Drive by science
 

I think we need a Miscellany thread for science stuff we come across. This is it.

Harvard makes distortion-free lens from gold and silicon, aims for the perfect image (or signal) -- Engadget

Re: Drive by science
 

Wouldn't it be cool if the micro antennas could be altered in situ to produce a completely solid state zoom lens?

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Hey, it's an example of phased-array optics.

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Whoa, didn't see this coming at all. I assumed the opposite.

Pediatrics group says circumcision's benefits outweigh risks amid U.S. decline in procedure

Re: Drive by science
 

This is more about science reporting than science proper, but it's still good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QdD96OZFzA#!

(He also has a cool story about the time he robbed a bank, but it's not very sciencey.)

Re: Drive by science
 

Are you serious? Membership in that group is, I guess, the thing that's most strongly correlated with making money off the ritual. Hence the information content of their statement is close to zero. I would put them in the category of every other group that's about to lose an existing source of income and trying to prevent that. In terms of bias, that's where the most aggressive lobby groups are to be found.

[eta: never mind. That was probably sarcasm failure on my part.]

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http://m.

Re: Drive by science
 

:kirk:

'Warp drive' may be more feasible than thought, scientists say | Fox News

Re: Drive by science
 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma...kzoqo5_500.jpg
Fuck Yeah Fluid Dynamics Tumblr

Re: Drive by science
 

I wanted to share a video I came across on YouTube of Neil DeGrasse Tyson giving a lecture during Beyond Belief 2006.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Greatest Sermon Ever - YouTube

It almost comes across as a sermon. His passion for the sciences is both palpable and infectious. I wish I had heard of him 15 to 20 years ago.

Re: Drive by science
 

There might be a very cool comet in our future. :)

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n12...yVuJI.facebook

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I'm no physicist or anything...

Re: Drive by science
 

I read the explanation when I first saw the video. I'm no rememberator, but I call it explosive rebound. Some portion of the explosive force pushed downward through the can, hitting the solid floor beneath and then reflecting enough of the remaining energy back into the can causing it to lift off the ground like it did.

I'm sure we have a scientist on staff who can tell me how wrong I am.

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That really sucks. The article depressed me a little.

If that happens, then truer words were never spoken. I can't help but think our last few generations have done a damn good job of fucking over the planet.

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:user:

Physicists May Have Evidence Universe Is A Computer Simulation

Re: Drive by science
 

Yeah, that's the sort of thing that can make you a little crazy, if you think about it too much.

It's something that computer scientists like to point out. The basic idea, as I understand it, goes like this:

1. A sufficiently sophisticated computer could run a simulation of the Universe.
   
2. There are potentially lots of computers out there running simulated Universes.
   
3. There is only one real Universe.
   
4. Therefore it is more probable that we are living in a computer-simulated Universe than that we're living in the real one.
   
5. Sleepless nights ensue.

Re: Drive by science
 

It is interesting to note that it wouldn't take that many qbits to compute the universe. On the order of a thousand. It's almost recursive in that it appears the universe is basically quantum and quantum computers of modest size could in theory compute the universe.

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No, quantum computers of modest size can simulate quantum systems of modest size. So maybe, maybe you could simulate a classical version of the universe (of course there is no such thing) but you can't get most of the answers out (you only get to measure once). To simulate a universe of qubits, you need a universe of qubits. Or more time. What you can get rid of is the exponential slowdown, which is huge.

Re: Drive by science
 

Okay, while we're at it (and after 5 hours of C++ template metaprogramming insanity), let's pose another question: If we were simulated by a computer, how would we find out what its characteristics are? We would have to measure it in some way, but until we do that, every possible computer of sufficient power that exists somewhere in spacetime and happens to be coded with our program is simulating us.

They may have trouble isolating it to maintain coherence. I imagine it is orbited by black holes that suck all the incoming particles and information off that could disturb the measurement.

BTW, who wants a C++ course?

Re: Drive by science
 

Maybe black holes are what happened when the Programmer divided by 0.