Planet Hunting, Down to Earth Credit: European Southern Observatory Two teams of researchers are now competing to develop a device that could profoundly change our understanding of the universe…but you’d be forgiven if you mistook it for a vaguely menacing hair-restoration product. Called a “laser frequency comb,” these are special laser systems that rapidly emit pulses of light across a wide range of frequencies or colors. In a plot of the emitted light, each distinct frequency appears as a peak; collectively, all the frequencies resemble a fine-toothed comb. And by examining starlight through the teeth of a laser comb, astronomers could begin finding Earth-like extrasolar planets on the cheap using ground-based observatories rather than expensive space telescopes. A star’s spectrum, its component colors of light, can reveal whether or not it has planets circling it. Laser combs could change all that by providing a standardized—and exceedingly precise—way of measuring Doppler shifts from stars’ spectra.
Téléportation ! C’est parti ! Non, nous n’allons pas voyager comme dans Star Trek d’ici demain. Cependant des scientifiques chinois sont parvenus à téléporter un objet quantique à 100 kilomètres. La téléportation quantique existe depuis près de 10 ans, mais la distance parcouru par l’objet était alors d’aucune utilité dans le monde réel. Pour la première fois, les scientifiques chinois ont téléporté un objet quantique à 100 kilomètres, ce qui permet enfin des applications pour cette technologie. Selon Technology Review, la téléportation quantique n’implique pas la dématérialisation et la re-matérialisation de matière physique. En utilisant un laser d’1,3 watt, les scientifiques ont développé un mécanisme qui permet à un photon d’aller d’un point A à un point B sans se perdre. Photo : Time
The Space Elevator Reference TEDx Talk: An Elevator to Space © Alan Chan Space Elevator and Earth. Is a Space Elevator pure fantasy or just a technological leap from reality? Markus Landgraf, a mission analyst at the European Space Agency (ESA), explains how to get to space via elevator. 2012 Space Elevator Conference Proceedings Available The proceedings for last year's Space Elevator Conference are available at the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) Store. Concept: Dirigible Space Elevator A Dirigible Space Elevator, a unique combination of aerospace design and geodesic geometry, has many monetary, efficiency and energy saving uses. ISEC Releases Space Elevator Concept of Operations Report The International Space Elevator Consortium has a released a 46 page report titled Space Elevator Concept of Operations. 2013 Space Elevator Conference Set for August in Seattle The annual Space Elevator Conference will once again be held in Seattle and for the second year in a row at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The Elegant Universe: Pt 1 The Elegant Universe: Part 3 PBS Airdate: November 4, 2003 NARRATOR: Now, on NOVA, take a thrill ride into a world stranger than science fiction, where you play the game by breaking some rules, where a new view of the universe pushes you beyond the limits of your wildest imagination. BRIAN GREENE (Columbia University): And no matter how many times I come here, I never seem to get used to it. NARRATOR: Can he help us solve the greatest puzzle of modern physics—that our understanding of the universe is based on two sets of laws that don't agree? NARRATOR: Resolving that contradiction eluded even Einstein, who made it his final quest. BRIAN GREENE: We really may live in a universe with more dimensions than meet the eye. AMANDA PEET (University of Toronto): People who have said that there were extra dimensions of space have been labeled crackpots, or people who are bananas. NARRATOR: A mirage of science and mathematics or the ultimate theory of everything? S. We see 400 employees in three years.
Quantum decision affects results of measurements taken earlier in time Quantum entanglement is a state where two particles have correlated properties: when you make a measurement on one, it constrains the outcome of the measurement on the second, even if the two particles are widely separated. It's also possible to entangle more than two particles, and even to spread out the entanglements over time, so that a system that was only partly entangled at the start is made fully entangled later on. This sequential process goes under the clunky name of "delayed-choice entanglement swapping." And, as described in a Nature Physics article by Xiao-song Ma et al., it has a rather counterintuitive consequence. You can take a measurement before the final entanglement takes place, but the measurement's results depend on whether or not you subsequently perform the entanglement. Delayed-choice entanglement swapping consists of the following steps. Two independent sources (labeled I and II) produce pairs photons such that their polarization states are entangled.
Firefly's 15 Best Chinese Curses (and How to Say Them) In just 14 episodes, Joss Whedon's sci-fi masterpiece Firefly managed to build one of the most devoted fanbases in all of nerd-dom. Properties like Star Trek or Doctor Who may have it beat in sheer numbers, but the Browncoats make up for this with their loyalty and tenacity. What is the secret of the show's appeal? Whedon created a vision of a human future where mankind speaks English primarily, with Mandarin Chinese added, as one might say, for "flavor" (i.e., profanity). 15) Stupid Inbred Stack of Meat 笨天生的一堆肉。 14) Cow Sucking 吸牛 ・ Shee-niou While helping Simon and River first infiltrate, then escape from, a hospital on the affluent Alliance core world of Ariel, Jayne relieves a security officer of his sidearm: a non-lethal sonic rifle. 11) Dog Fucking 狗操的 ・ Go tsao de More words of wisdom from the inimitable Jayne. 7) Have a Shit-Throwing Contest with a Monkey 跟猴子比丟屎 ・ Gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se Another gem from the episode "Heart of Gold." More links from around the web!
Stellarium Le voyage dans le temps existe selon deux chercheurs La science nous apporte sans cesse son lot de choses incroyables, voire impensables si l'on remonte le temps. Et c'est justement de voyage dans le temps dont il est question ici avec une découverte perturbante. "Nom de Zeus"; c'est l'expression qu'aurait forcément employée Emmett Brown en lisant l'article de Timothy Ralph et de Jay Olson de l'université du Queensland en Australie. Pour appréhender leur découverte, il faut déjà connaître le principe d'entremêlement (entanglement en Anglais) qui est associé aux principes de mécanique quantique. Jusque là, c'est assez perturbant. Si la "téléportation quantique" est possible dans l'espace, leur découverte montre qu'elle l'est aussi dans le temps. Et pourtant, l'entremêlement temporel dit qu'une mesure dans le passé a automatiquement une influence dans le futur. Tant qu'il y aura de telles découvertes un tantinet tendancieuses et prétextant le voyage dans le temps, il sera pourtant toujours temps de rêver. [via freesf.strandedinoz]
Periodic Table of the Elements Your Age On Other Worlds Want to melt those years away? Travel to an outer planet! <div class="js-required"><hr> This Page requires a Javascript capable browser <hr></div> Fill in your birthdate below in the space indicated. The Days (And Years) Of Our Lives Looking at the numbers above, you'll immediately notice that you are different ages on the different planets. The earth is in motion. The top-like rotation of the earth on its axis is how we define the day. The revolution of the earth around the sun is how we define the year. We all learn in grade school that the planets move at differing rates around the sun. Why the huge differences in periods? Johannes Kepler Tycho Brahe Kepler briefly worked with the great Danish observational astronomer, Tycho Brahe. Here you see a planet in a very elliptical orbit. Kepler's third law is the one that interests us the most. Let's just solve for the period by taking the square root of both sides: The Gravity Of The Situation Isaac Newton ©2000 Ron Hipschman
D'après Harvard, Sabrina Pasterski est la nouvelle Albert Einstein Être comparé à Stephen Hawking ou à Albert Einstein n’est pas quelque chose qui arrive au commun des mortels. Et pour cause, ces légendaires théoriciens de la physique quantique ont acquis une place quasi indétrônable en sciences. C’était sans compter sur la nouvelle génération de physiciens chercheurs, et sur cette jeune femme tout particulièrement. Vous feriez mieux de retenir son nom. À seulement 14 ans, elle conçoit et fabrique un avion monomoteur pour son père, de ses propres mains. En 2010, elle est diplômée de l’Académie des Mathématiques et des Sciences de l’Illinois et rejoint le prestigieux Institut de Technologie du Massachusetts. « Nous étions bouche bée lorsque nous l’avons visionnée. Après tout juste 3 ans au MIT, elle obtient la note ultime de 5.0. Le plus impressionnant dans tout cela est certainement l’humilité et la discrétion de la jeune femme. « Je ne suis qu’une étudiante. Et d’ajouter, dans un entretien inspirant accordé à Marie Claire :