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Evaporation Caveat...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 28, 2017 at 6:20am
Researchers at Columbia University created an evaporation engine, driven by bacterial spores that swell as they absorb moisture from evaporating water. XI CHEN

Topics: Environment, Green Tech, Research

"Caveat emptor is the only motto going, and the worst proverb that ever came from the dishonest stone-hearted Rome." Anthony Trollope

Please note I'm not quoting Trollope (an apropos name for our times as malapropism) as a critique of the study. All science is preliminary, in iterative steps. "Rome was not built in a day," and neither will sustainable energy solutions that will hopefully replace our current fossil model. It is unfortunate that our easy access to information via search engines have made us all attention deficit as a species and unappreciative of process, either political or scientific.

Technology that can tap into the renewable power of natural water evaporation could produce a huge portion of the nation's energy needs—at least theoretically (see "Scientists Capture the Energy of Evaporation to Drive Tiny Engines").

Prototype "evaporation-driven engines" generate power from the motion of bacterial spores that expand and contract as they absorb and release air moisture. If it could be done efficiently and affordably, the devices could provide more than 325 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity, outpacing coal, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

That, however, would require covering the surface of every lake and reservoir larger than 0.1 square kilometers in the lower 48 states, excluding the Great Lakes, with arrays of the devices. Obviously, that would directly conflict with existing economic and recreational uses, and raise a host of serious aesthetic and environmental concerns. Notably, interfering with evaporation on a large enough scale, across a big enough lake, could even alter local weather.

But study coauthor Ozgur Sahin says that the paper is more of a thought experiment designed to underscore the potential of the technology and the importance of advancing it beyond lab scale, rather than any sort of literal development proposal.

Evaporation Engines Could Produce More Power Than Coal, with a Huge CaveatJames Temple, MIT Technology Review
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Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 29, 2017 at 6:01am
Image Source: Seminar link below
Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Education, STEM

I saw Dr. Oluseyi speak at the National Society of Black Physicists, Austin, Texas in 2011 (where I met Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg). I signed up to hear him speak again today, obviously scheduled as a pick-me-up for graduate students before midterms. We could all use it.

And there, at Tougaloo College, you had a breakthrough.

Yes.These three grad students from MIT and Harvard came to Tougaloo, where I was one of two physics students in 1986. They were all black physics students from the Cambridge area – and each of them thought they were the only one! They came to realize that kids from certain communities just have no idea that physics as a career exists. They decided they’d start the National Council of Black Physics Students, to help the most down-and-out kids in the country. So where did they go? Mississippi. They showed up on our campus.

Because of them, I ended up meeting recruiters from Stanford University that ended up accepting me to Stanford for grad school. In all of Stanford’s history, at that time, there were only two black professors in all of the six schools of natural sciences and mathematics. One was my PhD advisor, Art Walker, who was also the PhD advisor of Sally Ride. Just being in his presence showed me a different model of how I could be.

But in the end, Art’s support changed it for me. It was like two different lives. I ended up changing my name from James Edward Plummer to reflect how my life had changed so drastically. I wanted my middle name to reflect how I am. So my middle name is Muata and it means “He seeks the truth.” I wanted my first name to reflect what I want to become. My first name Hakeem means “wisdom.” And my last name is from the West African Yoruba people, and it means “God has done this.”

Rise of a gangsta nerd: Fellows Friday with Hakeem Oluseyi, TED Blog

NC A&T Seminar link: NCAT.edu/oluseyi
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Nano Mirror...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 27, 2017 at 5:59am
Credit: Joshua Edel

Topics: Optical Physics, Nanotechnology, Quantum Mechanics

Note: My study group is preparing for midterms next week. I give my apologies for what will be an erratic posting schedule. I'm merging two colloquialisms: drinking from fire hoses and eating elephants one bite at a time. I should resume posting normalcy - as far as grad school goes - the 9th of October, until finals week in December.

From last Friday's posting, it's obvious what I thought of the (lack of) humanity pursuing the deaths of millions to give tax cuts for the few. I'm glad for the moment the Affordable Care Act hasn't met the zombie apocalypse. I have no doubt like the pertinacious walking dead, they will try again.

Surface plasmons—collective, light-driven oscillations of electrons in metal—have given us stained glass, flat lenses, and home pregnancy tests. Now they bring us the mirror–window, a liquid mirror whose reflectivity can be tuned, or eliminated altogether, with an applied voltage.

Developed by researchers led by Alexei Kornyshev, Anthony Kucernak, and Joshua Edel at Imperial College London, the device makes use of gold nanoparticles inside a cell filled with two immiscible electrolyte solutions—one aqueous, the other oily. Dispersed throughout one phase or the other, the nanoparticles interact negligibly with light, and the cell is transparent. But when the particles form a dense monolayer at the liquid–liquid interface, their plasmon resonances couple to each other and they become optically reflective.

Now you see this nanoplasmonic mirror. Now you don’t.A tunable assembly of gold nanoparticles can go from reflective to transparent with the flip of a switch.Ashley G. Smart, Physics Today
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Tomi Adeyemi’s Debut Novel Heading to the Big Screen in Blockbuster Deal

Posted by Cortez R Law III on September 25, 2017 at 6:10pm

The author could just be the next big thing in literature AND film

BY BRITNI DANIELLE, MARCH 30, 2017|EBONY

Tomi Adeyemi’s novel, Children of Blood and Bone, hasn’t even been released yet and it’s already headed to the big screen, thanks to a blockbuster deal with Fox 2000. Publishers clamored to snap up the 23-year-old’s novel, reportedly resulting in a “whopping publishing deal,” according to Deadline. 

Children of Blood and Bone is the first book in Adeyemi’s fantasy trilogy rooted in African mythology, and has been described by some as “Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Black Lives Matter.” According to the writer’s website, the book follows the Orïshas’ struggle to survive after they’re threatened by a power-hungry king.

Here’s what’s listed so far:

With magic, Zélie’s family could stand against the royal guard.
Her people wouldn’t live in fear.
Her mom wouldn’t have hanged from that tree.
Years after the king wiped magic out of Orïsha, Zélie has one chance to bring it back. To do so, she’ll have to outwit and outrun the crown prince, who’s 
hell-bent on erasing magic for good.

Children of Blood and Bone is the first book in Adeyemi’s highly-anticipated series and could set the young writer up to be the next big thing in young adult fantasy. The film adaptation is being produced by the folks who brought moviegoers Twilight, Maze Runner, and The Fault In Our Stars, and Fox 2000 reportedly paid close to seven figures for the book’s film rights.

At just 23, Adeyemi could be an important new voice in both literature and film. The Harvard grad not only gives tips to bourgeoning writers about honing their craft, but the Nigerian-American author has also said she hopes her work will inspire young Black girls.

“I want a little Black girl to pick up my book one day and see herself as the star,” Adeyemi wrote on her blog. “I want her to know that she’s beautiful and she matters and she can have a crazy, magical adventure even if an ​ignorant part of the world tells her she can never be Hermione Granger.” Something tells me Adeyemi is this close to reaching her goal.

**MY TAKE: Glad to read about Afrocentric book-to-film deals especially in the speculative genres.**

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Kafkaesque Eugenics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 22, 2017 at 5:02am
Image Source: YouTube, see embed
Topics: Commentary, Civil Rights, Diversity, Politics

Franz Kafka[a] (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-language novelist and short story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work, which fuses elements of realism and the fantastic,[3] typically features isolated protagonists faced by bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible social-bureaucratic powers, and has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity.[4] His best known works include "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis"), Der Process (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle). The term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe situations like those in his writing. Source: Wikipedia

Kafkaesque: of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially :having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality - Kafkaesque bureaucratic delays Merriam Webster

Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population[2][3] played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States prior to its involvement in World War II.[4]

Eugenics was practiced in the United States many years before eugenics programs in Nazi Germany,[5] which were largely inspired by the previous American work.[6][7][8] Stefan Kühl has documented the consensus between Nazi race policies and those of eugenicists in other countries, including the United States, and points out that eugenicists understood Nazi policies and measures as the realization of their goals and demands.[9]

During the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th century, eugenics was considered a method of preserving and improving the dominant groups in the population; it is now generally associated with racist and nativist elements as the movement was to some extent a reaction to a change in immigration from Europe rather than scientific genetics.[10] Source: Wikipedia

I posted on eugenics this year on 13 February featuring "The Myth of Race" by Robert Sussman. His thesis - as I remember the read - is still sound. The previous election was testament to Ta Nehisi Coates' essay observation on our current resident in Washington, that he does have an ideology: old, vile and ugly like grabbing genitals without permission; blatant in-your-face race-baiting, going from wink-and-nod dog whistles to foghorns. The 2016 election - Russian cum Facebook interference - has emboldened the darkest among us, evidenced by Charlottesville and its aftermath and the sympathies of our chief executive.

The repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known only by its pejorative, is in danger of being repealed yet again. It's to repeal, remove, replace any memory of the achievements of our first and only African American president in the history of the federal republic, all while stating the party is "not racist" with a straight faces and monochromatic instagram posts. The individual mandate in the ACA was a conservative idea originated by the Heritage Foundation - an effort  to counter the expansion of Medicare-for-all (at the time called by the pejorative "HillaryCare"). The KGB/FSB saw "conditions and opportunity" that had not existed since the uprisings of the 1960s when the FBI had COINTELPRO violate the Civil Rights of Americans fighting for...their Civil Rights. Racial animus would serve their purposes of western instability far better.

The conditions were and are our own history we tend to whitewash and give "alternative facts" about. Cultural studies - African American, Hispanic/Latino, LGBT, Women - MUST be opposed, as they give a portfolio of researched facts that counters the official Pollyannaish self-delusional narrative. The only thing "conservative" is the status quo of white supremacy. The fact is, colonization results in indigenous peoples getting replaced by violence: murder, disease, "Trails of Tears." Disparate groups join the red trail, blocked from expressing their power at the ballot box and economically segregated for generations. The equivalent of Confederate generals celebrated in a war of treason would be replications on Hitler and swastikas in Germany and Israel. From cultural studies to science, it is why authoritarians oppose facts. Like Wednesday's post, these are the usual signs that points to diminution of democracy in a republic.

"Grandma-will-die-death-panels" as this repeal is a death panel, as millions of the GOP's supporters currently covered by the ACA will die. Like Hurricanes Katrina to Maria, such natural and political disasters illustrate the inequity of our society and how some well-heeled survive such changes - if you can afford healthcare with CASH, that IS your ACA! Those who cannot afford succumb to Darwinian extinction, a crass "survival of the fittest." Eugenics is what this is. It's what it's always been.
It's as clear as which group boards their property before a storm and starts consulting with architects to recover from the storm, to like many in New Orleans, stranded on roofs, figuratively and literally. Someone once told me "when you point one finger, three fingers point back at you," a hark to obvious, demonstrated hypocrisy. This nihilistic, Kafkaesque eugenics that will hurt "the least of these" should forever redefine us as not a "Christian nation," but a heartless and cruel one. Senator Cassidy has violated his Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm"; his party rejecting all claims to human decency.

Call:

Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121; 202-225-3121

Related link:

The Republicans Aren't Even Pretending This Is About Healthcare AnymoreCharles P. Pierce, GQ
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Atom by Atom...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 21, 2017 at 4:28am
Fig. 1 Experimental schematic of the hybrid system and ToF apparatus.
(A) A schematic of the experimental apparatus, including the LQT, the high voltage pulsing scheme (shown as solid and dashed lines), and the ToF. (B) An illustrative experimental time sequence that depicts initialization of a Ba+ crystal, production of BaOCH3+ (visualized as dark ions in the crystal) through reactions with methanol vapor, and subsequent MOT immersion. (C) Sample mass spectra obtained after ejecting the LQT species into the ToF after various MOT immersion times, ti, along with an inset depicting a superimposed fluorescence image of an ion crystal immersed in the Ca MOT. (D) Mass spectra of photofragmentation products collected after inducing photodissociation of BaOCa+. The identified photofragments were used to verify the elemental composition of the product.

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

LA physicists have pioneered a method for creating a unique new molecule that could eventually have applications in medicine, food science and other fields. Their research, which also shows how chemical reactions can be studied on a microscopic scale using tools of physics, is reported in the journal Science.

For the past 200 years, scientists have developed rules to describe chemical reactions that they’ve observed, including reactions in food, vitamins, medications and living organisms. One of the most ubiquitous is the “octet rule,” which states that each atom in a molecule that is produced by a chemical reaction will have eight outer orbiting electrons. (Scientists have found exceptions to the rule, but those exceptions are rare.)

But the molecule created by UCLA professor Eric Hudson and colleagues violates that rule. Barium-oxygen-calcium, or BaOCa+, is the first molecule ever observed by scientists that is composed of an oxygen atom bonded to two different metal atoms.

Normally, one metal atom (either barium or calcium) can react with an oxygen atom to produce a stable molecule. However, when the UCLA scientists added a second metal atom to the mix, a new molecule, BaOCa+, which no longer satisfied the octet rule, had been formed. [1]

Abstract
Hypermetallic alkaline earth (M) oxides of formula MOM have been studied under plasma conditions that preclude insight into their formation mechanism. We present here the application of emerging techniques in ultracold physics to the synthesis of a mixed hypermetallic oxide, BaOCa+. These methods, augmented by high-level electronic structure calculations, permit detailed investigation of the bonding and structure, as well as the mechanism of its formation via the barrierless reaction of Ca (3PJ) with BaOCH3+. Further investigations of the reaction kinetics as a function of collision energy over the range 0.005 K to 30 K and of individual Ca fine-structure levels compare favorably with calculations based on long-range capture theory. [2]

1. In step toward ‘controlling chemistry,’ physicists create a new type of molecule, atom by atom, Stuart Wolpert, UCLA Newsroom2. Synthesis of mixed hypermetallic oxide BaOCa+ from laser-cooled reagents in an atom-ion hybrid trapPrateek Puri1, Michael Mills1, Christian Schneider1, Ionel Simbotin2, John A. Montgomery Jr.2, Robin Côté2, Arthur G. Suits3, Eric R. Hudson1,*1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.2 Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.3 Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.*Corresponding author. Email: eric.hudson@ucla.edu
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THE WORLD ENDS ON SATURDAY!!!

Posted by Matte Black on September 19, 2017 at 8:00pm

Did you hear? On Saturday, we're all dead meat! So, say your goodbyes, Nibiru is on a collision course with Earth and putting plywood over the windows won't help! 

Relax folks, this won't happen for a few reasons. 

-There is no Nibiru. 

-There IS a "theoretical" 'Planet X' (aka Planet 9) but, at its closest pass, it's still about 700AU or 65,100,000,000 miles away - so far away, in fact, that we haven't visually confirmed its existence yet.

-anything THAT big lurking in our inner solar system would've been here before life on Earth, (maybe even before Earth) and noticed a long time ago. If it came from outside, we would've seen it long before it got here, and it would most likely get Deebo'd by Jupiter or Saturn's gravity on its way in.

-last time we were hit by a planet was 4 billion years ago (and from that cataclysmic one-night stand, we got the moon)

-These are just my thoughts, though. What do you guys think?

http://abc7.com/heres-why-some-claim-the-world-will-end-on-saturday/2428453/?sf115016653=1

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Murder on the Eros Star, Planet of Doom and Terror on Telderan on Audible

Posted by Larry Johnson on September 20, 2017 at 9:33am

Murder on the Eros Star, Planet of Doom and Terror on Telderan.
1. Murder on the Eros Star
Not long after hearing about the attempted murder of his assistant Da'Qaun docks aboard the luxury Space cruise ship Eros Star. Shortly after his arrival, the intergalactic detective realizes that his assistant has stumbled onto something huge. A masterful plot of vengeance and murder has already been set into motion. 
With the help of his assistant Jada and a few members of the clandestine Time, Travelver's Guild Da'Quan attempts to stop a new very powerful foe from carrying out his devious plot the will drastically change life in the galaxy and beyond forever. 
Will Da'Quan put the pieces together in time? Will the mastermind succeed in getting his revenge and change the lives of billions of lives across the galaxy? Listen to Murder on the Eros Star narrated by actor James Romick. Mr. Romick has been acting professionally for over 38 years.
2. Terror on Telderan
After breaking away from the Planetary Alliance the planet Otar finds it's self on the brink of ruin. In a desperate move, their leader Rotart makes a foolish attempt to terraform the planet Telderan so that he may claim it and relocate the Otarian race. Ancient oracles have been warning Alliance leaders for years that such an attempt would be made and that it would have catastrophic results for planet Earth billions of miles away. Rayna, High Ruler of the Southern Quadrant of Lazon and J'lore Chief Council of Earth's Guardians have been lifelong friends. Although Earth Guardians are considered outlaws by the government Rayna sympathizes with their cause to save the human race. Earth's Guardians is also aware of the impending disaster for earth but Rayna confirms it. Taz, son of the ruthless dictator of Otar is dispatched to clear Telderan of the handful of inhabitants so that the terraforming process can begin. His harsh and heavy-handed ways do not go down well with the settlers and his father's confrontation with leaders of the Planetary Alliance does not fair any better. Only time will tell if the Planetary Alliance's oracles were right.
3.Planet of Doom
The Planetary Alliance has requested the services of intergalactic detective Da'Quan. His job is to locate the rough Deltorian warriors Dajus and Mallobo who must answer for multiple charges of crimes committed throughout the Spiral Galaxy.  Before Da'Quan could locate the deadly duo his ship (Spirit) was yanked from the sky and crashed landed on a nearly deserted island. With the ship in need of repairs, Da'Quan is trapped on the planet Akanon, a small planet controlled by humanoid androids. He quickly learned that no one has ever escaped from the planet. 
Will the andriods add Da'Quan to their list of kills, will he be the first to escape and complete his mission or will he be forever trapped on the Planet of Doom.
Read more…

Excerpt- Vacuum Draft Flows Part I

Posted by ARCELIUS SCOTT on September 18, 2017 at 1:27pm

Although the following novella excerpt is in a separate universe from DARK EDGE, I've still been considering publishing within the next few months once the design portion of DARK EDGE has slowed down.

Excerpt- Vacuum Draft Flows Part I

"CHAPT 3

                Green means go and the seconds in between become an infinite and hopeless abyss. The abyss consumed the fears, hopes and dreams of all who found themselves in its presence. Regret, that so many things have been left undone and too many things left unsaid. Pain, that there are no more opportunities and this is the absolute end of all things. Finally, bliss once a man or woman can sweat pure adrenaline and testosterone fuels superhuman strength and senses. Human eyes adjust to slits, brows are frowned, teeth are grit and ground into dust, fingers tremble to crush metal held by throbbing palms, muscles twitch and spasm begging for immediate use. Death is but a weak ghost afraid to take the souls due to him, souls so powerful in this moment that even the reaper couldn’t pull them into the abyss before they willingly conceded to perish.

“Fuck Death” whispered Celia.     "

Want to know more? Stay tuned spacefans!

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NanoVelcro...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 13, 2017 at 5:49am
Courtesy: ACS Nano DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b03073

Topics: Biology, Bioengineering, Nanotechnology

For any couple who has witnessed an amniocentesis with WIDE eyes (as I did), this advance should be a welcome relief.

Circulating fetal nucleated cells (CFNCs) in the blood of pregnant women is an ideal source of fetal genomic DNA that can be used for prenatal diagnostics. However, the problem is that there are only a very small number of CFNCs in maternal blood. A team of researchers in the US, China and Taiwan has now developed nanoVelcro microchips that can effectively enrich a subcategory of CFNCs, namely circulating trophoblasts (cTBs) in blood samples. These cTBs can then be isolated using a laser microdissection technique for subsequent genetic testing.

Current prenatal tests for diagnosing foetal genetic abnormalities rely on invasive, “harvesting” procedures, such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling. Although highly valuable, they can increase the risk of miscarriage. Whole foetal cells circulating in an expectant mother’s blood could also provide important information on foetal DNA since they contain entire genomes, but until now it has been very challenging to capture these cells because they are only present in small quantities.

The new nanoVelcro microchips developed by Hsian-Rong Tsung of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles and colleagues can effectively enrich cTBs from blood samples. These cells can then be isolated using a technique called laser capture microdissection (LCM) for subsequent genetic testing.

The researchers (who initially developed their microchips for detecting low concentrations of tumour cells circulating in blood) made their devices by nano-imprinting them on a spin-coated PLGA substrate (see image). To enrich the cTBs, they grafted a biotinylated anti-EpCAM (which is a trophoblast surface marker) onto the imprinted nanoVelcro.

For the genetic characterization, they isolated at least three individual cTBs and pooled these together in a 0.5 mL polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tube for whole genome amplification (WGA). They then subjected the resulting amplified DNA to so-called array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) and short tandem repeat (STR) assays.

NanoVelcro microchips for prenatal testing, Belle Dumé, Nanotechweb.org
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Jupiter's Northern Lights...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 14, 2017 at 7:31am
A complete reconstruction of what the northern and southern auroras looked like to the Juno Ultraviolet Spectograph (UVS) as Juno approached Jupiter, passed over the north pole, rapidly traveled to the southern hemisphere to pass over the southern pole, and receded from Jupiter. Credit: BERTRAND BONFOND.

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

Evidence from the Juno probe’s close flights past Jupiter indicate that the gas giant’s dazzling polar light shows are caused by a mysterious mechanism different from the one responsible for intense auroras here on Earth.

On Jupiter, as on Earth, the northern and southern lights are produced by charged particles from the Sun colliding with gas atoms in the atmosphere and releasing energy in flashes of light.

Jupiter’s aurora is the brightest in the solar system, so planetary scientists assumed it was produced by the discrete process.

However, a paper in Nature analyzing data from Juno’s low-altitude passes over Jupiter’s poles shows that, while there are extremely intense electric fields aligned with the magnetic field and signs that electrons are being accelerated downwards, the resulting auroras were much dimmer than those produced by the broadband process.

Why? The authors don’t know, though they speculate that Jupiter’s intense auroras may be started by a discrete process creating a stream of electrons that is then disrupted and diffused by the magnetic field fluctuations that produce the broadband process.

Power supply for Jupiter’s aurora puzzles scientists, Michael Lucy, COSMOS magazine
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Minuscule to Immense...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 11, 2017 at 4:29am
Artwork by Ana Kova

Topics: Astrophysics, Big Bang, Neutrinos, Particle Physics, Theoretical Physics

In particle physics, scientists study the properties of the smallest bits of matter and how they interact. Another branch of physics—astrophysics—creates and tests theories about what’s happening across our vast universe.

While particle physics and astrophysics appear to focus on opposite ends of a spectrum, scientists in the two fields actually depend on one another. Several current lines of inquiry link the very large to the very small.

The seeds of cosmic structure
For one, particle physicists and astrophysicists both ask questions about the growth of the early universe.

In her office at Stanford University, Eva Silverstein explains her work parsing the mathematical details of the fastest period of that growth, called cosmic inflation.

“To me, the subject is particularly interesting because you can understand the origin of structure in the universe,” says Silverstein, a professor of physics at Stanford and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. “This paradigm known as inflation accounts for the origin of structure in the most simple and beautiful way a physicist can imagine.”

Scientists think that after the Big Bang, the universe cooled, and particles began to combine into hydrogen atoms. This process released previously trapped photons—elementary particles of light.

The glow from that light, called the cosmic microwave background, lingers in the sky today. Scientists measure different characteristics of the cosmic microwave background to learn more about what happened in those first moments after the Big Bang.

According to scientists’ models, a pattern that first formed on the subatomic level eventually became the underpinning of the structure of the entire universe. Places that were dense with subatomic particles—or even just virtual fluctuations of subatomic particles—attracted more and more matter. As the universe grew, these areas of density became the locations where galaxies and galaxy clusters formed. The very small grew up to be the very large.

Scientists studying the cosmic microwave background hope to learn about more than just how the universe grew—it could also offer insight into dark matter, dark energy and the mass of the neutrino.

What can particles tell us about the cosmos?The minuscule and the immense can reveal quite a bit about each other.Amanda Solliday, Symmetry Magazine
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I have a pre-order that needs some reviews.

Posted by Russell A. Mebane on September 9, 2017 at 12:41pm

Hey BSFS community!

If you're familiar with my work, then you've probably heard of "Squirrels & Puppies" and "Flowers & Kittens".  They're short story collections of the weird, dark, and slightly humorous.  I like dealing with the ideas of race, religion, and morality, and in this new book, "Hugs & Bunnies: Weird and Dark Tales", the nature of God will be one of the themes.  He's going to be symbolized as a giant robot, a sex doll, and a bunch of blue flowers among other things in this book of short stories. 

It's available for pre-order, and it needs some reviews.  I'll happily send you a free copy in exchange for a review.  It comes out on December 1st.  Oh, before I forget:

WARNING: SCENES OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE.

There ya go.  Thanks again BSFS!

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Fall Into Literacy Community Book Festival

Posted by MG Hardie on September 7, 2017 at 10:00am
 
MG Hardie will attend Los Angeles' 7th Annual Fall Into Literacy Community Book Festival!
This year’s theme, Viva Los Libros, will promote literacy, education, and basic-need resources through honoring our community’s diverse heritage.
This is a free literacy event and this year, we plan to bring you even more excitement by featuring exhibitors with reading and writing-related children’s activities, performances, live authoring readings and more! Stay tuned for announcements on special guests scheduled to attend.
As an attendee, you will learn the importance of literacy in our everyday lives along with tips and resources to help your children with literacy. Together, we can inspire not only a child, but a whole community to love to read and write.
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Almost Cliché...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 8, 2017 at 5:39am
Satellite Image of Hurricane Irma from Space, Space.com

Topics: Climate Change, Economy, Green Tech

I saw "An Inconvenient Sequel" about a month ago. It's almost cliché to use the term "super storm," or in our case of so soon on the heels of Harvey in Texas with Irma in Florida, plural. I blogged about it. I ate popcorn. I conveniently compartmentalized its warnings until now. My apathy is we haven't changed one iota since Katrina or Rita. Cliché storms, starving polar bears, the Antarctic glacial sheet melting...we appear to be ready for football and the next chapter of the Kardashians. I am as concerned for family and friends in Florida as I was in Texas, bracing for the next cliché; before the end of hurricane season and the beginning of the winter ahead. Whether bitter or mild, it will not be "normal."

As with my advocacy of green tech (and anything tech), I can see one clear benefit for fighting climate change: employment. It more than incarceration tends to guarantee stable societies. The coal jobs that used to sacrifice human life and limb as well as a few drilling jobs for the most part are now done by robots. Europe and other countries are not letting "grass grow under their feet" technologically speaking. Chancellor Angela Merkel seems determined for Germany to occupy that well-deserved space as (now) leader of the free world will indeed be a woman...just not an American.

I follow many blogs, Stone Kettle Station being a gem. I almost titled this post with a cliché/expression Jim Wright used in this posting: "Creationists don't build starships." Neither will we, at this point in our technologically lazy history. I say lazy in the sense one does not fabricate a "science" out of whole cloth when the results of observation and experiment reported by the actual subject makes you uneasy. Advocating for it to be taught next to actual science K-12 is galling. It propels us from Democracy to Idiocracy, no suspended animation required.

We're already on a spaceship called Earth without the need to create fantastic engine drives or exotic technologies. It's power source is a fusion reactor at the center of our solar system, it likely forming some distance from here in a star cluster (and a twin sister), along with the precious metals we esteem so highly. Our ship travels space in 365.25 day increments as the system travels the Milky Way as the Milky Way traverses the existing stars, many we have not observed and only discover as we meander the Cosmos. In this sense, we're all astronauts. As such, we're on a ship with a volume, mass and density. It can only give limited supplies of fuel, food and resources. Some of us hoard resources and abuse ship supplies. To compartmentalize those resources, we demarcate ourselves as rich, poor, black, white, makers, takers, winners, losers, deserving, not deserving; human...NOT human. Eventually vessels give way to the wear-tear of Entropy. As one of the lessons of the Titanic attests, even the strongest of bows will break on blunt and obvious icebergs. Captain Ahab is cultural metaphor, known without reading Melville's long novel, a byword and proverb of obsession leading to destruction by relentless natural forces, the leviathan a phallic symbol.

To quote President Bush verbatim: "we're addicted to oil." Our world economy became global on the gold of cotton picked by slaves. Now we're beholden to the value of the dollar and OPEC futures. We would have to halt production full-stop and leave current fossil fuels in the ground, according to The Guardian: our gasoline, Vaseline, plastics, mobile phones, automotive and apparel industries aren't about to let that happen. Controlling the media to the point that an Australian billionaire and a Saudi Prince dictate the thoughts of ditto heads on a media conglomerate 21 years old such that denialism has an obvious profit motive. "Good to the last drop" was a Maxwell House tag line, and may well be our epitaph.

The passengers of the Arbella who left England in 1630 with their new charter had a great vision. They were to be an example for the rest of the world in rightful living. Future governor JOHN WINTHROP stated their purpose quite clearly: "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us." Source: US History

That famous line has been quoted and paraphrased by President Reagan and recently former FBI Director James Comey. Rather than that puritan and idealistic view of our percentage of humanity and rose-colored view of history, we currently behave metaphorically like the survivors of a shipwreck... on a dung heap.
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Festival of Great Literary Reads

Posted by MG Hardie on September 6, 2017 at 9:58pm

The Festival Of Great Reads understands the importance of children developing a love for reading. This is a great time to get new books before the school year begins and meet the authors of these awesome reads.

 

There will be a panel of authors, including award-winning authors Maritere Belles and Natalie Torres discussing "How to get your child to read." & "How to encourage your young writer."

 

This FREE family event is sure to be epic so you don't want to miss it. Come out and enjoy a day of literacy, music, face painting, food, and raffle prizes.

 

 

 

2209 East 6th Street

Corner of 7th & Junipreo

Long Beach, CA 90814 

Sat, August 26, 2017

10:00 AM – 3:00 PM PDT

 

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Quantum Light on a Chip...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 6, 2017 at 5:29am
A laser (green) excites the quantum dot (red) in this diagram of the chip. The ring, which is tuned via applying voltage to the yellow contacts, manipulates the characteristics of individual photons (ellipsoids).
Topics: Laser, Nanotechnology, Photonics, Quantum Dots, Quantum Mechanics, Solid State Physics

Ideally, optical circuits would generate and shuttle light so well that researchers could use them to transmit encoded information, sense chemical species, and perform quantum computations. But because the components for each circuit—light sources, mirrors, splitters, filters, and waveguides—occupy several feet of table space, they cannot manipulate light down to the nanoscale. In an effort to downsize components and produce practical quantum photonic devices, researchers have been tinkering with nonlinear materials, atomic defects, and traditional semiconductors at the nanoscale.

Now Ali Elshaari at KTH Stockholm and his colleagues have taken a major stride by embedding circuit components on a CMOS-compatible chip that takes up a millionth the area of a tabletop apparatus. The key innovation was implementing precise control over quantum dot light sources, which emit photons in specific quantum states, including entangled ones, when excited by lasers. Scientists had struggled to control the dots’ emission and integrate the dots with waveguides for on-chip applications. Elshaari’s team devised a special geometry that optimized the alignment of the dots’ light emission with the fundamental waveguide mode, which resulted in high coupling efficiencies. To control the emission, an electrically tunable device acted as a spectral filter that could fine-tune the photon characteristics.

Manipulating quantum light on a chip, Katyayani Seal, Physics Today
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Nanoscale Quantum Memory...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 5, 2017 at 6:10am
Electron microscope image of the optical cavity used to make a quantum memory. Each segment in the cavity has a vertical dimension of about 690 nm (Courtesy: Tian Zhong et al / Science)
Topics: Modern Physics, Nanotechnology, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics

A new type of optical quantum memory that could be integrated with other components on a chip has been unveiled by physicists in the US. The device overcomes an important challenge facing researchers trying to make quantum computers based on light – how to efficiently capture a photon within a sub-micron-sized structure.

From sending messages that could never be bugged to linking together quantum computers in a "quantum Internet", the ability to exchange quantum information may be vital to the future of technology. This will not be possible, however, without quantum memories to store quantum states and release them when needed.

In the Internet of today, information is sent between computers through a distributed series of nodes called routers. "Packets [of information] are maybe stored for some time and then they are sent," says Andrei Faraon of the California Institute of Technology, "There is some control over the timing of the packet." An optical network that uses photons to carry quantum information would require analogous nodes to store not strings of ones and zeroes (bits) but the full quantum states of individual photons (quantum bits or qubits).

There are currently several different quantum memories under development – some storing qubits as collective excitations in ensembles of atoms, others using solid-state crystals. Among the second group, crystals doped with ions of rare-earth metals have proved successful because rare-earth ions have sharp, stable electronic transitions that can couple to photons and preserve their quantum states. However, absorbing a photon generally requires millimetre- to centimetre-thicknesses of material, making quantum memories rather large.

Optical quantum memory shrinks to the nanoscale, Tim Wogan, Physics World
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Design materialized as the next logical step

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on September 2, 2017 at 11:06am

The mind space, similar to toothpaste. In the tube it can be squeezed and mangled within the confines of it's container. Remove the cap and out it comes but according to a little coaxing and the now unblocked orifice. The point is managing the next logical outcome. Then envisioning how far you can take that outcome. I've have seen geodesic domes made of Saran Wrap, bubble wrap and Plexiglas but I wouldn't live in any of them. The mind can conceive so much. Practicality is often based on economics and availability even before you get to durability and aesthetics. The famous Frank Lloyd Wright while on the cutting edge of style and grace made an eventually leaky dwelling because the materials available didn't perform as planned (pushed too far). I've seen cargo container home designers give up and coin the industrial/shipyard look as cool, trendy, hip, NOT! Think that's bad try the military look, not to diss the military, after all they did glamorize the one thing that works well, 'camouflage'. In architecture it is called facades. In fashion it is costume and makeup, in culinary it's substitute and seasoning. Look and feel of one thing while having the structure and substance of something else.....but you know how many Naugahydes it takes to simulate deep Corinthian leather? A full 10 gallon pail (that's hat in Texas).

Yes, this is an exercise in design, the next logical assumption. Every step wither back, to the side or to jump ahead leads somewhere. Strip the rippled walls off a cargo container and cover the frame in glass. Double the glass and fill the gap with Styrofoam beads, coat with Ray-ban, electric phase change salts, roll down screens. Curve the glass into a quonset covering. You can seal this or make it slide like a pool cover. Under the quonset the space is open, forget the horse barn and barrack look. I've seen private jets that have near the same shaped space so plush it's like Star Trek. The airship or future blimp has sliding vista windows and roofs, a strolling isle like a fashion show walkway, accommodations, build-ins, no wasted space, and no clutter, an observation deck with a bar, sleeping state rooms. Talk about leisure cruises.

Young folks are living in smaller spaces so they can afford the luxury. It is a mind-space trade off. JUST THINK, take "da lux" off your SUV and outfit your tiny house, haul it with a beater truck and look like stepping off a "Lost in Space" episode before Dr. Smith becomes Mr. Smith, the real one in the Matrix. All Smiths find out, this is why black Smiths live off world, "Nubian I think". Morpheus is one of the Jones boys but "The Rock" is a Johnson like me (no relation and yet I wonder).        

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