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Occupy Federal Science: "Transformative" Research Can't Come From Milquetoast | The Cru... - 4 views

blogs.discovermagazine.com/...rch-cant-come-from-milquetoast science research
shared by santecarloni on 14 Dec 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • LeopoldS on 15 Dec 11
     
    I like this one "The kind of idle pastime that might amuse physicists is to imagine drafting Einstein's grant applications in 1905. "I propose to investigate the idea that light travels in little bits," one might say. "I will explore the possibility that time slows down as things speed up," goes another. Imagine what comments these would have elicited from reviewers for the German Science Funding Agency, had such a thing existed. Instead, Einstein just did the work anyway while drawing his wages as a technical expert third-class at the Bern patent office. And that is how he invented quantum physics and relativity." There is an even more pointer example of the Prussian academy of sciences reviewing the Dr. application of Hertz ...
  • dejanpetkow on 16 Dec 11
     
    Shocking. What is federal research funding for? No, wrong question. Instead maybe: What is federally funded review for?
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Comet Lovejoy entered SOHO's LASCO C3 field of view - 0 views

planetary.org/...00003301 space science
shared by Lionel Jacques on 15 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Lionel Jacques on 15 Dec 11
     
    nice images...
2More

How Likely Is a Runaway Greenhouse Effect on Earth? - Technology Review - 1 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27495 climate BIO Science
shared by santecarloni on 13 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • santecarloni on 13 Jan 12
     
    Sometime in the last few billion years, disaster struck one of Earth's nearest neighbours. Planetary geologists think there is good evidence that Venus was the victim of a runaway greenhouse effect which turned the planet into the boiling hell we see today. A similar catastrophe is almost certain to strike Earth in about 2 billion years, as the Sun increases in luminosity.
  • LeopoldS on 14 Jan 12
     
    the actual paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.1593 just wondering if their conclusion that the long term solution is to change the orbit of Earth is really the ultimate wisdom ...
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Computer Model Replays Europe's Cultural History  - Technology Review - 2 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27507 computer sociology Science
shared by santecarloni on 19 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • santecarloni on 19 Jan 12
     
    A simple mathematical model of the way cultures spread reproduces some aspects of European history, say complexity scientists
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Artificial Braneworlds Made to Collide In Lab - Technology Review - 4 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27537 metamaterials cosmology PHY
shared by santecarloni on 31 Jan 12 - No Cached
pacome delva liked it
  • santecarloni on 31 Jan 12
     
    Physicists have simulated two universes colliding inside a metamaterial--  Now, this is cool (if it is true...)
  • ...1 more comment...
  • LeopoldS on 01 Feb 12
     
    we... the article is a bit overblown in my view ... except maybe the last paragraphs: "The collision between universe's is a variation on this theme. "The "colliding universe" scenario can be realized as a simple extension of our earlier experiments simulating the spacetime geometry in the vicinity of big bang," he says. He simulates an expanding universe using concetric rings of gold separated by a dielectric. "When the two concentric ring ("universe") patterns touch each other ("collide"), a Minkowski domain wall is created, in which the metallic stripes touch each other at a small angle," he says. Being able to recreate these exotic events in the lab is certainly interesting but it is beginning to lose its novelty. The problem is that this work is not telling us anything we didn't know--the universe behaves the same way inside a metamaterial as it does outside. What Smolyaninov needs is a way of using his exotic materials to do something interesting. In other words, he needs a killer app. Any ideas? "
  • Luzi Bergamin on 05 Feb 12
     
    Hm, they use more or less everything I don't especially like. They are nonmagnetic, so the relation materialGR is already rather weak. Usually, experimentalists prefer nonmagnetic media, since they are cheaper and broadband. At least the broadband is no argument here, since the frequency defines the "mass", which I find a rather strange point of view. And finally, they use strong anisotropy as a model of "time", which is rather problematic. Of course, the spatial direction with eps<0 appears in the wave equation with the same sign as time. But this does not mean that it behaves like time. But to teach material physicists that time is more than just a different sign in the wave equation seems to be as hopeless as to teach them that a black hole is more than something that absorbs all light... SIGHHH
  • LeopoldS on 10 Feb 12
     
    Luzi I miss you ...
5More

The Secret of Ant Transportation Networks - Technology Review - 2 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27545 bio ant foraging transport networks
shared by Luís F. Simões on 03 Feb 12 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • Just how ants create the highly efficient network of trails around their nests has never been fully understood. Now researchers think they've cracked it
  • They say the structure of ant trails can be entirely explained if the ants's response to a pheromone droplet concentration is linear. "One ant will turn to the left in proportion to the difference between the pheromone it has on its left side and the pheromone on its right," say Perna and co. They also point out that this is exactly what Weber's law predicts.
  • Ref:&nbsp;arxiv.org/abs/1201.5827&nbsp;:Individual Rules For Trail Pattern Formation In Argentine Ants (Linepithema Humile)
  • Luís F. Simões on 03 Feb 12
     
    from the abstract: "Using a novel imaging and analysis technique on experimental data we estimated pheromone concentrations at all spatial positions in the experimental arena and at different times. Then we derived the response function of individual ants to pheromone concentrations by looking at correlations between concentrations and changes in speed or direction of the ants." [...] "agent based simulations based on the Weber's Law response function determined experimentally produced results compatible with those reported in the literature and reproduced the formation of trails."
  • LeopoldS on 05 Feb 12
     
    Nice article!
2More

Layer 8: NASA looking at building tractor beams for space - 3 views

www.networkworld.com/...g-building-tractor-beams-space Phy laser NASA NIAC
shared by LeopoldS on 06 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 06 Nov 11
     
    Three very interesting concepts indeed! Especially the solenoid one...
  • dejanpetkow on 07 Nov 11
     
    Does anyone know a proper reference?
2More

Astronomer Captures Enormous True-Color Photo of Night Sky - 4 views

freepress.intel.com/...-true-color-photo-of-night-sky
shared by Luke O'Connor on 18 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Luke O'Connor on 18 Nov 11
     
    And some interactive versions: http://skysurvey.org/
  • LeopoldS on 22 Nov 11
     
    this is very very nice! thanks for sharing
3More

American Innovation Losing its Shine? - 4 views

freepress.intel.com/...an-innovation-losing-its-shine technology INF science
shared by LeopoldS on 18 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 18 Nov 11
     
    interesting reflections by MIT head on innovation in US
  • Christos Ampatzis on 20 Nov 11
     
    interesting, especially since in all COmmission papers US innovation is praised and changes expected are only related to China/India (for the better)... Article mixes a lot talk on innovation with numbers that I do not see necessarily connected (trade deficit, GDP growth etc.). Seems to me the real problematique behind the article is only the next planned distribution of federal funds and where they should cut...
  • Joris _ on 22 Nov 11
     
    well I understand her point. Spending cuts are only vicious short term solutions against economical downturn since growth (GDP is an interesting measure indeed) comes from innovation, research and production. Nonetheless, what she is describing is happening in EU too. So who will take the lead? I am not certain China is the one. In my view, it has not yet solved its domestic issues... and US still has more Nobel Prize than China. One thing for sure, the way it is EU is only a "wagon" of the train...
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Robotic Ostrich - 0 views

whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/...trich-probably-will-outrun-you
shared by Guido de Croon on 16 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Guido de Croon on 16 Nov 11
     
    At the moment still in the phase of running in simulation, but who knows when the first robotic experiments will be.
6More

Stochastic Pattern Recognition Dramatically Outperforms Conventional Techniques - Techn... - 2 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27598 stochastic probabilistic computing pattern_recognition robotics navigation
shared by Luís F. Simões on 23 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • A stochastic computer, designed to help an autonomous vehicle navigate, outperforms a conventional computer by three orders of magnitude, say computer scientists
  • These guys have applied stochastic computing to the process of pattern recognition. The problem here is to compare an input signal with a reference signal to determine whether they match. &nbsp; In the real world, of course, input signals are always noisy so a system that can cope with noise has an obvious advantage.&nbsp; Canals and co use their technique to help an autonomous vehicle navigate its way through a simple environment for which it has an internal map. For this task, it has to measure the distance to the walls around it and work out where it is on the map. It then computes a trajectory taking it to its destination.
  • Although the idea of stochastic computing has been around for half a century, attempts to exploit have only just begun. Clearly there's much work to be done. And since one line of thought is that the brain might be a stochastic computer, at least in part, there could be exciting times ahead.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Ref:&nbsp;arxiv.org/abs/1202.4495: Stochastic-Based Pattern Recognition Analysis
  • Luís F. Simões on 23 Feb 12
     
    hey! This is essentially the Probabilistic Computing Ariadna
  • LeopoldS on 25 Feb 12
     
    The link is there but my understanding of our purpose is different than what I understood from the abstract. In any case,the authors are from Palma de Mallorca, Balears, Spain "somebody" should somehow make them aware of the Ariadna study ... E.g somebody no longer in the team :-)
1More

Computer Simulation Predicts New Allotrope Of Carbon  - Technology Review - 0 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27615 carbon technology
shared by santecarloni on 01 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • santecarloni on 01 Mar 12
     
    The new material matches the properties of a puzzling new form of carbon found in high pressure experiments
3More

How To Build A Speech Jamming Gun - Technology Review - 1 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27620 technology speech gun
shared by santecarloni on 01 Mar 12 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • santecarloni on 01 Mar 12
     
    he drone of speakers who won't stop is an inevitable experience at conferences, meetings, cinemas and public libraries.  Today, Kazutaka Kurihara at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tskuba and Koji Tsukada at Ochanomizu University, both in Japan, present a radical solution: a speech jamming device that forces recalcitrant speakers into submission. 
  • Ma Ru on 01 Mar 12
     
    ...must...not...make...the...obvious...ACT...meeting...joke...
  • LeopoldS on 02 Mar 12
     
    Unfortunately it won't work when it is most needed .... Read this: "Their tests also identify some curious phenomena. They say the gun is more effective when the delay varies in time and more effective against speech that involves reading aloud than against spontaneous monologue. Sadly, they report that it has no effect on meaningless sound sequences such as "aaaaarghhh".
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America's 10 Most Sleep-Deprived Jobs - NYTimes.com - 1 views

economix.blogs.nytimes.com/...as-10-most-sleep-deprived-jobs Fun
shared by LeopoldS on 03 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 03 Mar 12
     
    Where are the scientists???
  • dejanpetkow on 04 Mar 12
     
    "Scientist" is maybe not considered being a real job.
  • Luzi Bergamin on 04 Mar 12
     
    I guess, people working in the really most sleep-deprived areas simply had no time to give an interview... or fell asleep while the first question was asked!
1More

Flying robot quadrotors have better rhythm than you - 2 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...ing-robot-quadrotors-ted-video
shared by Luke O'Connor on 02 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Luke O'Connor on 02 Mar 12
     
    Robotics scientists at TED unleash co-ordinated drones that mimic bird behavior to play the James Bond theme song At TED2012, the University of Pennsylvania's deputy dean for education Vijay Kuma showed off his latest accomplishment in robotics: a co-ordinated rendition of the James Bond theme song.
1More

Graphene Battery Turns Ambient Heat Into Electric Current - Technology Review - 0 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27625 battery technology Science
shared by santecarloni on 05 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • santecarloni on 05 Mar 12
     
    "Physicists have built a graphene battery that harvests energy from the thermal movement of ions in solution." Can it actually work?
5More

Quantum Biology and the Puzzle of Coherence - Technology Review - 4 views

www.technologyreview.com/...27628 biology quantum technology bio
shared by santecarloni on 06 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • santecarloni on 06 Mar 12
     
    Quantum processes shouldn't survive in hot, wet biological systems and yet a growing body of evidence suggests they do. Now physicists think they know how
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Luzi Bergamin on 09 Mar 12
     
    Tobias, José and myself considered an ACT project in quantum biomimetics, but it never led anywhere. Perhaps the field is sexy enough now...
  • LeopoldS on 09 Mar 12
     
    Considered is the right word ... You unfortunately never passed the step after "considering" :-)
  • Luzi Bergamin on 10 Mar 12
     
    Yes, because our bosses forced us to write strategic reports on "system of systems" :-)
  • LeopoldS on 10 Mar 12
     
    Oh these terrible ignorant slave masters .... Would love to see your "reports on system of systems" :-)
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