For Science! The Science Thread
By
Alpha-One,
Posted on: 2010-10-27 07:21 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
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They're about 11 years too late.
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Originally Posted by Baltar
The Moon Capital competition encourages architects, engineers & artists to unleash their imagination on creative livable moon habitat designs.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...d=moon-capital |
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But does it have a soul? Assuming you believe in that type of stuff.
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Originally Posted by Zikar
The second video is really creepy, because it kind of moves like an animal...
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The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
1.8 billion years ago there were naturally occurring nuclear fission reactors underground in Africa.
http://geology.about.com/od/geophysics/a/aaoklo.htm
Also, a good daily science site, Astronomy Picture of the Day.
@Demobot
Also on Steam
IBM unveils its fifth annual Next Five in Five five technology innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/ibms-top-f...tions-for-2015
New Scientists predictions for 2011
http://www.newscientist.com/special/...-new-scientist
Electromagnetic railgun launches Navy fighter jet for the first time
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/12/electromagnetic-1.php
Hydrogen producing Microbe
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...gen-out-of-air
Cold Plasma kills Bacteria better than Antibiotics
http://news.discovery.com/tech/cold-...tibiotics.html
Cell-Seeded Sutures to repair the Heart
http://www.technologyreview.com/biom...6915/?mod=more
First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analyzed
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Fi...lyzed_999.html
Older News
Scientists confirm capture of individual atoms of antimatter
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...caught-at-last
New kind of chlorophyll that catches Infrared Light
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...ed-chlorophyl/
Largest antimatter trap ever under construction
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41673788...ience-science/
Anti-laser
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41653065...ce-innovation/
Sign-ups closed: 29 teams in Lunar X Prize race
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41667526...-discoverycom/
A semiconductor material that could make solar cells more efficient
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32234/page1/
A Twin-Cell Solar Panel that absorbs from 2 different parts of the solar spectrum
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32337/page1/
Bumpy Nanomirrors help solar cells trap more light
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32277/page1/
Older News
Using magnets to prevent the formation of ice crystals during freezing
http://singularityhub.com/2011/01/23...h-organs-next/
Nanotechnology. Is there anything it theoretically can't do? Cure cancer, superstrong materials, and electronics that are only a certain size because any smaller and people can't use them are just a few applications. After all, what is the point of having a microscopic iPhone besides the obvious because we can.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
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Well considering that we aren't anywhere near what Feynman and Drexler had in mind for nanotechnology this is a pretty good question to ask. I'll wait until the self-replicating microscopic robots and atom stackers show up.|
Originally Posted by starphoenix
Nanotechnology. Is there anything it theoretically can't do? Cure cancer, superstrong materials, and electronics that are only a certain size because any smaller and people can't use them are just a few applications. After all, what is the point of having a microscopic iPhone besides the obvious because we can.
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Right now, since I'm an old geezer, the only technology I'm waiting with bated breath on is longevity research and ways to cure or reverse aging. I figure if they can lick that before I croak, I may live to see all the rest.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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Could always use cryogenics. Sorry couldn't type that with a straight face. The thing with nanotechnology is that it applies to anything that has a feature size in the nanometre range. Computer chips, clothing that doesn't get wet, and sunscreen are all examples of nanotechnology that exists at this moment. Self-replicating microscopic robots are the nanotechnology's version of the philosopher's stone in alchemy. The Lycurgus Cup is a form of nanotechnology that existed thousands of years ago. Its effect is based on nanoparticles of gold, silver, and copper.
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Originally Posted by synthozoic
Well considering that we aren't anywhere near what Feynman and Drexler had in mind for nanotechnology this is a pretty good question to ask. I'll wait until the self-replicating microscopic robots and atom stackers show up.
Right now, since I'm an old geezer, the only technology I'm waiting with bated breath on is longevity research and ways to cure or reverse aging. I figure if they can lick that before I croak, I may live to see all the rest. |
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
I rather doubt that nanotechnology as it's been envisioned in sci-fi for the past 20+ years is an actual possibility. There are too many physicists looking at it and saying that the laws of physics don't allow for machines that small to actually work. Some sort of genetically engineered critter, on the other hand.... Although I must admit, the idea of billions of eensy-weensy spiders inside my blood freaks me right the hell out. (Although I suppose technically they'd be crabs... still, yuck.)
Being old like synthozoic, I am truly ready for my self-repairing android body. Annny day now. I'll totally take fixing the telomere problem, too.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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For decades it was believed that bumblebees "defied" the laws of aerodynamics. Then after much study, it was found that bumblebees are just fine, it was our understanding of aerodynamics that needed updating.|
Originally Posted by Ironik
I rather doubt that nanotechnology as it's been envisioned in sci-fi for the past 20+ years is an actual possibility. There are too many physicists looking at it and saying that the laws of physics don't allow for machines that small to actually work. Some sort of genetically engineered critter, on the other hand.... Although I must admit, the idea of billions of eensy-weensy spiders inside my blood freaks me right the hell out. (Although I suppose technically they'd be crabs... still, yuck.)
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I think a better way to put it is "our current understanding of physics indicates that nanomachines can't work." Now, our future understanding of physics may also say that nanomachines can't work, but then again the field may get it's "Einstein" who in effect says "just add 12 and it works!"
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Originally Posted by Ironik
Being old like synthozoic, I am truly ready for my self-repairing android body. Annny day now. I'll totally take fixing the telomere problem, too.
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This is an inaccurate analogy and incorrect information.|
Originally Posted by sleestack
For decades it was believed that bumblebees "defied" the laws of aerodynamics. Then after much study, it was found that bumblebees are just fine, it was our understanding of aerodynamics that needed updating.
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The whole "bumblebess can't fly" thing was based on a lay-person misunderstanding the point an engineer made in the early 1930s that an airplane the size of a bee wouldn't be able to fly. Also, the aerodynamics used to understand a bee's flight were detailed about 50 years before that bumblebee thing. Scientists and engineers already knew how bees flew, but some dumb people lacking in education didn't get it. I guess they were only using 10% of their brain.
I can clear up any misunderstandings of the McDonald's coffee burn case, too.
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| I think a better way to put it is "our current understanding of physics indicates that nanomachines can't work." Now, our future understanding of physics may also say that nanomachines can't work, but then again the field may get it's "Einstein" who in effect says "just add 12 and it works!" |
Seems that the properties of physics are the nano scale (the true nano scale, where the edge of a sheet of paper looks as huge as the surface of the Sun does from Mercury) are fundamentally different from what we know on the macro scale. A lot of the "nanotechnology" stuff that's come out in the past few years is really more like "microtechnology." Genuine nano on the atomic scale is orders of magnitude smaller than that molecular scale and currently beyond our understanding.
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| The thing about telomeres is...there already are cells that have "fixed" that "problem." They are called cancer cells. |
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
There is a field in nanotechnology called nanobiotechnology that involves repurposing bacteria for some task that we need. Life has been doing for millions of years what scientists hope to accomplish. For example, there is this bacteria or plant in the arctic that lives under the ice and receives little sunlight. It is able to collect light and put it into a quantum phase until the light reaches where it needs to go. Having tiny machines in our bodies that fixes things might be impossible, but having engineered bacteria accomplish that is entirely possible.
There is also the field of nanotoxicology since there are silver nanoparticles in the water supply due to their antimicrobial effects. Basically some company puts silver nanoparticles in gym shorts and the shorts don't stink. The problem is that during the wash, some of the nanoparticles get released into the water supply. Materials have very different properties at the nanometre size compared to regular bulk size. These particles are more likely to get into our cells and cause some type of havoc due to there being no major study on them.
Some of what people thought nanotechnology would provide is either not possible or not possible at the moment and there will be other things created through nanotechnology that scientists twenty years ago never dreamed of.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
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Well I guess I derailed the thread but yes, what people mean by nanotechnology now as opposed to what Drexler meant in 1986 or Feynman in 1959, is worlds different. |
Originally Posted by starphoenix
Could always use cryogenics. Sorry couldn't type that with a straight face. The thing with nanotechnology is that it applies to anything that has a feature size in the nanometre range. Computer chips, clothing that doesn't get wet, and sunscreen are all examples of nanotechnology that exists at this moment. Self-replicating microscopic robots are the nanotechnology's version of the philosopher's stone in alchemy. The Lycurgus Cup is a form of nanotechnology that existed thousands of years ago. Its effect is based on nanoparticles of gold, silver, and copper.
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What people mean by nanotechnology now is just steady refinement of materials science and therefore kinda dull to me. I mean it might let us do some neat stuff but it really is all just chemistry as we've always done it. Feyman's atom stackers are much more interesting to me.
It may be impossible to realize Feynman's "Plenty of Room at the Bottom" vision; I don't know. I'm certainly not a chemist, materials scientist or any kind of expert, but from what I've read, I think physics allows for it. We just haven't figured out the engineering details yet. It's like when Robert Goddard was a child, the physics of rocketry were understood in theory but it took people like him to work out the details.
I guess we'll see.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
One of the things I heard about Nanotechnology is that it is just like moving a can on the ground from orbit. Although I would have to disagree with your assessment of nanotechnology being steady refinement of materials science due to the simple fact that what properties a piece of material in the macroscopic world doesn't have the same properties in the nanoscopic world. Silver looks silver even if you make them into little pieces and put them in water. However, at the nanoscopic level the size of the silver determines the color of the nanoparticles. Carbon nanotubes have very different properties than graphite and they are made of just carbon.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
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Actually it's worse than that because to move a can from orbit is easy with telepresence and robots. Just like we move stuff around on Mars with robots and sent instructions.|
Originally Posted by starphoenix
One of the things I heard about Nanotechnology is that it is just like moving a can on the ground from orbit.
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No, the real problem with Feynman's vision is to build the robots themselves that do the moving of atoms for us.
If Richard Smalley (Discoverer of the carbon buckyball, brilliant chemist and now sadly dead.) is to be believed there may be fundamental limits on how we can move the atoms around. Chemical mechanosynthesis may be impossible.
But we'll see.
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Originally Posted by starphoenix
Although I would have to disagree with your assessment of nanotechnology being steady refinement of materials science due to the simple fact that what properties a piece of material in the macroscopic world doesn't have the same properties in the nanoscopic world.
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Mechanosythesis is the difference between Feynman and Drexler's idea and what we call nanotechnology today.
And now that I've totally derailed the thread. Someone ought to post some new links to kewl science stuff, which I love to read!
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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My analogy was based on the assumption that we would have to physically manipulate objects from orbit not create machines that can manipulate the objects for us. Physically manipulating atoms is currently possible with Scanning Tunneling Microscopes. Creating microscopic machines to manipulate atoms is not currently possible.|
Originally Posted by synthozoic
Actually it's worse than that because to move a can from orbit is easy with telepresence and robots. Just like we move stuff around on Mars with robots and sent instructions.
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Although I agree that other new science topics should get their say as well.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
Discovery's final flight (Live Video)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...59278#41759278
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Thanks for this one.|
Originally Posted by Hero_of_Steel
Discovery's final flight (Live Video)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...59278#41759278 |
Been a long time since I watched a launch. Simply beautiful.
Head of TRICK, the all Trick Arrow and Traps SG
Part of the Repeat Offenders
Still waiting for his Official BackAlleyBrawler No-Prize
Hope this hasn't been posted already, just kinda skimmed the last two pages. Scientists have apparently discovered that thunderstorms actually create anti-matter.
Freedom
Blueside: Knight'Hawk, lvl 50, Scrapper
Yellowside: Dark'Falcon (Loyalist), lvl 20, Blaster
That Stinging Sensation #482183
Darpa awards contract to Boston Dynamics to build robotic Cheetah to chase down human prey
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011...se-human-prey/
Navys Superlaser Sets New Record, 500 Kilovolts
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011...away-a-record/
Exotic Superfluid Found in Ultra-Dense Stellar Corpse
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...-neutron-star/
80 Seconds of Warning for Tokyo
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/35090/?p1=A3
The quake appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis by 4 inches.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T1
Frozen Smoke, a spongy material with a variety of applications; detecting pollutants, improving robotic surgery techniques and storing energy more efficiently
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41877715...ce-innovation/
Stretchable and flexible solar cells have been created to power a type of artificial skin sensitive enough to feel a fly land on it
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...o-power-e-skin
Four innovations honored this year with the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...science-prizes
The Geminoid-DK Robot
http://singularityhub.com/2011/03/07...fe-like-video/
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization have discovered a giant underground chamber on the moon, which they feel could be used as a base by astronauts on future manned missions to moon
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews...nid-79567.html
Speaking of nanotechnology and longer batteries for Kindles and iPads, check it out.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
4 Robots sent to Japan to assist; two each of the 510 PackBot and 710 Warrior models from iRobot
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...route-to-japan
510 PackBot info
http://www.irobot.com/gi/ground/510_PackBot
710 Warrior info
http://www.irobot.com/gi/ground/710_Warrior
Shockwave-Generating Wave Discs Could Replace Internal Combustion Engines
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2...ustion-engines
Microcameras the size of a coarse grain of salt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42135752...ience-science/
Researchers have successfully programmed DNA-based robots to follow instructions on where to move
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42140043...h_and_gadgets/
China outlines an ambitious space station plan
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42074836...science-space/
Google’s self driving car
http://singularityhub.com/2011/03/06...eat-new-video/
Growing Human Organs
http://singularityhub.com/2011/03/15...-ted-audience/
Solar uniforms will power up gadgets for future soldiers
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/03/solar-uniforms.php
Researchers in Japan plan to make rocket launches for their next gen launch vehicles a smoother & less expensive process by equipping them with artificial intelligence (AI)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42158703...h_and_gadgets/
Military Robots
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40402185...ew_york_times/