Cool Science

[Bo D]

Personally ... I liked the tip about keeping your beer cold. 

[Locutus]

Personally ... I liked the tip about keeping your beer cold. 

Indeed!   It's a tip I can use the whole year around here. 

[Henry Hawk]

That is so very cool.  For those who are too lazy to actually click on the link and listen, here is the recording right here.   Click and listen to this man's voice from the year 1885.  The text is displayed on the video so you can see what he's saying if you can't make it out in the recording.   You can skip to near the end if you want to hear where he mentions his name and states where and when the recording was made.  It's not often you get to hear someone's voice from the 1800s but now you can. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/rqYxkiMyqhY

Yes, that is very, very cool....

[Bo D]

The World's Smallest Movie ....

Ummm ... I won't even try to explain this. You just have to read it ....

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/05/scientists-make-world%E2%80%99s-smallest-stop-motion-film?et_cid=3230174&et_rid=54725525&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rdmag.com%2fnews%2f2013%2f05%2fscientists-make-world%25E2%2580%2599s-smallest-stop-motion-film

[Henry Hawk]

WOW is about the only words I can muster .... That is amazing ( okay I thought of a few more). 

[libby]

Hmmm ... an inquiring mind might ask, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" 

[Henry Hawk]

Hmmm ... an inquiring mind might ask, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" 

My answer would be "infinity and beyond!" 

[libby]

Good observation, HH.  My next question was going to be: "Has anybody here read the sci-fi short story He Who Shrank by Henry Hasse? It's from an old anthology published in 1957: Famous Science Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space that I found in a used books store. It's one of two short stories I marked as

This preceded the actual story:
"The reader is warned that this story, like infinity, has no ending. Being a faithful chronicle of infinity--sub-atomic infinity--it could properly have no ending. We never know the ultimate fate of our protagonist, for he descended into the vastnesses that lie within the atom. We have merely stepped on the top rung of an endless ladder in cracking the atom. What universes have we destroyed in exploding a single, solitary atom?"

The story is about time travel in inner -- vs. outer -- space. 

[Henry Hawk]

Never read it, but I think it IS interesting to discuss...Kind of gives you a headache after a while though...

[libby]

Never read it, but I think it IS interesting to discuss...Kind of gives you a headache after a while though...

You know what, you're right. Too much thinking about infinity can mess with the mind.      

[Bo D]

Experimental Air Force Aircraft goes Hypersonic

An experimental, unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force went hypersonic during a test off the Southern California coast, traveling at more than 3,000 mph, the Air Force said.

The X-51A WaveRider flew for more than three minutes under power from its exotic scramjet engine and hit a speed of Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound.

It reached Mach 4.8 in less than half a minute ...

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/05/experimental-air-force-aircraft-goes-hypersonic?et_cid=3240596&et_rid=41373174&location=top

Wonder what its 0-60 time was? 

[Henry Hawk]

Experimental Air Force Aircraft goes Hypersonic

An experimental, unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force went hypersonic during a test off the Southern California coast, traveling at more than 3,000 mph, the Air Force said.

The X-51A WaveRider flew for more than three minutes under power from its exotic scramjet engine and hit a speed of Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound.

It reached Mach 4.8 in less than half a minute ...

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/05/experimental-air-force-aircraft-goes-hypersonic?et_cid=3240596&et_rid=41373174&location=top

Wonder what its 0-60 time was? 

I just used a calculater we have here and mach 4.8 is 1.01494273443528 mph per second....

WOW!

[Bo D]

Damn! I coulda been rich!

In high school, I did a term paper for a physics class on "Light Feedback" where I proposed that you could capture a laser beam between two parabolic mirrors with coinciding foci and the beam would be trapped infinitely.

Now this ....

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/05/light-storage-chaos-superior-order?et_cid=3243286&et_rid=41373174&location=top

The research, which is reported in Nature Photonics, involved a study of optical cavities – also known as optical resonators – and their ability to store light. Optical cavities typically store light by bouncing it many times between sets of suitable mirrors.

[Bo D]

This is interesting enough in itself ....

New method of finding planets scores first discovery
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/05/new-method-finding-planets-scores-first-discovery

But it was this sentence that pulled me in ....

The planet was detected using the BEER algorithm, which looked for brightness changes in the star as the planet orbits due to relativistic Beaming, Elliposidal variations, and reflected light from the planet. 

So ... one thing led to another ....

http://www.oregonlive.com/beer/index.ssf/2013/05/if_you_dont_know_what_beer_you.html

If you don't know what beer you want to drink --- there's an algorithm for that

[libby]

Damn! I coulda been rich!

In high school, I did a term paper for a physics class on "Light Feedback" where I proposed that you could capture a laser beam between two parabolic mirrors with coinciding foci and the beam would be trapped infinitely.

Now this ....

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/05/light-storage-chaos-superior-order?et_cid=3243286&et_rid=41373174&location=top

The research, which is reported in Nature Photonics, involved a study of optical cavities – also known as optical resonators – and their ability to store light. Optical cavities typically store light by bouncing it many times between sets of suitable mirrors.

"In high school ...."  Now that is impressive.