Science addicts here?....

[steffo99]

Just finished watching the 5 episodes of this new series and really liked it. Figured I might as well post it here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Universe


Here are some stream links - hope you don't get too many ads. I have that stuff blocked so never notice too much.
http://asdl.us/human-universe-s01e01/

[Wayne Evans]

Howdy steffo99.....

I'm not much of a reader (although I can read most words) but I've seen all his shows except for these that you note.
Took me a bit to warm up to him but he's cool in my book.
Can't believe I didn't catch these yet but will look for some repeats and await Netlflix to offer them up for my no commercials brain food.

Thanks for the links.....and chiming in to keep science alive here.

Carry on....

[Chowboy]

Just finished watching the 5 episodes of this new series and really liked it. Figured I might as well post it here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Universe


Here are some stream links - hope you don't get too many ads. I have that stuff blocked so never notice too much.
http://asdl.us/human-universe-s01e01/

He's not my favorite due to his position on CAGW, but I am reading a book of his, The Quantum Univers. Pretty interesting.

On another note, your website was difficult...if you know what I mean. Found what I believe are the same vids on Utube:





(Subsequent episodes will show up in the recommendations.

[Wayne Evans]

Interest only for the addicts....

Apparently the new James Webb telescope will be 100x more powerful than Hubble.
I have the same anticipation with this one as I did awaiting the Hubble launch....and the Hubble mirror fix.
Won't be until 2018 so I hope I'm still kicking when the stellar images start coming in.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/27...ng-prepped.htm
http://jwst.nasa.gov/comparison.html

Carry on....

[steffo99]

A closer look at Andromeda - pretty neat.





http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/
zoom tool:http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...502a/zoomable/

[Wayne Evans]

A closer look at Andromeda - pretty neat.

Stunning imagery.

In about 4 billion years we'll have a much better view of it with it's merge into our Milky Way.
Even with that eventual scenario they say that bodies will not collide with each other because there's so much space between them all.
Andromeda is over twice the diameter of the MW being about 200,00 light years.

The concepts of time, distance and space are truly mind boggling.

Thanks for posting and reviving....mas cafe para mi.

[DocHoss]

Charles Townes, winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the maser and laser, passed away this morning. He was 99 years old and still working! He was active in research and had graduate students. Pretty impressive - just goes to show, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

[Wayne Evans]

Charles Townes, winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the maser and laser, passed away this morning. He was 99 years old and still working! He was active in research and had graduate students. Pretty impressive - just goes to show, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

Wow....what a stellar career and I read your other thread.
A great mind without a doubt....RIP Mr. Townes.

His office being 'down the hall' does that mean you worked with him however minimally?
Are you at a university or something doing research?

Have some greenz for keeping this one alive.

A good day to all....

EDIT: astroid has it's own 'miniature moon'.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space...e-moon-n294621

[Chowboy]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm really looking forward to the second go round with the Large Hadron Collider. First power up was a little bit of a disappointment since malfunctions dictated only half power. This time...full speed ahead.

Although, maybe they'll create a black hole and end us all...J/K

[Wayne Evans]

First power up was a little bit of a disappointment since malfunctions dictated only half power. This time...full speed ahead.

Yeah....I (again) watched the LHC special about a week or two ago.
It was a pretty expensive magnet meltdown and about a 13 month delay IIRC.
Don't know when their firing up again but I look forward to it also.

It makes one wonder how small quantum particles can get even if we're smart enough to detect them.

Thanks for chiming in....

[mcbourque]

Yeah....I (again) watched the LHC special about a week or two ago.
It was a pretty expensive magnet meltdown and about a 13 month delay IIRC.
Don't know when their firing up again but I look forward to it also.

It makes one wonder how small quantum particles can get even if we're smart enough to detect them.

Thanks for chiming in....

What was the smallest one detected so far? Anything since Higgs Boson? I'm trying to keep up

Just found a fish under 1/2 mile of Antartica Ice. That's pretty cool!



http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...-microbes-ice/

[Wayne Evans]

What was the smallest one detected so far? Anything since Higgs Boson? I'm trying to keep up
Just found a fish under 1/2 mile of Antartica Ice. That's pretty cool![/url]

No shvt....I'm trying to keep up too and it's a challenge for my batch of neurons.
To my knowledge nothing smaller than the HB which IIRC he received his accreditation at the end of the seminar in the recent special.

Great fish story....did I ever mention that I love this stuff.

I'm glad to see some interest from you ladies on the subject of science.

A good day to all....

(I'm happy to rep all who check in if not on spread)

[Chowboy]

^^^^^

Well they pretty much have the standard model for particles figured out, they think. The verification of the Higgs Boson particle/force was huge. What they find next, who knows. I'm hoping for something that will turn the physics world on its' head.

Smaller particles? Well, there is String Theory, or M Theory, that goes even smaller, much much smaller. So small that we will never be able to see them. The math works really well with no anomalies, BUT you need 11 dimensions and many more universes, maybe infinite. However, it portends to solve the "Theory of Everything." Whereas, Quantum Mech does not deal with gravity and General Relativity does not like QM.

Sometimes I think that there are things we just ain't supposed to know.

[mcbourque]

^^^^^

Well they pretty much have the standard model for particles figured out, they think. The verification of the Higgs Boson particle/force was huge. What they find next, who knows. I'm hoping for something that will turn the physics world on its' head.

Smaller particles? Well, there is String Theory, or M Theory, that goes even smaller, much much smaller. So small that we will never be able to see them. The math works really well with no anomalies, BUT you need 11 dimensions and many more universes, maybe infinite. However, it portends to solve the "Theory of Everything." Whereas, Quantum Mech does not deal with gravity and General Relativity does not like QM.

Sometimes I think that there are things we just ain't supposed to know.

That's kind of how I understand it. My students have a hard time wrapping that around their head that some things are just math theory. They think people actually measured/detected strings.

Still fascinating even though our brain has limits about trying to explain a unifying theory. Some dimensional things are just beyond what we can conceptualize.

[mcbourque]

No shvt....I'm trying to keep up too and it's a challenge for my batch of neurons.
To my knowledge nothing smaller than the HB which IIRC he received his accreditation at the end of the seminar in the recent special.

Great fish story....did I ever mention that I love this stuff.

I'm glad to see some interest from you ladies on the subject of science.

A good day to all....

(I'm happy to rep all who check in if not on spread)

Yes Wayne, you told me you like this and about your geology background!

Mine is Physics, Meteorology and Oceanography so I am a sucker for newly discovered ocean creature, especially at the ice caps. Means a huge thing for how we understand ecology!

[Chowboy]

That's kind of how I understand it. My students have a hard time wrapping that around their head that some things are just math theory. They think people actually measured/detected strings.

Still fascinating even though our brain has limits about trying to explain a unifying theory. Some dimensional things are just beyond what we can conceptualize.

Yeah, I think my brain is too plastic to wrap it around some of the concepts. Especially QM. Quantum entanglement? Wave theory? Sheesh.

[mcbourque]

Yeah, I think my brain is too plastic to wrap it around some of the concepts. Especially QM. Quantum entanglement? Wave theory? Sheesh.

I teach basic physics to gifted teenagers. Their brain can handle it better than I can, and they keep asking for more. I try to teach Newton's Law and all they want is quantum physics LOL

[Chowboy]

I teach basic physics to gifted teenagers. Their brain can handle it better than I can, and they keep asking for more. I try to teach Newton's Law and all they want is quantum physics LOL

You could point them to Youtube. It has everything from the layman's version (for people like me) to Dr Susskind's complete lectures at Stanford.

[Old-Time-Lifter]

^^^^^

Well they pretty much have the standard model for particles figured out, they think. The verification of the Higgs Boson particle/force was huge. What they find next, who knows. I'm hoping for something that will turn the physics world on its' head.

Smaller particles? Well, there is String Theory, or M Theory, that goes even smaller, much much smaller. So small that we will never be able to see them. The math works really well with no anomalies, BUT you need 11 dimensions and many more universes, maybe infinite. However, it portends to solve the "Theory of Everything." Whereas, Quantum Mech does not deal with gravity and General Relativity does not like QM.

Sometimes I think that there are things we just ain't supposed to know.

But last I heard they decided that they didn't actually find the 'Higgs Boson'.

I teach basic physics to gifted teenagers. Their brain can handle it better than I can, and they keep asking for more. I try to teach Newton's Law and all they want is quantum physics LOL

Quantum Theory is so much fun though. I have a friend who unfortunately moved across the country... but when he and his wife would get together with my wife and I for dinner. He and I would argue over quantum theory. One night we switched arguments in the middle of the discussion and our wives looked at us like we were nuts. To which we both just shrugged and I said it's not like anyone knows for sure anyways. LOL

[Wayne Evans]

But last I heard they decided that they didn't actually find the 'Higgs Boson'.

Hmmm....I haven't heard that as of this moment.
I'll have to keep my ears close to the HB grindstone for any updated info.

Welcome back....thanks for chiming in...on spread.

A good day to all....

[Chowboy]

But last I heard they decided that they didn't actually find the 'Higgs Boson'.



Quantum Theory is so much fun though. I have a friend who unfortunately moved across the country... but when he and his wife would get together with my wife and I for dinner. He and I would argue over quantum theory. One night we switched arguments in the middle of the discussion and our wives looked at us like we were nuts. To which we both just shrugged and I said it's not like anyone knows for sure anyways. LOL

OTL, you have a link on that. It would be the first I had heard of that.

Meantime, I'll do some googling...

On edit: Appears a few scientists are not convinced. More yet, are not 100% convinced.

Found this:

After analyzing "two and a half times more data" since initial findings last summer, scientists at the CERN research labs in Switzerland say that they are pretty sure that they found what they think they found. After wowing the world last July with the announcement that they had discovered the Higgs boson, the CERN team double checked their work and are reasonably certain that the particle they observed was a Higgs boson—even if it wasn't the Higgs boson.

In a frustratingly non-committal statement, CERN said that "the new particle is looking more and more like a Higgs boson, the particle linked to the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles." Yes, "more and more" is not exactly a dead-on lock, but when you're dealing with highly-theoretical sub-atomic particles, that's about as precise as most Ph.D.s are willing to get. "It takes around 1 trillion (1012) proton-proton collisions" to produce a single detectable Higgs event, so you're just going to have to take what you can get.

They added that "It remains an open question" if this is the real-deal boson that Higgs dreamed of when trying to solve the Standard Model of particle physics, or some other lesser boson, but they'll keep crunching the numbers and get back to us. (But it probably is.)


Son of a gun. A whole lot of uncertainty in those words. I was completely unaware.

[Chowboy]

Photo of light as a wave and a particle.

Quantum mechanics tells us that light can behave simultaneously as a particle or a wave. However, there has never been an experiment able to capture both natures of light at the same time; the closest we have come is seeing either wave or particle, but always at different times. Taking a radically different experimental approach, EPFL scientists have now been able to take the first ever snapshot of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle. The breakthrough work is published in Nature Communications.

Full article here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-tfe030115.php


I read the whole thing...twice...still not sure I understand it completely, but it is might interesting.

[steffo99]

Photo of light as a wave and a particle.
Full article here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-tfe030115.php
I read the whole thing...twice...still not sure I understand it completely, but it is might interesting.

Great stuff, will read more closely later on.

Beside Ted talk vids and normal docus, I've been watching some university lectures but I really enjoyed these science festival clips.
I like the panel type format and discussions and how the host helps to add some humor into it now and then. I've just watched 2 or 3
so far but hopefully there's many more.

[Chowboy]

If you can understand the experiment, maybe you can explain it to me....I am sure the scientists know what they are doing, just not sure I do


I'm with you on the panel discussions. The lively debates and back and forth are very conducive to learning. I have spent many hours on utube attempting to grasp some of this crazy stuff. My wife just shakes her head, but I find it more productive than reading a fiction novel for hours.

[Wayne Evans]

steffo99 and Chowboy....

Great read and vids.

Just last week I watched the photon particles/waves episode you refer to.
As eluded to the more I think I'm grasping the less I know....the irony.
I think they also discussed the quantum entanglement theory in that same episode.

The universe as a hologram is a real theoretical stretch to me but what do I know?....damn little.
Whew...neuron busting topics.

Even though I've seen them many times I still keep 'The Universe' (History Channel HD) in my favorites list on Netflix.

On spread with you both for keeping it alive.

Carry on....

[DuracellBunny]

Photo of light as a wave and a particle.








Full article here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-tfe030115.php


I read the whole thing...twice...still not sure I understand it completely, but it is might interesting.

That's not a photo.

The experiment still runs afoul of there being no such thing as a non-destructive test. When the electrons hit the wave, due to heisenberg and a few other things the wave function collapses.

The way they have things set up, the electrons paths are altered by interaction with what they term a standing light wave. They then use the alteration in the electrons path to create an image.

Although they have polished it up a bit, this isn't really much beyond the photoelectric effect/interference patterns of a century ago.

[DuracellBunny]

Regarding the Higgs Boson (which was mentioned before the photo thing):

Have you ever heard the saying that if you hear the sounds of hooves, assume they are from horses not zebras? The HB guys took it one stage further and said it wasn't even zebras but unicorns.

The wider community is now in the position of saying, well...... it could have been a unicorn, but nobody saw it, they just heard hooves, so we aren't going to stick our necks out and say it was a unicorn as nobody has ever seen a unicorn.

[the3dwizard]

I'm one....especially archaeology, astronomy.

I stumbled upon this http://www.nowykurier.com/toys/gravity/gravity.html on a guitar forum (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bad-dog-c...ty-things.html)

I don't fully understand how to use it yet but it looks interesting enough to putz with.

To keep up and feed my neurons I go here...all science topics are available if remotely interested:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/

Carry on....

Cool link, thanks! Sent it to my son who is a high school physics teacher.

Cheers!

[Wayne Evans]

Cool link, thanks! Sent it to my son who is a high school physics teacher. Cheers!

Your welcome....I love this stuff even though my neurons struggle with some concepts.

Back to it....

[steffo99]

A little bump to keep this one alive.