Official "Science News" Thread

[Flatlander]

It's the repeated realisation that QM etc. is what reality actually is that freaks me out. I'm like the proverbial goldfish that rediscovers the ornaments every 30 seconds and is amazed again.

This is, IMHO, far more jaw-dropping than any far-fetched future applications.

[rogue]

Flash memory chip built out of single-atom-thick components


Big Bang’s afterglow shows universe is 80 million years older than scientists first thought

The LEGO Paper Airplane Folder

[rogue]

Discovery May Lead to the Creation of Biofuel from CO2 in the Atmosphere

Planck snaps infant Universe

Huge and widespread volcanic eruptions triggered the end-Triassic extinction

Bees Buzz Each Other, but Not the Way You Think

A New Kind of Invisibility Cloak Demonstrates Better Cloaking Efficiency

The Hidden Poetic Genius of an Old, English Nursery Rhyme

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by rogue

Huge and widespread volcanic eruptions triggered the end-Triassic extinction

This is like finding a guy lying dead in a pool of his own blood and concluding "loss of blood killed him". Uh yeah, but how did the blood get from inside to outside? Maybe this gunshot wound here?

In the above case - Sure, but what caused the mass wave of volcanism? Was it spontaneous - perhaps the result of a gigantic anomalous mantle plume - or did it have an external trigger? This topic led to an interesting discussion around these parts late last year in this thread, starting with post 19.

[rogue]

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market

Dream contents deciphered by computer

Tantalizing Hints of WIMPy Dark Matter

Neuroscientists Discover New Molecular Mechanism for Long-Term Memory Formation

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by rogue

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market

Dream contents deciphered by computer

Tantalizing Hints of WIMPy Dark Matter

Neuroscientists Discover New Molecular Mechanism for Long-Term Memory Formation

these 2:

Dream contents deciphered by computer

Tantalizing Hints of WIMPy Dark Matter

go to the same url the first one is wrong.

[rogue]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

these 2:

Dream contents deciphered by computer

Tantalizing Hints of WIMPy Dark Matter

go to the same url the first one is wrong.

The correct link is this.

[LaurV]

Thanks for sharing. That with the dark mater is very interesting, a subject which always fascinated me. The one with the "microbes" producing hydrogen at over 100% efficiency... seems a bit an April Fool prank. I am still skeptical about it. More research (on the web) is needed. (edit: the date is April 4, too, and there is a high probability it was reproduced after a few-days old article appeared somewhere else, without checking).

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by LaurV

The one with the "microbes" producing hydrogen at over 100% efficiency... seems a bit an April Fool prank.

... or just sloppy thinking.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by LaurV

The one with the "microbes" producing hydrogen at over 100% efficiency... seems a bit an April Fool prank.

But not obviously impossible.

Heat pumps also work at >100% efficiency because they extract otherwise useless heat from the environment to add to the useful energy put into driving the pump.

As I read the article, the situation here is analogous. Useful energy in the form of xylose is augmented by otherwise useless warmth from the environment to produce hydrogen which may be burnt to create more energy than could be produced by burning the sugar itself.

[retina]

Originally Posted by xilman

But not obviously impossible.

Heat pumps also work at >100% efficiency because they extract otherwise useless heat from the environment to add to the useful energy put into driving the pump.

<snip>

It would seem to be dependant upon one's method of measuring efficiency. In an overall sense there can never be anything >100% (discounting the over unity crazy folk) due to the fundamental laws of physics. But for a system like described above generally we are essentially ignoring the fact of the heat conversion because the heat is considered wasted and thus not included in the efficiency measurements.