- Synthetic black hole event horizon created in UK laboratory
Researchers at St. Andrews University, Scotland, claim to have found a way to simulate an event horizon of a black hole - not through a new cosmic observation technique, and not by a high powered supercomputer… but in the laboratory. Using lasers, a length of optical fiber and depending on some bizarre quantum mechanics, a “singularity” may be created to alter a laser’s wavelength, synthesizing the effects of an event horizon. If this experiment can produce an event horizon, the theoretical phenomenon of Hawking Radiation may be tested, perhaps giving Stephen Hawking the best chance yet of winning the Nobel Prize.
- Seeds of life found near Saturn
A sniff test of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus shows it is gushing with organic molecules, increasing the possibility of life existing somewhere in the Saturn system.
- Hillary makes up Chelsea’s whereabouts on 9/11
She said that Chelsea was jogging around the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and happened to duck into a coffee shop when the airplanes hit. She said that this move saved Chelsea’s life. But Chelsea told Talk magazine that she was in a friend’s apartment four miles from ground zero when the first plane hit. Her friend called her, waking her up, and told her to turn on the TV. On television, she saw the second plane hit, disproving Hillary’s claim that “she heard the plane hit. She heard it. She did.”
- What will life be like in the year 2008?
Back in 1968, Modern Mechanix mused what life would be like in 40 years. Some things they came pretty close on: ‘Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees’ accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills. Each time you buy something, the card’s number is fed into the store’s computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance.’ Some things are way off: ‘The car accelerates to 150 mph in the city’s suburbs, then hits 250 mph in less built-up areas, gliding over the smooth plastic road. You whiz past a string of cities, many of them covered by the new domes that keep them evenly climatized year round.’ And some things are sorta right: ‘TV screens cover an entire wall in most homes and show most subjects other than straight text matter in color and three dimensions. In addition to programmed TV and the multiplicity of commercial fare, you can see top Broadway shows, hit movies and current nightclub acts for a nominal charge.
- Hillary’s Balkan Adventures
Hillary Clinton has been regaling supporters on the campaign trail with hair-raising tales of a trip she made to Bosnia in March 1996. In her retelling, she was sent to places that her husband, President Clinton, could not go because they were “too dangerous.” When her account was challenged by one of her traveling companions, the comedian Sinbad, she upped the ante and injected even more drama into the story. In a speech earlier this week, she talked about “landing under sniper fire” and running for safety with “our heads down.”
There are numerous problems with Clinton’s version of events.
My favourite part from the article:
Sinbad questioned the premise behind the Clinton version of events. “What kind of president would say ‘Hey man, I can’t go ’cause I might get shot so I’m going to send my wife. Oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.”
- From polygons to pixels: Final Fantasy VII
Someone actually took the time out to create their own homebrew version of Final Fantasy VII. Unfortunately it’s only in Japanese, but I wonder how long it will take for someone to make a fan-translation?
- Shrimp eyes may hold key to better communications
Scientists have discovered a new mode of sight in a most unusual creature: a primitive marine crustacean known as the mantis shrimp. Until now, it was believed that animals could see only the intensity, color and — in a few species — the linear polarization of light. But in a study published today in Current Biology, researchers showed that the mantis shrimp, a fancifully nicknamed stomatopod whose unique evolutionary path began some 400 million years ago, perceives what’s known as circular polarized light. They are the first organisms to demonstrate this ability. Linear polarization refers to light with photons traveling along parallel, up-and-down wavelengths. By contrast, circular polarized light — CPL for short — has photons traveling in parallel, rotating wavelengths. It occurs rarely in nature but is widely used in high-tech communications. Researchers say that understanding the eyes of mantis shrimps could help engineers design better CPL systems.
- Money can buy you happiness - if you spend it on others: study
“Our results suggest that how people spend their money is at least as important for happiness as how much they earn,” co-author Lara Aknin, a master’s student at the University of British Columbia told CBCNews.ca via e-mail. “Therefore, small alterations in your spending choices — even small amounts — can have a significant impact on your happiness level.”
- Medicine’s cutting edge: re-growing organs
Imagine re-growing a severed fingertip, or creating an organ in the lab that can be transplanted into a patient without risk of rejection. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s not. It’s the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, in which scientists are learning to harness the body’s own power to regenerate itself, with astonishing results.
- Saturn moon may have ocean of water
Scientists say they have found the best evidence yet that an ocean of liquid water may be hidden below the surface of Saturn’s giant moon Titan. If the results are confirmed, it would be a starting point for further study into whether the ocean could be capable of supporting life.
- Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig bets ‘Wikipedia’ approach will transform congress
Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig really ‘gets it’ when it comes to the efficacy of distributed open source code production. Now he is attempting to use distributed production methods to expose corruption in the US Congress with the launch of another ‘CC’ organization — this time it’s called ‘Change Congress’. CC (as opposed to cc for Creative Commons) would invite users to track whether US legislators are willing to commit to Change Congress’ four pledges. CC will rely on users to record and map the positions of candidates who are running for open seats in the US House and Senate. Change Congress will use a Google mash-up to create a map depicting which legislators have taken the CC pledge, which have declined, and which have signaled support for planks in the Change-Congress platform. The four pledges (which are not numbered 0 through 3) call for greater transparency in government, and less influence of private money in shaping legislation.
- New type of pulsating star discovered
It doesn’t happen very often but astronomers have discovered a new class of pulsating white dwarf. The work began last year when the Sloan Digital Sky Survey found a few exotic white dwarf stars with carbon atmospheres. A mathematical model of these stars showed that in some circumstances the dwarfs could pulsate as the carbon was cycled through the atmosphere by convection. Now a few days observation of one of these stars has shown that it does actually pulsate as predicted.
- Why doesn’t cable news cover science?
The Project for Excellence in Journalism just released The State of the News Media 2008, its annual analysis of cable television news. The mediascape proved barren: On average, five hours of viewing would yield 71 minutes of politics, 26 minutes of crime, 12 minutes of disasters and 10 minutes of celebrities. Science, technology, health and the environment received just six minutes of coverage (with health and health care accounting for half of that.)
If I were the Discovery Channel, I would be giving serious consideration for starting a “Discovery News” 24-hour news channel that focuses on science, technology, health and the environment. That’s a fantastic market opportunity, if you stop to think about it.
- Child-like artificial intelligence created in Second Life
A creation of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Eddie has his own set of beliefs, and the ability to reason about his beliefs to draw conclusions in a manner that matches human children his age.
This includes a partially-developed “Theory of Mind”, which allows him to understand, predict and manipulate the behaviour of other agents and of even human players, with whom researchers expect the technology to be able to one day interact with in the real, physical world.
Now this is some progress!
- What real-life dungeon exploration might look like
May 16
We have nearly finished our initial survey of the outer flagstones of the dungeon entrance. Already we have made wonderful discoveries! Initial tests indicate that the stones may have come from an open pit quarry near the Elonges River, nearly two miles from here! Also, we were attacked by a Phantom Fungus and lost two more graduate students.
- American woman, 2 men held after Briton dies in apparent sex assault
This is pretty bizarre. Amanda Knox’s mom was my 6th-grade teacher.
- Nobel winner: Hillary Clinton’s ’silly’ Irish peace claims
“I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland,” she told CNN on Wednesday. But negotiators from the parties that helped broker the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 told The Daily Telegraph that her role was peripheral and that she played no part in the gruelling political talks over the years.