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Quantumaniac is where it’s at - and by ‘it’ I mean awesome.

Over here I post a ton of physics / math / general interesting science related posts. I try to be as informative as possible, all while posting fascinating things that hopefully enlighten us both a little to the mysteries of our truly wondrous universe(s?). Plus, how would you know if the blog exists or not unless you observe it? Boom, just pulled the Schrödinger’s cat card. Now you have to check it out - trust me, it said so in an equation somewhere.

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Quantum Questions?

Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

How Much Does Fire Weigh?  Question: Since fire is a plasma, and plasma is a state of matter, and matter is defined as anything that has mass, would that then mean that fire has mass and weight to it? If so, is there a way to measure its weight? How much space would, say, a pound of fire take up? Answer: It weighs more than nothing, but if you’re at the bottom of a pillar of fire, being crushed should be your second concern Fires, putting aside details about plasma and chemicals or whatever, is just hot air.  For a given pressure the ideal gas law says that the density of a gas is inversely proportional to temperature, in Kelvin.  You can use this fact, the temperature and density of air (300°K 1.3 kg/m3), and the temperature of your average run-of-the-mill open flame (about 1300°K) to find the density of fire. For most “everyday” fires, the density of the gas in the flame will be about 1/4 the density of air.  So, since air (at sea level) weighs about 1.3 kg per cubic meter (1.3 grams per liter), fire weighs about 0.3 kg per cubic meter. One pound of ordinary fire, here on Earth near sea level, would take up a cube about 1.2 meters to a side.  The reason that fires always flow upward is that its density is lower than air.  So, fire rises in air for the same reason that bubbles rise in water: it’s buoyant.  Enterprising individuals sometimes even take advantage of that fact. If you were on a planet with no air at all, fire would fall to the ground instead of rise because, like all matter, it’s pulled by gravity.  Also, it would be hard to keep the fire going (what with there being no air).

How Much Does Fire Weigh? 

Question: Since fire is a plasma, and plasma is a state of matter, and matter is defined as anything that has mass, would that then mean that fire has mass and weight to it? If so, is there a way to measure its weight? How much space would, say, a pound of fire take up?

Answer: It weighs more than nothing, but if you’re at the bottom of a pillar of fire, being crushed should be your second concern

Fires, putting aside details about plasma and chemicals or whatever, is just hot air.  For a given pressure the ideal gas law says that the density of a gas is inversely proportional to temperature, in Kelvin.  You can use this fact, the temperature and density of air (300°K 1.3 kg/m3), and the temperature of your average run-of-the-mill open flame (about 1300°K) to find the density of fire. For most “everyday” fires, the density of the gas in the flame will be about 1/4 the density of air.  So, since air (at sea level) weighs about 1.3 kg per cubic meter (1.3 grams per liter), fire weighs about 0.3 kg per cubic meter.

One pound of ordinary fire, here on Earth near sea level, would take up a cube about 1.2 meters to a side.  The reason that fires always flow upward is that its density is lower than air.  So, fire rises in air for the same reason that bubbles rise in water: it’s buoyant.  Enterprising individuals sometimes even take advantage of that fact.

If you were on a planet with no air at all, fire would fall to the ground instead of rise because, like all matter, it’s pulled by gravity.  Also, it would be hard to keep the fire going (what with there being no air).

(Source: askamathematician.com)

Electron Politics: Physicists Probe Organization at the Quantum Level A new study finds that “quantum critical points” in exotic electronic materials can act much like polarizing “hot button issues” in an election. On either side of a quantum critical point, electrons fall into line and behave as traditionally expected, but at the critical point itself, traditional physical laws break down. “The beauty of the quantum critical point is that even though it’s only one point along the zero temperature axis, what happens at that point dictates how electrons will interact in the material under a broad set of physical conditions,” said study co-author Qimiao Si, a theoretical physicist at Rice University. The new study involved “heavy-fermion metals,” magnetic materials with many similarities to high-temperature superconductors. Flowing electrons power all the lights, computers and gadgets that are plugged into the world’s energy grids, and physicists have spent more than a century describing how these electrons behave. But long-standing theories that describe how electrons interact in traditional metals and semiconductors have yet to explain the strange electronic properties of heavy-fermion metals, human-made composites that contain precise atomic arrangements of transition metals and rare earth elements. In the new study, Si collaborated with a group of experimental physicists led by Frank Steglich at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. The researchers examined several physical properties at extremely cold temperatures — some as much as 10 times colder than any such previous measurements — to show exactly how the standard theory of electron correlations in metals breaks down at the quantum critical point (QCP). That theory, Landau’s Fermi liquid theory, was first introduced in 1956. “By measuring the ratio of the thermal to electrical transport near the QCP in one of the most-studied heavy-fermion metals — ytterbium dirhodium disilicide — we found a breakdown in the fundamental concepts of Landau-Fermi liquid theory,” said Steglich, the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. Quantum particles come in two main varieties — bosons and fermions. Bosons are the quantum equivalent of extroverts; they enjoy one another’s company and can occupy the same quantum space. Fermions are the opposite; no two can occupy the same quantum space, and this defines much of their behavior. Electrons are fermions, and their tendency to seek quantum elbow room affects the way they organize. It’s important for scientists to understand how they behave in concert because even a small electric current in a tiny wire involves billions upon billions of individual electrons. Landau-Fermi liquid theory is a mathematical system that allows physicists to describe the actions of many billions of electrons with just a handful of variables. Landau’s vehicle for collapsing the actions of so many particles is something he dubbed a “quasiparticle,” a placeholder that acts like an individual but describes the collective fate of many physical particles. Read more

Electron Politics: Physicists Probe Organization at the Quantum Level

A new study finds that “quantum critical points” in exotic electronic materials can act much like polarizing “hot button issues” in an election. On either side of a quantum critical point, electrons fall into line and behave as traditionally expected, but at the critical point itself, traditional physical laws break down.

“The beauty of the quantum critical point is that even though it’s only one point along the zero temperature axis, what happens at that point dictates how electrons will interact in the material under a broad set of physical conditions,” said study co-author Qimiao Si, a theoretical physicist at Rice University. The new study involved “heavy-fermion metals,” magnetic materials with many similarities to high-temperature superconductors.

Flowing electrons power all the lights, computers and gadgets that are plugged into the world’s energy grids, and physicists have spent more than a century describing how these electrons behave. But long-standing theories that describe how electrons interact in traditional metals and semiconductors have yet to explain the strange electronic properties of heavy-fermion metals, human-made composites that contain precise atomic arrangements of transition metals and rare earth elements.

In the new study, Si collaborated with a group of experimental physicists led by Frank Steglich at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. The researchers examined several physical properties at extremely cold temperatures — some as much as 10 times colder than any such previous measurements — to show exactly how the standard theory of electron correlations in metals breaks down at the quantum critical point (QCP). That theory, Landau’s Fermi liquid theory, was first introduced in 1956.

“By measuring the ratio of the thermal to electrical transport near the QCP in one of the most-studied heavy-fermion metals — ytterbium dirhodium disilicide — we found a breakdown in the fundamental concepts of Landau-Fermi liquid theory,” said Steglich, the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids.

Quantum particles come in two main varieties — bosons and fermions. Bosons are the quantum equivalent of extroverts; they enjoy one another’s company and can occupy the same quantum space. Fermions are the opposite; no two can occupy the same quantum space, and this defines much of their behavior.

Electrons are fermions, and their tendency to seek quantum elbow room affects the way they organize. It’s important for scientists to understand how they behave in concert because even a small electric current in a tiny wire involves billions upon billions of individual electrons.

Landau-Fermi liquid theory is a mathematical system that allows physicists to describe the actions of many billions of electrons with just a handful of variables. Landau’s vehicle for collapsing the actions of so many particles is something he dubbed a “quasiparticle,” a placeholder that acts like an individual but describes the collective fate of many physical particles.

Read more

The Cartoon Laws of Physics Law I Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation. Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second per second takes over. Law II Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly. Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit on foot, cartoon characters are so absolute in their momentum that only a telephone pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motion absolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motion the stooge’s surcease. Law III Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter. Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the speciality of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction. Law IV The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken. Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it inevitably unsuccessful. Law V All principles of gravity are negated by fear. Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel them directly away from the earth’s surface. A spooky noise or an adversary’s signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole. The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding auto need never touch the ground, especially when in flight. Law VI As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once. This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a character’s head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A wacky character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required. Law VII Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot. This trompe l’oeil inconsistency has baffled generations, but at least it is known that whoever paints an entrance on a wall’s surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical space. The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of science. Law VIII Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent. Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than the traditional nine lives might comfortably afford. They can be decimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self pity, they reinflate, elongate, snap back, or solidify. Corollary: A cat will assume the shape of its container. Law IX Everything falls faster than an anvil. Law X For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance. This is the one law of animated cartoon motion that also applies to the physical world at large. For that reason, we need the relief of watching it happen to a duck instead. Law Amendment A A sharp object will always propel a character upward. When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharp object (usually a pin), a character will defy gravity by shooting straight up, with great velocity. Law Amendment B The laws of object permanence are nullified for “cool” characters. Characters who are intended to be “cool” can make previously nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs at will. For instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to express himself without speaking. Law Amendment C Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries. They merely turn characters temporarily black and smokey. Law Amendment D Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths. Their operation can be wittnessed by observing the behavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to strech. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground. Law Amendment E Dynamite is spontaneously generated in “C-spaces” (spaces in which cartoon laws hold). The process is analogous to steady-state theories of the universe which postulated that the tensions involved in maintaining a space would cause the creation of hydrogen from nothing. Dynamite quanta are quite large (stick sized) and unstable (lit). Such quanta are attracted to psychic forces generated by feelings of distress in “cool” characters (see Amendment B, which may be a special case of this law), who are able to use said quanta to their advantage. One may imagine C-spaces where all matter and energy result from primal masses of dynamite exploding. A big bang indeed.

The Cartoon Laws of Physics

Law I

Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.

Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second per second takes over.

Law II

Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly.

Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit on foot, cartoon characters are so absolute in their momentum that only a telephone pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motion absolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motion the stooge’s surcease.

Law III

Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter.

Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the speciality of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction.

Law IV

The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.

Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it inevitably unsuccessful.

Law V

All principles of gravity are negated by fear.

Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel them directly away from the earth’s surface. A spooky noise or an adversary’s signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole. The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding auto need never touch the ground, especially when in flight.

Law VI

As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.

This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a character’s head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled.

A wacky character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required.

Law VII

Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.

This trompe l’oeil inconsistency has baffled generations, but at least it is known that whoever paints an entrance on a wall’s surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical space.

The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of science.

Law VIII

Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent.

Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than the traditional nine lives might comfortably afford. They can be decimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self pity, they reinflate, elongate, snap back, or solidify.

Corollary:

A cat will assume the shape of its container.

Law IX

Everything falls faster than an anvil.

Law X

For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance.

This is the one law of animated cartoon motion that also applies to the physical world at large. For that reason, we need the relief of watching it happen to a duck instead.

Law Amendment A

A sharp object will always propel a character upward.

When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharp object (usually a pin), a character will defy gravity by shooting straight up, with great velocity.

Law Amendment B

The laws of object permanence are nullified for “cool” characters.

Characters who are intended to be “cool” can make previously nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs at will. For instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to express himself without speaking.

Law Amendment C

Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries.

They merely turn characters temporarily black and smokey.

Law Amendment D

Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths.

Their operation can be wittnessed by observing the behavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to strech. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground.

Law Amendment E

Dynamite is spontaneously generated in “C-spaces” (spaces in which cartoon laws hold).

The process is analogous to steady-state theories of the universe which postulated that the tensions involved in maintaining a space would cause the creation of hydrogen from nothing. Dynamite quanta are quite large (stick sized) and unstable (lit). Such quanta are attracted to psychic forces generated by feelings of distress in “cool” characters (see Amendment B, which may be a special case of this law), who are able to use said quanta to their advantage. One may imagine C-spaces where all matter and energy result from primal masses of dynamite exploding. A big bang indeed.

(Source: funnies.paco.to)

Closing In On Dark Matter When physicists and mathematicians want to get an idea into circulation before going through all the hoo-hah of peer-reviewed publication, they often post a paper on the arXiv server, where anyone who is curious can go and read it. Some arXiv papers turn out to be important, but much evaporates on closer inspection. Judging whether a new arXiv paper is one or the other can be extremely difficult. That is certainly the case with physicist Christoph Weniger’s paper, “A Tentative Gamma-Ray Line from Dark Matter Annihilation at the Fermi Large Area Telescope,” posted on April 12, on dark matter. Dark matter, invisible and undetectable, makes up more than a quarter of the universe and has been an enigma to physicists and astronomers for more than a century. While physicists can’t look at dark matter directly, they can try to tell-tale trails that dark matter was present. Weniger has produced an analysis of data that—if it holds up—is a major step forward in explaining dark matter, and might provide the first unambiguous evidence of what this mysterious and elusive substance is. Of course, we’ve heard dramatic claims like this before that didn’t pan out—and it’s certainly possible this one won’t either. We won’t know which way it goes until other scientists digest the analysis and weigh in, which could take months. And even so, it may take years before the findings are confirmed. In the meantime, it’s worth having a look at this latest experimental claim, if only to see how an outsider —a theorist unaffiliated with an experimental collaboration— occasionally tries to make a splash in the big collaboration world of physics. The outsider, of course, is Weniger. A post-doc at the Max-Planck Institute of Physics, he is not a member of the collaboration that works on the Fermi Large Area Telescope (the collaboration goes by the acronym Fermi-LAT). However, Fermi-LAT makes its data publicly available, which allowed Weniger to use it for his investigation. In fact, his analysis goes over ground that researchers collaborating on the Fermi-LAT project have already trod. When they analyzed their data in previous years, the Fermi-LAT researchers found no strong evidence for dark matter. Weniger, however, wasn’t convinced. He and a few colleagues opted to re-crunch the Fermi-LAT data and in March, posted hints of dark matter that they had spotted. Weniger’s April 12 paper goes a step further, suggesting he’s spotted an even stronger signal at a specific energy. Weniger’s analysis relies on a theory that predicts that when particles of dark matter meet, they will annihilate one another and create photons. In principal, you should be able to spot these photons in the form of high-energy gamma rays. Since the Large Area Telescope was built to study gamma rays, it’s an ideal instrument for this kind of search. Weniger analyzed 43 months of data, which yielded strong evidence for a gamma ray source in the outskirts of the galaxy—a region called the galactic halo—which is exactly where theorists would predict you could find dark energy annihilations. Specifically, he’s claimed to spot the candidate gamma rays at 130 billion electron volts. For those of you keen on the statistical details, he’s claiming it with as much as 4.6 sigma certainty—which is to say, a high degree of certainty. For context: In current particle physics, evidence for the Higgs boson would be accepted as a discovery at 5 sigma certainty, so 4.6 is pretty good. That said, when he incorporates the necessary statistics for his targeted search and sample size, his results drop to a 3.5 sigma certainty, barely strong enough for publication. What makes Weniger think that he got it right while the insiders at Fermi-LAT got it wrong? His is the first to include a full 43 months of data. Previous Fermi-LAT collaboration publications, such as results published in 2010, are limited to just 11 months.In addition, to updating the dataset, Weniger has developed his own algorithms for the dark matter search, which he believes do a better job understanding the region of the galaxy where dark matter is alleged to be. This improves his chances of distinguishing the sought out gamma rays from other galactic events. But before we pop open the champagne, there are several important caveats. As Weniger himself acknowledges, several more years of data will be needed before it’s clear whether what he thinks he’s seen is real. In addition, because Weniger isn’t a member of the team that gathers data at Fermi-LAT, it’s possible he doesn’t entirely understand how the technology involved in detecting and collecting the data may affect the data. This is something that only collaborators are likely to have studied with enough care to correct for in their analysis. The paper could amount to nothing more than another dark matter dead end. Things might get interesting if the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, to which Weniger is submitting this paper, opts to publish. That stamp of approval would set Weniger’s work above a great many other arXived efforts. Another development to watch for is a response from the folks on the Fermi collaboration. They know this data better than anyone, and if there’s something to be learned from Weniger’s approach, they’ll want to take it seriously. If nothing else, this is one more in a string of recent examples that shows how we are closing in on dark matter. For now, we watch and wait.

Closing In On Dark Matter

When physicists and mathematicians want to get an idea into circulation before going through all the hoo-hah of peer-reviewed publication, they often post a paper on the arXiv server, where anyone who is curious can go and read it. Some arXiv papers turn out to be important, but much evaporates on closer inspection. Judging whether a new arXiv paper is one or the other can be extremely difficult. That is certainly the case with physicist Christoph Weniger’s paper, “A Tentative Gamma-Ray Line from Dark Matter Annihilation at the Fermi Large Area Telescope,” posted on April 12, on dark matter.

Dark matter, invisible and undetectable, makes up more than a quarter of the universe and has been an enigma to physicists and astronomers for more than a century. While physicists can’t look at dark matter directly, they can try to tell-tale trails that dark matter was present. Weniger has produced an analysis of data that—if it holds up—is a major step forward in explaining dark matter, and might provide the first unambiguous evidence of what this mysterious and elusive substance is.

Of course, we’ve heard dramatic claims like this before that didn’t pan out—and it’s certainly possible this one won’t either. We won’t know which way it goes until other scientists digest the analysis and weigh in, which could take months. And even so, it may take years before the findings are confirmed. In the meantime, it’s worth having a look at this latest experimental claim, if only to see how an outsider —a theorist unaffiliated with an experimental collaboration— occasionally tries to make a splash in the big collaboration world of physics.

The outsider, of course, is Weniger. A post-doc at the Max-Planck Institute of Physics, he is not a member of the collaboration that works on the Fermi Large Area Telescope (the collaboration goes by the acronym Fermi-LAT). However, Fermi-LAT makes its data publicly available, which allowed Weniger to use it for his investigation. In fact, his analysis goes over ground that researchers collaborating on the Fermi-LAT project have already trod. When they analyzed their data in previous years, the Fermi-LAT researchers found no strong evidence for dark matter. Weniger, however, wasn’t convinced. He and a few colleagues opted to re-crunch the Fermi-LAT data and in March, posted hints of dark matter that they had spotted. Weniger’s April 12 paper goes a step further, suggesting he’s spotted an even stronger signal at a specific energy.

Weniger’s analysis relies on a theory that predicts that when particles of dark matter meet, they will annihilate one another and create photons. In principal, you should be able to spot these photons in the form of high-energy gamma rays. Since the Large Area Telescope was built to study gamma rays, it’s an ideal instrument for this kind of search.

Weniger analyzed 43 months of data, which yielded strong evidence for a gamma ray source in the outskirts of the galaxy—a region called the galactic halo—which is exactly where theorists would predict you could find dark energy annihilations. Specifically, he’s claimed to spot the candidate gamma rays at 130 billion electron volts. For those of you keen on the statistical details, he’s claiming it with as much as 4.6 sigma certainty—which is to say, a high degree of certainty. For context: In current particle physics, evidence for the Higgs boson would be accepted as a discovery at 5 sigma certainty, so 4.6 is pretty good. That said, when he incorporates the necessary statistics for his targeted search and sample size, his results drop to a 3.5 sigma certainty, barely strong enough for publication.

What makes Weniger think that he got it right while the insiders at Fermi-LAT got it wrong? His is the first to include a full 43 months of data. Previous Fermi-LAT collaboration publications, such as results published in 2010, are limited to just 11 months.In addition, to updating the dataset, Weniger has developed his own algorithms for the dark matter search, which he believes do a better job understanding the region of the galaxy where dark matter is alleged to be. This improves his chances of distinguishing the sought out gamma rays from other galactic events.

But before we pop open the champagne, there are several important caveats. As Weniger himself acknowledges, several more years of data will be needed before it’s clear whether what he thinks he’s seen is real. In addition, because Weniger isn’t a member of the team that gathers data at Fermi-LAT, it’s possible he doesn’t entirely understand how the technology involved in detecting and collecting the data may affect the data. This is something that only collaborators are likely to have studied with enough care to correct for in their analysis. The paper could amount to nothing more than another dark matter dead end.

Things might get interesting if the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, to which Weniger is submitting this paper, opts to publish. That stamp of approval would set Weniger’s work above a great many other arXived efforts. Another development to watch for is a response from the folks on the Fermi collaboration. They know this data better than anyone, and if there’s something to be learned from Weniger’s approach, they’ll want to take it seriously. If nothing else, this is one more in a string of recent examples that shows how we are closing in on dark matter. For now, we watch and wait.

(Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com)

Robot Prostitutes - is this the Future?  Let’s cut to the chase. Would you pay to have sex with a robot prostitute? Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars think someone will. Yeoman is a futurist with an interest in tourism, and Mars is a sexologist at the University of Wellington’s Victoria Management School in New Zealand. The duo just co-authored a paper entitled “Robots, Men and Sex Tourism” for the current issue of Futures. In their paper, they envision a future where robotic prostitutes are the solution to the sex industry’s most glaring problems, such as human trafficking, human degradation and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Playing off the “Yab-Yum,” once one of Amsterdam’s most exclusive brothels before its closure in 2008, Yeoman and Mars imagine what the red-light district will look like in the year 2050: The Yub-Yum is Amsterdam’s top sex club for business travelers located beside a 17th century canal house on the Singel. It is modern and gleaming with about 100 scantily clad blondes and brunettes parading around in exotic G-strings and lingerie. Entry costs $10,000 for an all inclusive service. The club offers a full range of sexual services from massages, lap dancing and intercourse in plush surroundings. The Yub-Yum is a unique bordello licensed by the city council, staffed not by humans but by androids. This situation came about due to an increase in human trafficking in the sex industry in the 2040s which was becoming unsustainable, combined with an increase in incurable STI’s in the city especially HIV which over the last decade has mutated and is resistant to many vaccines and preventive medicines. Amsterdam’s tourist industry is built on an image of sex and drugs. The council was worried that if the red light district were to close, it would have a detrimental effect on the city’s brand and tourism industry, as it seemed unimaginable for the city not to have a sex industry. Sex tourism is a key driver for stag parties and the convention industry. The Yub-Yum offers a range of sexual gods and goddesses of different ethnicities, body shapes, ages, languages and sexual features. The club is often rated highly by punters on www.punternet.com and for the fifth year in a row, in 2049 was voted the world’s best massage parlor by the UN World Tourism Organization. The club has won numerous technology and innovation awards including the prestigious ISO iRobotSEX award. The most popular model is Irina, a tall, blonde, Russian exotic species who is popular with Middle Eastern businessmen. The tourists who use the services of Yub-Yum are guaranteed a wonderful and thrilling experience, as all the androids are programmed to perform every service and satisfy every desire. All androids are made of bacteria resistant fiber and are flushed for human fluids, therefore guaranteeing no Sexual Transmitted Disease’s are transferred between consumers. The impact of Yub-Yum club and similar establishments in Amsterdam has transformed the sex industry alleviating all health and human trafficking problems. The only social issues surrounding the club is the resistance from human sex workers who say they can’t compete on price and quality, therefore forcing many of them to close their shop windows. All in all, the regeneration of Amsterdam’s sex industry has been about the success of the new breed of sex worker. Even clients feel guilt free as they actually haven’t had sex with a real person and therefore don’t have to lie to their partner. With the wide availability of Internet pornography, online escort services and such things as the Fleshlight iPad case, it’s obvious the Digital Age has revolutionized the sex industry. More so, as sex dolls morph into more sentient sexbots, Yeoman and Mars question whether attitudes toward sexual taboos will change. For example, would society be more open-minded toward robotic prostitution, as opposed to human prostitution?

Robot Prostitutes - is this the Future? 

Let’s cut to the chase. Would you pay to have sex with a robot prostitute?

Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars think someone will. Yeoman is a futurist with an interest in tourism, and Mars is a sexologist at the University of Wellington’s Victoria Management School in New Zealand. The duo just co-authored a paper entitled “Robots, Men and Sex Tourism” for the current issue of Futures.

In their paper, they envision a future where robotic prostitutes are the solution to the sex industry’s most glaring problems, such as human trafficking, human degradation and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Playing off the “Yab-Yum,” once one of Amsterdam’s most exclusive brothels before its closure in 2008, Yeoman and Mars imagine what the red-light district will look like in the year 2050:

The Yub-Yum is Amsterdam’s top sex club for business travelers located beside a 17th century canal house on the Singel. It is modern and gleaming with about 100 scantily clad blondes and brunettes parading around in exotic G-strings and lingerie. Entry costs $10,000 for an all inclusive service. The club offers a full range of sexual services from massages, lap dancing and intercourse in plush surroundings. The Yub-Yum is a unique bordello licensed by the city council, staffed not by humans but by androids. This situation came about due to an increase in human trafficking in the sex industry in the 2040s which was becoming unsustainable, combined with an increase in incurable STI’s in the city especially HIV which over the last decade has mutated and is resistant to many vaccines and preventive medicines. Amsterdam’s tourist industry is built on an image of sex and drugs. The council was worried that if the red light district were to close, it would have a detrimental effect on the city’s brand and tourism industry, as it seemed unimaginable for the city not to have a sex industry. Sex tourism is a key driver for stag parties and the convention industry.

The Yub-Yum offers a range of sexual gods and goddesses of different ethnicities, body shapes, ages, languages and sexual features. The club is often rated highly by punters on www.punternet.com and for the fifth year in a row, in 2049 was voted the world’s best massage parlor by the UN World Tourism Organization. The club has won numerous technology and innovation awards including the prestigious ISO iRobotSEX award. The most popular model is Irina, a tall, blonde, Russian exotic species who is popular with Middle Eastern businessmen. The tourists who use the services of Yub-Yum are guaranteed a wonderful and thrilling experience, as all the androids are programmed to perform every service and satisfy every desire.

All androids are made of bacteria resistant fiber and are flushed for human fluids, therefore guaranteeing no Sexual Transmitted Disease’s are transferred between consumers. The impact of Yub-Yum club and similar establishments in Amsterdam has transformed the sex industry alleviating all health and human trafficking problems. The only social issues surrounding the club is the resistance from human sex workers who say they can’t compete on price and quality, therefore forcing many of them to close their shop windows. All in all, the regeneration of Amsterdam’s sex industry has been about the success of the new breed of sex worker. Even clients feel guilt free as they actually haven’t had sex with a real person and therefore don’t have to lie to their partner.

With the wide availability of Internet pornography, online escort services and such things as the Fleshlight iPad case, it’s obvious the Digital Age has revolutionized the sex industry. More so, as sex dolls morph into more sentient sexbots, Yeoman and Mars question whether attitudes toward sexual taboos will change. For example, would society be more open-minded toward robotic prostitution, as opposed to human prostitution?

You are the result of 4 billion years of evolutionary success. 

You are the result of 4 billion years of evolutionary success. 

Our Incredible Planet

These incredible images of the planet Earth show it at its most striking and dramatic, and are more akin to those normally taken from Neptune, Mars or Pluto.

The alien-looking images come from a variety of locations across the globe including the White Desert in Egypt, Monument Valley in the U.S., and the Chocolate Hills of Bohol Island in the Philippines. The images include shots of salt plains, rock formations, geysers, sand dunes, mud playas, lava shelves and deserts.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Quote

Neil deGrasse Tyson Quote

New Space Company May Solve World’s Economic Problems This Tuesday, a group of billionaires and former NASA scientists will announce Planetary Resources Inc., the first asteroid mining company in history. They claim they will “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP” and “help ensure humanity’s prosperity.” The group of investors and scientists on board this enterprise is impressive: …including Google’s Larry Page & Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group Ross Perot, Jr. Harnessing the resources of asteroids is not a crazy proposition and the return of investment could be amazing. So much that they are convinced they can “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP.” More importantly, this may solve many of our material needs as resources on Earth keep dwindling fast. But is it doable? There are no details yet, but if they are going to invest millions of dollars on it, you can be sure it is doable and it will be profitable. They don’t have to travel to the asteroid belt to grab them. There are many passing near Earth that may be accessible. In fact, there are already plenty of plans on scientists and engineers’ drafting boards. Needless to say, and despite the fact that it will probably take some years to achieve their goals, this is all extremely exciting. If they are successful, it will truly be a new dawn for humanity. We will be covering the press conference live, which will feature Charles Simonyi, Planetary Resources, Investor; Eric Anderson, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources; Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources; Chris Lewicki, President & Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources; Tom Jones, Ph.D., Planetary Scientist, Veteran NASA Astronaut & Planetary Resources, Inc. Advisor. It will be held in the Museum of Flight in Seattle on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30am PDT.

New Space Company May Solve World’s Economic Problems

This Tuesday, a group of billionaires and former NASA scientists will announce Planetary Resources Inc., the first asteroid mining company in history. They claim they will “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP” and “help ensure humanity’s prosperity.”

The group of investors and scientists on board this enterprise is impressive:

…including Google’s Larry Page & Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group Ross Perot, Jr.

Harnessing the resources of asteroids is not a crazy proposition and the return of investment could be amazing. So much that they are convinced they can “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP.” More importantly, this may solve many of our material needs as resources on Earth keep dwindling fast.

But is it doable? There are no details yet, but if they are going to invest millions of dollars on it, you can be sure it is doable and it will be profitable. They don’t have to travel to the asteroid belt to grab them. There are many passing near Earth that may be accessible. In fact, there are already plenty of plans on scientists and engineers’ drafting boards.

Needless to say, and despite the fact that it will probably take some years to achieve their goals, this is all extremely exciting. If they are successful, it will truly be a new dawn for humanity.

We will be covering the press conference live, which will feature Charles Simonyi, Planetary Resources, Investor; Eric Anderson, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources; Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources; Chris Lewicki, President & Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources; Tom Jones, Ph.D., Planetary Scientist, Veteran NASA Astronaut & Planetary Resources, Inc. Advisor.

It will be held in the Museum of Flight in Seattle on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30am PDT.

(Source: Gizmodo)

Fullerenes and Buckyballs Despite the seemingly complex name, a fullerene is nothing more than a molecule composed entirely of carbon. That’s all! Fullerenes can come in the shape of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. When a fullerene is spherical, they are known as buckyballs - and when cylindrical they are called carbon nanotubes or can be affectionately called buckytubes. Fullerenes are similar in structure to graphite, which is composed of stacked graphene sheets of linked hexagonal rings; but they may also contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings. The first fullerene to be discovered, buckminsterfullerene (C60), was prepared in 1985 by Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, James Heath, Sean O’Brien, and Harold Kroto at Rice University. The name was an homage to Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes it resembles. The structure was also identified some five years earlier by Sumio Iijima, from an electron microscope image, where it formed the core of a “bucky onion.” Fullerenes have since been found to occur in nature. More recently, fullerenes have been detected in outer space. According to astronomer Letizia Stanghellini, “It’s possible that buckyballs from outer space provided seeds for life on Earth.” The discovery of fullerenes greatly expanded the number of known carbon allotropes, which until recently were limited to graphite, diamond, andamorphous carbon such as soot and charcoal. Buckyballs and buckytubes have been the subject of intense research, both for their unique chemistry and for their technological applications, especially in materials science, electronics, and nanotechnology.

Fullerenes and Buckyballs

Despite the seemingly complex name, a fullerene is nothing more than a molecule composed entirely of carbon. That’s all! Fullerenes can come in the shape of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. When a fullerene is spherical, they are known as buckyballs - and when cylindrical they are called carbon nanotubes or can be affectionately called buckytubes. Fullerenes are similar in structure to graphite, which is composed of stacked graphene sheets of linked hexagonal rings; but they may also contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings.

The first fullerene to be discovered, buckminsterfullerene (C60), was prepared in 1985 by Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, James Heath, Sean O’Brien, and Harold Kroto at Rice University. The name was an homage to Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes it resembles. The structure was also identified some five years earlier by Sumio Iijima, from an electron microscope image, where it formed the core of a “bucky onion.” Fullerenes have since been found to occur in nature. More recently, fullerenes have been detected in outer space. According to astronomer Letizia Stanghellini, “It’s possible that buckyballs from outer space provided seeds for life on Earth.”

The discovery of fullerenes greatly expanded the number of known carbon allotropes, which until recently were limited to graphite, diamond, andamorphous carbon such as soot and charcoal. Buckyballs and buckytubes have been the subject of intense research, both for their unique chemistry and for their technological applications, especially in materials science, electronics, and nanotechnology.