Month: February 2008
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Dark matter: we’ve been staring at it all along
Astrobods have been searching for dark matter for a decade or so now. And despite it filling the known Universe, there’s been no sign of the stuff . But could it be that we’ve been staring at it all along without knowing what we’ve been looking at? That’s the claim of a couple of theorists…
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First 3D image of a streamer
Streamers are the whispy electronic filaments that feel their way towards the ground in the fraction of a second before a lightning strike. They differ from the main strike in that they do not significantly increase the gas temperature. They are also seen in nature as sprites, giant electronic discharges that sit 100 kilometres or…
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The vibration harvest
All them turbines, drills and shakers in our modern factories make one almighty din. We’re talking about a substantial amount of a-jumpin and a-jiggling which generally goes to waste. Couldn’t there be a way of harvesting this energy so that it can be re-used? Turns out Tom Sterken and pals at IMEC, an independent nanostuff…
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How plankton blooms are born
Massive plankton blooms are the plague of the oceans. They starve local species by exhausting an ocean of its food and oxygen, they turn vast areas of sea to the colour of milk and have a profound effect on the ocean food web. But where do they come from? Nobody knows. At least they didn’t…
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The physics of human body weight changes
If you put on a few pounds over the holiday season, this may interest you. Weight changes are the result of an imbalance between the energy you derive from the food you’ve eaten and the energy you’ve been expending to maintain life and perform physical work. At first glance, you’d think this would be a…
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In case ya missed ’em…
This week’s pearls from the physics arXiv blog: Saving Earth from the Sun’s expansion Read it and beep The quantum graphity question They came from Mercury…
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Ball’s ‘n’ fire
The best of the rest from the arXiv this week: Plasma Treatment Advantages for Textiles Electron Mass Shift in Nonthermal Systems How Efficient is Towing a Cargo by a Micro-swimmer? Movie Recommendation Systems Using An Artificial Immune System
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They came from Mercury…
Astrobods have found several dozen meteorites from Mars and the Moon that have made their way to Earth over the years. These rocks were launched during major impacts there. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a meteorite from Venus arrive on Earth: the Venusian atmosphere is just too thick. But what of Mercury? According to…
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The quantum graphity question
Physicists have been searching for a quantum theory of gravity some time. Most believe that the new theory will require some kind of modification to general relativity or quantum theory. One of the ideas in vogue at the moment is that general relativity is actually an emergent phenomenon from some deeper physics. Now Tomasz Konopka…
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Read it and beep
Reading text is a simple enough task for humans. But unless it’s cleaned up and served on a plate computers just can’t do it. At least they couldn’t until Mireille Boutin and pals from Purdue University took a shot at the problem. These guys have built an impressive algorithm that looks for and finds text…