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POPSMore Evidence for a Revolutionary Theory of Water The current study is the most recent addition to a growing body of evidence for a new theory about the structure of liquid water. In 2004, Nilsson and colleagues sparked controversy with a paper published in Science that suggested the tetrahedral model of water was incorrect. Nilsson agrees that the debate is far from settled and that much work remains before a clear picture of liquid water emerges. "Over the last decade or so we have discovered that materials once considered homogeneous exhibit complex nanoscale order," said Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory director Jo Stöhr. "In my view, the work on water is yet another example of the actual complexity of matter, this time within a simple liquid. Modern X-ray work appears to be triggering a new understanding of liquids and we may have only seen the beginning of a paradigm shift in our understanding."
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POPSRight and wrong lessons from biology The opposite view stresses that evolution is an extremely effective way of searching parameter space, and that in consequence is that we should assume that biological design solutions are likely to be close to optimal for the environment for which they’ve evolved. Where these design solutions seem odd from our point of view, their unfamiliarity is to be ascribed to the different ways in which physics works at the nanoscale. At its most extreme, this view regards biological nanotechnology, not just as the existence proof for nanotechnology, but as an upper limit on its capabilities.
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POPSThe Planet's Most Massively Awesome Computer -The Large Hadron By some, it certainly seems to be one of the most outrageously wasteful projects upon the earth. Perhaps it is. I, for one do not think so. I think that understanding the universe as far as we can understand it justifies almost any economical price. Because this is part of what makes us human; the desire to uncover the mysteries of the universe. All this to capture one tiny hypothetical particle. Is it not amazing?
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POPSUsing Causality to Solve the Puzzle of Quantum Spacetime Space time fabric at the tiniest scale is fractal and with variable dimensionality. The interesting thing here is that the very fundamental aspects of reality are described as mathematical entities, and do not possess any intrinsic properties besides causation as an organizing principle. This is where physics and metaphysics meet....
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POPSProfessor Designs Plasma-propelled Flying Saucer The force created by passing an electrical current through this plasma pushes around the surrounding air, and that swirling air creates lift and momentum and provides stability against wind gusts. In order to maximize the area of contact between air and vehicle, Roy’s design is partially hollow and continuously curved, like an electromagnetic flying bundt pan. One of the most revolutionary aspects of Roy’s use of magnetohydrodynamics is that the vehicle will have no moving parts. The lack of traditional mechanical aircraft parts, such as propellers or jet engines, should provide tremendous reliability, Roy said. Such a design also will allow the WEAV to hover and take off vertically.
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POPSFocus fusion: Is it the next big thing in energy production? A 20MW focus fusion reactor may cost around $500,000 and produce electricity for 1/20th of a cent per kWh. This is a hundred times less than current electric costs. Fuel costs will be negligible because a 20MW plant will require only twenty pounds of fuel a year.
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POPSPhysicist Claims First Real Demonstration of Cold Fusion "Arata and Zhang demonstrated very successfully the generation of continuous excess energy from ZrO2-nano-Pd sample powders under D2 gas charging and generation of helium-4," Takahashi told New Energy Times. "The demonstrated live data looked just like data they reported in their published papers . This demonstration showed that the method is highly reproducible."
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POPSPhysicists Demonstrate How Information Can Escape From Black Holes Hawking's idea was generally accepted by physicists until the late 1990s, when many began to doubt the assertion. Even Hawking himself renounced the idea in 2004. Yet no one, until now, has been able to provide a plausible mechanism for how information might escape from a black hole. A team of physicists led by Abhay Ashtekar, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Physics and director of the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, now has discovered such a mechanism. Broadly, their findings expand space-time beyond its assumed size, thus providing room for information to reappear.
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POPSNew twist to matter-antimatter mystery Here is an "almost breakthrough" A major mystery of modern physics is why normal matter particles are the building blocks of the observable universe. Why are we not made of antimatter? Or pure energy? Scientists speculate that a tiny imbalance in the early universe allowed a small fraction of normal matter – one particle for every one billion – to avoid annihilation and survive to form stars, planets, and humans. When we come to know that we don't know, there is a new place for hope...
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POPSQuantum computers take step toward practicality In computing, a logic gate is built to accept a set of inputs and, depending on their properties, provide a specific output. In the binary logic found in today's electrical computers, a certain gate will yield a "1" only if all of its inputs are "1"s. Otherwise it will yield a "0." Similarly, a quantum photonic gate would work by detecting the properties of input photons from two light beams, called "control" and "signal," and then producing an output based on those, such as by flipping the polarization of one of the input photons.
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POPSA Game worthwhile playing ! As a serious gamer I am certainly going to devote some time to this one. The idea is brilliant. Collaborative computing may bring breakthroughs that are decades away otherwise. If you pop this at least give the game a try :-)
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POPSFourteen Wild Ideas 14 interesting speculations about the present and the future. Worth looking into some the actual papers.
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