November 15, 2012: By combining the power of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and one of nature's own natural "zoom lenses" in space, astronomers have set a new distance record for finding the farthest galaxy yet seen in the universe. The diminutive blob, which is only a tiny fraction of the size of our Milky Way galaxy, offers a peek back into a time when the universe was 3 percent of its present age of 13.7 billion years. The newly discovered galaxy, named MACS0647-JD, is observed 420 million years after the big bang. Its light has traveled 13.3 billion years to reach Earth.
Earlier this week, evidence was presented measuring a very rare decay rate — albeit not incredibly precisely — which point towards the Standard Model being it as far as new particles accessible to colliders (such as the LHC) go. In other words, unless we get hit by a big physics surprise, the LHC will become renowned for having found the Higgs Boson and nothing else, meaning that there’s no window into what lies beyond the Standard Model via traditional experimental particle physics.
But that by no means is the same thing as saying “the Standard Model is all there is.” There are a large number of observations that tell us quite clearly that there’s very likely more to the Universe than just the quarks, leptons, and bosons of the Standard Model. While experiments are telling us that low-energy supersymmetry and extra dimensions probably don’t exist (and the LHC will either turn them up or even further constrain them towards the point of irrelevance), there are plenty of pieces of evidence that there is more to existence than these particles and their interactions.
Since I've started writing sci-fi my research has been turning up some truly interesting science tidbits. We've all seen the Earth and other planets get annihilated left and right from 'gizmo beams', etc. But when you look at the Earth seriously, though it's much smaller than the Gas Giants it's the largest of the all the rocky planets including the planet-like moons in the solar system. When you seriously consider the Earth, it's really a giant ball of iron with some rock along with thin sheets of water and air over it. It is strongly believed early in the Earth's existence a collision with a rogue planet contributed to it's current mass and gave us the Moon as well. They estimate the planet was around the size of Mars but even that wasn't enough to obliterate the Earth! Here's a list of the Top 10 Ways to actually Destroy the Earth:
Fast lane. Within the carefully sculpted waveguide, (left) light waves typically overlap to make a banded pattern (middle). However, depending on the width of the waveguide, waves of a certain wavelength travel infinitely fast, making the whole waveguide light up.
Credit: AMOLF and University of Pennsylvania
Within a nanometer-scale device, visible light travels infinitely fast—by one measure—a team of physicists and engineers reports. The gizmo won't lead to instantaneous communication—the famous speed limit of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity remains in force—but it could have a variety of uses, including serving as an element in a type of optical circuitry.
In empty space, light always travels at 300,000,000 meters per second. In a material such as glass, it travels slower. The ratio of light's speed in the vacuum to its speed in a material defines the material's "index of refraction," which is typically greater than one. However, scientists have begun to manipulate the interactions of light and matter to tune the index of refraction in weird ways, such as making it negative, which leads to an unusual bending of light.
So how does an everywhere-at-once light wave not violate relativity? Light has two speeds, Engheta explains. The "phase velocity" describes how fast waves of a given wavelength move, and the "group velocity" describes how fast the light conveys energy or information. Only the group velocity must stay below the speed of light in a vacuum, Engheta says, and inside the waveguide, it does.
Posted by Anne Gray on November 11, 2012 at 7:00pm
I am part of the group of people putting forward a bid for the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) to be in Detroit in 2014: http://www.detroitin2014.org is our website, which is just getting started.
If the bid is successful I am optimistic that we will have strong program tracks in black sf and local black history, which is quite rich. We are open to suggestions of themes and topics, as well as suggestions for Guests of Honor, which will not be revealed until we either win or lose the bid.
Beautiful, vivacious and made to order! The Android PAnd0RA 001 returns in the last week of November in a new episode and with new cover art! The uncannily human-like android is finding her mission to 'bond' with her new human companion challenging. What does one do when their companion sees them as nothing more than an a machine? Not even a planetary network full of data holds the answer to that difficult question. Somehow PAnd0RA must solve that equation. She'll get her chance during a big upcoming event aboard the Corporate Interstellar Transport DROMEDARY! Meanwhile, the owner of that mysterious BOX wants it back and is going to take extraordinary steps to retrieve their property. Here's a sneak preview from EPISODE TWO:
MILKY WAY GALACTIC AUTHORITY EREBUS Class Deep Space Planetary Station -
OASIS 10 Station Commander Sette Clavon waited anxiously as a single technician worked the hard light display’s Particle Wave Receivers controls. To have been awakened in the middle of his sleep cycle for reception of a classified transmission of personnel from PROMETHEUS GROUP Security was unsettling. For an MHG 1.5 like himself gaining command over a DSPS had been a monumental achievement even if he only got to see actual sunlight once every ten Earth Standard Years on his leave cycle. One of the major downsides of commanding a critical jump point in a Black Zone between five stellar systems was having to oversee important transmissions such as this. The arrival of a classified team from the Galaxy’s think tank could not be a good thing.
The Commander watched the viz feed as a large Direct Transport Cube coalesced inside the Reception Chamber. He whistled between clenched teeth at the thought of those inside it undergoing direct site to site Particle Wave Transmission. Direct Transmission was a much faster method than traveling by transport as there was far less mass to compress within a warp bubble. However, the bubble time from site to site could last for decades! No one could travel in this manner without being in stasis.
Problem was even in stasis, the mind must have periods of activity in order for humans to be fully functional upon arrival. On rare occasions, the activity cycles are not properly calibrated to match the individual. When a person is brought out of stasis, they are always disoriented. If their mental activity cycle was off calibration for decades, the individual would come out of stasis quite mad often, violently so.
Amber scanning beams swept over the Cube revealing six stasis containers and one large Transport BOX. Each beam after having swept over a container registered with a green ‘CLEAR’ graphic on the technician’s display. The beam scanning the BOX suddenly flashed red and the display’s AI audio feed said, “Warning! Unauthorized unknown materials detected. Initiating security containment field.” Abruptly a blue hard light energy field enveloped the BOX and the Commander exclaimed, “What in the Stygian Cloud did they bring aboard my station?” The Display’s AI then announced, “Unauthorized unknown materials contained at Level 6. Stasis Cycles complete. Six personnel are now online.”
Our friend and resident Astrophysicist Dr. Holbrook is on Facebook and will be tweeting with regard to the Eclipse, today. I have excerpted some information but encourage you to read the entire update she posted at:
Here are the particulars on when the tweeting begins!
Join us and find out, as we live tweet (in Australia, the eclipse occurs at 6:39 am on Wednesday, 11/14; In the states: today Tuesday, 11/13 at 1:39 pm PST, 3:39 pm CST, and 4:39 pm EST) at @blacksun2012doc and @astroholbrook
Please support the post-production efforts of Black Sun 2012. Your tax-deductible donation will help part our "financial clouds," and can be made today at https://www.austinfilm.org/film-black-sun
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!
Posted by Eric M Cooper on November 12, 2012 at 9:05pm
Now is the time to support a project that is truly legendary in the making. Learn about this character and his world. If you're truly a warrior for change in the comic and novel industry now is the time for you to act and to tell others. Thank you for reading this post. My name is Eric Cooper and I approve this message.
The scientist, who is director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, was approached in late summer by DC Comics, home of the long-running Superman series.
Originally, the comic book makers just wanted permission to feature Tyson and the planetarium in an upcoming issue of the series where Superman would view the demolition of his home planet, Krypton, which orbits an alien star named Rao.
"I said, 'Why don't I get you an actual star?'" Tyson told reporters during a meeting Thursday (Nov. 8), the day of the comic book's release.
DC Comics jumped at the chance to infuse real science in the story, and a collaboration was born.
"I was proud and honored that our institution could serve this role," Tyson said. "If they're just making stuff up, they don't need us."
Microsoft's Kinect is a motion-sensing device that allows people to control Xbox video games using body movements alone. It consists of a webcam-like camera for creating an image of players, an infrared laser for measuring their distance, and a specialised microchip that interprets the data to track people and objects in three dimensions.
Microsoft's hope in launching the Kinect was to change the way people interact with and play video games. But many users immediately recognised that the device had broader applications and began to hack it for their own projects. Before long, Microsoft released software developer kits allowing anybody to develop applications for the Kinect on both the Xbox and Windows.
Enter David McGloin and buddies at the University of Dundee in Scotland, who are experts in an area of physics called optical manipulation: the use of highly focused laser beams to trap, move, and even rotate small particles such as cells.
Wednesday, 7 November was this famous scientist's birthday with a readable quote:
A microfluidic lab on a chip device sitting on a polystyrene dish. Stainless steel needles inserted into the device serve as access points for fluids into small channels within the device, which are about the size of a human hair.
Credit: Cooksey/NIST
Lab on a chip (LOC) devices—microchip-size systems that can prepare and analyze tiny fluid samples with volumes ranging from a few microliters (millionth of a liter) to sub-nanoliters (less than a billionth of a liter)—are envisioned to one day revolutionize how laboratory tasks such as diagnosing diseases and investigating forensic evidence are performed. However, a recent paper* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) argues that before LOC technology can be fully commercialized, testing standards need to be developed and implemented.
I voted, and will be elated when the spectacle is over.
Whomever winds up as Chief Executive, they have a mess to clean up in New York and New Jersey, and the responsibility to prepare for the next climate change event. We can argue the semantics of whether man-made or natural later. One impact I can forecast is the willingness (or lack thereof) for insurance companies to cover damages with respect to super storms like Sandy. It could become too expensive to guarantee, thereby changing where we as humans choose to live.
So, it's understandable with work, graduate school and cold-calling swing states, I can get distracted. Coupled with the reality of Hurricane Sandy, campus closures in Hoboken, New Jersey, contacting my classmates via email and tempering my calls with "how are you since the storm?" distraction from the tenor of this blog I hope is understandable.
This blog champions science and diversity, a reality that is fast approaching this nation in 2042. I'm a Sputnik Child, post October 4, 1957 when America entered the Space Race. Despite our differences and social problems, to compete, we had to educate the entire population. We still do.
I was a beneficiary of that focus. I saw myself and others like me study science and engineering. I and my classmates have traveled all over the world, as our college song: "from Dare to Cherokee." I am concerned; we are concerned about the future: for our sons and daughters, for which we wish in the words of Jeremiah "a future...and a hope."
And as I'm apt to say: my older sister was one of those young adults, teenagers that secured the right to vote for all Americans, braving harrowing resistance to change like this:
I've been distracted, but trust me: I've been working hard! It is for her and others like her, I've been understandibly distracted.
I'm a little late. I've been preoccupied. I'll explain tomorrow.
p-Pb collision event display, CMS
The first data from proton–lead collisions at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN include a "ridge" structure in correlations between newly generated particles. According to theorists in the US, the ridge may represent a new form of matter known as a "colour glass condensate".
This is not the first time such correlations have been seen in collision remnants – in 2005, physicists working on the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York found that the particles generated in collisions of gold nuclei had a tendency to spread transversely from the beam at very small relative angles, close to zero.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not."
Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
How prescient his advice was in what's deemed a simple children's story. Doc was deep.
As members of humanity, we have the same opposing thumbs as apes.
Yet, we can think, reason, dream, drive, design dresses and microchips, plan, raise families and skyscrapers, go to the moon, build space stations, launch probes on Mars, manufacture clothing, baby carriages, semiconductors, atomic bombs and massively affect the climate.
Ironically, the similar one thing between both the three presidential and vice presidential debates is neither of them discussed climate change or what either party would do about what has now asserted itself in the current disaster.
Octavia Butler advocated for space travel in her dystopian novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. It took her characters a long time - two novels - to get to that point. The main character was the female Moses that didn't see the promised land beyond earth.
Sadly, we currently have only one starship: terra firma beneath our feet and an atmosphere steadily warming in our greenhouse life support system. We also have a dysfunctional political system that won't allow us to address real problems, only red herrings to "fire up the base."
In an interview I read at the conclusion of "Sower," Butler used the term "smooth dinosaurs" referring to humanity and the possibility of it becoming extinct. Her apocalyptic world was post climate change resulting in violent weather patterns, rising tides, eroded coastlines, societal stratification, human migration, hyper inflation, a small and dwindling middle class (just not in the sense we currently esteem it), the haves in walled-off cities with their own private armies; for the rest of us: privatized police, fire and emergency services (no money; no service) and...cannibalism as means of survival for the "have-nots." There seemed to be some religiousity, primarily used by the haves to control the shrinking middle class that had banned together in their own walled cities and posted themselves as sentries from cannibals and bandits.
I hate putting things in such graphic detail. However, I fear we're reaching or maybe have already reached the "tipping point," at which time the Texas colloquialism of "hunkering down" will become a lifestyle...as mole men underground. The date of the link from The Guardian provided in this paragraph: 9 November 2011, predicting then we had five years to make drastic changes. We now have four. Just enough to begin healing the earth, or for deregulation to push us all towards the inevitable.
Unless...
I've found something on Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. It's an old idea in nuclear reactors, but since its byproducts have less of a half-life than Uranium or Plutonium (and one can't make bombs from it, my guess) it's not as well known or promoted.
First off, may we send more of our best prayers to those impacted by the SuperStorm. May their recovery be swift & triumphant.
The Holy Day Season is off to a rambunctious start with planned & unplanned events. The schedule of TMSP is no different, so here is a rundown of four upcoming events.
1. On Saturday November 3 & Sunday November 4 from 10am-5pm, TMSP will have a table featured at the Foxcroft Condominiums' FLEA MARKET (home complex of AL Bey), located at 6851 Roswell Rd., Sandy Springs, GA 30328. Books, jewelry, knitting, and many more exotic products with special sales will be on display. COME ON OUT & ENJOY THIS COMMUNAL KICKOFF TO THE SHOPPING SEASON!
2. On Saturday, December 8, from 10am-2pm, TMSP will be one of the featured book tables at the 2012 Southwest Arts Center Book Fair to be held at 915 New Hope Road, Atlanta, GA 30331. The public is invited to come, browse, purchase, and meet the authors. Readings are scheduled throughout the day. For more info, go to http://www.fultonarts.org or call 404-613-3220.
3. Hilltop Records has just released a compilation album of multi-genre songs entitled "America." Track #7 of this CD, "Sneeze It Out" is a parody of Linkin Park's "Bleed it Out," written by Albert Johnson-Bey (yours truly AL Bey) and Demarcus Armstrong. Linkin Park was the last famous band interviewed by D-Rock SOUL-Jah before he drifted into retirement. To preview this song & album and eventually buy either or both, go to http://www.hilltoprecords.com and listen to their Internet Channel entitled Hilltop Cool Radio. Then type in the album code, AMCD-1207, after clicking on the Buy CD's and Songbooks tab.
4. As final updates, L.I.A. #6 will be released before 2012 wraps up. L.I.A. #s 1-5 can be found athttp://www.myspace.com/drocksouljah/blog/546378089. And Godwilling that we're around in 2013, TMSP will compose a graphic novel. For those interested in contributing Ad Space or P.R. Assistance, call AL Bey at 404-414-2086.
HAVE A SAFE & PROSPEROUS HOLY DAY SEASON!!!
AL Bey
Author of Tainted Saint: The Autobiography of D-Rock SOUL-Jah
Owner, Tribal Metal Spear-it Publishing, LLC (TMSP)
In the spirit of Halloween, I’m giving readers a treat without the trick. During today and tomorrow, I will have three of my titles for free on the Kindle. These books are:
The Laroarian Conflict- An adventure fantasy set in the kingdom of Laroar, which is in a civil war over control of the vacant throne. When two teens, Logan and Mary Wallace, help one of the injured combatants, they embark upon a quest that will take them across the land and make them targets for the opposing armies. Logan and Mary soon discover that no good deed goes unpunished. (Free Days: 10/31/12 – 11/1/12)
“Swordbreaker” - ”He had believed peace only lived at the tip of a sword.” A warlord turned pacifist must face the consequences of his bloody past. *This is a short story. Included in the e-book are extended excerpts of the novelsCrowning of the Good King and The Laroraian Conflict.* (Free Day: 10/31/12)
Heart and Soul of a Thinker- This collection is full of poems chronicling the triumph and tragedy of humanity. In a world where differences are emphasized, this collection is universal because it simplistically relates the common threads that bind us as a species. The collection as a whole connects life, poetry, dreams, love, space, and time into one circle. There are speculative poems in this collection, featuring poems about sea monsters, dragons, and space travel. (Free Day: 11/1/12)
These ebooks are free on the days listed. Don’t hesitate to download them. Please share with family, friends, co-workers and on social media. Thanks! And enjoy.
"Discovery" Volume I of Wiliam Hayashi's Darkside Trilogy is a riveting, even-paced Science Fiction mystery novel that opens on a young scientist's discovery of a previously unidentified asteroid hurtling toward earth. At the same time the FBI is made aware of several unsolved missing persons cases beginning as far back as the 1960's where nearly 2000 U.S. citizens have simply vanished. Half-way across the globe an advanced aircraft of unknown origin is shot down over the Middle East. The story follows the threads that tie these people and incidents together as they become the focus of government power-brokers, and where national security concerns seek to compel the commodification of scientific discovery to serve military, political and/or industrial purposes. Set against the backdrop of a period 40-some odd years after the Civil Rights movement in a fictionalized alternate U.S., the novel pointedly addresses issues of race, class, gender and educational stereotypes as they relate to career, loyalty, friendship, love, the pursuit of happiness and freedom in the burgeoning Space Age.
The novel is steeped in science and scientific terminology but gratefully made accessible to those who have long forgotten their last physics course. The author, William Hayashi's style is methodical and procedural. He writes with exacting detail which is either a minus or a plus depending upon the reader's preferences. Because this is a mystery novel, early on I found myself sometimes thrown off-track by the author's focus on mundane details wondering whether these were important to the storyline. It became clear, however, as I read on that the details were simply atmospheric and not relevant to the plot which allowed me to consume the 500 plus pages in about 3 days. The book contains some "adult" situations. The sexual depictions are intense, somewhat graphic but written in the vein of adult modern romance which was infinitely suitable for the characters and the plotline.
The final section of the book is a sneak peek of Chapter 1 of Volume II of the Darkside Trilogy entitled, "Conception." "Conception" appears to be a prequel to "Discovery" providing the reader with historical reference and introducing the reader to the players who created the technology behind the first novel. I look forward to its release and enthusiastically recommend "Discovery."
