Physics/Cosmology

random | Bots gone wild

Introducing random — a new, occasional blog category for stuff that’s way too weird for our regular weird posts. Like these wacky robot stories: Wanna take a ride on a 15-foot-long inflatable walking robot named Ant-Roach (as in anteater-cockroach)? Um, maybe not, but hey, “human safe” bots are not a bad idea, especially if you [...]

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A limitless power source for the indefinite future

On Monday, the National Space Society (NSS) will present findings from an eye-opening new report by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). You’re hearing about this here first. (Full disclosure: I’m a member of the NSS board of directors.) Some background: By 2030–40, the projected annual electrical energy consumption will be a staggering 220 trillion [...]

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Another faster-than-light neutrinos challenge

This just in: a new critique of the CERN OPERA finding of faster-than-light neutrinos. In “New Constraints on Neutrino Velocities,” Cohen and Glashow argue that the high-energy (17.5 GeV) superluminal muon neutrinos would actually lose energy rapidly (down to about 12.5GeV) on the 730km trip, long before arriving in Italy. But that didn’t happen. Ergo, [...]

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teleXLR8 returns, featuring quantum physicist Gildert on ‘Hack the Multiverse!’

This exciting news just in from Giulio Prisco: “teleXLR8 is reopening on Sunday 21 10 a.m. PST with a talk by [experimental quantum physicist/programmer] Suzanne Gildert on Hack the Multiverse!.” The teleXLR8 online talk program is “a telepresence community for cultural acceleration,” as their blog puts it. Translation: an audiovideo seminar — think TED in [...]

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The physics of Jackson Pollock

Can you tell the difference between a painting by an elephant and Jackson Pollack? (Take this test before reading further.) A mathematician at Harvard University and a physicist-art historian at Boston College think they can. Pollock was an “intuitive master” of laws that govern the flow of liquids under gravity, they believe. The researchers examined the [...]

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‘Orca ears’ inspire researchers to develop ultrasensitive undersea microphone

Imagine a miniature microphone that responds to ocean sounds from 1 to 100kHz (a deep inaudible rumble to ultrasonic sounds) with a dynamic range of 160 dB (a whisper in a quiet library to the sound from 1 ton of TNT exploding 60 feet away) and operates at any depth. An amazing microphone that does [...]

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CERN physicists trap antimatter for 1,000 seconds — unlimited future energy?

Geneva, Switzerland — CERN physicists have reported they created antimatter in the Large Hadron Collider and stored it in three vials. Unfortunately, one of the vials has been stolen and will explode ritualistically at the Vatican if the battery dies and the magnetic containment field fails. Wait, that’s a scene from the Angels and Demons movie. [...]

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The search for ET continues — in West Virginia

Now that NASA’s Kepler space telescope has identified 1,235 possible planets around stars in our galaxy, astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, are aiming a radio telescope — the 100 meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the largest steerable radio telescope in the world — at the most Earth-like of these worlds to [...]

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humor | Epic rap battles of history: Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking

Nice Peter | Hi, my name is Nice Peter, and this is an Epic Rap Battle of History. Special thanks to all the cast and crew. (See full film credits here.) Source: Nice Peter Related: Nice Peter official website Nice Peter YouTube channel Wikipedia | M-theory and its p-branes Wikipedia | Texas Instruments’ TI-82 graphing [...]

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Magnets, how exactly do they work?

Know Your Meme | Internet Scientist Elspeth Jane of The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies explores the viral sensation that was Insane Clown Posse’s “Miracles,” aka “F***ing Magnets: How Do They Work?” [ For more info on this, visit the Meme Database! ]

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