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Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Calculating Protective Glass Thickness

Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Calculating Protective Glass Thickness

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

I was having a confusion in deciding how many layers of each material is to be used and the thickness of each layer.

Well you need the materials - whatever they are - to perform two functions:
a. Be tough to withstand colliding debris.
b. Block out harmful rays.

From the materials you have researched, select a material that can serve both the purposes, so that you can employ mass production techniques and get economies of scale.

Now, the total thickness of a particular 'glass' will depend on two things:
1. Its impedance.
Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Quantum Computers

Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Quantum Computers

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

To make sense, please read the Introduction entry first.

Secondly, how do quantum computers work?

Well, quantum computing is largely theoretical today. Although efforts have been made to make quantum computer and have been successful, a quantum computer of the sort that can completely outdo classical computer and be available in stores is not even on the drawing board!
Guest Post: Patrick Draper,

Guest Post: Patrick Draper, "Is The Supersymmetric Higgs Behind The Corner ?"

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Patrick Draper is a graduate student in physics at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Lab. He is a native of Illinois and lives in Hyde Park, Chicago with his wife Karen and parrot Felix, to whom he is grateful for their love, patience, and correcting his sign errors. He is a supporter of the international effort to put a muon collider on Mars, and is waiting for NASA to return his phone calls.
I asked Patrick to write here about his studies on the discovery reach for a MSSM Higgs boson after I saw his paper on the arxiv a month ago, and am now glad I did. Enjoy!
Parcelatories' Powers - Equations Like Fermat's Last Theorem

Parcelatories' Powers - Equations Like Fermat's Last Theorem

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)


"We understand the relation between houses and walls. But it would be hard to cross the gap between houses and bricks without having enough intermediate concepts such as that of the wall."
(Marvin Minsky, Society of Mind, 1985)

"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them."
(Albert Einstein, 1920)



Word 'one'theorem among many from which is possible to be obtained by analysis of Parcelatories, is the called Parcelatories' Powers that corresponds to the following statement:

Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Introduction

Moon Settlement Design Blog Series: Introduction

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Recently, I was asked to help around a group that was designing a settlement on the moon. As I worked with them, I found the work increasingly absorbing and I soon started researching some questions that sprang up from my though process, not necessarily related to the designing.

In this series of blogs, I have presented some of the proposals I gave to solve the group's problems, as well as the extra diverse questions and ideas that popped up in my mind. The purpose of this activity to document how ideas evolve and how they can be synthesized to develop technology. The other main reason is to open the ideas for debate, so that we all can learn more and develop troubleshooting skills!
What Time Travel Looks Like

What Time Travel Looks Like

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Just what would time travel look like?  This question was posed to me by a movie director in L.A..  It turns out there are three parts to this question-- what physics suggests, what movies have done in the past, and what looks good.

The last is up to her and her special effects staff.  The middle one-- Hollywood traditions for time travel-- are worth examining to scope out possibilities.  I'll then conclude with what I think physics suggests is most likely.

Were I to invent categories for movie time travel effects, I'd create the following:


  1.   techno with lots of lights and whooshing (ala 2001, though that wasn't time travel)


  2.   high speed vehicle (similar to techno, but with speed lines)

Mother's maiden name, revisited

Mother's maiden name, revisited

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

New Scientist reports on a study that shows how bad “secret questions” are at protecting your accounts:

What’s your secret question? Your mother’s maiden name? Your first pet?

Bumpy Roads And The Physics Of The 'Washboard' Phenomenom

Bumpy Roads And The Physics Of The 'Washboard' Phenomenom

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Any road with a loose surface like or gravel or snow can develop ripples that make driving a very shaky experience. A team of physicists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom have recreated this "washboard" phenomenon in the lab with surprising results: ripples appear even when the springy suspension of the car and the rolling shape of the wheel are eliminated. The discovery may smooth the way to designing improved suspension systems that eliminate the bumpy ride.

"The hopping of the wheel over the ripples turns out to be mathematically similar to skipping a stone over water," says University of Toronto physicist, Stephen Morris, a member of the research team.
Amazon River Up To 11 Million Years Old, Says Study

Amazon River Up To 11 Million Years Old, Says Study

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

The Amazon River has been around for 11 million years ago and in its shape for the last 2.4 million years ago, according to a study on two boreholes drilled in proximity of the mouth of the Amazon River by Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil.

Until recently the Amazon Fan, a sediment column of around 10 kilometres in thickness, proved a hard nut to crack, and scientific drilling expeditions such as Ocean Drilling Program could only reach a fraction of it. Recent exploration efforts by Petrobras lifted the veil, and sedimentological and paleontological analysis on samples from two boreholes, one of which 4.5 kilometres below sea floor, now permit an insight into the history of both Amazon River and Fan.
Are Repressed Memories Real? The Debate Flares Up Again

Are Repressed Memories Real? The Debate Flares Up Again

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

In the 1980s, a popular hypothesis was that any number of people were suffering from trauma they knew nothing about; dissociative amnesia, or repressed memories.

At issue is how to prove whether memories of trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse, could be repressed and then resurface later in life.  Overzealous therapists and willing victims led to any number of false allegations and the resulting damage to families can't be overstated.  Even a hint of child abuse is guilt in the minds of many.
'Effective' Magnetic Fields Allow Scientists To Manipulate A Single Bit In A Quantum Processor

'Effective' Magnetic Fields Allow Scientists To Manipulate A Single Bit In A Quantum Processor

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a viable way to manipulate a single 'bit' in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbors, using polarized light to create "effective" magnetic fields.

A great challenge in creating a working quantum computer is maintaining control over the carriers of information, the "switches" in a quantum processor while isolating them from the environment. These quantum bits, or "qubits," have the uncanny ability to exist in both "on" and "off" positions simultaneously, giving quantum computers the power to solve problems conventional computers find intractable – such as breaking complex cryptographic codes.
Rhinolophus Paradoxolophus: Bat's Super Sonar Nose Explained

Rhinolophus Paradoxolophus: Bat's Super Sonar Nose Explained

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

The mystery of a rare bat's unusually large nose has been solved, according to an article in Physical Review Letters.

The adult Bourret's horseshoe bat, known scientifically as the Rhinolophus paradoxolophus meaning paradoxical crest, has a nose roughly 9 millimeters in length but the typical horseshoe bat's nose is half that long, said Rolf Mueller, an associate professor with the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering department and director for the Bio-inspired Technology (BIT) Laboratory in Danville, Va. "This nose is so much larger than anything else," among other bats of the region, he said.
COPD Linked To Cognitive Decline In Aging

COPD Linked To Cognitive Decline In Aging

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with lower cognitive function in older adults, according to research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Researchers compared cognitive performance in over 4,150 adults with and without COPD and found that individuals with severe COPD had significantly lower cognitive function than those without, even after controlling for confounding factors such as comorbidities. 
Salt Tolerant Crops Get A Little Closer

Salt Tolerant Crops Get A Little Closer

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Researchers have used genetific modification (GM) to bring salt-tolerant plants a little closer to reality.

The research team – based at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus in Australia – has used a new GM technique to contain salt in parts of the plant where it does less damage.

Salinity affects agriculture worldwide, which means the results of this research could impact on world food production and security.

The work has been led by researchers from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and the University of Adelaide's School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, in collaboration with scientists from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Mura's Saddleback Tamarin - New Monkey Discovered In Brazil

Mura's Saddleback Tamarin - New Monkey Discovered In Brazil

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

A new monkey has been discovered in a remote region of the Amazon in Brazil, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) .

The monkey is related to saddleback tamarins, which include several species of monkeys known for their distinctively marked backs. The newly described distinct subspecies was first seen by scientists on a 2007 expedition into the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil.
DNA : When Is A Code Not A Code ?

DNA : When Is A Code Not A Code ?

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

DNA : When Is A Code Not A Code ?

Stephen C. Meyer is an intelligent design advocate and a co-founder of the Discovery Institute.
Problems With Economic Theory

Problems With Economic Theory

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Let me start by saying that I am not an economist. I’ve always been somewhat put off by the topic and felt that it was largely based on supposition and little science. After observing the antics in this country (the U.S.) over the past few months, I’ve become more convinced of it.

If there are any economists in the reading audience, I would welcome your comments, because I really would like to make sense of what’s going on, although I fear that there is little that makes sense.
INFN Exam Does Not Go Deserted

INFN Exam Does Not Go Deserted

Jul 06 2009 | comment(s)

Unfortunately I was right: at least in predicting that the INFN exam dubbed "R5" would not go deserted. The R5 exam, which in exchange for a stressful pair of written tests (which I am trying to get a hold of, to report on it here) guaranteed nothing that the participants did not have beforehand  -a certification of readiness for a temporary position within INFN, which the institute cannot however offer, being short of cash-, saw the participation of 178 candidates among the about 350 who had submitted their application a couple of months ago. Barely more than half: this is a victory, since the participation is sufficient to grant value to the results.
The Say of the Week

The Say of the Week

Jul 06 2009 | comment(s)

"The INFN directorate may have invented the Identity operator in the space of qualifying exams"

Guido Volpi (commenting on FB on the very offensive R5 exam held today by INFN post-docs).
Can Cell Phone Towers Predict The Next 'Hurricane Katrina'?

Can Cell Phone Towers Predict The Next 'Hurricane Katrina'?

Jul 06 2009 | comment(s)

Though New Orleans residents were told to evacuate days before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, no one could have predicted the real extent of the devastation that would follow. 

Researchers from Tel Aviv University say they may be ableto make just such a prediction in the future.   They say a reliable way to help predict the intensity of the next big flood can use common cell phone towers across the United States. Their model, which analyzes cell phone signals, adds a critical component to weather forecasting never before available.