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Posted by Jan S on July 6, 2016 at 11:16pm

Wow. Nearly 2 yrs since I last posted here? Well, I could trot out the usual excuses (all of which are valid, btw), but what's the point? It'd be a long list of illness (physical and mental), lack of money and motivation, etc. blah woof.

So. I'm back here, for now. Looking forward to what's been happnin since I was last here. Book reccs welcomed. Last one I read by a non-white person was Errick Nunnally's Blood for the Sun, which I liked a lot. Reviewed it for Foreword Reviews Magazine.

The peregrine has landed.

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Quantum Break Up...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 7, 2016 at 6:00am
On the left is experimental data showing the distribution of strontium atoms after dissociation has occurred. The centre panel shows the quantum-chemistry simulation of the distribution, and the panel on the right is the quasi-classical model. (Courtesy: M McDonald et al./Nature)


Topics: Chemistry, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Mechanics


A new study of how light causes diatomic molecules to break apart has revealed significant flaws in the traditional theory describing the photodissociation process. The work has been carried out by physicists and chemists in the US and Poland, and suggests that the dissociation of molecules prepared in pure quantum states is best described by a recently developed quantum-chemistry model. As well as providing further insights into the quantum nature of molecules, the experimental technique could form the basis of a new source of entangled atoms for matter-wave experiments.

Photodissociation occurs when a molecule is blown apart by absorption of a photon, and it has long been used to study the physics and chemistry of molecules. The process usually involves the electric-dipole moment of the molecule coupling to the oscillating electromagnetic field of the photon – although symmetry considerations forbid this interaction in some situations.

The process is usually studied by creating an ultracold, supersonic molecular beam that is irradiated with light from a pulsed dye laser. However, the minimum achievable temperature of such a molecular beam is too high to allow molecular ensembles to be prepared in pure quantum states before dissociation. Instead, what is observed is the average of the dissociation patterns of multiple quantum states. These observations are described very well by the quasi-classical model for electric-dipole dissociation that was developed in the 1960s by Richard Zare and Dudley Hershbach of the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963. Hershbach shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on molecular beams.

Physics World: Molecules break up under quantum control, Tim Wogan

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Beauty and Symmetry...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 6, 2016 at 6:33am
Figure 13.8, the center vertical position for the unusual mirrored structure in the parliament building in Berlin
Jim Zuckerman on Composition: Symmetry


Topics: Geometry, Mathematical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Theoretical Physics


DATE: Saturday, June 4, 2016

TIME: 2:00 PM-3:30 PM

VENUE: NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts

MODERATOR: John Hockenberry

PARTICIPANTS: Robbert Dijkgraaf, David Gross, Alan Lightman, Maria Spiropulu

From a bee’s hexagonal honeycomb to the elliptical paths of planets, symmetry has long been recognized as a vital quality of nature. Einstein saw symmetry hidden in the fabric of space and time. The brilliant Emmy Noether proved that symmetry is the mathematical flower of deeply rooted physical law. And today’s theorists are pursuing an even more exotic symmetry that, mathematically speaking, could be nature’s final fundamental symmetry: supersymmetry. Join some of the world’s preeminent scientists to explore the core role symmetry plays in our unraveling of nature’s deepest secrets—and catch a glimpse of profoundly important symmetries that may be awaiting us just over the horizon.

The Big Ideas Series is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation.

Image Credit: Miles Verkade

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Brexit and Exits...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 5, 2016 at 8:04am
Image Source: Clean Technica


Topics: Existentialism, Politics


There is a typical mythology around the fear of unification, cautionary tales of the abuse of power by strongmen that would misuse the levers of republic meant for the common good. The League of Nations - precursor to the United Nations - was formed in the wake of the Great War, (as World War I was known, until it had a sequel). The idea behind it was to always have lines of communication between nations such that war between particularly European nations would be unthinkable, and economically impractical. The European Union formed in the wake of the sequel and the ruins of Europe and WWII, with similar goals and reasons to avoid internal conflicts (The Irish Republican Army comes to mind).

Enter the conspiracy provocateurs. Foaming at the mouth about obscure ancient texts in Holy Writ warning of nation state confederacies: the dragon; 7 heads, 10 horns; the "mark of the beast" (usually compared to RFID chips currently found in your smart phones), and of course: the onslaught of refugees either from Mexico or Syria. Doom must be avoided so as not to give supreme authority to an overarching, powerful figure that will show no mercy to humanity: the Antichrist. He was given a limited run as Damien in the Omen movie series, and several world leaders including presidents 43 and the current 44 have been accused of being the antidemocratic prince of darkness.

In a Facebook forum, I said these short comments the day after Brexit:

The Brexit vote has two parallels within the US: the disdain and disrespect for expertise and xenophobia for the future.

There was a time we lamented access to "The Information Superhighway" as the Internet was referred to in the age of phone lines and dial-up modems. Home computers cost on average $2,500 in the 90's, making purchase and access prohibitive to people of color in the US. Now that we have the equivalent of supercomputers in our hip pockets, we comment on every article without reading them; our attention spans to information is fleeting; we share a preponderance of cat videos; we become "Google scholars" and everyone with a URL, a loud mouth and with a large following becomes an "expert," despite no academic preparation in their curriculum vitae.

Brexit split along generational and cultural lines: the older more conservative wanting to exit the EU, remembering Halcyon days of empire (when the UK actually had one) instead of the interconnected world we now have. Racist and xenophobic forces used the refugee crisis to their crass advantage, putting out the British equivalent of the "Willie Horton ads" during the 88 election by George HW Bush and his political adviser Lee Atwater. Fear is an excellent motivator to bring constituents to the polls, inevitably voting against their own best interests as many in the UK are now becoming cognizant to. Within the US, conservatives have voted for small government, family values representatives that continue to treat them less than constituents and more like Pavlovian canines they manipulate with Jingoism, Sloganeering and scripted. faux 3-point-sermons they obviously don't actually believe by their demonstrated lifestyles. It points to the demonstrated fact that all elections are about the apportionment of power and a sophisticated display of tribalism. We're not nearly as advanced beyond the caves as we delude ourselves to think.

In my previous state, Texas is considering its own version in "Texit" - which is somehow more sophisticated than the a traditional, unconstitutional secession. Despite the dodge of states' rights, articles of secession from the Confederacy were not so pandering, and mention slavery numerous times as their raison d'etre. That apparently goes away if the reality TV blowhard they have a hard on for becomes our 45th president. The Halcyon days they wish for in Dixie is a return to the 1850s: Eisenhower had the tax rate for top earners at 91%, and the nascent Civil Rights movement was energized by Brown vs. Board and Emmett Till's execution in the "Happy Days" 1950s. We started trying to afford pesky things like roads, education, integration and a space program. In the 1850s we had dirt roads, plantations, "free labor" and mint julep tea.

,,,"all elections are about the apportionment of power and a sophisticated display of tribalism."

As the demographics of nations diversify, the dominate cultures of those nations perceive an immediate loss of power and a need to protect it from "the others." Immediately after Brexit, there were reports of xenophobic attacks. Hate crimes sadly rose in breathtaking percentage estimates post-Brexit. The motivation for the UK's exit from the European Union - immigration, especially now during the Syrian refugee crisis - would probably be better managed within the EU.

Ironically, the countries that would have loved to witness an actual Brexit in their by-force-colonized lifetimes is an exceptionally long list.


Not to say the EU doesn't have its flaws, and free trade has had a disproportionate impact on blue collar workers on both sides of the pond. The Bilderberg Group is an actual "thing," but so is the Council on Foreign Relations, just a little more accessible. NAFTA is the favorite boogie man of the aforementioned provocateurs and doomsday preppers, ignoring the history of Ronald Reagan in 1984; George HW Bush thereafter as well as both parties in Washington in its implementation. In the UK and the US, globalization has enriched the 1%, who usually own the dominant industries and media outlets in their countries, as well as finance the politicians running for office that map out trade deals. Trade agreements allow them to pursue any cheaper labor force outside of their host nations of origin, thereby "taking jobs" from those not as educated or prepared for changes in the global economy. The caveat is simply eliminating trade agreements isn't an answer either: Foxconn in China just replaced 60,000 workers with robots, so even the cheapest labor force isn't safe from the automaton. In my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, someone who wasn't "college material" could make a reasonable living and raise a family at Hanes Dye and Finishing (as my father did) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (where my sister retired from). Both companies have reduced their presence substantially in the US, most of their manufacturing operations shipped overseas. When manufacturers go for cheap labor and profits, it reduces the quality of life and even education in the municipalities they expatriate. The crass idea that companies can sell their product back in their host countries is born out by the facts they have been so far wildly successful. Blaming the immigrant and/or refugee for "taking jobs" is a convenient dodge at the moment, until the crowds with torches and pitchforks become painfully aware that they have been bamboozled.

The irony being that in two demagogues with exceptionally bad hairdos in the UK and the US, to protect their foaming-mouthed followers from "the other"; to ensure no nefarious New World Order confederacy is formed (or more likely: reasonably trying to avoid conflict, and fairly employ citizens in their home countries) we're about to turn over the reins of power not to Damien-type avatars from the pit: but two* loudmouthed racist, xenophobic nincompoops. With the North Korean supremely badly-quaffed leader, I guess we have a trifecta of idiocy: an "axis of evil" pompadours?

Oh well, I guess that's far better than being under the boot of Beelzebub.

* I wrote this before the London head mop and his UKIP stooge bowed out of managing the mess they've made. They're political pyromaniacs: 1) they lit a fire; 2) gleefully watched the castle burn; 3) on charged with accountability, denies having lit said fire.

Related Links:

Balkinization:
Some observations about Brexit (and the relevance of constitutional theory)
Sandy Levinson
The Daily Beast: I'll let you click through to Samantha Bee's blunt title
#P4TC: Terms of Indifference

Lastly, John Oliver for the appropriate after-independence fireworks:

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Rep. Dina Titus critical of congressional effort to push Yucca Mountain project forward

Posted by Cortez R Law III on July 4, 2016 at 12:19pm

By SEAN WHALEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

*Here's another background story on America's issue with nuclear waste from The Waste Lands Report.*

CARSON CITY — It is a riddle for the ages: What is dead but never dies? The answer in Nevada is the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

As a state legislative panel overseeing the moribund Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository gets ready to meet later this week, Rep. Dina Titus has criticized a new effort in Congress to move the project forward.
In a news release last week, Titus, D-Nev., spoke out about a plan to fund the project in the Fiscal 2017 Energy-Water Appropriations bill, HR 5055.

The provision would allot the U.S. Department of Energy $150 million to continue an application process to license the project as a nuclear storage facility. The legislation also prohibits any funds from being used to close Yucca Mountain as a future storage option.

Titus noted that congressional supporters of Yucca Mountain made the same attempt last year but failed to see it become law.

Titus has sponsored the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would require projects such as Yucca Mountain to receive approval from local governments in affected areas.

“Yucca Mountain is not a secure depository that would seal dangerous waste safely for a million years,” Titus said.

“It is instead a proposal based on bad science and faulty assumptions. Specifically, the NRC confirmed that it is not secure, that it will leak, and that radiation will travel miles through underground water sources to farming communities in the Amargosa Valley on its way to Death Valley National Park.”

The waste will also have to be transported across the U.S. to the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Obama administration in 2010 shelved the controversial project, which faced opposition from many Nevada political leaders and citizens, but efforts to revive it continue.

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., sent a letter to the House Appropriations subcommittee members on April 12 asking that the provision, and another $20 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advance the Yucca Mountain license application, be removed from the legislation.

“I would urge the subcommittee to prioritize funding for the Department of Energy’s efforts to advance alternative long-term storage options for our nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste,” he said.

“While I understand that many of my colleagues disagree with me on the issue of Yucca Mountain, Nevadans have a right to be safe in their own backyards.”

Nevada’s Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste will meet for the first time this year on Friday to get an overview of the status of the project from various officials, including Bob Halstead, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects.

While some house members may want to move the project forward, the Senate version of an appropriations bill contains no such funding.
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada has repeatedly said the project is dead.

But presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has not 
made it clear where he stands on the issue.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Find him on Twitter:@seanw801

Congresswoman Dina Titus, D-Nev. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

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Reid’s exit will make fighting Yucca Mountain project tougher, ex-governor says

Posted by Cortez R Law III on July 4, 2016 at 12:20pm

By SEAN WHALEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

*Here's another background story on America's issue with nuclear waste from The Waste Lands Report.*

CARSON CITY — Former Nevada Gov. Richard Bryan told a legislative panel on Friday that although the state’s case against Yucca Mountain is strong, keeping the high-level nuclear waste repository at bay will be a challenge with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s departure.

Bryan, chairman of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, said Reid, D-Nev., has succeeded in keeping the high-level nuclear waste dump from getting the funding needed to push it forward during his Senate career, which is ending.

Bryan, who helped initiate Nevada’s opposition to the dump in 1983 while governor, noted that the original plan was to have the repository open in 1998.

“I believe Nevada’s case is stronger today than it has ever been,” Bryan told the Legislature’s Committee on High Level Nuclear Waste. 

But efforts continue in Congress to proceed with the project, he said.

“Suffice it to say, it is going to be a challenge,” Bryan said.

There is a new effort in Congress this year to provide funding to proceed on Yucca Mountain. The Fiscal 2017 Energy-Water Appropriations bill, HR 5055, would allot the U.S. Department of Energy $170 million to continue an application process to license the project as a nuclear storage facility. A similar effort last year failed largely because of Reid’s efforts.

There is no Yucca funding in this year’s Senate budget bills.

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation have criticized the latest funding effort.

The Obama administration in 2010 shelved the controversial Yucca Mountain project, which many Nevada political leaders and citizens had opposed, but efforts to revive it never seem to end.

Nye County Commissioner Dan Schinhofen also testified at the meeting. He said he was not advocating for Yucca Mountain, but was asking to let the review process proceed.

“Let’s hear the science,” he said. “Let the 219 contentions by the state to be heard. We welcome them to be heard. People deserve to hear the science.”

Nevada’s objections to the project involve everything from the technology proposed to store the waste to transportation concerns.

Bob Halstead, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the state would likely need $8 million to $10 million a year in funding if full licensing proceedings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission resume.
​
The agency continues to receive funding to maintain its efforts to participate in the limited licensing process now in progress.

Gov. Brian Sandoval remains opposed to Yucca Mountain.

Bryan said he supports “consent-based” sighting of the project, and legislation called the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would require projects such as Yucca Mountain to receive approval from local governments in affected areas, is being sponsored by members of Nevada’s congressional delegation.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Find him on Twitter:@seanw801

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio and Rep. Cresent Hardy, R-Nev., walk along the train tracks during a congressional tour of the Yucca Mountain exploratory tunnel Thursday, April 9, 2015. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow Sam Morris on Twitter @sammorrisRJ

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Eyes on Juno...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 4, 2016 at 6:25am
Image Source: NASA.gov


Topics: Jupiter, Moon, NASA, Space Exploration


I've had some fun with the following app, courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Lab:

At the bottom of the NASA mission pages, I found this link: Eyes on Juno. The app is versatile for any mission NASA is currently undertaking, plus your curiosity will be pleased with the excellent motion simulation. Juno is currently going at 9,187 miles/hour, not "warp speed," but faster than our respective cars. I'll update once more info comes up on the local news.

Enjoy your holiday if in the US. I hope yours is a safe one, with respect to current situations around the world.

Here's more info I found at NASA.gov:

 Monday, July 4 – Orbit Insertion Day
Noon -- Pre-orbit insertion briefing at JPL
10:30 p.m. -- Orbit insertion and NASA TV commentary begin

 Tuesday, July 5
1 a.m. -- Post-orbit insertion briefing at JPL

 To watch all of these events online, visit:

 http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

 http://www.ustream.tv/nasa

 http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

 Live coverage on orbit insertion day also will be available online via Facebook Live at:

 http://www.facebook.com/nasa

 http://www.facebook.com/nasajpl


I found this related and quite funny. This parody is pure satire, funny and sad in its true depiction of our online selves. I said in sharing it: "we're seriously doomed."


Tomorrow: Brexit and Exits

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Juno Genesis...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 1, 2016 at 6:47am


Topics: Jupiter, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration


This Independence Day, millions of Americans will look to the sky to watch dazzling fireworks. But across the country, scientists will be looking up for an entirely different reason: On July 4, NASA's Juno spacecraft will enter an orbit of Jupiter, giving us an unprecedented window into the history of our solar system's oldest planet.

Jupiter is a strange world, but Juno will make it a little more familiar. In doing so, it could give scientists valuable insight into our own origin story — and clues in the ongoing hunt for alien life.

Jupiter is a planet unlike any other. If every other planet in our solar system teamed up to form one massive monolith of a world, Jupiter would still be two and half times heavier. That incredible mass only becomes more impressive when you consider the fact that Jupiter is a gas giant: With the exception of a rocky core that may or may not exist at its very center, the planet is made entirely of gaseous and liquid elements. When a quarter of your mass comes from helium molecules, it takes a lot of space to carry any real weight. More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

At that size, Jupiter comes close to being more of a sickly star than a powerful planet. In fact, scientists have found many alien stars that bear a striking resemblance to the fifth planet from the sun. Some even have raging storms like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which has been churning in the planet's atmosphere for hundreds of years.

"Jupiter is a planet on steroids," principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute said during a June 16 press briefing. "Everything about it is extreme."

Washington Post: How NASA’s Juno mission could help tell us where we came from
Rachel Feltman

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From MOSFETs to GAAFETs...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 30, 2016 at 5:38am

Topics: Consumer Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Nanotechnology



 The MOSFET – Metal Oxide FET

Image Source: Electronics Tutorials

As well as the Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET), there is another type of Field Effect Transistor available whose Gate input is electrically insulated from the main current carrying channel and is therefore called an Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor or IGFET. The most common type of insulated gate FET which is used in many different types of electronic circuits is called the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor or MOSFET for short.

The IGFET or MOSFET is a voltage controlled field effect transistor that differs from a JFET in that it has a “Metal Oxide” Gate electrode which is electrically insulated from the main semiconductor n-channel or p-channel by a very thin layer of insulating material usually silicon dioxide, commonly known as glass. Source: Electronics Tutorials
By Appaloosa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10213475

A multigate device or multiple gate field-effect transistor (MuGFET) refers to a MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor) which incorporates more than one gate into a single device. The multiple gates may be controlled by a single gate electrode, wherein the multiple gate surfaces act electrically as a single gate, or by independent gate electrodes. A multigate device employing independent gate electrodes is sometimes called a Multiple Independent Gate Field Effect Transistor (MIGFET). Multigate transistors are one of the several strategies being developed by CMOS semiconductor manufacturers to create ever-smaller microprocessors and memory cells, colloquially referred to as extending Moore's Law. Source: Wikipedia
Image Source: IEEE

We demonstrate undoped-body, gate-all-around (GAA) Si nanowire (NW) MOSFETs with excellent electrostatic scaling. These NW devices, with a TaN/Hf-based gate stack, have high drive-current performance with NFET/PFET IDSAT = 825/950 μA/μm (circumference-normalized) or 2592/2985 μA/μm (diameter-normalized) at supply voltage VDD = 1 V and off-current IOFF = 15 nA/μm. Superior NW uniformity is obtained through the use of a combined hydrogen annealing and oxidation process. Clear scaling of short-channel effects versus NW size is observed. Additionally, we observe a divergence of the nanowire capacitance from the planar limit, as expected, as well as enhanced device self-heating for smaller diameter nanowires. We have also applied this method to making functional 25-stage ring oscillator circuits. Source: IEEE
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Life on Enceladus...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 29, 2016 at 5:28am
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is thought to host a liquid ocean beneath its frozen surface that could be hospitable to life. Credit: NASA


Topics: Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Moon, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration


Saturn’s frozen moon Enceladus is a tantalizing world—many scientists are increasingly convinced it may be the best place in our solar system to search for life. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, has made intriguing observations of icy jets spewing from a suspected underground liquid ocean on the mysterious world that might be hospitable to alien life.

Cassini’s tour is due to wind down in 2017, and scientists badly want to send a dedicated mission to Enceladus to look for signs of life. In fact, some have already started seriously thinking about exactly how they might do this—including planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, who is the imaging team leader for Cassini.

Although Enceladus is small in size and shrouded in a thick shell of ice, it appears to be a habitable world: It has a source of energy from friction created by its orbit around Saturn, organic compounds that are building blocks for life and a liquid water ocean underneath all that ice. But just because Enceladus may be hospitable to life does not mean life exists there; it will take much more work to definitively prove it. At the Berkeley meeting, scientists laid out the data Cassini has collected for Enceladus—they discussed analyses of its geysers, measurements of its ice shell, ideas on what its ocean chemistry might be like, and more. Yet even with all the newest data and models scientists have, they are not even close to detecting organisms on Enceladus—hence the need for a space mission.

Scientific American: Excitement Builds for the Possibility of Life on Enceladus
Annie Sneed

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News in Neutrons...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 28, 2016 at 5:48am
When a free neutron (green) undergoes a process known as beta decay, it produces a proton (red), an antineutrino (gold) and an electron (blue)–as well as a photon (white). An experiment at NIST measured the range of energies that a given photon produced by beta decay can possess, a range known as its energy spectrum.
Credit: Hanacek/NIST

Topics: Atomic Physics, Big Bang, Particle Physics, Quantum Electrodynamics, Standard Model, Theoretical Physics

A physics experiment performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has enhanced scientists’ understanding of how free neutrons decay into other particles. The work provides the first measurement of the energy spectrum of photons, or particles of light, that are released in the otherwise extensively measured process known as neutron beta decay. The details of this decay process are important because, for example, they help to explain the observed amounts of hydrogen and other light atoms created just after the Big Bang.

Published in Physical Review Letters, the findings confirm physicists’ big-picture understanding of the way particles and forces work together in the universe—an understanding known as the Standard Model. The work has stimulated new theoretical activity in quantum electrodynamics (QED), the modern theory of how matter interacts with light. The team’s approach could also help search for new physics that lies beyond the Standard Model.

NIST: Physicists measured something new in the radioactive decay of neutrons
Chad Boutin

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Dubai Solar Power...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 27, 2016 at 5:14am


Topics: Alternative Energy, Green Energy, Green Tech, Solar Power


It's almost a contradiction in terms: Dubai [investing in] solar power? You'd think in the US, the only saving grace is from coal and "drill-baby-drill." We're as isolated from the rest of the planet as the hapless voters in Brexit, told as a sad story from oligarchs only interested in making money the same way they always have to low-information voters they happily manipulate to their own ends. There are twice as many solar jobs than coal, but the crowd that holds on to Halcyon memories of mining's dominance don't want to hear they may have to retrain to retain their middle class status. When the people, countries and culture primarily responsible for fossil fuels are looking in another direction, it's time the rest of us all started paying attention. Apparently, we (in the US) cannot "walk and chew gum."

They like to do things big in Dubai, including a newly-approved concentrated solar power project that will generate 1,000 megawatts of power by 2020—and a whopping 5,000 megawatts by 2030.

The Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) has announced the launch of the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) project. Located on a single site within the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the plant will consist of five facilities. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed either in late 2020 or 2021, at which time it’s expected to generate 1,000 MW of power. By 2030, this plant could be churning out five times that amount—enough to raise the emirate’s total power output by 25 percent. [1]

The share of global electricity generated by solar photovoltaics (PV) could increase from 2 per cent today to as much as 13 per cent by 2030, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Released yesterday at InterSolar Europe, Letting in the Light: How Solar Photovoltaics Will Revolutionise the Electricity System finds the solar industry is poised for massive expansion, driven primarily by cost reductions. It estimates that solar PV capacity could reach between 1,760 and 2,500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 227 GW today. [2]



 1. Dubai Is Building the World’s Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant
George Dvorsky, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
2. SOLAR ENERGY COULD MEET UP TO 13 PER CENT OF GLOBAL POWER NEEDS BY 2030: IRENA, United Arab Emirate - Interact

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Free short story "Musings of a Garden" by me, for FREE!

Posted by Russell A. Mebane on June 24, 2016 at 4:18pm

Hello Lovely Community!

I'm attempting to make one of my ebooks free on Amazon, so I made it free on Lulu.com for the iBookstore, Kobo, and the Nook.  If you click the link, it'll take you to lulu.com where you can download the epub for free.  I already have one book that's free on Amazon (Squirrels & Puppies), but I wanted another one to give my readers a little more to love about me. 

What's the story about?  It's a short story focusing on the relationship between plants and insects.  I was thinking one day about how humans and lower mammals like dogs and cats actually communicate quite well with each other given our lack of a common spoken language.  However, I realized that this is due to the fact that mammals communicate primarily through auditory and visual cues.  Insects use chemical signals and pheromones to communicate with each other, which is also how plants communicate with each other.  Thus the idea of insects and plants communicating with each other, much like humans interacting with other mammals.  I felt it would be interesting to theorize what would be said between these two groups of organisms.  It's only 15 pages long, so you'll get through it quickly.  Yes, it will be dark and weird.  Why?  Because this is me. 

Enjoy!

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Pointsman...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 24, 2016 at 4:14am
Image Source: Pointsman.org site

Topics: Electromagnetism, Isotopes, James Clerk Maxwell, Mark G. Raizen, Thermodynamics

I've given you the link to The Pointsman Foundation; from its own description:

"The Pointsman Foundation is a not-for-profit 501c(3) organization headquartered in Austin, Texas. Its mission includes the advancement of production and use of stable isotopes and radioisotopes for medical treatments, diagnostics, and research using the patented Magnetically Activated and Guided Isotope Separation (“MAGIS”) process developed by Mark Raizen, Ph.D. (University of Texas at Austin).

"The Pointsman Foundation’s ultimate goal is to make lifesaving therapies available to the global medical community by reducing the currently prohibitive costs of the underlying isotopes. While the MAGIS process has been successfully demonstrated in a lab using Lithium isotopes, additional research and development is now required to produce useful quantities of the most needed isotopes."

I'm glad to call Alicia and Mark Raizen friends. I called him recently to get his advice on certain career decisions I'm beginning to make, and wanted his opinion on not if I will continue graduate study, but how and under what circumstances.

Essentially, Mark is a researcher (as I've observed) for two reasons: 1) because he loves science - it's what animates him; 2) for the Common Good, as he has an eye for his research beyond just the physics lab towards humanity as a whole.

We share that passion, though most of my contributions have been as an engineer in the semiconductor industry that is sadly shrinking in the US, and not-at-all lightly impacted by the limits encountered with Moore's Law. That reality has affected a few former colleagues that are no longer in the industry, and a few current ones dealing with present realities. Mark also discussed options that I hadn't considered before.

Mark gives great advice, and is an obviously competent research manager (even before Pointsman, his soft skills were honed primarily with graduate students). One of the points he made in our conversation was about focusing on what you actually want without distractions; to pursue further graduate studies not just for initials following one's sir name: it's because you love it, and see it as contributing to a greater purpose.

That clarity was important to me. A plan is emerging; timelines are solidifying with respect to personal and familial commitments. After my implant process class this week, I'll dust off my GRE notes for both the General and Subject (Physics) tests and read many peer-reviewed papers in areas I'm interested in. I'll remember that young man I was at ten, who almost blew up my parents' house with a chemistry experiment gone awry; the same parents that still encouraged me to continue despite the peer pressure to go in other, less-positive life directions. I'll remember why I do what I do: because I love it.  And I guess (pun intended), that was Mark's "point."

☵

☲
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Chiral Origins...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 23, 2016 at 4:29am
An image of the center of our galaxy, where Sagittarius B2 is located. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/CXC/STScI)


Topics: Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Biology, SETI


A peculiar new molecule hovering within a star-forming dust cloud in deep in space could help explain why life on Earth is the way it is.

The cloud, called Sagittarius B2, resides near the center of the Milky Way, and it’s there that researchers from the California Institute of Technology discovered an organic element that displays a key property shared by all life. Propylene oxide is the first element discovered outside of our solar system to exhibit chirality, or the presence of two distinct, mirror-image forms. Many complex molecules have this property, including myriad organic molecules necessary for life. The chemical formula of these two versions is exactly the same, but the structure is flipped.



 Discover:
A Molecule Deep in Space Could Help Explain the Origins of Life, Nathaniel Scharping
#P4TC: Chiral Molecules...

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Electronic Persons...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 22, 2016 at 5:08am
A ''Nao'' humanoid robot, by Aldebaran Robotics that offers basic service information, moves during a presentation at a branch of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) in Tokyo April 13, 2015.
REUTERS/THOMAS PETER/FILE PHOTO


Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics


Europe's growing army of robot workers could be classed as "electronic persons" and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution.

Robots are being deployed in ever-greater numbers in factories and also taking on tasks such as personal care or surgery, raising fears over unemployment, wealth inequality and alienation.

Their growing intelligence, pervasiveness and autonomy requires rethinking everything from taxation to legal liability, a draft European Parliament motion, dated May 31, suggests.

Reuters: Europe's robots to become 'electronic persons' under draft plan
Georgina Prodhan

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Excerpt from Last Stop

Posted by Jessica Cage on June 21, 2016 at 11:22am

An abrupt tap on the window interrupts my scrolling as the phone nearly falls out of my hand.Standing outside of the car, peering in on me is a fine specimen of a man, the real life, living kind. Yes, I know, it’s weird that I have to specify that he is alive, but hell, I do see dead people!Slowly I crank the window, yes crank, because my baby is an old one, and peek at him through the cracked space.

“Yes?” I ask the stranger.
“I couldn’t help but notice you have been sitting in this car for a while. Is something wrong?” His voice is deep, smooth, and the kind that reaches beneath the layer of my dress and excites a more primal side of myself. I find myself staring at his full lips and licking my own.
“Actually, my car seems to have died.” I kick myself internally for easily offering up the information. Yes, this guy is highly attractive but that doesn’t mean he isn’t completely capable of reaching into my car and trying to slice my throat open. My thoughts briefly go back to a newspaper article about this really  twisted serial killer. The guy was sick, strangling girls and leaving their bodies in houses that were listed for sale. I take solace in the fact that his crazy ass is nowhere near my hometown. That is if he hadn’t decided to migrate and take his show on the road.
“Well, perhaps I can help?” He steps back a bit from the window and allows me a full viewing of his body. He is tall, I estimate a few inches over six feet. He has broad shoulders and wears a thin tan shirt that sticks to his body like a second skin. I can see all the contours of the muscles in his arms, chest, abs, and of course, it leads my eyes down his body to his thighs. I can go no further as the car door disrupts my view, but I have seen enough. This tall dark chocolate man with the low cut hair and bright smile looks too good to be true. I mean he looks good enough to taste. I shake that thought off as quickly as it comes to me. This is not the time.
“Unless you have a tow truck in your pocket, I don’t see how.” I joke lightly as a pathetic attempt to distract myself from the specimen in front of me. It’s my thoughts that have gone astray though he isn’t short stopping on the eye strokes. I watch his eyes dart down to my top and back up a few times.
“No tow truck, but I do have a car, maybe you need a jump for the battery?” He smiles and I nod because that smile is both brilliant and enticing.
“We can try it but I can’t say that I’m all that convinced that it will work.” The last jump I got barely took hold and even then I was given a stern warning to replace the part as soon as possible. Do you think I listened? Of course not!
“Great, I’ll be right back.” His retreating form allows me a perfect view of his assets, the firm plump kind that hangs out in the back and just begs to be held on to. I can’t help it, I like a nice ass and his is very nice! It’s the kind of ass that just screams, “This man does squats!”. Damn. I shake my head and try to push away the thoughts yet again. This is highly inappropriate. I don’t know this man, and I am somewhat involved. Even though the man I am with is actually a ghost, and well, how far can that really go, but that is no excuse for acting like a cat in heat.
I sit in the car and wait patiently. Quickly I return to my phone to send a text to Mackie. “If I fo missing, a tall dark stranger in a Kia Soul has taken me, hopefully as his love slave.” She won’t get the message until way later because her phone is locked away as usual during her events. Fingers crossed, I hope for the best.
Three attempts at jumping the battery produce no victory. I get out of the car and watch him work as he attempts yet again to save the day. This car is a goner, but hell, a hot man working on a car is pretty damn sexy. My mind is too busy tracing the outline of muscles in his arms to really give a damn about the dead battery.
“I guess it really is dead,” he says after he slams the hood and returns to my side of the car. He looks a bit defeated. Men and their machines, I will never understand them.
“Yeah, I figured as much. It’s my own fault. The check engine light has been on for, well for far too long. I’ve also gotten a few stern warnings about needing to get work done on it. I just never got around to doing it.” I kick the tire and sigh.
“Well, do you have a way to get home? The least that I can do is offer you a lift.” He smiles and once again, I do an internal black flip, and I stick the landing!
“You may decide to retract that offer when you hear that I live about an hour’s drive south of here.” I smile at him and pull out my phone to once again begin my search for a friend with wheels.
“Yes, perhaps I might, or maybe not, considering I do as well.” He smiles at me and I want him to stop it. Okay, no, I don’t, but it would sure as hell help my efforts to keep a clear head.
“Really?” I give him the side eye because his admission sounds too good to be true.
“Yes, so, Ms….” He trails off as he realizes that he never actually asked for my name.
“Josephine.” I offer it up to him willingly as I am eager to hear my name roll off his tongue and across those sexy lips.
“Josephine,” Hot damn, it sounds just as good as I imagine, if not better.
“Would you like a lift home?”I sigh because I know the smartest thing I can do right now is return to the gallery, wait out the party, and then burden Mackie for a ride, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to go back in there and I don’t want to ruin her night. She should be celebrating not playing chauffeur. I decide to take the risk. Hell, it’s just like hailing a cab or calling an Uber, I’m still putting my life and safety into the hands of a stranger either way. “Okay, sure.” Hell, I know how to protect myself. A girl doesn’t take four years of self-defense classes without picking up a thing or two about fighting off tall sexy men.
“What is your name?” I ask before I turn away to grab my bag out of my car.
“Sam.” He says it and it’s seductive as If he has practiced the sound for years to produce such a quality. “Sam Merrit.”
“Nice name.” I toss a duffel bag at him and he catches it easily. Might as well take as much as possible, I may not see my baby again for a while. I tap the old girl on the hood and walk away.
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From LIGO to LISA...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on June 21, 2016 at 5:13am
An artist's rendering of LISA Pathfinder on its way to Earth-sun L1.
Credits: ESA/C. Carreau


Topics: Astrophysics, Black Holes, General Relativity, Gravitational Waves, NASA


LISA Pathfinder (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), a mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions from NASA, has successfully tested a key technology needed to build a space-based observatory for detecting gravitational waves. These tiny ripples in the fabric of space, predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, were first seen last year by the ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Seismic, thermal, and other noise sources limit LIGO to higher-frequency gravitational waves around 100 cycles per second (hertz). But finding signals from more exotic events, such as mergers of supermassive black holes in colliding galaxies, requires the ability to see frequencies at 1 hertz or less, a sensitivity level only possible from space.

A space-based observatory would work by tracking test masses that move only under the influence of gravity. Each spacecraft would gently fly around its test masses without disturbing them, a process called drag-free flight. The primary goal of ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission is to test current technology by flying around an identical pair of 1.8-inch (46 millimeter) cubes made of a gold-platinum alloy, a material chosen for its high density and insensitivity to magnetic fields.

NASA:
LISA Pathfinder Mission Paves Way for Space-based Detection of Gravitational Waves

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