Tuesday 20 August 2013

Researchers discover quantum algorithm that could improve stealth fighter design

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(Phys.org) —Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have devised a quantum algorithm for solving big linear systems of equations. Furthermore, they say the algorithm could be used to calculate complex measurements such as radar cross sections, an ability integral to the development of radar stealth technology, among many other applications. Their research is reported in the June 18 issue of Physical Review Letters.



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New theory points to 'zombie vortices' as key step in star formation

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(Phys.org) —A new theory by fluid dynamics experts at the University of California, Berkeley, shows how "zombie vortices" help lead to the birth of a new star.



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3-D graphene: Solar cells' new platinum?

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Platinum is a key material in dye-sensitized solar cells, where it is used to make counter electrodes. A new, 3-D form of graphene made from carbon monoxide and lithium oxide was used to replace the platinum with virtually no loss in electrical generating capacity.

via Science Daily

'Groovy' hologram creates strange state of light at visible and invisible wavelengths

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(Phys.org) —Applied physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated that they can change the intensity, phase, and polarization of light rays using a hologram-like design decorated with nanoscale structures.



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Swedish museum to recover lost scientific artifact (Update)

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A rare 16th-century scientific instrument used by early astronomers that has been missing from a Swedish museum for around a decade has been recovered and will be returned this week, the London-based Art Loss Register says.



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NASA Invites Media to Learn About Airborne Hurricane Mission

NASA is inviting media on Tuesday, Sept. 10, to see two Global Hawk unmanned scientific aircraft that will fly over the Atlantic Ocean to study tropical cyclones and their growth process.

via NASA Breaking News

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/august/nasa-invites-media-to-learn-about-airborne-hurricane-mission

NASA Explores New Uses for Historic Launch Structures

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is seeking concepts for the potential use or divestment of three historic launch platforms that are not needed for the agency's current or planned future missions.

via NASA Breaking News

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/august/nasa-explores-new-uses-for-historic-launch-structures

Next Generation of Explorers Takes the Stage

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday formally welcomed the eight newest candidates to the astronaut corps and unveiled a space exploration roadmap that makes clear the global community is working together on a unified deep space exploration strategic plan, with robotic and human missions to destinations that include near-Earth asteroids, the moon and Mars.

via NASA Breaking News

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/august/next-generation-of-explorers-takes-the-stage

ALMA Takes Close Look at Drama of Starbirth

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Astronomers have obtained a vivid close-up view of material streaming away from a newborn star. By looking at the glow coming from carbon monoxide molecules in an object called Herbig-Haro 46/47, they have discovered that its jets are even more energetic than previously thought. The very detailed new images have also revealed a previously unknown jet pointing in a totally different direction.

via Science Daily

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Free-floating planets may be born free

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Tiny, round, cold clouds in space have all the right characteristics to form planets with no parent star. New observations show that not all free-floating planets were thrown out of existing planetary systems. They can also be born free.

via Science Daily

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Technique to improve high precision and nanotechnology surface measurement

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(Phys.org) —A University of Warwick scientist has conceived a new method to improve the measurement of the surfaces of components essential for use in high-precision and nanotechnology applications.



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Polymer solar cells employing Forster resonance energy transfer

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Two crucial tasks exist for realizing high-efficiency polymer solar cells: increasing the range of the spectral absorption of light and efficiently harvesting photo-generated excitons. In this work, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based heterojunction polymer solar cells that incorporate squaraine dye (SQ) were fabricated and investigated.



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Astronomers show galaxies had 'mature' shapes 11.5 billion years ago

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Studying the evolution and anatomy of galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers led by doctoral candidate BoMee Lee and her advisor Mauro Giavalisco at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have established that mature-looking galaxies existed much earlier than previously known, when the universe was only about 2.5 billion years old, or 11.5 billion years ago."Finding them this far back in time is a significant discovery," says lead author Lee.



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Weekend Diversion: Reason Enough

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“[F]or those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” -Charles Bukowski



Making sense of our existence is one of the most daunting tasks — should we choose to accept it — set before any creature of sufficient intelligence. The Universe came a very long way before we could be here, and has even farther to go before it’s completed doing all the things its going to do. We get to choose how we spend our time here, to choose whether we’re good to each other or not, and how we live each moment. And even the best of us make regrettable choices from time-to-time, as the Chieftains remind us in their rendition of the country classic,


The Long Black Veil.


Here’s the thing. This is our world today.


Image credit: NASA / International Space Station.

Image credit: NASA / International Space Station.



And if we go back far enough in our Universe, there was nothing we’d recognize.


Image credit: Paul Preuss / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / U.S. DoE.

Image credit: Paul Preuss / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / U.S. DoE.



It took an incredible expansion-and-cooling of our Universe to be able to form the first, stable protons and neutrons (the building blocks of all atomic nuclei) that would remain in existence for more than a fraction of a second.


Image credit: Ned Wright and Will Kinney, via http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Image credit: Ned Wright and Will Kinney, via http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/.



It took hundreds of thousands of years beyond that to even create the first neutral atoms, the fundamental building block of everything present in our world. And even then, it was practically all just hydrogen and helium.


Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.



It took tens of millions of years for these clouds of atoms to contract and cool in the abyss of the Universe, to eventually form regions dense enough to ignite nuclear fusion at their core. Tens of millions of years of a dark, empty, cooling Universe until the very first stars formed.


Image credit: ESO with the VLT, of planetary nebula IC 1295.

Image credit: ESO with the VLT, of planetary nebula IC 1295.



And even then, there were only stars and gas; without any heavy elements, there were no planets, no rocks, not even any complex molecules. But generations of stars lived, died, and from their fiery cores, heavy elements were sent out back into the Universe. New generations of stars and star systems formed, replete with the full complement of elements from the periodic table.


Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada.

Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada.



Over time, heavy elements became more and more common. The star systems that formed billions of years later found themselves in mature galaxies, surrounded by complex molecules and structures, with gas giant planets and smaller, rocky worlds, too.


Image credit: Robert Simmon / NASA / Modis team.

Image credit: Robert Simmon / NASA / Modis team.



And around one of them, one planet formed on which life took hold, replicating, mutating and diversifying. The lifetimes of the simplest creatures were very short, lasting hours at most, while after billions of years, more complex creatures evolved, living days, weeks, months, years, or for a rare few, many decades or even a few centuries.


Image credit: African Sulcata Tortoise Hatchlings, © 2013 Imgur, LLC.

Image credit: African Sulcata Tortoise Hatchlings, © 2013 Imgur, LLC.



Here’s the thing: this world isn’t about you or me, and the Universe certainly isn’t either. Each one of us is a Universe of atoms, atoms that are constantly being replaced and recycled over time, existing in our current form, with our minds and consciousness, for only a brief time. We are born with the great tragic truth that all of our existence and experience will be of just a tiny fraction of the Universe, tremendously limited in scope and time.


Image credit: kriips of STARworks Garden, via http://starworksgarden.blogspot.com/.

Image credit: kriips of STARworks Garden, via http://starworksgarden.blogspot.com/.



And that fact, that one simple fact alone, should be reason enough to be good to one another. To be good to the world, and to be good to all the future generations yet to come. We are a small species, and even smaller as lone individuals, but we’re capable of great things as a whole. They can be things of great evil if we’re careless, if we’re cruel, or if we’re thoughtless, but they can also be things of great achievement, great joy, great kindness, and great fulfillment, if we do it right. There are no two of us identical to one another, even those of us with identical genetic fingerprints, but our journeys all begin, intersect, and end here on Earth. (At least, so far.) And our journeys are short, and full of adversity. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, says, believes, or does with themselves, this is a truth universal to any human that’s ever lived.


Image credit: Zhou (Chew) Hong Jie of http://sparrowsandsandcastles.wordpress.com/.

Image credit: Zhou (Chew) Hong Jie of http://sparrowsandsandcastles.wordpress.com/.



So be good to each other, be good to the world, and be good to yourself. The very fact of our existence should be reason enough for that.






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