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mad defense tech
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mad defense tech
space porn
We Can Predict When Stars Will Explode
Need to get rid of a bunch of space trash, or jumpstart a wormhole? Now you can, at least if you can get near enough to a neutron star when it's heading into explosion mode. Using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), some astronomers have made an extraordinary breakthrough: they've discovered how to predict when neutron stars will unleash massive explosions. What this means, in essence, is that stellar explosions can be compared to Old Faithful, the geyser in Yellowstone Park that erupts at precise times. More »
the sex sphere
Rudy Rucker's Math Orgy Classic "Sex Sphere" Gets Reissued
We've written about scifi author Rudy "Postsingular" Rucker's forgotten 1980s classic The Sex Sphere before — it's the novel where a bunch of hypermatter creatures take the forms of blobs with breasts and genitals and try to conquer Earth. It almost works, too. Everybody gets so into having sex with the blobs that they become obedient alien slaves. Luckily, our heroes figure out a way to deal with the genitacular menace using extremely complicated math. Long out of print, the book is now about to be reborn as a print-on-demand deal. And Rucker has just released a picture of the book's new cover, which he painted himself. Check it out below (NSFW) — it must be seen to be believed. More »
dark matter
Could a Fictional Character Win the Nobel in Physics?
Opening in select U.S. theaters over the next few weeks, Dark Matter is a movie about physics gone wrong. No, the Hadron Collider doesn't punch a hole in reality. Instead, it's about a much smaller and more personal explosion that occurs when a young Chinese graduate student named Liu Xing comes to the U.S. to study cosmology, and finds out that science isn't about truth but politics. Based on a true story, Dark Matter explores what happens when Liu Xing's radical theories of dark matter in the early 1990s clash with those of his academic adviser. When he refuses to toe the line, his adviser disowns him and Liu Xing hurtles towards personal destruction. The premise is intriguing, and writer Billy Shebar based his main character's ideas on real theories about superstrings. More »
lasers
Navy Initiates a Five-Year Plan to Build Laser Blasters
Long range laser weapons that do more than make little red dots show up on distant objects have long been a dream of science fiction creators and the military alike. Now it looks like a true, long-range laser blasting weapon may be ready for action within the next five years. The Navy is ponying up cash for three defense contracts to build out a laser developed a few years ago at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The laser, called a FEL (for "free electron laser"), can generate 10,000 watts of power, all across the visible spectrum. That means it could theoretically be optimized to shoot through fog or cloud. The Navy wants its current contractors to develop a prototype 100 kilowatt FEL, and then later one on the megawatt level. Noah Shachtman has all the details over at his Wired blog Danger Room. [Danger Room]
time travel
Physicists Say Lost Features Realistic Time Travel
Last week, TV audiences boggled at one of the best Lost episodes in recent memory, where a character traveled through time guided somehow by his conscience. The twisty turns in the episode may have been surprising, but not nearly as shocking as what I'm about to tell you. The scientific basis for the time travel scenario in Lost is actually sound. An actual, practicing physicist told Popular Mechanics that the episode included several details that fit with what theoretical physicists think would be involved in timeskipping. More »
Next Year, We'll Discover Alternate Dimensions
One of the cool things we'll find out when Swizerland's supergiant particle accelerator starts up next year is what alternate dimensions look like. This is reason number 400 million that I love physicists, and the Hadron Collider: there is no "Are there alternate dimensions?" It's just: "What do they look like?" [Science Blog]
One of the cool things we'll find out when Swizerland's supergiant particle accelerator starts up next year is what alternate dimensions look like. This is reason number 400 million that I love physicists, and the Hadron Collider: there is no "Are there alternate dimensions?" It's just: "What do they look like?" [Science Blog]
really giant magnets
Last year, before the gigantic hadron supercollider at CERN research facility was installed underground, a photographer captured this picture of a 1,950 metric ton tunnel containing giant magnets that will be placed in a tunnel and kept at near-zero temperatures. These mega-magnets are the biggest in the world, and will force subatomic particles to smash into each other. Want to see another one of the mega-magnets?
More »
A Supermagnetic Tunnel Full of Subatomic Action
Last year, before the gigantic hadron supercollider at CERN research facility was installed underground, a photographer captured this picture of a 1,950 metric ton tunnel containing giant magnets that will be placed in a tunnel and kept at near-zero temperatures. These mega-magnets are the biggest in the world, and will force subatomic particles to smash into each other. Want to see another one of the mega-magnets?
More »
Proton Collisions Right Around the Corner
The final piece of CERN's new ultra-giant hadron collider was lowered into its place deep underground today. Within weeks, protons will be smashing the shit out of each other underneath Swizerland. Nano-awesome! [Science Daily]
The final piece of CERN's new ultra-giant hadron collider was lowered into its place deep underground today. Within weeks, protons will be smashing the shit out of each other underneath Swizerland. Nano-awesome! [Science Daily]
mad physics
Right now, you are looking into a space where plasmas are crushed into a torus shape, subjected to a magnetic field, and then heated and pressurized until their nuclei fuse. It's called the National Spherical Torus Experiment. This glowing, sideways view of the chamber where plasmas undergo magnetic fusion was taken by Elle Starkman and Charles Skinner of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. Check out the exterior and a schematic for the chamber below (yes, several humans could fit inside it).
More »
Magnetic Fusion in the Spherical Torus Experiment
Right now, you are looking into a space where plasmas are crushed into a torus shape, subjected to a magnetic field, and then heated and pressurized until their nuclei fuse. It's called the National Spherical Torus Experiment. This glowing, sideways view of the chamber where plasmas undergo magnetic fusion was taken by Elle Starkman and Charles Skinner of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. Check out the exterior and a schematic for the chamber below (yes, several humans could fit inside it).
More »
invisibility
One Step Closer to a True Cloaking Device
Last year, a team at Duke announced a beta cloaking material whose special nano-properties make it "invisible" to microwaves. Today, however, researchers in Stuttgart have got something even better — a "metamaterial" that can cloak objects in the visible light spectrum. Made of gold nano-mesh, the material has a negative refraction index for visible light — that means it doesn't reflect light, and could give the illusion of blending into the background. I can't wait for my metamaterial full body suit for doing futuristic spy shit. Towards Cloaking Visible Light [Science Daily]
architecture
China is rushing to finish the 7,000 square foot "Water Cube" in time to host swimming events in the 2008 Olympics. This giant building's outer cladding, which will keep the pool warm, is based on research by physicists into "how soap bubbles might be arranged in infinite array," says architecture firm Arup. The bubbles themselves are made of a lightweight, transparent Teflon skin called ETFE, which will also make the building a super-efficient greenhouse, says Inhabitat. Images by EyePress/AP.
High-Tech Bubbles Trap Heat In Olympic Swimming Pool
China is rushing to finish the 7,000 square foot "Water Cube" in time to host swimming events in the 2008 Olympics. This giant building's outer cladding, which will keep the pool warm, is based on research by physicists into "how soap bubbles might be arranged in infinite array," says architecture firm Arup. The bubbles themselves are made of a lightweight, transparent Teflon skin called ETFE, which will also make the building a super-efficient greenhouse, says Inhabitat. Images by EyePress/AP.
microcosmos
