Microsoft's employees can tell you: There ain't no such thing as a free Windows Phone 7. So what's the deal with Steve Ballmer's vassals getting Windows Phone 7 handsets? According to an official letter, there are two important reasons. More »
To test the basics of quantum theory, physicists recently pulled out an antique. In a paper published today in Science, they confirmed a staple of quantum mechanics, using a test derived from a classic nineteenth century light experiment.
In particular, the researchers questioned how particles move through three slits, something previously too difficult to measure. They found that the particles behaved just like quantum theory–or more specifically the Born Rule–would have predicted.
As physicist Chad Orzel describes in his blog, that’s bad news for theorists hoping to tweak this rule to solve Nobel Prize-worthy problems related to quantum gravity or Grand Unifying Theories.
[The study is good news if] you’re the ghost of Max Born, or the author of an introductory quantum book…. This was disappointing news for some theorists, though, as there are a number of ways to approach problems … that would require some modification of the Born rule. [Uncertain Principles]
But how did they do it?
Step 1: Watching Light Waves
Throw a pebble in a pond and it creates waves. Throw two pebbles in a pond and they will create waves that interact. Where the peaks of two waves meet, they will create an even bigger wave. Where the peak of a wave meets the trough of another, they will cancel each other out–as if there is no wave at all.
Thomas Young’s 1800s double-slit experiment involves shining one color of light through two open slits to hit a screen. If light is a particle, Young imagined, then you get two streaks, like spray-paint through a stencil. That’s not what he saw. Invisible ripples created visible effects. On the screen, bright lines appeared where the waves built on one another. Other places the light waves canceled each other out leaving only darkness.
Step 2: Watching Particles Wave, Too
In the 20th century, quantum physicists did a similar experiment with particles, including electrons, firing them through two open slits. Classical physics would predict that the particles would land in two streaks on the other side. Instead, they saw a sight just like Young’s interference pattern. The particles were somehow interfering with each other, and more amazingly, even a particle fired alone created the pattern. It was interfering with itself.
This surprising effect provided one of the first clues to the weird world of quantum mechanics. Now precise measurements have been made on a version with three slits–and they again confirm the predictions of quantum mechanics. [New Scientist]
Why would you even bother trying three slits? That gets into the specifics of quantum mechanics and the Born Rule.
Step 3: Watching Probability Waves
So what type of waves are crashing into one another when a particle passes through a slit? Probability waves.
The value of a probability wave in various experiments is in part calculated by the Born Rule. In a double slit experiment–the probability waves values show that the electron is more likely to appear in one of the “bright” spots of the interference pattern and less likely to appear in one of the dark spots.
The Born Rule says that that we need to look at the interactions of probability waves only from two slits at a time–as opposed to looking at how ripples from all three slits interact at once. If the probability could include an extra value from interactions including all three slits at once, then interference pattern would change.
There was no experimental verification of this proposition until now…. “The existence of third-order interference terms would have tremendous theoretical repercussions–it would shake quantum mechanics to the core,” says [coauthor Gregor] Weihs. [ScienceDaily]
Step 4: Adding and Subtracting Slits
Urbasi Sinha of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and his team made a comparison. First they looked at the probability values formed by all three slits. Then, by covering up each of the slits in turn, they looked at the pattern formed from two slits at at time.
Adding up the values from each of the two slits, they got the overall pattern formed by three–meaning the Born Rule was right for as close as they could measure.
[T]he three-path interference term came to more or less zero. Co-author Ray Laflamme of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, “always hoped for three-path interference”, says Weihs. “But then he’s more of a theoretician. If there was three-path interference, there would be a Nobel prize waiting.” [Nature News]
Related content:
80beats: Quantum Cryptography Improves by Factor of 100; Ready for Primetime?
80beats: Quantum Leaf? Algae Use Physics Trick to Boost Photosynthesis Efficiency
80beats: Physicists Achieve Quantum Teleportation Across a Distance of 10 Miles
80beats: Confirmed: Scientists Understand Where Mass Comes From
Image: Wikimedia / Copyright © Armedblowfish, all rights reserved.
It looks like a vista from some distant sci-fi planet, but this is actually a forest near the River Mur, where Austria borders Slovenia. And the steel and aluminum helix stretching above the treetops isn't any less arresting up close: More »
I never would have thought that an improvement in tab technology would have me fist-pumping in front of my computer, but this video preview for Firefox's forthcoming Tab Candy feature, which spatially organizes and groups tabs, really has me jazzed. More »
When it comes to tracking people's every movement—or "location-aware applications" if you're trying to sound less creepy—nothing beats the badges at hacker conferences. More »
Please excuse our current obsession with badass futuristic and retro-futuristic bikes, but waiting for Tron Legacy is killing us. However, not all sci-fi bikes are as sleek as Tron's. Like the original Galactica's Turbocycle. There's nothing sleek about this horror. More »
From The Engineer - News:
The US Department of Energy is to help fund six projects that aim to find ways of converting captured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources into useful products.
Read the whole article
From New Scientist - Online News:
Mice lacking rod and cone cells can still navigate mazes. They must be using a third light receptor previously thought to have no role in vision.
Read the whole article
We said the original, desk-sized Dyson Air Multipler is an opulent but fantastic feat of engineering and excess, one that you'd feel guilty for purchasing but love afterwards. The Dyson AM03 is the same, but might be more justifiable. More »
From Yahoo! News: Technology News:
AP - It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.
Read the whole article
Dr. Daniel MacAthur & Dan Vorhaus offer their takes on the recent hearings in Congress on the direct-to-consumer genomics industry, A sad day for personal genomics & “From Gulf Oil to Snake Oil”: Congress Takes Aim at DTC Genetic Testing. I guess I lean toward light regulation. I don’t think that DTC personal genomics will result in systemic decrease in human happiness, and tight regulation will increase the costs of innovation and constrain access and reduce affordability. Though I guess that for some that’s a feature, not a bug.
My main point, which I think I got across on the Genomes Unzipped comments is that fraud, error and misrepresentation are rife across many health-related sectors in American society. The nutrition and diet industry are prime examples. Bad journalism on the health beat causes way more suffering than DTC genomics kits ever will, as people who are not intelligent make precipitous decisions based on the latest result which managed to slip through the p-value gauntlet and are sexy enough to be written up in USA Today. And, there are widespread distortions within our health care sector which really need to be addressed (I’m thinking in particular of frank talk about end of life palliative care). With that as the basis for judgement I don’t think that the fraud and misrepresentation one can find in DTC personal genomics is exceptionally worrisome or notable to warrant such attention or focus. This is an inefficient allocation of concern and regulatory resources, driven more by the industry’s puffed up claims and the apocalyptic projections of the skeptics.
I like the Milky Way. I dare say it’s my favorite galaxy, being home and all. But a blue star called HE 0437-5439 is in one big hurry to leave.
The star is zooming away from the Milky Way’s center at 16 million miles per hour, three times faster than our own sun glides across the galaxy. Astronomers had spotted the hasty traveler before—it’s one of 16 known “hypervelocity” stars. Now, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, Warren Brown of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics traced the path of the star back to the event that allowed it to reach such great speed: a meeting with a black hole.
A hundred million years ago this star was one of three traveling together at a more sedate pace.
But the threesome passed dangerously close to the center of our galaxy where the supermassive black hole lurks. The space scientists say it swallowed up one of the stars and booted the other two out of the Milky Way. As they flew, the two stars merged to form one super-hot blue star [Christian Science Monitor].
After the stellar smashup, the black hole flung this remaining star away. That helps explain its path and its haste, Brown says.
“The star is traveling at an absurd velocity, twice as much as it needs to escape the galaxy’s gravitational field. There is no star that travels that quickly under normal circumstances — something exotic has to happen” [Wired.com].
The conflagration also explains the star’s blue appearance, which has scientists scratching their heads—it looked like it was only 20 million years old, but its long trajectory meant it had to be much older. Brown says that when the star absorbed its partner, that refreshed its appearance and made it look young again.
The study appears in The Astrophysical Journal.
Related Content:
DISCOVER: Amazing Images of the Heart of the Milky Way
80beats: Massive Blue Supergiant Challenges Theory of How Big a Star Can Be
80beats: Astronomer: Earth-Like Planets Are Common, But Stars Have Eaten Many
80beats: How a Massive Star Is Born (with gallery)
Image: NASA
Hi Gents.
I real need your help we want to connect some motors with power factor correction banks
1st motor has 500 Kw, 3.3 KV, 106 Amps
2nd motor has 280Kw,3.3 Kv, 60.9 Amps
3rd motor has 250 Kw, 3.3 Kv, 56.7 Amps
Please advice which capacitor size and type I must use on t
Guess what? It’s time for another bonus riddle. Get ready, get set… Monday, August 9th will be the day. For a prize this time, we’re offering a copy of Confessions of an Alien Hunter, by Dr. Seth Shostak, and a mug from the SETI Institute.
Dr. Shostak's book - a very enjoyable read
Dr. Shostak is the lead astronomer for the SETI Institute. He’s an author, lecturer, educator, astronomer, and all-around cool guy. His book, Confessions of an Alien Hunter is a look at SETI from the inside. He also talks about the ideology behind SETI, and with whom (or what) we can anticipate contact… in the next twenty years. The book is an enjoyable read on all levels, and a great addition to your library.
While you’re curled up reading, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite beverage in a SETI mug — direct to you from the SETI Institute. You cannot buy this mug in stores.
One side of the SETI mug
I know you know this, but let’s go over the rules again:
Remember, you will not get any feedback from us, except that we received your guess. We will compare your emailed guesses against previous comments to make sure we have the right person. Again, it’s not that we don’t trust you; we want to be able to prove the prize went to someone to whom we’re not related. Besides — Tom and I both really, really want that SETI mug.
The riddle winners so far for this cycle (bonus riddle to bonus riddle) are: Carl Legge, Rob, George, Sean, Nick, Roger, Steve, Emily, Kristian, Frank, Jerry, Ubiraci, Dwight, and Amresh. You still have the riddles July 24th, July 31st, and August 7th to get your name on the list.
Either NASA astronauts are really getting hit hard by Obama's manned space program cuts or their Twitter account has been hacked by spammers just over an hour ago. For a second, however, I thought Best Buy took over the ISS. More »
According to modified general relativity equations, our universe may be inside a black hole, the black holes in our universe may contain other universes, and the black holes in those universes may contain other universes... I need a drink. More »
Short of calling in pest control service, or continued, laborious setting off of cans of fumigant -- can anyone recommend safe way to a rid a room ... then house ... of fleas. The flee type in question would be cat fleas—as in opportunistic cat fleas; possibly some rodent fleas as well.
T
At the the Houston Museum of Natural Science thousands of visitors are lining up for the smell of rotting bodies. They want a look at a five-foot-tall plant affectionately called the “corpse flower,” or more specifically, Lois. The flower will bloom for the first time in seven years and release its stench for an expected three days.
The flower, native to Indonesia, will be the 29th to bloom in the United States; another bloomed last summer at San Francisco State University. Sporting buttons that say “Bring on the Funk” and “Amorphophallus titanum (Latin for AWESOME),” 4,000 to 5,000 visitors a day have been coming to the Houston museum to sniff, Reuters reports. In its pre-bloom phase, it smells a bit like rotting pumpkins–which is disappointing to museum visitors with a nose for rancid corpses, museum spokeswoman Latha Thomas told Reuters.
“They want to smell the flower. I think that’s why they keep coming back over and over because they are so excited about smelling it.”
The AP reports that not everyone is excited. Jessica Zabala has booked the museum for her wedding this week and is hoping the flower doesn’t foul up her ceremony.
The museum has provided a live webcam, for those who want to see without smelling.
Related content:
Discoblog: Vicious Hogweed Plant Could Star in “Little Shop of Horrors” Sequel
Discoblog: Make Room For Space Florists: First Plants to Be Grown on the Moon
Discoblog: Can Plants Talk to Each Other? Researchers Say Yes
Discoblog: DNA Cops Crack Down on Flower Theft and Other High Crimes
Image: Wikimedia
I don't know what your idea the perfect speaker system is, but for me it's a cross between a alphorn and a vuvuzela, gigantic and squished. Oh, and not safe to stand near. Good thing there's the Pnoe. More »
Yes, you read that right.
Finally, at last, after many months, I can now officially reveal the project that has kept me so busy over all this time. I think you’re gonna like this… so why not just jump right in to the teaser trailer posted online by a small TV network you may have heard of called THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL!
[evil laugh]
[UPDATE: D'oh! There was a problem with the video, and Discovery is in the process of fixing it. It should be back up soon.]
How ’bout that?
I’ve been working with the Discovery Channel on hosting a new TV science show called "Phil Plait’s Bad Universe". It’s a three-part program where I dissect issues in astronomy and science, putting claims to the test. There’s no air date yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be on your TV sets this fall.
As you can see in the trailer, the first episode is about asteroid impacts, and we tackle the issue in a way that I don’t think has been done on TV. I get right into the mix, blowing things up, flying in a jet, going where the action is so that I can participate in experiments with scientists and try to find out what works and what doesn’t. The idea here is not to have some dry, narrated documentary. Instead I will show you what’s going on, take you along, so that you can see how these things work and what we’re doing to investigate these issues.
I’ve been having a tremendous time filming this, flying around the country, seeing things I ordinarily would never get to see. And the beauty is, you can come too!
Eventually I’ll post some pictures I’ve taken on this adventure, and we’ll be posting more video online as well as more information about the show soon. I’d like to thank everyone at Discovery Channel and Morningstar Entertainment for giving me this chance to fulfill a long-standing dream of mine. We’ve worked very hard on this program, and I hope you like it.
Yay!
