Sit. Speak. Good Photon! Researchers have trapped a laser pulse inside a glass chamber --and released it again intact. Such command of light could lead to mind-boggling new technologies. Listen to this story via streaming audio, a downloadable file, or get help. March 27, 2002: Light can be hard to handle, yet humans have nearly mastered it: We can create light (turn on a flashlight) and destroy it (shine it on black asphalt). Right: Fiber optics. Yet until recently there was one thing we couldn't do with light: pause it. But now scientists have figured out how to do even that. Last year, physicists at Harvard University shined a laser beam into a glass cell filled with atomic vapors. The laser pulse was kilometers-long before it entered the cell, yet the pulse fit intact within the centimeters-wide chamber. Quantum mechanics describes the bizarre rules of light and matter on atomic scales. This improbable feat -- stopping light -- was accomplished by two teams. Does this seem familiar? Right: Supercomputer. More
'All Songs' Listeners Pick The Best Albums Of 2010 Back in June, when we asked All Songs Considered listeners to pick the year's best music (so far), the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach was the overwhelming favorite. But that was still a couple of months before Arcade Fire released its third full-length, The Suburbs. With it in the year-end mix, no other album or artist could compete. All Songs Considered listeners cast tens of thousands of votes, and The Suburbs was light years ahead of everything else to become the year's top vote-getter. This is our favorite time of year at NPR Music. We love to look back at all the great music that came out and debate which albums and songs are better than others. On this edition of the program, host Bob Boilen and producer Robin Hilton count down the Top 25 listener picks for 2010 and share some thoughts on the year in music. As always, let us know what you think in the comments section below. Download A PDF Of The Top 100 Listener Picks Explore NPR Music's Extended Coverage Of The Year In Music
7 Alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM | Mystery Tricycle Whether you are annoyed by the ads on Pandora, the limited number of skips, or the abyss of cruel 30-second song teasers from Last.FM, many online listeners are growing weary of mainstream methods of hearing new music. While the Pandora algorithm is strong, and the Last.FM related artists tool is pretty useful, don’t fool yourself in to thinking that there aren’t other great ways to expose yourself to new music in the depths of cyberspace. Here are 7 alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM that will infuse your day with an uninterrupted stream of music that large record companies haven’t managed to squash under their thumbs yet. StumbleAudio StumbleAudio has a killer recommendation engine that works better for me than Pandora’s. Songza Songza uses a recommendation engine that runs for each ‘channel’, but unlike Pandora, channels are not tied to specific listeners and rather are community property. Musicovery Stereomood Ah, the power of the ‘tag cloud’. 8tracks Grooveshark The Hype Machine
Amazing Sight in the South Pacific | Ash, Ocean, Island,... A yacht was traveling in the south Pacific when the crew came across a weird sight. Look at these photos and try to imagine the thrill of experiencing this phenomenon. NO!!!! it is volcanic stones floating on the water. then this was spotted, ash & steam rising from the ocean.. And, while WE were watching... A plume of black ash...HUGE CLOUD. A brand new island formed... Can you imagine the thrill of being the first & only people to see a new island being created where there was nothing before? The Life of Python - 20 Greatest Monty Python Sketches The Holy Grail of Python’s 20 most hilarious sketches, celebrating their 40th anniversary. This Anniversary Special marks the day that Monty Python made its sparkling debut on television when the very first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. The irresistible Oxbridge partnership of John Cleese , Eric Idle , Graham Chapman , Michael Palin and Terry Jones , mixed with the dazzlingly surreal artworks of American Terry Gilliam , celebrates four decades and 45 episodes of risqué silliness. The comedy of Monty Python was streaks ahead of its time. Famous for its innovation and radical splendor, Python sketches broke the mould of building to a specific punchline, delivering some of the funniest and most enduring sketches of our lifetime. In honour of 40 phenomenal years of comedy, we take a look at the 20 greatest Python sketches ever. 1. Undeniably the most popular and well known of the Monty Python sketches, and for good reason too. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Blue Solver - Physics Solver Plasma Weapons and Research - Inventions That Control Plasma When English physicist William Crookes first discovered plasma in 1879, he did not propose any use for the stuff. Crookes found that he could make gas behave differently than other forms of matter by stripping electrons from it with electrodes. What we now call plasma is used in arc-welding torches, neon signs and high-end television screens. Scientists are still finding novel ways to manipulate plasma. For example, Jamey Jacob, an aerospace engineer from Oklahoma State University, has replaced mechanical parts on the wings of aircraft with arrays of tiny actuators. 3 Research Projects that Aim to Control Plasma · WHAT: Heat Shield · WHO: EADS Astrium · HOW IT WORKS: A magnetic field can influence the hot, ionized gas that envelops a spacecraft during atmospheric re-entry. · WHAT: Emergency Fire Extinguisher · WHO: DARPA · HOW IT WORKS: Flames are a form of partially ionized plasma and can be manipulated with electric fields.
How to Make Wood Dough | General Arts & Crafts If your kids like playing with dough like Play-Doh or molding clay, they will love making sculptures with homemade wood dough. Homemade wood dough dries to a wood finish and can be sanded down smooth with sandpaper. You can also paint or stain wood dough sculptures. To paint them, you can use any of the homemade paint recipes I have at the bottom of this article. To stain them, you can make a stain by adding 6 drops of food coloring to 1 tablespoon of water. What you will need to make wood dough: 1 cup of clean sawdust (you can get it at the craft store) 1/2 cup flour 1 tablespoon liquid starch (it's in the laundry section) 1 cup of water Step 1: Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until a stiff dough is formed. Step 2: Create your sculptures. Step 3: Let your sculptures dry for 3 days. Step 4: Sand and paint or stain your sculptures, if desired. Tips: You can make wooden beads with wood dough. Here are some homemade paint recipes you can use to paint your wood dough sculptures!
Experienced Potheads Show No Change In Task Performance | I Love Weed If you’re going to smoke pot, for goodness’ sakes, smoke it every day, man. Experienced marijuana consumers show virtually no changes in cognitive performance after using cannabis, according to clinical trial data published online this week in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. Investigators at Columbia University in New York and San Francisco Brain Research Institute assessed acute marijuana-related effects on cognitive functioning in 24 volunteers who reported consuming cannabis at least 24 times per week, reports NORML. Scientists found that participants’ overall performance accuracy on episodic memory and working memory tasks “was not significantly altered by marijuana.” “The present findings show that smoked marijuana produced minimal effects on episodic and spatial working memory of near-daily smokers,” the researchers concluded. Source from your own site.