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pacome delva

Information converted to energy - physicsworld.com - 4 views

physicsworld.com/...44385

phy information maxwell_demon

shared by pacome delva on 22 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • By tracking the particle's motion using a video camera and then using image-analysis software to identify when the particle had rotated against the field, the researchers were able to raise the metaphorical barrier behind it by inverting the field's phase. In this way they could gradually raise the potential of the particle even though they had not imparted any energy to it directly.
  • "Nobody thinks of using bits to boil water," he says, "but that would in principle be possible at nanometre scales." And he speculates that molecular processes occurring in nature might already be converting information to energy in some way. "The message is that processes taking place on the nanoscale are completely different from those we are familiar with, and that information is part of that picture."
  • pacome delva on 22 Nov 10
     
    crazy, the Maxwell's demon at work !
  • Nicholas Lan on 23 Nov 10
     
    crazy indeed
nikolas smyrlakis

BBC News - European space missions given cost warning - 1 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8389906.stm

missions cosmic vision ESA space

shared by nikolas smyrlakis on 04 Dec 09 - Cached
  • nikolas smyrlakis on 04 Dec 09
     
    Cosmic Vision missions, some of which to be selected before the end of 2011.. Favorite phrase: "Mindful of the recent criticism the agency has received from member states on the issue of cost overruns, Professor David Southwood, Esa's director of science and robotics, told the teams: "Industry and the science community need to get to work on this; it's a collective responsibility."" :-> reference class forecasting!
pacome delva

"Quantum trampoline" measures gravity - 2 views

physicsworld.com/...41208

phy atom_interferometry atom_gravimeter

shared by pacome delva on 15 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Physicists in France have come up with a new way of using bouncing ultracold atoms to measure the acceleration due to gravity. The technique involves firing vertical laser pulses at a collection of free-falling atoms, which bounces some atoms higher than others. When the atoms recombine at the centre of the experiment, they create an interference pattern that reveals that g is 9.809 m/s2 – just as expected for their Paris lab.
  • pacome delva on 15 Dec 09
     
    That's the lab I worked...
  • Dario Izzo on 16 Dec 09
     
    just being cinical ... but did not we know that g = 9.809 in Paris? I can also create a complex measurement procedure that will held pi = 3.1415, just as expected!!!
  • pacome delva on 17 Dec 09
     
    well, sure... the interest of such gravimeter is to be absolute, and for now slightly more accurate than the other type of absolute gravimeter which uses retroreflector and interferometry ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravimeter ). While the latter ones reached their limit in term of sensitivity, the atomic ones can be enhanced in many ways (using cooler atoms, better optics, etc...)
pacome delva

TeamParis-SynthEthics - 5 views

2009.igem.org/...TeamParis-SynthEthics.pdf

bio human_sciences ethics

shared by pacome delva on 27 Nov 09 - No Cached
  • pacome delva on 27 Nov 09
     
    This is an interesting report from a student in sociology, who worked with a group of scientists on a synthetic biology project for the competition IGEM (http://2009.igem.org/Main_Page). This is what happen when you mix hard and soft sciences. For this project they won the special prize for "Best Human Practices Advance". You can read the part on self or exploded governance (p.34). When reading parts of this reports, I thought that it could be good to have a stagiaire or a YGT in human science to see if we can raise interesting question about ethics for the space sector. There are many questions I'm sure, about the governance, the legitimacy of spending millions to go in space, etc...
LeopoldS

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China - 0 views

www.most.gov.cn/...t20091120_74294.htm

environment ecology development china cooperation politics

shared by LeopoldS on 07 Dec 09 - Cached
  • LeopoldS on 07 Dec 09
     
    University Alliance for Low Carbon Energy   Three universities, including Tsinghua University, University of Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have fostered up an alliance on November 15, 2009 to advocate low carbon energy and climate change adaptation The alliance will mainly work on 6 major areas: clean coal technology and CCS, homebuilding energy efficiency, industrial energy efficiency and sustainable transport, biomass energy and other renewable energy, advanced nuclear energy, intelligent power grid, and energy policies/planning. A steering panel made up of the senior experts from the three universities (two from each) will be established to review, evaluate, and endorse the goals, projects, fund raising activities, and collaborations under the alliance. With the Headquarters at the campus of Tsinghua University and branch offices at other two universities, the alliance will be chaired by a scientist selected from Tsinghua University.   According to a briefing, the alliance will need a budget of USD 3-5 million, mainly from the donations of government, industry, and all walks of life. In this context, the R&D findings derived from the alliance will find its applications in improving people's life.
pacome delva

Algae Show a Knack for Quantum Mechanics -- Berardelli 2010 (203): 3 -- ScienceNOW - 1 views

sciencenow.sciencemag.org/...3

phy bio quantum_physics photosynthesis

shared by pacome delva on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • the discovery will open up a new field of research, and it could lead to a new generation of superefficient light-sensitive devices.
  • the experiments showed that the electron vibrations resulting from the photons striking the antennas persisted at full strength four times longer than expected. The reason, the researchers report this week in Nature, is that quantum mechanics controls the energy. "It was an utter surprise," says physical chemist and co-author Gregory Scholes of the University of Toronto in Canada. For the results to have occurred, he explains, a property called quantum coherence must have been operating.
  • the research "will open an entirely new area of biophysics." And that effort should have "huge implications," he says, "not only for how we think about biophysics, but also light harvesting and light-sensitive devices."
  • pacome delva on 04 Feb 10
     
    Very interesting work, showing that apparently algae mastered quantum coherence a few years before us... Inspiring for a new type of light-sensitive devices, and perhaps other applications...
Tobias Seidl

Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network : Article : Nature - 2 views

www.nature.com/...nature08704.html

BIO navigation map

shared by Tobias Seidl on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Tobias Seidl on 04 Feb 10
     
    This is the community that states mammals have cognitive maps. Good work, especially by the Moser-couple.
Tobias Seidl

Photosynthesis: Quantum design for a light trap : Article : Nature - 0 views

www.nature.com/...463614a.html

BIO PHY quantum photosynthesis

shared by Tobias Seidl on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Tobias Seidl on 04 Feb 10
     
    Quantum-stuff in bio-stuff. Finally! Anyone wants to work on biomimetic quantum theory?
  • Luzi Bergamin on 04 Feb 10
     
    I'll start once we have the "Topological Metabiostring".
  • pacome delva on 05 Feb 10
     
    ooh yeah! do you have some time on sunday...? well this falls i think in the "Can we use it for space?" category... but I would like to read a bit more about it (just had the time to read the sciencenow news few post below...)
Francesco Biscani

Official Google Blog: A digital renaissance: partnering with the Italian Ministry of Cu... - 1 views

googleblog.blogspot.com/...naissance-partnering-with.html

inf

shared by Francesco Biscani on 10 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Working with the National Libraries of Florence and Rome, we’ll digitize up to a million out-of-copyright works.
Joris _

How We'll Work in 2025 | Slideshows - 5 views

www.fastcompany.com/...how-well-work-2025

shared by Joris _ on 02 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Joris _ on 02 Apr 10
     
    Could we apply this to ESA?
Joris _

Hewlett-Packard Unveils Real-World Memristor, Chip of the Future | Popular Science - 3 views

www.popsci.com/...d-unveils-first-ever-memristor

technology electronic

shared by Joris _ on 12 Apr 10 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • they allow the same device to serve as the processor and the memory
  • a memristor system would work far faster, and with far less energy, than a traditional computer.
  • Second, memristors can be much smaller than transistors.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Lastly, unlike transistors, which only work linearly, memristors can form three-dimensional networks
  • pacome delva on 15 Apr 10
     
    wow, looks pretty cool! I wonder what is "a ridiculous amount of memory on a chip"...? giga, tera, peta, exa, ... ?
  • Ma Ru on 15 Apr 10
     
    Looks cool indeed, but as with all those technology "breakthroughs" my enthusiasm will be limited until this actually makes it to my laptop...
  • LeopoldS on 15 Apr 10
     
    what a phrase: "this advance could increase the power and memory of computers to nearly unimaginable proportions within only a couple of years." ... sure ....
Luís F. Simões

Seminar: You and Your Research, Dr. Richard W. Hamming (March 7, 1986) - 10 views

www.chris-lott.org/...kaiser.html

science research Methods methodology Nobel Bell Labs Los Alamos

shared by Luís F. Simões on 07 Jan 11 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • This talk centered on Hamming's observations and research on the question "Why do so few scientists make significant contributions and so many are forgotten in the long run?" From his more than forty years of experience, thirty of which were at Bell Laboratories, he has made a number of direct observations, asked very pointed questions of scientists about what, how, and why they did things, studied the lives of great scientists and great contributions, and has done introspection and studied theories of creativity. The talk is about what he has learned in terms of the properties of the individual scientists, their abilities, traits, working habits, attitudes, and philosophy.
  • Luís F. Simões on 07 Jan 11
     
    Here's the link related to one of the lunch time discussions. I recommend it to every single one of you. I promise it will be worth your time. If you're lazy, you have a summary here (good stuff also in the references, have a look at them):      Erren TC, Cullen P, Erren M, Bourne PE (2007) Ten Simple Rules for Doing Your Best Research, According to Hamming. PLoS Comput Biol 3(10): e213.
  • ...3 more comments...
  • pacome delva on 11 Jan 11
     
    I'm also pretty sure that the ones who are remembered are not the ones who tried to be... so why all these rules !? I think it's bullshit...
  • Luís F. Simões on 11 Jan 11
     
    The seminar is not a manual on how to achieve fame, but rather an analysis on how others were able to perform very significant work. The two things are in some cases related, but the seminar's focus is on the second.
  • pacome delva on 12 Jan 11
     
    Then read a good book on the life of Copernic, it's the anti-manual of Hamming... he breaks all the rules !
  • LeopoldS on 12 Jan 11
     
    honestly I think that some of these rules actually make sense indeed ... but I am always curious to get a good book recommendation (which book of Copernic would you recommend?) btw Pacome: we are in Paris ... in case you have some time ...
  • pacome delva on 12 Jan 11
     
    I warmly recommend this book, a bit old but fascinating: The sleepwalkers from Arthur Koestler. It shows that progress in science is not straight and do not obey any rule... It is not as rational as most of people seem to believe today. http://www.amazon.com/Sleepwalkers-History-Changing-Universe-Compass/dp/0140192468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294835558&sr=8-1 Otherwise yes I have some time ! my phone number: 0699428926 We live around Denfert-Rochereau and Montparnasse. We could go for a beer this evening ?
LeopoldS

Future Agenda: Welcome - 4 views

www.futureagenda.org/view

fun future

shared by LeopoldS on 22 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 22 Dec 10
     
    very nice work based on open foresight ... we should add the space component to each of these trends :-)
LeopoldS

Macroscopic invisibility cloaking of visible light : Nature Communications : Nature Pub... - 3 views

www.nature.com/...ncomms1176.html

invisibility PHY science

shared by LeopoldS on 02 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 02 Feb 11
     
    and all this without magic metamaterials ...
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 02 Feb 11
     
    Wellwellwell! I don't know how I have to complain, since I could not yet read the full article, but I'm sure I will :-).
  • Luzi Bergamin on 02 Feb 11
     
    It's funny to see how people get more and more humble in the desperate attempt to save their stupid ideas... At the beginning was the brave and bold aim to cloak something in free space (in a sphere or a cylinder). This requires inhomogeneous, anisotropic, magnetic materials; hopeless!! So one reduces to one polarization, now we have inhomogenous, anisotropic materials; still hopeless! At this point one downgraded the pretension: instead of cloaking in free space, we make a "carpet cloak" and hide an object behind an invisible dent in a mirror. But if that shall be continuous, we still need inhomogeneity and this is very hard. So now instead of a dent we take a cone and then it is claimed to work ... for ONE polarization. But of course the cloak can't work at all incident angles... irony of fate: everything is now made from birefringent media, the antithesis of what the metamaterials dogma was at the beginning!
  • jmlloren on 04 Feb 11
     
    Hi Luzi, can you please send me the paper. We are writing a project based on sulfates and carbonates, and all this BS sounds great for the introduction (The authors used Calcite as birefringent material)
Luís F. Simões

The Fantastical Promise of Reversible Computing  - Technology Review - 2 views

www.technologyreview.com/...26308

INF reversible logic computing chip electronics quantum cellular_automata

shared by Luís F. Simões on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Reversible logic could cut the energy wasted by computers to zero. But significant challenges lie ahead.
  • By some estimates the difference between the amount of energy required to carry out a computation and the amount that today's computers actually use, is some eight orders of magnitude. Clearly, there is room for improvement.
  • There are one or two caveats, of course. The first is that nobody has succeeded in building a properly reversible logic gate so this work is entirely theoretical. But there are a number of computing schemes that have the potential to work like this. Thapliyal and Ranganathan point in particular to the emerging technology of quantum cellular automata and show how their approach might be applied.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1101.4222: Reversible Logic Based Concurrent Error Detection Methodology For Emerging Nanocircuits
  • Dario Izzo on 26 Jan 11
     
    We did look at making computation powers more efficient from the bio perspective (efficiency of computations in brain). This paper was actually the base for our discussion on a new approsach to computing http://atlas.estec.esa.int/ACTwiki/images/6/68/Sarpeshkar.pdf and led to several ACT internal studies
  • Luís F. Simões on 26 Jan 11
     
    here is the paper I told you about, on the computational power of analog computing: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-3975(95)00248-0 you can also get it here: http://www.santafe.edu/media/workingpapers/95-09-079.pdf
Luzi Bergamin

Prof. Markrams Hirnmaschine (Startseite, NZZ Online) - 2 views

www.nzz.ch/...s_hirnmaschine_1.10736223.html

AI neuroscience SciFi

shared by Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11 - No Cached
  • Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11
     
    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
  • ...4 more comments...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 29 May 11
     
    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
  • LeopoldS on 30 May 11
     
    so critical that the comment needed to be posted twice :-) ?
  • Luzi Bergamin on 30 May 11
     
    Yes, I know; I still don't know how to deal with this f.... Diigo Toolbar! Shame on me!!!
  • dejanpetkow on 30 May 11
     
    Would be nice to read something about the modelling, but it appears that there is nothing published in detail. Following the article, the main approach is to model each(!) neuron taking into account the spatial structure of the neurons positions. Once achieved they expect intelligent behaviour. And they need a (type of) supercomputer which does not exist yet.
  • Ma Ru on 31 May 11
     
    As far as I know it's sort of like "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens"... i.e. a waste of taxpayer's money... Able to heal Alzheimer... Yeah... Actually I was on the conference the author is mentioning (FET 2011) and I have seen the presentations of all 6 flagship proposals. Following that I had a discussion with one of my colleagues about the existence of limits of the amount of bullshit politicians are willing to buy from scientists. Will there be a point at which politicians, despite their total ignorance, will realise that scientists simply don't deliver anything they promise? How long will we (scientists) be stuck in the viscous circle of have-to-promise-more-than-predecessors in order to get money? Will we face a situation when we'll be forced to revert to promises which are realistic? To be honest none of the 6 presentations convinced me of their scientific merit (apart from the one on graphene where I have absolutely no expertise to tell). Apparently a huge amount of money is about to be wasted.
  • Luzi Bergamin on 01 Jun 11
     
    It's not just "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens", it's worse! Also the simulation of the cosmological evolution is/was a little bit of this type, still the results are very interesting and useful. Why? Neither the whole cosmos nor the human brain at the level of single neurons can be modelled on a computer, that would last aeons on a "yet-to-be-invented-extra-super-computer". Thus one has to make assumptions and simplifications. In cosmology we have working theories of gravitation, thermodynamics, electrodynamics etc. at hand; starting from these theories we can make reasonable assumptions and (more or less) justified simplifications. The result is valuable since it provides insight into a complex system under given, explicit and understood assumptions. Nothing similar seems to exist in neuroscience. There is no theory of the human brain and apparently nobody has the slightest idea which simplifications can be made without harm. Of course, Mr. Markram remains completely unaffected of ''details'' like this. Finally, Marek, money is not wasted, we ''build networks of excellence'' and ''select the brightest of the brightest'' to make them study and work at our ''elite institutions'' :-). I lively remember the stage of one of these "bestofthebest" from Ivy League at the ACT...
santecarloni

Partial reversal of aging achieved in mice | Harvard Gazette - 0 views

news.harvard.edu/...rsal-of-aging-achieved-in-mice

aging bio technology

shared by santecarloni on 21 May 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • santecarloni on 21 May 11
     
    Researchers led by Ronald A. DePinho (above), a Harvard Medical School professor of genetics, say their work shows for the first time a dramatic reversal of many aspects of age-related degeneration in mice, a milestone in aging science achieved by engineering mice with a controllable telomerase gene. T
  • LeopoldS on 22 May 11
     
    I would not yet volunteer ....
LeopoldS

Gemasolar Concentrated Solar Power achieves key milestone - 24 hours of uninterrupted s... - 1 views

www.gizmag.com/...19098

NRG

shared by LeopoldS on 26 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 26 Jul 11
     
    was always a bit sceptic about the molten salt technology but practise seems to show that it works just fine ...
Luís F. Simões

Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics : Discovery News - 4 views

news.discovery.com/...-power-without-the-blades.html

NRG wind energy biomimicry

shared by Luís F. Simões on 19 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.
  • Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area
  • After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor's diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. But Windstalks work on chaos and turbulence so they can be installed much closer together, said Núñez-Ameni.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Núñez-Ameni also reports that the firm is currently working on taking the Windstalk idea underwater. Called Wavestalk, the whole system would be inverted to harness energy from the flow of ocean currents and waves.
  • Luís F. Simões on 19 Sep 11
     
    additional information: http://atelierdna.com/?p=144
  • LeopoldS on 24 Sep 11
     
    isn't this a bit of a contradiction: on the one hand: "Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area" and on the other: "After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor's diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. " still, very interesting concept!
Luís F. Simões

Evolving software inspired by natural selection | Santa Fe Institute - 3 views

www.santafe.edu/...forrest-evolving-software

INF software repair evolution

shared by Luís F. Simões on 14 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Luís F. Simões on 14 Sep 11
     
    Stephanie Forrest awarded $3.2 million by DARPA to further develop her work on automated software repair through evolutionary computing (papers)
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