jumped up.

        Xzytovhorre was able to catch one of Skyron's scythe blades in her mouth while grabbing the other in her clawed hand. Skyron hissed and then let out a roar. It thrashed it's tail left and right. Then raised it up over it's body, bringing the tip down to Xzytovhorre. From the tip of it's tail emerged a long, sharp stinger. Still struggling to hold her grip on Skyron's scythe blades Xzytovhorre used her free hand to grab the stinger before it delivered a lethal strike to her face.

        Sparky was fearing that Xzytovhorre was in trouble. He did not know how long she could continue to keep Skyron at bay. Sweetheart! get up! get up!

        Sparky watched as Skyron's scythe blade and stinger were getting closer to Xzytovhorre's face. The blade that she was holding in her mouth was beginning to slip out as Skyron was trying to pull it away. And Skyrons tentacles wrapped around her neck and arms appeared to tighten their grip. Fearful for Xzytovhorre's life Sparky was compelled to try and do something to try to help her. While disregarding his own safety. Hold on, Sweetheart. I'm coming.

        Sparky sprinted across the square, belting out his rapid high pitched barks like a battle cry. He stopped at the tip on one of Skyron's legs. Still barking he looked up along the enourmous leg while wondering what to next besides bark. This is stupid. What the hell am I doing here? Looking up near Skyron's head he noticed a row of the monster's crimson eyes moving to look down at him. In spite of this unnerving sight Sparky continued to bark.

        Xzyhovhorre took advantage of skyron's moment of distraction. Her mouth released the hold on Skyron's scythe blade and spat out a burst of her fire mingled with lightning-like energy to Skyron. The energy created a powerful explosion on Skyron's face. Skyron screeched in pain. Sparky screeched out in fear. He turned and ran back to the square to observe the battle. Xzytovhorre spat out a second energy burst to Skyron's face. It's force lifted Skyron off of the ground and sent it flying back. Skyron landed on it's back. It's legs thrashing wildly about while twisting it's body. Then it quickly turned itself upright.

        Xzytovhorre jumped back away from Skyron. She opened her mouth and spat out another energy burst at Skyron. Skyron countered by raising it two scythe blades and crossing them in front of it's face. Xzytovhorre's energy burst struck the blades and were effectivly blocked. Xzytohvorre spat out another burst but this one was also blocked. Xzytovhorre growled and took a step back. Then it opened it's mouth and spat out a cloud of white mist, followed by a blue stream of energy. The energy bathed over Skyron's scythe blades, creating a coating of frost upon contact. Xzytovhorre continued the attack until Skyron's blades turned white with frost and began to sprout several pointed icicles. Xzytovhorre stopped it's frost attack and spat out another burst of firey energy from it's mouth. With Skyron's scythe blades in a frozen, brittle state the energy freely ripped through them. Shattering them into small fragments. The energy burst seared through skyron's scythe blades and burned through it's tail. The severed appendage dropped to the ground. Skyron's mouth gaped open to let out a high pitched shriek upon losing both scyths blades and it's tail. Xzytovhorre continued to press it's attack by spitting out another energy burst at the tentacles along Skyron's back. The energy burst produced three explosions across Skyron. It's deadly tentacles were all blown off of it's now flaming back. The explosions also tore off three of skyron's long spidery legs.

        Sparky was completely awestruck as he watched Xzytovhorre continuing to press her attack by diving on top of Skyron and using her claws to rip across the monster's face and back. After a moment of dishing out this punishment Xzytovhorre backed away to inspect her handiwork. Skyron was bearing several deep gashes over it's body. All of them oozing out it's thick green blood. The monster squealed and dropped to it's belly onto the ground. It made a feeble attempt to use it's remaining legs to push itself away from Xzytovhorre, who now had the complete upper hand.

        This bitch is done! thought sparky. Ecstatic that Xzytovhorre was now standing victorious.

        Xzytovhorre turned to Sparky and growled. She stomped over to him and dug her clawed hand into the ground to dig up the section of land that Sparky was standing on. Sparky lost his footing and rolled onto his back. He scrambled back to his feet and looked between Xzytovhorre's fingers to see that she was leaping to take flight over the square. Stretching out her huge silvery wings she flew in a circle high over the square. Then with her wings flapping she hovered over Skyron's prone body. Xzytovhorre opened her mouth, releasing long jagged forks of lightning. She spat out a blue ball of energy that dropped down on a course towards Skyron. Upon contact, Skyron's body imploded in on itself. Then it was blasted into several small fragments by an explodiong fireball that quickly grew into a mushroom cloud of fire and jagged streaks of energy that transformed Skyron's fragments into brief bursts of sparks. The evil monster, Skyron was completely obliterated.

        Sparky was almost breathless after witnessing Skyron's destruction. He had only one thought as he looked down at the now fading cloud of fire. Awesome! The fight was over.

        Sparky felt at ease being carried in Xzytovhorre's hand during the quick flight home. Looking down at the lights from the houses below Sparky recognized his McKeesport neighborhood. There it is. Home. Finally. What a night. Most other dogs chase after cats and squirrels. I hang out with alien monsters.

        Sparky instructed Xzytovhorre to land in the street in front of the two story blue house where he lived. He could not help feeling nervous when Xzytovhorre made her landing. Easy sweetheart. Take it slow and easy. Don't land on my house.

        Xzytovhorre touched down on the street. Her feet landing with combined booms. She gently poured the mound of dirt, along with Sparky out of her hand. Sparky walked out onto the street and looked up at this huge, fearsome monster. He gave a single bark.

        Thanks for the ride Honey.

        Xzytovhorre responded by returning a brief growl. Then she leaped into the air. Spreading her wings she soared off into the night sky. Sparky's breathing was heavy as he watched this monster flying off. Her form growing smaller as she was soaring towards the light of the full moon. But Sparky knew that they would meet again. It was this moment that Sparky knew that he was in love.

                               THE END!!!!!!

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