[QUOTE=chalsall;426007]It has been postulated that large energy events near us (read: a few light years away) could cause us harm.[/QUOTE]
Especially things like gamma ray bursts which happened to be pointed right at us.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;426005]Are there any plausible/favored mechanisms for g-waves to interconvert into other forms of energy, either spontaneously or via interaction with other forms of matter/energy? Are they dissipative? All sorts of interesting questions arise.[/QUOTE]

Actually, the answer to the 'spontaneously' question would seem obviously to be 'no', since g-waves travel at the speed of light and hence do not 'feel' the passage of time. (Same reasoning as for do-neutrinos-have-mass: If they do indeed change flavors spontaneously they must have mass because only sublight particles experience the passage of time, which is required for internal dynamics to occur.)

[QUOTE=ewmayer;426011]If they do indeed change flavors spontaneously they must have mass because only sublight particles experience the passage of time, which is required for internal dynamics to occur.)[/QUOTE]

Might it be possible the particles change their state during the experiment?

Might it depend on how things are measured?

[QUOTE=chalsall;426013]Might it be possible the particles change their state during the experiment?

Might it depend on how things are measured?[/QUOTE]

You talking about neutrinos? If so, I am sure a few hours browsing Wikipedia should answer most of your questions. Do a web search for 'solar neutrino problem'.

With regard to the 'dissipative waves?' question, that also appears to be a 'no', based on the fact that the LIGOers were able to confidently infer the parameters of the merger from the strength of the signal (unless they can do so strictly based the frequency spectrum of same rather than amplitude). I.e. any dissipation based on interaction with intervening matter is so weak as to be negligible, either because there is too little stuff between there and here and/or because the g-waves are dissipation-free in their interactions with 'stuff'. The latter also seems to make sense from a 'ripples in the fabric of spacetime' sense, since I don't recall seeing a friction term in Herr Einstein's field equations. ;)

OTOH I believe the frequency spectrum of the event's signal would be red-shifted to the same degree that any light reaching us from that far-away/long-ago would be.

[QUOTE=chalsall;426001]You know, now that you mention it, my left front filling is feeling a little loose. Interestingly, its a composite filling.

I just thought it predicted future rainfall, just like the pain in my right knee....[/QUOTE]You should calculate the GW effect on your fillings if that collision had occurred a light year away. Assume no other form of energy was emitted. Simple mental arithmetic should be sufficient.

It's the sort of thing I do when lying in bed trying to get to sleep.

[QUOTE=xilman;426049]You should calculate the GW effect on your fillings if that collision had occurred a light year away. Assume no other form of energy was emitted. Simple mental arithmetic should be sufficient.[/QUOTE]

To put things in perspective, a Type Ia accreting-white-dwarf-binary 'standard candle' supernova emits ~10^44 J, corresponding to a mass equivalent m = E/c^2 = 10^44 kg.m^2/s^2 / (3e8 m/s)^2 ~= 1e27 kg, roughly 1/2000th of a solar mass. A type II (massive blue giant core-collapse) supernova releases ~100x more energy than a Ia, but still significantly less than 1 solar mass worth.

Would heating through gravitational stress, as happens with gas giant moons, be an example of conversion to other forms of energy?

[QUOTE=kladner;426081]Would heating through gravitational stress, as happens with gas giant moons, be an example of conversion to other forms of energy?[/QUOTE]

Indeed it would - the question is, are such distortions in the fabric of spacetime itself 'stressful' or conservative? And even if there is net energy transfer, is it insignificant once the waves get spread out to the miniscule tiny-fraction-of-a-proton-width amplitudes reported by the LIGO folks?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;426140]Indeed it would - the question is, are such distortions in the fabric of spacetime itself 'stressful' or conservative? And even if there is net energy transfer, is it insignificant once the waves get spread out to the miniscule tiny-fraction-of-a-proton-width amplitudes reported by the LIGO folks?[/QUOTE]

I am still trying to learn what specific terminology means in this context. However, I [I]can[/I] appreciate the difference in effect between orbiting Jupiter, and receiving the remnant of an immense series of pulses a billion light years away.

xkcd on the gravitational internet
 

[url]http://www.xkcd.com/1642/[/url]

No protons needed? Possible discovery of a four-neutron particle
 

I wonder if [URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/no-protons-needed-possible-discovery-of-a-four-neutron-particle/"]this particle[/URL] is present in neutron star material?
[QUOTE]It’s tempting to call the tetraneutron a theoretical particle, as its existence has yet to be confirmed. But that would imply that it’s a consequence of some existing theoretical model, that it’s predicted by some theory. The tetraneutron, however, contradicts the relevant theories—it should be impossible.

And yet, amidst all the (deserved) excitement for the detection of gravitational waves last week, an experiment quietly turned up the strongest evidence for a tetraneutron thus far. It’s not full confirmation yet, but if the new study’s conclusions are borne out, things are going to get weird.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;426665]I wonder if [URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/no-protons-needed-possible-discovery-of-a-four-neutron-particle/"]this particle[/URL] is present in neutron star material?[/QUOTE]Given that neutron star material is believed to consist of a mix of neutrons and neutron-rich nuclei in varying proportions, I suspect the answer is similar to that of "Does (H[sub]2[/sub]O)[sub]4[/sub] exist in liquid water?".

[url]http://news.discovery.com/space/history-of-space/apollo-10-astronauts-heard-odd-music-on-far-side-of-moon-160222.htm[/url]

[QUOTE]“Shall we tell about it?” an astronaut asks.

“I don’t know,” another replies. “We ought to think about it.”[/QUOTE]

Interesting. We found[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/02/12/birds-might-be-purposely-starting-wildfires-in-australia.html"] this one[/URL], following a link on your link.
It says that some clever birds of pray in Australia can - on purpose - start a fire in a forest, by transporting burning materials from far away, to scare off their pray.

[QUOTE]birds of prey are known to hunt around the edges of wildfires—which force small animals to flee their hiding places—but those fires don't always start where the food is. That's why brown falcons and black kites are apparently picking up burning sticks and dropping them elsewhere to start new fires. Bob Gosford, a lawyer who works with Australia's aboriginal people, has collected 15 accounts of birds starting fires, a behavior that is referenced in at least one old aboriginal ceremony.
[/QUOTE]

Now, we don't know about falcons and eagles there, but I can tell you for sure, the common chicken can start a big fire by its own. The proof: every time when we buy a chicken, there is a big fire starting in our house, for bar-b-q... :sirrobin:

[QUOTE=kladner;426665]I wonder if [URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/no-protons-needed-possible-discovery-of-a-four-neutron-particle/"]this particle[/URL] is present in neutron star material?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=xilman;426686]Given that neutron star material is believed to consist of a mix of neutrons and neutron-rich nuclei in varying proportions, I suspect the answer is similar to that of "Does (H[sub]2[/sub]O)[sub]4[/sub] exist in liquid water?".[/QUOTE]

The possibility of nuclear particles composed only of neutrons
is consistent with the discussion of the nucleus and the nuclear
forces in my cosmology monograph, cosmo4.txt, found elsewhere
on this site.

Astronauts heard odd music on far side of moon.
[QUOTE=Xyzzy;427078][url]http://news.discovery.com/space/history-of-space/apollo-10-astronauts-heard-odd-music-on-far-side-of-moon-160222.htm[/url][/QUOTE]
Not only that, but Astronaut Ice Cream is a lie! I'm SHOCKED, shocked, I tell you.

(5 minute video (I know, five minutes, but we can't let those liers lie down like the dogs they are and fleece the public. Attica! Attica!))
[url]http://youtu.be/zpkUjrC3-Ds[/url]
[YOUTUBE]zpkUjrC3-Ds[/YOUTUBE]

o [url=www.scientificamerican.com/article/exoplanet-census-suggests-earth-is-special-after-all/]Exoplanet Census Suggests Earth Is Special after All[/url] - Scientific American

It is perhaps fitting that 'uppsala' is a common German colloquialism for 'whoops!' But such modeling/extrapolation exercises always need to be taken with a huge gr. of NaCl.

o [url=www.nature.com/news/evidence-mounts-for-interbreeding-bonanza-in-ancient-human-species-1.19394]Evidence mounts for interbreeding bonanza in ancient human species[/url] | Nature News & Comment

"And there was much porking going on among and between and above and beneath the various peoples of the Earth... and Lord Darwin gazed upon it, and saw that it was good."

o [url=https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts]The new mind control[/url] | Aeon
[quote]Late in 2012, I began to wonder whether highly ranked search results could be impacting more than consumer choices. Perhaps, I speculated, a top search result could have a small impact on people’s opinions about things. Early in 2013, with my associate Ronald E Robertson of the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in Vista, California, I put this idea to a test by conducting an experiment in which 102 people from the San Diego area were randomly assigned to one of three groups. In one group, people saw search results that favoured one political candidate – that is, results that linked to web pages that made this candidate look better than his or her opponent. In a second group, people saw search rankings that favoured the opposing candidate, and in the third group – the control group – people saw a mix of rankings that favoured neither candidate. The same search results and web pages were used in each group; the only thing that differed for the three groups was the ordering of the search results.
...
We predicted that the opinions and voting preferences of 2 or 3 per cent of the people in the two bias groups – the groups in which people were seeing rankings favouring one candidate – would shift toward that candidate. What we actually found was astonishing. The proportion of people favouring the search engine’s top-ranked candidate increased by 48.4 per cent, and all five of our measures shifted toward that candidate. What’s more, 75 per cent of the people in the bias groups seemed to have been completely unaware that they were viewing biased search rankings. In the control group, opinions did not shift significantly.[/quote]
Got DuckDuckGo?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;427133]o [url=www.scientificamerican.com/article/exoplanet-census-suggests-earth-is-special-after-all/]Exoplanet Census Suggests Earth Is Special after All[/url] - Scientific American
[/QUOTE]

[quote]In a powerful computer simulation, they first created their own mini universe containing models of the earliest galaxies. Then they unleashed the laws of physics—as close as scientists understand them—that describe how galaxies grow, how stars evolve and how planets come to be. Finally, they fast-forwarded through 13.8 billion years of cosmic history. Their results, published to the preprint server arXiv (pdf) and submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, provide a tantalizing trove of probable exoplanet statistics that helps astronomers understand our place in the universe.[/quote]

That's got to be one of the shakiest grounds for publication I've heard in a while. We're nowhere near ready for full-universe simulations.

Additionally, the abstract makes significantly less grandiose claims and interpretations -- but I suppose that's par for the course with journalism, even relatively decent scientific journalism.

[quote]The study of cosmology, galaxy formation and exoplanetary systems has now advanced to a stage
where a cosmic inventory of terrestrial planets may be attempted. By coupling semi-analytic models
of galaxy formation to a recipe that relates the occurrence of planets to the mass and metallicity of
their host stars, we trace the population of terrestrial planets around both solar-mass (FGK type) and
lower-mass (M dwarf) stars throughout all of cosmic history. We find that the mean age of terrestrial
planets in the local Universe is 8 ± 1 Gyr and that the typical planet of this type is located in a
spheroid-dominated galaxy with total stellar mass about twice that of the Milky Way. We estimate
that hot Jupiters have depleted the population of terrestrial planets around FGK stars at redshift
z = 0 by no more than ≈ 10%, and predict that ≈ 1/3 of the terrestrial planets in the local Universe
are orbiting stars in a metallicity range for which such planets have yet to be been detected. When
looking at the inventory of planets throughout the whole observable Universe (i.e. in all galaxies on
our past light cone) we argue for a total of ≈ 2 × 1019 and ≈ 7 × 1020 terrestrial planets around FGK
and M stars, respectively. Due to the hierarchical formation of galaxies and lookback-time effects,
the average terrestrial planet on our past light cone has an age of just 1.7 ± 0.2 Gyr and is sitting
in a galaxy with a stellar mass a factor of ≈ 2 lower than that of the Milky Way. These results are
discussed in the context of cosmic habitability, the Copernican principle and the prospects of searches
for extraterrestrial intelligence at cosmological distances.[/quote]
I seriously hope they've considered at least examining the analytic stability of the simulation -- that is, how much tweaking the various input parameters plays a role on the outcome (basically, they need to take some derivatives before examining the data itself).

[QUOTE=ewmayer;427133]o [url=https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts]The new mind control[/url] | Aeon

Got DuckDuckGo?[/QUOTE]

I'm more worried about "social media" sites, where many people spend much more time, and how they select the links they show.

[QUOTE=markr;427151]I'm more worried about "social media" sites, where many people spend much more time, and how they select the links they show.[/QUOTE]
They lost me where they were talking about "the secret CocaCola recipe", and I closed the article. The "coca cola secret" doesn't cheat anybody anymore, there was never a "secret" with the recipe, any chemical lab can analyze the drink and reproduce it exactly. What stops the beverage companies to do so is not the "secret recipe", but the army of lawyers and international patents...

I remember an idiot who years ago called a guy at Pepsi and wanted to sell him the secret Coca Cola recipe for few thousand dollars or so (or viceversa?). Yes, he was Romanian, haha, working somewhere in western Europe in one of the beverage companies, for a month or so, he wanted to make "big" money, so he took the "secret recipe" (he was working with it!) and called the CEO of the other company, asking for few thousand dollars for it, they fixed a meeting, where the guy went, and the police was waiting for him. There was a big fun about the guy in Romanian newspapers for a while. The poor devil imagined that the story about the "secret recipe" is true, and the other company will make him rich for stealing it ... (or like the first company would let him handle "secret stuff" in just a month of working there, hehe).

[url=http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function/]A new Alzheimer's treatment fully restores memory function in mice[/url]

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;427265][URL="http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function/"]A new Alzheimer's treatment fully restores memory function in mice[/URL][/QUOTE]
Wowee! [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithotripsy"]Lithotripsy[/URL] for the brain! :smile:

[url]http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2016/02/you-can-now-read-the-entirety-of-sci-fi-magazine-if-for-free/[/url]

[QUOTE=kladner;427281]Wowee! [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithotripsy"]Lithotripsy[/URL] for the brain! :smile:[/QUOTE]

Lends a new twist to the saying about people with "rocks in their head".

======================

[url=www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-01-12-scientists-pinpoint-unbroken-section-nepal-fault-line-and-show-why-himalayas-keep]Scientists pinpoint unbroken section of Nepal fault line and show why Himalayas keep growing[/url] | Oxford U.

When fault-finding turns kinky...upshot is that last year's quake may be only be a foretaste of bigger things to come in the not-very-distant-at-all future.

[URL="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/library-of-congress-puts-rosa-parks-archive-online/?_r=0"]Library of Congress Puts Rosa Parks Archive Online[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600762/robot-art-raises-questions-about-human-creativity/"]Robot Art Raises Questions about Human Creativity[/URL]

[URL="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/21/world/far-side-moon-music/"]NASA releases recording of 'outer-space type music' from far side of the moon[/URL]

[URL="http://www.popsci.com/this-mask-lets-you-smell-rainbow"]THIS MASK LETS YOU SMELL THE RAINBOW[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160225135213.htm"]Mirror mirror: Snail shells offer clue in unravelling common origins of body asymmetry[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600819/the-missing-link-of-artificial-intelligence/#/set/id/600832/"]The Missing Link of Artificial Intelligence[/URL]

[URL="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/which-type-of-exercise-is-best-for-the-brain/"]Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?[/URL]

[URL="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-02-mind-controlled-prosthetic-arm-individual-fingers.html"]Mind-controlled prosthetic arm moves individual 'fingers'[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2016/living-breathing-textile-aims-to-enchance-athletic-performance-0216"]A living, breathing textile aims to enhance athletic performance[/URL]

[URL="https://medium.com/@neuroecology/punctuation-in-novels-8f316d542ec4#.x6hcnpytj"]Punctuation in novels[/URL]

[URL="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/contemplation-therapy/?_r=0"]How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/02/being-bilingual-changes-the-architecture-of-your-brain/"]Being Bilingual Changes the Architecture of Your Brain[/URL]

[URL="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2077140-mammal-brain-frozen-and-thawed-out-perfectly-for-first-time/"]Mammal brain frozen and thawed out perfectly for first time[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2016/sneezing-fluid-cascade-not-simple-spray-0210"]Sneezing produces complex fluid cascade, not a simple spray[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/study-a-healthy-heart-leads-to-a-healthy-brain/education"]Study: A healthy heart leads to a healthy brain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/11/466403316/can-dementia-be-prevented-education-may-bolster-brain-against-risk"]Can Dementia Be Prevented? Education May Bolster Brain Against Risk[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/03/the-math-revolution/426855/"]The Math Revolution[/URL]

[URL="https://www.readingrainbow.com/site/blog/2016/02/05/american-mensa-on-balancing-freedom-and-protection-keeping-advanced-gifted-kids-motivated/"]American Mensa on Balancing Freedom and Protection: Keeping Advanced & Gifted Kids Motivated[/URL]

[URL="http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/gravitational-waves-exist-heres-how-scientists-finally-found-them?currentPage=all"]Gravitational Waves Exist: The Inside Story of How Scientists Finally Found Them[/URL]

[url]http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/men-behind-diffie-hellman-key-exchange-receive-top-computer-science-prize/[/url]

[QUOTE]On Tuesday, the Association for Computing Machinery, the nation’s leading organization for computer science, awarded its annual top prize of $1 million to two men whose name will forever be immortalized in cryptography: Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman.[/QUOTE]

Today the director of the FBI admitted in Congressional testimony that the Bureau "Might" use an iPhone crack on more than one phone.

I can see people hacking this and then doing all sorts of strange things with it. What if you could disable the rendering of the Minecraft game and then simulate days or weeks of progress in mere hours? Or have villagers that dynamically respond to your actions.

You could have different personalities for the bots, miners and farmers and plain old assistants that protect you and help you find cool stuff.

[url]http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2450886/microsoft-to-bolster-artificial-intelligence-using-minecraft[/url]

[url]http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0316/For-the-love-of-junk-food-European-storks-ditch-migration-for-easy-meals[/url]

[QUOTE]White storks have stopped migrating from Europe to Africa for the winter, say researchers. Instead, they remain in Spain and Portugal year-round, feasting on landfills' 'junk food.'[/QUOTE]

[url=www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/magazine/the-secrets-of-the-wave-pilots.html]The Secrets of the Wave Pilots[/url] | NYT Magazine

Fascinating stuff - the art and science of using subtle sub-signals among the wave-cacophony of the seas as reliable navigational "landmarks", which are immune to the vagaries of the tide and storms. Regarding the deep connection between navigation and storytelling -- the just-begun USA network series [i]Underground[/i] has fugitive slaves exchanging a map of the route north to the Ohio River in the form of an innocuous-sounding children's story.

One wonders how much such ancient "I can't believe they were able to do ____ using just _____" ingenuity has been lost forever. As a wise man once said, "you can learn a lot just by paying attention" -- the kind of attentiveness and surroundings-awareness to which modern nav-tech is inimical.

[URL="http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2016/03/illuminating-universes-ignition#.VuGC-8xVLb0.twitter"]Illuminating the Universe’s Ignition[/URL]

[URL="http://www.fastcompany.com/3057525/biotech-firms-battle-over-who-owns-genetic-data"]Biotech Firms Battle Over Who Owns Genetic Data[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160310124904.htm"]Blame your noisy brain for misses and fumbles[/URL]

[URL="http://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/no-wool-no-vikings"]No Wool, No Vikings[/URL]

[URL="http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com/a-crash-course-in-the-history-of-black-science-fiction/"]A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction[/URL]

[URL="http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-quest-for-the-reallife-treasures-of-ataris-swordquest"]The Quest For The Real-Life Treasures of Atari’s Swordquest[/URL]

Developments in battery tech
 

[SIZE=3][URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/03/new-lithium-battery-ditches-solvents-reaches-supercapacitor-rates/"]New lithium battery[/URL] ditches solvents, reaches supercapacitor rates[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=3]
[/SIZE]The all solid-state battery operates between -30 and 100 degrees Celsius.
[/SIZE]
[QUOTE]For most of us, the only way we judge a battery is by how long it can deliver electrons to our favorite devices. But many applications require more than that. They need batteries that operate across a large temperature range, are compact or flexible, and can manage a fast charge/discharge rate. Plus, we'd all like them not to explode or fail suddenly.

Most energy storage tech involves balancing a trade-off among these various properties. But a new report from a collaboration between academic researchers and Toyota seems to promise it all: a battery more compact than lithium-ion, a better energy density, the charge speed of a supercapacitor, and improved safety. How is this all possible? They got rid of the liquid electrolyte typical of most lithium-ion batteries.
[/QUOTE][SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]

Magnetic springs and latches in the same piece
 

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IANBoybVApQ[/url]

Ship forward to two minutes to see the interesting part.

[QUOTE=retina;429942][url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IANBoybVApQ[/url]

Ship forward to two minutes to see the interesting part.[/QUOTE]

That's quite the idea they have. I would imagine there are applications that go far beyond a magnetic spring-n-latch.

Chasing SETI's "Wow!" Signal- Here's a GoFundMe project to check out a possible source for the 1977 unexplained signal. The amount they need for a 5-meter radio telescope seems surprisingly small to me.

[URL="http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/03/astronomers-crowdfund-effort-to-recreate-alien-signal"]http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/03/astronomers-crowdfund-effort-to-recreate-alien-signal[/URL]

Norm

[url]http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;430921][URL]http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
I wonder if this would help with kind of herpes mouth sores I had as a youth.

o [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/08/a-key-ingredient-for-life-on-earth-may-have-crash-landed-here-from-space/]A key ingredient for life on Earth may have crash landed here from space[/url] - The Washington Post

Question: If ribose in fact does occur in real-world cometary ice, wouldn't it have been detected in cometary spectra already? Perhaps it's a concentration issue - by definition the organic compounds easily detectable is spectra are the ones which occur at the highest concentrations. (And/or which have highly distinctive spectral signatures).

And while we're on the theme of potentially life-giving sugar molecules:

o [url=arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/sweet-drug-clears-cholesterol-reverses-heart-disease-and-was-found-by-parents/]Sweet drug clears cholesterol, reverses heart disease—and was found by parents[/url] | Ars Technica
[quote]The chemical, which is simply a bunch of sugar molecules assembled in a ring, is already widely used in medications and foods. Because the outside of the ring is hydrophilic (it mixes with water) and the inside of the ring is hydrophobic (it doesn’t mix with water), cyclodextrin can trap chemicals inside the ring and help them mix into medicines and foods. In medications, cyclodextrin acts as a ‘carrier’ that make active drugs dissolve better in the body. Cyclodextrin is also used in foods, such as mayonnaise, sweets, and butter, to stabilize flavors and emulsifications and to remove cholesterol. But besides its role as an additive, it was largely overlooked by researchers.

One of the first inklings of cyclodextrin’s therapeutic potential came in a 2004 scientific publication. Researchers were searching for a treatment for an ultra-rare genetic disorder called Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC), which likely affects only a few hundred patients in the US. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation that breaks a protein responsible for shuttling cholesterol in cells. Because cholesterol is a vital building block to cell membranes and various organic molecules, its transport through the body and its cells is critical for proper health. In the absence of a working transporter, cholesterol gradually piles up in cells throughout the body, causing organ dysfunction, neurodegeneration, and eventual death.

NPC is sometimes called childhood Alzheimer’s because kids with the disease are often diagnosed after they develop symptoms similar to dementia, including deteriorating memory, balance, and verbal skills.

In the 2004 study, researchers presented data that a neurosteroid—given with the carrier cyclodextrin—seemed to help mice that were genetically engineered to have a broken cholesterol transporter. A single dose, the researchers found, doubled the life expectancy of the mice.

While other researchers rushed to repeat the experiment, which validated the finding, it took several years for researchers to figure out what was really going on: that the neurosteroid had no effect on the mice at all—it was the cyclodextrin.[/quote]

o [URL="http://phys.org/news/2016-04-dinosaurs-decline-asteroid-apocalypse.html"]Dinosaurs 'already in decline' before asteroid apocalypse[/URL] | phys.org

While it sounds very interesting, I would have appreciated takes from experts not directly involved in the study. Instead we get a bunch of self-promotional blurbs from the lead authors, as well as not-exactly-new stuff like this:
[quote]This observed decline in dinosaurs would have had implications for other groups of species. Dr Chris Venditti, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Reading and co-author of paper said: "The decline of the dinosaurs would have left plenty of room for mammals, the group of species which humans are a member of, to flourish before the impact, priming them to replace dinosaurs as the dominant animals on earth."[/quote]All true, all hugely imortant, all completely unoriginal. Given that the new findings are based on "sophisticated statistical analysis in conjunction with information from the fossil record", it's especially important to hear from non-authors about whether said statistical approach is of the gold-standard or of the validity-disputed variety. Lies, damned lies and statistics, and all that.

o [URL="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2016/04/what_caused_haiti_s_cholera_epidemic_the_cdc_s_museum_knows_but_won_t_say.html"]What caused Haiti's cholera epidemic? The CDC museum knows but won't say.[/URL] | Slate

For those not terribly familiar with the story of Victorian scientist John Snow and the 1854 London cholera outbreak, I highly recommend the book [i]The Ghost Map[/i]. (And of course Wikipedia for a shorter-than-book-length discourse.) In the present instance, this rises far beyond the level of gross negligence, as the article describes an active cover-up. But hey, nearly a million Haitians infected, many thousands dead, and the new-to-the-region Asian cholera strain now spreading across the Caribbean and the surrounding Central and South American countries, especially those with legions of urban poor -- hey, most of those poor slobs are black and brown, so who cares? We in the rich countries got white people's privileges to worry about! And ooh, look -- scary terrorists! We need to keep spending large chunks of our collective GDP to [strike]create more of[/strike] fight those.

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160405182931.htm"]Sensation-seeking may be linked to brain anatomy[/URL]

[URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160407-spiders-animals-speed-science-fast/"]Watch Spider Jaws Move as Quickly as World's Fastest Runner[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/04/06/ancient-exploding-stars-hurled-radioactive-debris-at-earth-and-its-still-here/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fcard"]Ancient exploding stars hurled radioactive debris at Earth — and it’s still here[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601199/tech-slowdown-threatens-the-american-dream/"]Tech Slowdown Threatens the American Dream[/URL]

[URL="http://www.futurity.org/reading-brains-1133942-2/"]THIS IS WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR BRAIN WHEN YOU READ[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/03/took-neuroscientists-ten-years-map-tiny-slice-brain/"]The Nameless Mouse Behind the Largest-Ever Neural Network[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/opinions/how-clever-is-it-to-dismiss-iq-tests"]How clever is it to dismiss IQ tests?[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/one-earths-missing-minerals-found-locked-inside-meteorite"]One of Earth’s missing minerals found locked inside meteorite[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/the-8-bit-game-that-makes-statistics-addictive/475848/"]The 8-Bit Game That Makes Statistics Addictive[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160330123454.htm"]Basketball games mimic nature[/URL]

[URL="http://www.popsci.com/who-will-be-first-to-hack-code-aging?dom=rss-default&src=syn"]WHO WILL BE FIRST TO "HACK THE CODE" OF AGING?[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/27/471600733/when-an-autism-diagnosis-comes-in-adulthood"]hen An Autism Diagnosis Comes In Adulthood[/URL]

[URL="https://www.statnews.com/2016/03/31/dna-shape-double-helix-dekker/"]Everything you thought you knew about the shape of DNA is wrong[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/forgetting-to-learn-making-room-in-the-brain/education"]Forgetting to learn: Making room in the brain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-future-will-be-quiet/471489/"]The Future Will Be Quiet[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/opinions/how-mini-brains-can-help-to-avoid-neurodegenerative-disease"]How mini-brains can help to avoid neurodegenerative disease[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/green-spaces-can-have-positive-effects-on-gray-matter/education"]Green spaces can have positive effects on gray matter[/URL]

[URL="http://gizmodo.com/cyborg-rats-solve-mazes-better-and-faster-than-normal-r-1763530847"]Cyborg Rats Solve Mazes Better and Faster Than Normal Rats [/URL]

[URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-cardiovascular-brain-function-idUSKCN0WI2UH"]Healthy heart may also mean healthy brain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/27/471600733/when-an-autism-diagnosis-comes-in-adulthood"]When An Autism Diagnosis Comes In Adulthood[/URL]

This article really strikes a chord for me, especially in wanting to know the source of my developmental difficulties in childhood and youth.

[QUOTE=kladner;432245]This article really strikes a chord for me, especially in wanting to know the source of my developmental difficulties in childhood and youth.[/QUOTE]

+1.

To this day I have difficulty with "normal" human interaction.

In some ways I have found being "different" can be useful. Seeing things in ways others don't is advantageous at times.

[url]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article73405857.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;432416][url]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article73405857.html[/url][/QUOTE]
An excellent article.

[url]http://www.pcworld.com/article/3065654/hardware/ibms-quantum-computing-processor-comes-out-of-hiding.html[/url]

[QUOTE]IBM has built a quantum processor with five qubits, or quantum bits. Even better, IBM isn’t hiding the quantum processor in its labs—it will be accessible through the cloud for the public to run experiments and test applications.[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/05/you-could-probably-lift-a-car-if-you-really-needed-to.html"]You Could Probably Lift a Car, If You Really Needed To[/URL]

[URL="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-games-are-changing-the-museum-experience"]How Games Are Changing the Museum Experience[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/05/the-victims-of-math-anxiety/"]Even the most empowered girls are more anxious about math than boys[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601378/nimble-fingered-robot-outperforms-the-best-human-surgeons/"]Nimble-Fingered Robot Outperforms the Best Human Surgeons[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160425112453.htm"]First happiness genes have been located[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601369/your-brain-limits-you-to-just-five-bffs/#/set/id/601363/"]Your Brain Limits You to Just Five BFFs[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/upshot/why-talented-black-and-hispanic-students-can-go-undiscovered.html?_r=1"]Why Talented Black and Hispanic Students Can Go Undiscovered[/URL]

[URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/04/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running.html"]How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/blog/dolphins-are-helping-us-hunt-for-aliens"]Dolphins Are Helping Us Hunt for Aliens[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/04/now-anyone-can-nasas-fabled-1970s-graphics-manual/"]Now Anyone Can Own NASA’s Fabled 1970s Graphics Manual[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2016/algorithm-robot-teams-moving-obstacles-0421"]Robotic consensus[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421150056.htm"]Volcanoes tied to shifts in Earth's climate over millions of years[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601258/artificial-intelligence-can-now-design-realistic-video-and-game-imagery/#/set/id/601281/"]Artificial Intelligence Can Now Design Realistic Video and Game Imagery[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421133630.htm"]Asleep somewhere new, one brain hemisphere keeps watch[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/the-surprising-connection-between-heart-rate-and-wisdom/education"]The surprising connection between heart rate and wisdom[/URL]

[URL="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/new-e-skin-allows-for-unrestricted-movement-and-wearable-technology"]New 'E-Skin' May Let You Wear a Watch on the Back of Your Hand[/URL]

[URL="http://techxplore.com/news/2016-04-brain-percent-accuracy.html"]Researchers can identify you by your brain waves with 100 percent accuracy[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;433622][URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/05/you-could-probably-lift-a-car-if-you-really-needed-to.html"]You Could Probably Lift a Car, If You Really Needed To[/URL]
[/QUOTE]
Once upon a time, one of my uncles, who then lived in LA, was in a hurry, as his First Born was arriving. Unfortunately, his car's starter wasn't working. This led to parking where the car could be pushed onto a slope, where gravity and a manual transmission would allow starting. Also unfortunately, the car ran away from him and ended up with the front wheels in a ditch. While Uncle was surveying the situation, he was approached by what I assume was a Venice Beach-type muscle boy. This guy had a look, picked up the front end, and set it back on the shoulder. One supposes that hysterical strength was not at play in this case. :smile:

[QUOTE=kladner;433762]Venice Beach-type muscle boy. This guy had a look, picked up the front end, and set it back on the shoulder. One supposes that hysterical strength was not at play in this case. :smile:[/QUOTE]Not being a Venice (nor Florence, nor Naples) beach type myself... Years ago I did lift the front end of a Baja Bug off the ground (both wheels.) Thefts of the engine from VW type I's have frequently been performed by 2 fellows dropping the engine onto the ground, then lifting the rear of the vehicle up and over the engine, then placing the purloined power-plant into a waiting pick-up.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;433773]Not being a Venice (nor Florence, nor Naples) beach type myself... Years ago I did lift the front end of a Baja Bug off the ground (both wheels.) Thefts of the engine from VW type I's have frequently been performed by 2 fellows dropping the engine onto the ground, then lifting the rear of the vehicle up and over the engine, then placing the purloined power-plant into a waiting pick-up.[/QUOTE]
I think the car in question was a Studebaker Lark, with the jet intake thingy on the grill. Not a big car by any means, though front engine.

[QUOTE=kladner;433790]I think the car in question was a Studebaker Lark, with the jet intake thingy on the grill. Not a big car by any means, though front engine.[/QUOTE]
I must retract the above. I am conflating the car in this family legend, with a car my uncle had in MY memory; when the event happened four years before I was born. :redface:
The Lark only went into production when I was starting grade school.

[url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/dear-skeptics-bash-homeopathy-and-bigfoot-less-mammograms-and-war-more/?print=true]Dear “Skeptics”…[/url] | John Horgan, for Scientific American
[quote]I hate preaching to the converted. If you were Buddhists, I’d bash Buddhism. But you’re skeptics, so I have to bash skepticism.

I’m a science journalist. I don’t celebrate science, I criticize it, because science needs critics more than cheerleaders. I point out gaps between scientific hype and reality. That keeps me busy, because, as you know, most peer-reviewed scientific claims are wrong.

So I’m a skeptic, but with a small S, not capital S. I don’t belong to skeptical societies. I don’t hang out with people who self-identify as capital-S Skeptics. Or Atheists. Or Rationalists.

When people like this get together, they become tribal. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber.

Here’s an example involving two idols of Capital-S Skepticism: biologist Richard Dawkins and physicist Lawrence Krauss. Krauss recently wrote a book, A Universe from Nothing. He claims that physics is answering the old question, Why is there something rather than nothing?

Krauss’s book doesn’t come close to fulfilling the promise of its title, but Dawkins loved it. He writes in the book’s afterword: “If On the Origin of Species was biology’s deadliest blow to supernaturalism, we may come to see A Universe From Nothing as the equivalent from cosmology.”

Just to be clear: Dawkins is comparing Lawrence Krauss to Charles Darwin. Why would Dawkins say something so foolish? Because he hates religion so much that it impairs his scientific judgment. He succumbs to what you might call “The Science Delusion.”

“The Science Delusion” is common among Capital-S Skeptics. You don’t apply your skepticism equally. You are extremely critical of belief in God, ghosts, heaven, ESP, astrology, homeopathy and Bigfoot. You also attack disbelief in global warming, vaccines and genetically modified food.

These beliefs and disbeliefs deserve criticism, but they are what I call “soft targets.” That’s because, for the most part, you’re bashing people outside your tribe, who ignore you. You end up preaching to the converted.

Meanwhile, you neglect what I call hard targets. These are dubious and even harmful claims promoted by major scientists and institutions. In the rest of this talk, I’ll give you examples of hard targets from physics, medicine and biology. I’ll wrap up with a rant about war, the hardest target of all.[/quote]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;434863][URL="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/dear-skeptics-bash-homeopathy-and-bigfoot-less-mammograms-and-war-more/?print=true"]Dear “Skeptics”…[/URL] | John Horgan, for Scientific American[/QUOTE]
What an engaging essay! It will take a while to check out all the links.

[url]http://www.ibtimes.com/schrodingers-cat-20-new-thought-experiment-combines-quantum-entanglement-2374972[/url]

[QUOTE]A team of researchers has now come up with a new twist to the experiment — one that proves that not only is the fickle feline both alive and dead until someone observes it, it is also in two places at once.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;434863][URL="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/dear-skeptics-bash-homeopathy-and-bigfoot-less-mammograms-and-war-more/?print=true"]Dear “Skeptics”…[/URL] | John Horgan, for Scientific American[/QUOTE]
Like Kieren, I appreciate this lecture. My immediate reaction to the main message is that attacking "soft targets" like blind following of religious dogma is not a bad way of indirectly taking on the "hard targets" (I'd personally put both war and climate change on a roughly equal footing in that last category), because such tribal thinking (which the author rightly highlights as dangerous, even amongst so-called Skeptics) is actually the whole basis for the lack of critical thinking involved in going to war or denying that global warming needs urgent tackling. In short, people need to be encouraged to question their own attitudes on any subject and reject any herd mentality (yes, that includes Skeptics), and that in itself will help tackle the serious world problems.

[url=http://phys.org/news/2016-06-dogs-domesticated-world.html]Dogs were domesticated not once, but twice… in different parts of the world, research shows[/url] | PhysOrg

Which begs the question: How many separate historical domestications of humans by cats have there been? There is overwhelming evidence that the human-civilization-crucial practice of food fishing was [url=http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/cats-waiting-for-fishermen-to-return/]instigated by cats[/url], fir example. Keeping cows and goats for their milk and growing of grain crops so as to yield a rodent-attracting surplus are also both quite possibly cats-training-their-humans inventions. It may be not much of an exaggeration to say that "civilization is the result of humans striving to make themselves worthy of cat ownership." [By which I intend the latter word in the "ownership by" rather than the "ownership of" sense.]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;435570][url=http://phys.org/news/2016-06-dogs-domesticated-world.html]Dogs were domesticated not once, but twice… in different parts of the world, research shows[/url] | PhysOrg

Which begs the question: How many separate historical domestications of humans by cats have there been? There is overwhelming evidence that the human-civilization-crucial practice of food fishing was [url=http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/cats-waiting-for-fishermen-to-return/]instigated by cats[/url], fir example. Keeping cows and goats for their milk and growing of grain crops so as to yield a rodent-attracting surplus are also both quite possibly cats-training-their-humans inventions. It may be not much of an exaggeration to say that "civilization is the result of humans striving to make themselves worthy of cat ownership." [By which I intend the latter word in the "ownership by" rather than the "ownership of" sense.][/QUOTE]

Hmm. I wonder if Douglas Adams missed this obvious possibility that cats are smarter than humans.

[url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/06/07/electric-eels-jump-water-attack-predators-alexander-von-humboldt-legend/85542740/[/url]

[url]http://time.com/4359453/arctic-tern-bird-migration-record/[/url]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/coins-fountains-charity/485300/"]What Happens to the Coins People Toss Into Fountains?[/URL]

[URL="http://phys.org/news/2016-06-sound-like-whizzing-dna-essential-life.html"]Sound-like bubbles whizzing around in DNA are essential to life[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nature.com/news/two-hundred-terabyte-maths-proof-is-largest-ever-1.19990"]Two-hundred-terabyte maths proof is largest ever[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/a91653ab14efdaf0d631702edf10c3a9.htm"]Google Made A Machine That Can Compose Its Own Music[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160602094850.htm"]Brainwaves could be the next health vital sign[/URL]

[URL="http://dataconomy.com/three-unexpected-uses-3d-printing-big-data/"]THREE UNEXPECTED USES FOR 3D PRINTING IN BIG DATA[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/05/19/how-mensa-helped-me-deal-with-schizophrenia/"]How Mensa Helped Me Deal With Schizophrenia And Depressio[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/upshot/what-was-the-greatest-era-for-american-innovation-a-brief-guided-tour.html?_r=1"]What Was the Greatest Era for
Innovation? A Brief Guided Tour[/URL]

[URL="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/14/the-chirp-heard-across-universe/xYC8dFRTnCyl3tT2LNuafN/story.html"]The life’s work that proved Einstein right[/URL]

[URL="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/microsoft-enters-the-super-mario-business-with-new-minecraft-skins/"]Mario makes leap to Minecraft[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/9/11639992/viv-digital-assistant-ai-artificial-intelligence-siri"]The creators of Siri just showed off their next AI assistant, Viv, and it's incredible[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/researchers-find-clue-to-editing-memories/education"]Researchers find clue to editing memories[/URL]

[URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160508-rocket-girls-women-moon-mars-nathalia-holt-space-ngbooktalk/"]he Secret History of the Women Who Got Us Beyond the Moon[/URL]

[URL="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-do-you-put-out-a-subterranean-fire-in-a-mountain-of-trash/"]How Do You Put Out A Subterranean Fire Beneath A Mountain Of Trash?[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/issue/35/boundaries/this-philosopher-helped-ensure-there-was-no-nobel-for-relativity"]This Philosopher Helped Ensure There Was No Nobel for Relativity[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;435744][URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160508-rocket-girls-women-moon-mars-nathalia-holt-space-ngbooktalk/"]The Secret History of the Women Who Got Us Beyond the Moon[/URL][/QUOTE]

I haven't even read the article yet, but always nice to see a reference to one of my favorite 50s B-SciFi shlock-flicks, [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052104/quotes]Queen of Outer Space[/url], starring a still-young-ish Zsa Zsa Gabor and her horde of busty 20-something miniskirted fascist Venusian hotties. Make sure to enjoy the many memorable [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052104/quotes]quotes[/url], but note the compiler of these left out the best one: "You're too smart for me, baby -- I like 'em stupid."

There are now only 9 days remaining for the Kickstarter project to fund further [URL="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608159144/the-most-mysterious-star-in-the-galaxy"]observations of Tabby's star[/URL], perhaps the most mysterious object identified by the Kepler mission. All "natural" explanations for the star's behaviour have been shot down; the "unnatural" explanation of orbiting technological artifacts is profoundly unsettling to virtually all professional astronomers.

I've just pledged USD 100.

Paul

I was just reading: [URL="http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/two-new-particles-have-sent-physicists-scrambling-for-theories"]Two New Particles Have Sent Physicists Scrambling for Theories[/URL], which is about a possible particle twelve times heavier than the Higgs boson and another particle that may act as an intermediary in the case of less than expected quantities of lithium.

Although interesting in and of itself, with regards to the first particle they said:
[QUOTE]As more data is now being collected by the teams, 300 papers proposing explanations for the phenomenon have been written and are awaiting review at arXiv.org, and four newly published papers distill the most popular theories about what’s going on.[/QUOTE]
I just read this immediately after having read another article that compares arXiv paper coverage versus corresponding papers in various disciplines in journals indexed by the Web of Science. ([URL="https://svpow.com/2016/06/09/we-dont-need-oa-in-our-field-everything-is-on-arxiv-nope/"]“We don’t need OA in our field, everything is on arXiv”. Nope.[/URL]) This article's point is that arXiv's coverage is in no way enough to be a surrogate for open access efforts. The breakdown is of interest with mathematics receiving the most coverage, physics second, and earth and science third with no other primary field getting much arXiv coverage at all.

With regards to mathematics though, in a comment to the article, Tim Gowers says that the quality of papers of interest to him in his subfield on arXiv is so high that he probably won't look at a paper that isn't on arXiv.

[QUOTE=only_human;435935]With regards to mathematics though, in a comment to the article, Tim Gowers says that the quality of papers of interest to him in his subfield on arXiv is so high that he probably won't look at a paper that isn't on arXiv.[/QUOTE]
Moreover, he has founded an arXiv overlay journal:
[URL]http://discreteanalysisjournal.com/[/URL]

[url]http://fox40.com/2016/06/11/one-third-of-the-world-cannot-see-the-milky-way-why-that-matters/[/url]

[URL="mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster"]mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster[/URL]
[QUOTE]
US Army-funded researchers at MIT believe an optical equivalent of a "sonic boom" created using graphene could make chips a million times faster than they are today.

Researchers at MIT and several other universities have discovered that graphene can be used to slow light down below the speed of electrons to create an intense beam of light.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=science_man_88;436172][URL="http://mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster"]mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster[/URL][/QUOTE]

Try this link [url]http://www.zdnet.com/article/mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster/[/url] :)

Another article on the possible new particle(s) discovered at CERN, along with a snip I found rather revealing:

[url=blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/is-particle-physics-about-to-crack-wide-open/]Is Particle Physics About to Crack Wide Open?[/url] - Scientific American Blog Network
[quote]None of the more fundamental models that currently exist as possible replacements for the SM can explain the bump. If the SM has fallen it is likely not for any reason we expected.[/quote]
A hint to the string theory crowd and other lovers-of-theorizing-without-data there?

I think this sentence is a bit strong, however:
[quote]This could mean nothing less than the fall of the Standard Model of particle physics (SM), which has passed every experimental test thrown at it since it was first put together over four decades ago.[/quote]
"Fall" would be in a similar sense to the "fall" of Newtonian gravitational theory when Herr Einstein came along with general relativity - a revolution in insight, sure, but the "fallen" theory may remain perfectly viable for phenomena at energies lower than those achieved by the latest experiments. And as the piece goes on to note, what we may be seeing here is precisely the sort of thing envisioned by the great synthesizers behind the standard model, except for the "quickly" part:
[quote]Originally theorists thought that the SM would be an approximation of a more fundamental theory that would be quickly discovered. This is what has always happened in the past. Newton’s theory of gravity, for example, doesn’t apply to bodies that are extremely massive, or which are moving close to the speed of light. It is accurate enough that engineers could use it to send the New Horizons space probe toward Pluto and have it arrive in just the right place nine years later. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, however, is more fundamental, and applies in those extreme where Newton’s theory breaks down.[/quote]

[QUOTE=xilman;435798]There are now only 9 days remaining for the Kickstarter project to fund further [URL="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608159144/the-most-mysterious-star-in-the-galaxy"]observations of Tabby's star[/URL], perhaps the most mysterious object identified by the Kepler mission. All "natural" explanations for the star's behaviour have been shot down; the "unnatural" explanation of orbiting technological artifacts is profoundly unsettling to virtually all professional astronomers.

I've just pledged USD 100.

Paul[/QUOTE]Looks like my credit card is going to be charged --- made $106K with three hours still to go.

[QUOTE=xilman;436400]Looks like my credit card is going to be charged --- made $106K with three hours still to go.[/QUOTE]

Neat- Congratulations to the project and all the supporters. This will be fascinating to follow.

Norm

[QUOTE=only_human;409177][URL="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-2059357.html"]Why the world is running out of helium[/URL][/QUOTE][url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2016/06/28/scientists-find-helium-gas/[/url]

A bunch of people who like to bang stuff together have banged the stuff even better than before, and guess what they found?

[url]http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/07/lhcb-unveils-new-particles[/url]

(I apologize if I made anyone mad, I just like the idea of making jobs where you need to be super-educated sound like they're being done by rednecks)

[url]http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0701/How-do-frigatebirds-stay-aloft-for-months-at-a-time[/url]

[QUOTE]But one question remains unanswered: How do these creatures sleep, when remaining aloft for days, weeks, months on end?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;437129][url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2016/06/28/scientists-find-helium-gas/[/url][/QUOTE]
[URL="http://qz.com/718830/we-rely-on-helium-for-life-saving-care-and-were-swiftly-running-out/"]We rely on helium for life-saving care, and we’re swiftly running out[/URL]
[QUOTE]Even if we get all that out of the Tanzanian mine, it would only extend global supplies seven more years. Worldwide consumption stands at eight billion cubic feet a year. Exploration of new mining sites will extend our stocks, but ultimately, helium is not a sustainable resource. “We are using it faster than it is being found,” said Danabalan.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=only_human;437556][URL="http://qz.com/718830/we-rely-on-helium-for-life-saving-care-and-were-swiftly-running-out/"]We rely on helium for life-saving care, and we’re swiftly running out[/URL][/QUOTE]
I think part of the solution is to stop using it to fill balloons in order to amuse people.

Seriously, has anyone calculated how long it would last if we 100% quit using it for amusing purposes like balloons and talking like Alvin the chipmunk?

[url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160708-a-quasicrystals-shocking-origin/]A Quasicrystal’s Shocking Origin[/url] | Quanta Magazine

[URL="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/maverick-scientist-thinks-he-has-discovered-magnetic-sixth-sense-humans"]averick scientist thinks he has discovered a magnetic sixth sense in humans[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wsj.com/articles/personal-technology-and-the-autistic-child-what-one-family-has-learned-1466993100"]Personal Technology and the Autistic Child: What One Family Has Learned[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629125943.htm"]Watching the brain during language learning[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/videos/from-relativity-to-quantum-theory-our-physical-world-explored-through-coffee"]Physics and Caffiene[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/06/watch-liquid-nitrogen-white-walkerize-watermelon/"]Watch Liquid Nitrogen White Walkerize a Watermelon[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/technology/a-drone-start-up-explores-underwater.html?ref=technology&_r=4"]A Drone Start-Up Explores Underwater[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601848/data-mining-reveals-the-six-basic-emotional-arcs-of-storytelling/"]Data Mining Reveals the Six Basic Emotional Arcs of Storytelling[/URL]

[URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-technology-could-turn-your-skin-into-a-touch-screen-2016-7"]New technology could turn your skin into a touch screen[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/4/12093614/pac-man-single-celled-organisms"]Watch single-celled organisms play the smallest game of Pac-Man ever[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/science/what-is-consciousness.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0"]Consciousness: The Mind Messing With the Mind[/URL]

[URL="http://fortune.com/2016/07/03/cancer-survivor-3d-printed-jaw/"]ancer Survivor Gets 3D-Printed Jaw[/URL]

[url]http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0805/Sun-worshippers-watch-how-sunflowers-can-catch-daily-rays[/url]

[url]http://www.space.com/33651-comet-death-dive-into-sun-video.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;437374][url]http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0701/How-do-frigatebirds-stay-aloft-for-months-at-a-time[/url]

[QUOTE]But one question remains unanswered: How do these creatures sleep, when remaining aloft for days, weeks, months on end?[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

See here: [url=phys.org/news/2016-08-birds-engage-flight-remarkably-small.html]Birds engage in all types of sleep in flight, but in remarkably small amounts[/url] | PhysOrg

So literally 'sleeping with one eye open.'

And in another update to recent news: [url=www.wired.com/2016/08/sorry-folks-lhc-didnt-find-new-particle]Sorry, Folks. The LHC Didn't Find a New Particle After All[/url] | WIRED

When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much...
 

[URL="http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/which-are-stronger-beer-goggles-or-weed-goggles-scientists-now-have-some-answers/"]Which are stronger: beer goggles or weed goggles? Scientists now have some answers[/URL]

[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/08/11/we-finally-know-who-forged-piltdown-man-one-of-sciences-most-notorious-hoaxes/[/url]

[url]http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/11/489229041/talk-about-an-ancient-mariner-greenland-shark-is-at-least-272-years-old[/url]

This is a meta-science article about cranks-who-aren't-really-cranks.

[url]https://aeon.co/ideas/what-i-learned-as-a-hired-consultant-for-autodidact-physicists[/url]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;439850]This is a meta-science article about cranks-who-aren't-really-cranks.

[url]https://aeon.co/ideas/what-i-learned-as-a-hired-consultant-for-autodidact-physicists[/url][/QUOTE]Very cool. Would like it if there was a maths major that offered the same service.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;439853]Very cool. Would like it if there was a maths major that offered the same service.[/QUOTE]
We try to do that on this forum, albeit in a limited way!

[QUOTE=Dubslow;439850]This is a meta-science article about cranks-who-aren't-really-cranks.

[URL]https://aeon.co/ideas/what-i-learned-as-a-hired-consultant-for-autodidact-physicists[/URL][/QUOTE]
Brilliant! I would donate few bucks for that lady's enterprise! Thanks for sharing it!

[url]http://earthsky.org/space/physicists-confirm-a-possible-5th-force[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;440109][url]http://earthsky.org/space/physicists-confirm-a-possible-5th-force[/url][/QUOTE]
Would like to see what the odds that the book makers will be putting on this in a couple of months. I remember the announcement of a new 'anti-gravity force years ago.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;440125]Would like to see what the odds that the book makers will be putting on this in a couple of months. I remember the announcement of a new 'anti-gravity force years ago.[/QUOTE]

I'm much more optimistic about the 6.8[$]\sigma[/$] anomaly than I am about a new fifth force.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;440125]Would like to see what the odds that the book makers will be putting on this in a couple of months. I remember the announcement of a new 'anti-gravity force years ago.[/QUOTE]

Was the anti-gravity force paper published in Phys. Rev. Letters?

[QUOTE=Dubslow;440130]I'm much more optimistic about the 6.8[$]\sigma[/$] anomaly than I am about a new fifth force.[/QUOTE]Remember also that a boson [I]per se[/I] doesn't necessarily mean a new force. The Higgs is a scalar boson but not the gauge particle of a force as that term is generally understood. Much the same could be said of the so-far hypothetical axion.

Some other bosons are composites formed from an even number of fermions. Cooper pairs of electrons and He-4 nuclei are well known composites which readily show Bose-Einstein condensation at low temperatures.

Regardless, both the experimental and theoretical papers are fascinating!

I wasn't able to find the paper published in the PRL, but the article Mike posted did include [URL="http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.03591"]an arXiv link[/URL]. Its conclusion is here, which is really more of a summary than a conclusion, but it's also omits tons of technical details and provides an excellent overarching map of what the anomaly may mean.

I'm too lazy to fix the copy and paste issues, you can go see the paper if you want it better. The summary of the summary is that there is a 6.8 sigma anomaly, the sort of thing that doesn't disappear overnight. Many possible interpretations are excluded by this paper, with a couple of categories left open and focus on the category they view as most likely/best fitting, presenting a couple of different SM extensions within the category. Among other things, they describe what the LHC and several other near future experiments can do to exclude the other categories and one or the other of the options within their focused category. They also point out that the two most likely options they explored also have the potential to explain several other as yet unexplained anomalies in particle physics.

@xilman they focus on vector gauge bosons as the category of interest.

[quote]X. CONCLUSIONS
The 6.8σ anomaly in 8Be cannot be plausibly explained as a statistical fluctuation, and the
fit to a new particle interpretation has a χ
2/dof of 1.07. If the observed bump has a nuclear
physics or experimental explanation, the near-perfect fit of the θ and mee distributions to
the new particle interpretation is a remarkable coincidence. Clearly all possible explanations
should be pursued. Building on our previous work [7], in this study, we presented particle
physics models that extend the SM to include a protophobic gauge boson that explains the
8Be observations and is consistent with all other experimental constraints.
To understand what particle properties are required to explain the 8Be anomaly, we first
presented effective operators for various spin-parity assignments. Many common examples
of light, weakly coupled particles, including dark photons, dark Higgs bosons, axions, and
B − L gauge bosons (without kinetic mixing) are disfavored or excluded on general grounds.
In contrast, general gauge bosons emerge as viable candidates.
In Ref. [7] we determined the required couplings of a vector gauge boson to explain the
8Be anomaly assuming isospin conservation, and found that the particle must be protophobic.
In this work, we refined this analysis to include the possibility of isospin mixing in the
8Be∗
and 8Be∗0
states. Although isospin mixing and violation can yield drastically different
results, these effects are relatively mild once one focuses on protophobic gauge bosons. It
would be helpful to have a better understanding of the role of isospin breaking in these
systems and a quantitative estimate of their uncertainties. The presence of isospin mixing
also implies that the absence of an anomaly in 8Be∗0 decays must almost certainly be due to
kinematic suppression and that the X particle’s mass is above 16.7 MeV. Combining all of
these observations with constraints from other experiments, we then determined the favored
couplings for any viable vector boson explanation.
We have presented two anomaly-free extensions of the SM that resolve the 8Be anomaly.
In the first, the protophobic gauge boson is a U(1)B gauge boson that kinetically mixes
with the photon. For gauge couplings and kinetic mixing parameters that are comparable in
size and opposite in sign, the gauge boson couples to SM fermions with approximate charge
Q − B, satisfying the protophobic requirement. Additional matter content is required to
cancel gauge anomalies, and we presented a minimal set of fields that satisfy this requirement.
33
In the second model, the gauge boson is a U(1)B−L gauge boson with kinetic mixing, and the
SM fermion charges are Q − (B − L). Additional vectorlike leptons are needed to neutralize
the neutrino if we consider only a single U(1) gauge group. Both models can simultaneously
resolve the (g − 2)µ anomaly, have large electron couplings that can be probed at many near
future experiments, and include new vectorlike lepton states at the weak scale that can be
discovered by the LHC.
One may speculate that the protophobic gauge boson may simultaneously resolve not only
the 8Be and (g −2)µ anomalies, but also others. Possibilities include the NuTeV anomaly [14]
and the cosmological lithium problem mentioned in Sec. VIII C. Another possibility is the
π
0 → e
+e
− KTeV anomaly, which may be explained by a spin-1 particle with axial couplings
that satisfy

g
u
A − g
d
A

g
e
A

20 MeV
mX
2
≈ 1.6 × 10−7
, (99)
which is roughly consistent with the vector couplings we found for a protophobic gauge
boson [137]. Independent of experimental anomalies, a spin-1 boson with purely axial
couplings is a promising candidate for future study. Such bosons need not be protophobic
because their suppressed contributions to neutral pion decays relax many constraints that
existed for vector bosons. We note, however, that some bounds become stronger for the axial
case. For example,the decay φ → η(X → e
+e
−) used in deriving the KLOE constraints [64]
is an s-wave in the axial case, implying a stronger bound than the p-wave–suppressed one in
the vector case. Another example is (g − 2)e [138], for which an axial vector makes larger
contributions than a vector, for couplings of the same magnitude. In addition, there are very
stringent bounds, for example, from atomic parity violation, on gauge bosons with mixed
vector and axial vector couplings [139].
Finally, if the 8Be anomaly is pointing toward a new gauge boson and force, it is natural to
consider whether this force may be unified with the others, with or without supersymmetry.
In the case of U(1)B−L, which is a factor of many well-motivated grand unified groups, it
is tempting to see whether the immediately obvious problems—for example, the hierarchy
between the required U(1)B−L gauge coupling and those of the SM—can be overcome, and
whether MeV-scale data may be telling us something interesting about energy scales near
the Planck scale.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;440136]@xilman they focus on vector gauge bosons as the category of interest.[/QUOTE]Sure.

I was expanding on your earlier comment and pointing out some of the other alternatives. The authors themselves ruled out some alternative bosons on symmetry grounds but that doesn't mean that a vector gauge boson is the only thing remaining.

[QUOTE=xilman;440135]the so-far hypothetical axion.[/QUOTE]
Huh? Axion is not hypothetical! Everybody knows the [URL="https://www.google.co.th/search?q=axion&tbm=isch"]killer of greases[/URL]...

[URL="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/physicists-achieve-atomic-data-storage"]Physicists Achieve Atomic Data Storage[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601911/better-than-opioids-virtual-reality-could-be-your-next-painkiller/"]Better Than Opioids? Virtual Reality Could Be Your Next Painkiller[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/essays/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-good-or-a-bad-microbe"]Microbes have no Morals[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/10-truly-curious-destinations-for-science-geeks-and-tech-nerds/education"]10 truly curious destinations for science geeks and tech nerds[/URL]

[URL="https://medium.com/@americanmensa/over-the-counter-data-c98622f74c90#.bd49df1vu"]Over-the-Counter Data[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/the-debate-over-times-place-in-the-universe/492464/"]The Debate Over Time's Place in the Universe[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/science/brain-scans-math.html?_r=0"]What Your Brain Looks Like When It Solves a Math Problem[/URL]

[URL="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-builds-memory-chains/"]How the Brain Builds Memory Chains[/URL]

[URL="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2016/04/21/does-evidence-support-the-artistic-vs-scientific-mind-stereotype/#.V7ZIq2Vlm3B"]Does Evidence Support the Artistic vs. Scientific Mind Stereotype?[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/science/how-did-people-migrate-to-the-americas-bison-dna-helps-chart-the-way.html?_r=1"]How Did People Migrate to the Americas? Bison DNA Helps Chart the Way[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/ideas/what-i-learned-as-a-hired-consultant-for-autodidact-physicists"]What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/11/489229041/talk-about-an-ancient-mariner-greenland-shark-is-at-least-272-years-old"]Talk About An Ancient Mariner! Greenland Shark Is At Least 272 Years Old[/URL]

[URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/titan-appears-to-have-steep-gorges-and-rivers-like-the-nile/"]Titan appears to have steep gorges and rivers like the Nile[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/aba-autism-controversy/495272/"]Is the Most Common Therapy for Autism Cruel?[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/diagnostic-detective-unravels-brain-mysteries/education"]Diagnostic detective unravels brain mysteries[/URL]

Thanks for all these nice links (few of them already posted to this forum, but now we have them all together).

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bosnian-pine-oldest-tree-greece-adonis_us_57b8a6fce4b03d513688c6b1[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;440368][url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bosnian-pine-oldest-tree-greece-adonis_us_57b8a6fce4b03d513688c6b1[/url][/QUOTE]

After having seen some of the largest and oldest trees here in the US, I'm wondering how long it would take Trump to start cutting them down to put into his casinos as Christmas trees...