The 10th Dimension

In string theory, physicists tell us that the subatomic particles that make up our universe are created within ten spatial dimensions (plus an eleventh dimension of "time") by the vibrations of exquisitely small "superstrings". The average person has barely gotten used to the idea of there being four dimensions: how can we possibly imagine the tenth?

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

Astrophysics taking off on Superman

It is the flying that seems to baffle everyone.

How, exactly, does Superman fly? Or does he, really?

(...)

"The flying always bothered me,'' admits Richard Muller, a professor of astrophysics at Cal and a Superman fan. "I think what he really does is leap and guide himself along the air currents. Or, if you can't really rule out flying, maybe he has a mechanism for somehow forcing air backward -- what if the pores on his skin eject microscopic amounts of excess moisture, like sweat?''

Uh, OK. The real point is that the physicists get it.
(...)

full article here

Light so Fast it Travels Backward?

In the past few years, scientists have found ways to make light go both faster and slower than its usual speed limit, but now researchers at the University of Rochester have published a paper today in Science on how they've gone one step further: pushing light into reverse. As if to defy common sense, the backward-moving pulse of light travels faster than light.

Confused? You're not alone.

(...)

see full article

More on Spore

As E3 draws near, those of us who have been following Will Wright's newest brainchild, Spore, are abuzz with expectation. And lo! Someone posted to YouTube a video that shows 'unedited footage of Spore' that will be going to TV networks covering E3 next week'. It includes a look at the overhauled creature editor, a first glimpse of the texturing tools, and various other exciting things that had not been shown this clearly in the early prototype seen at the 2005 GDC. One of them is the ambient music when the UFO visits different planets." It certainly looks like the game we saw last year, but take with a grain of salt just the same.

in Slashdot

Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth

Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.

Fools.

The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily.

The ways

NASA Achieves Breakthrough In Black Hole Simulation

NASA scientists have reached a breakthrough in computer modeling that allows them to simulate what gravitational waves from merging black holes look like. The three-dimensional simulations, the largest astrophysical calculations ever performed on a NASA supercomputer, provide the foundation to explore the universe in an entirely new way.

According to Einstein's math, when two massive black holes merge, all of space jiggles like a bowl of Jell-O as gravitational waves race out from the collision at light speed.

Previous simulations had been plagued by computer crashes. The necessary equations, based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, were far too complex. But scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have found a method to translate Einstein's math in a way that computers can understand.

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Black hole mergers produce copious gravitational waves, sometimes for years, as the black holes approach each other and collide. Black holes are regions where gravity is so extreme that nothing, not even light, can escape their pull. They alter spacetime. Therein lies the difficulty in creating black hole models: space and time shift, density becomes infinite and time can come to a standstill. Such variables cause computer simulations to crash.

full article

Computer glitch hits climate prediction project

A software error has hit one of the world's most sophisticated climate simulations. Participants in the BBC-sponsored project, which uses spare time on home computers to predict Britain's climate in 2080, will have to wait longer than expected to see their work on television.

Researchers at climateprediction.net tracked the problem down to a mistake in how the predicted levels of sulphate aerosols — tiny particles that block sunlight and cause 'global dimming', cooling the Earth — were entered into the model. They told confused users that they would be have to start again from scratch.

"After much soul-searching, we've decided to start everyone over again," says the project's principal investigator, Myles Allen.


article

phdcomics

Spore

Spore is, at first glance, a 'teleological evolution' game: the player molds and guides a single-celled species across many generations, until it becomes intelligent, at which point the player begins molding and guiding a society into a spacefaring civilization. Spore's main innovation, the basis of its scope and open-endedness, is that Wright has returned to procedural generation.

In a speech on procedural generation at the 2005 Game Developers Conference, Wright revealed the game to the public, saying "I didn't want to make players feel like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins. I wanted them to be like George Lucas or J.R.R. Tolkien."

in wikipedia

watch GDC2k5 Video Demonstration of Spore - full version of the GDC presentation by Will Wright

Future of Computing

Future of Computing: Web focus : Nature: "In the last two decades advances in computing technology, from processing speed to network capacity and the internet, have revolutionized the way scientists work. From sequencing genomes to monitoring the Earth's climate, many recent scientific advances would not have been possible without a parallel increase in computing power - and with revolutionary technologies such as the quantum computer edging towards reality, what will the relationship between computing and science bring us over the next 15 years?"

Nanotech helps blind hamsters see

Nanotechnology has restored the sight of blind rodents, a new study shows.

Scientists mimicked the effect of a traumatic brain injury by severing the optical nerve tract in hamsters, causing the animals to lose vision.

After injecting the hamsters with a solution containing nanoparticles, the nerves re-grew and sight returned.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team hopes this technique could be used in future reconstructive brain surgery.

article

Researchers say they’ve built the first computer model of an entire life-form

Researchers announced on Tuesday that they created a computer simulation of a virus, claiming to have built the first complete model of any entire life-form.

Although the notion of a “computer virus” usually conjures up concerns about data security, the scientists say their development will contribute to improvements in public health as well as the development of technologies such as artificial nanomachines.

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he scientists hope their computer-generated virus will increase understanding of the molecular mechanisms of how viruses function. While it’s too early to judge the financial implications, the technology eventually could help scientists better understand the nature of a particular virus, and how to neutralize it.

article

Video of cool touchscreen demo

Here's a remarkable video of a touchscreen demo with a user interface that's instantly responsive and intuitive.

here

The tale of the flying snail

Darwin's theory that snails hitch a lift with birds proves plausible.

For an animal with one foot, it certainly gets around. Even across oceans.

Scientists have shown that the land snail Balea perversa has somehow managed to travel from Europe to the Azores, then right down the length of the Atlantic Ocean to a remote set of isles between South Africa and South America - a 9,000 kilometre trip that seems unlikely for an animal that doesn't even know how to swim. The snails also seem to have made the return trip back to Europe.

The Tristan da Cunha islands, the furthest point from Europe where the snails have been found, are "among the most remote islands in the world", says Richard Preece of the University of Cambridge. Preece and his colleagues confirm, through a genetic study published in Nature, that the snails in both places are of the same genus1.


The complete story

Tokyo to get world's first 'maglev' elevator

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- The world's first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation will debut as early as 2008, a Tokyo-based company said Tuesday.

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. will employ so-called maglev technology -- capable of suspending objects in mid-air through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion -- to control the lifts, it said in a statement.

The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 300 meters (984 feet) per minute -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 1,010 meters (3,314 feet) a minute, Toshiba said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/01/17/maglev.lift.ap/index.html

Big brains are not crucial to teaching

Animals do not need a big brain to be able to teach each other, a new study suggests.

Animal behaviourists in the UK believe they have found the first evidence of two-way teacher-pupil communication between ants, suggesting that teaching behaviour may have evolved according to the value of information rather than brain size.

Some ants use tandem running when foraging. This is when one ant appears to lead another from the nest to a food source by using signals that control the speed and route of the journey.

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The leader’s speed is controlled by frequent taps on its legs and abdomen by the antennae of the follower ant – who appears to stop frequently to learn the route back.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8567

Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs

Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark".

They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through.

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.

(...)

In daylight, the researchers say the pigs' eyes, teeth and trotters look green. Their skin has a greenish tinge.

In the dark, shine a blue light on them and they glow torch-light bright.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm