Re: Quantum Computing

In the very early days of radio some inventors weren't quite sure how their invention worked;   They just happened to hit on the right idea through trial and error.

 

Until somebody can explain to me how a qbit works, I am extremely skeptical.  They may be able to come up with nifty devices on a scale smaller than a calculator, but it might be decades before somebody figures out how to make this useful.

 

This reminds me of a really old joke where a company invents a computer that is a billion times faster but some idiot asks if it will run Windows.

 

Best wishes,

John Coffey 

On Jun 19, 2013, at 8:46 AM, "larry.r.trout> wrote:

http://www.nature.com/news/computing-the-quantum-company-1.13212

 

'Mind control' tech lets you control robots just by thinking about it | SciTech | GMA News Online

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/312577/scitech/technology/mind-control-tech-lets-you-control-robots-just-by-thinking-about-it

Colleagues: Tornado chasers were researchers

I used to see this guy on the Storm Chasers TV show.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/storm-chasers-killed/index.html

Giant Asteroid flies by the Earth

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/31/giant-asteroid-to-sail-past-earth-today-watch-it-live/

 

 

Fwd: Fertilizer effect

'Study sees climate upside in greening arid regions

 

Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has a "fertilization effect" on plants in arid regions that has contributed to the flourishing of foliage there, Australian researchers report.'

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/31/study-climate-change/2377179/

 

weather.com. Climate Scientists Struggle to Explain Warming Slowdown

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/climate-scientists-warming-slowdown-20130416

Fwd: Algae

From: larry.r.trout

'Whiz kid grows algae under her bed, wins science fair

 

Sara Volz, 17, from Colorado Springs, Colo., joined the quest for practical alternatives to petroleum-based fuels in the seventh grade. Now a high school senior, she may have found an answer in the oily pond scum growing under her bed.

 

"I was trying to use guided evolution, so artificial selection, to isolate populations of algae cells with abnormally high oil content," she told NBC News.

 

The result is a population of algae that produces so much oil, so efficiently, that it bagged the grand prize Tuesday night in the Intel Science Talent Search, an elite science fair. The prize comes with a $100,000 scholarship.

 

Algae biofuel has long fascinated the green energy community as a promising alternative to other biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol, that take a bite out of the world's food budget. But a problem has been to get the plants to produce oil at scale cheaply enough to compete with petroleum-based fuel.

 

Other researchers have approached the problem by tweaking the algae genome or selecting the prime environmental conditions for algae growth. Volz's approach, she said, is different and lower cost. It relies on an herbicide that kills algae cells with low levels of an enzyme crucial to making oil.

 

"The idea is, if you introduce this chemical, you kill everything with really low oil production," she explained. "What you are left with is a population of cells with very high oil production."'

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/whiz-kid-grows-algae-under-her-bed-wins-science-fair-1C8835461

 

NASA Discovers New Radiation Belt Around Earth

http://www.space.com/20004-earth-radiation-belt-discovery.html

Meteor Fragments Are Said to Rain Down on Siberia

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/world/europe/meteorite-fragments-are-said-to-rain-down-on-siberia.html?_r=0

New Plastic Light Bulbs Could Be Flicker-Free Replacements for Compact Fluorescents: Less Heat, Closer to Daylight

http://www.latinospost.com/articles/7734/20121204/new-plastic-light-bulbs-flicker-free-replacements.htm

Lake life survives in total isolation for 3000 years - New Scientist - New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/dn22535-lake-life-survives-in-total-isolation-for-3000-years.html

Farthest Known Galaxy in the Universe Discovered

http://www.space.com/18502-farthest-galaxy-discovery-hubble-photos.html

 

Relax, girl: Boyfriend's 'love hormone' wards off your rivals

 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/11/14/relax-girl-boyfriend-love-hormone-wards-off-your-rivals/

Early humans used stone spear points 500,000 years ago

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hISS_RrQOpDbJ9sk84ActLvv-6ZA?docId=CNG.9484301c0f281a31e8383bf96341f10b.471

Misconceptions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCzXZfNIu3A&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYzfKiIWN4g&feature=relmfu

I was saying this 30 years ago .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UT04p5f7U&feature=relmfu

1,000,000,000,000 Frames/Second Photography - Ramesh Raskar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoHeWgLvlXI&feature=related

Climate in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Climatemapusa2.PNG

Fusion

'The National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has been called a modern-day moon-shot, a project of "revolutionary science," and "the mother of all boondoggles."

 

NIF, as it's known, is a five-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded super laser project whose goal is to create nuclear fusion – a tiny star – inside a laboratory. But so far, that hasn't happened.

 

The facility, which began operating in 2009 after a decade of construction at a cost of almost $4 billion, points 192 football-field-sized lasers at one tiny capsule the size of a peppercorn and filled with hydrogen. It creates degrees of heat and pressure never before achieved in a lab.

 

Standing outside NIF's target chamber in 2008, about a year before NIF's dedication, Director Ed Moses called NIF "more far-out, and far cooler than anything in science fiction or fantasy."'

http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/in-livermore-still-waiting-on-nuclear-fusion/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-livermore-still-waiting-on-nuclear-fusion

 

MedgadgetLab-on-a-Bead Technology for Rapid Disease Detection (video)

http://medgadget.com/2012/09/lab-on-a-bead-technology-for-rapid-disease-detection-video.html

Greenpeace out to sea on GM rice issue, bioethicist says

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/14/13863010-greenpeace-out-to-sea-on-gm-rice-issue-bioethicist-says?lite

labeling-of-genetically-engineered-foods-is-a-losing-proposition

http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/09/12/labeling-of-genetically-engineered-foods-is-a-losing-proposition/

Science Left Behind: France Bans GMOs Again

http://www.science20.com/cool-links/science_left_behind_france_bans_gmos_again-94101

Dark Energy Really IS Real : Discovery News

http://news.discovery.com/space/new-study-re-confirms-evidence-for-dark-energy-120912.html

Are Democrats Really the "Pro-Science" Party? | RealClearPolitics

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/10/are_democrats_really_the_pro-science_party_115367.html

Conversion of climate change skeptic not likely to sway GOP - latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-climate-change-skeptic-20120802,0,5819816.story

The article does not mention that we are at the peak of the 12 year
sunspot cycle. In 2007, at the low of the sunspot cycle, 100 years of
global warming temporarily vanished.

There has never been any dispute that CO2 emissions cause some global
warning. The dispute has been whether this would lead to disaster.
It took a hundred years for the temperature to rise 1 degree
Fahrenheit. After I did considerable searching on the on the
Internet, I found that even the most strong proponents of this theory
thought that the temperature would only rise 1 to 3 degrees over the
next 100 years. This is not disastrous, although maybe inconvenient,
and it gives us plenty of time to move to alternatives. The first
nuclear fusion power plant comes online in just 8 years.

I am deeply interested in this:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/iron-sulfate-slow-global-warming.htm

Mars landing: Curiosity rover prepares laser target practice

http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/mars-landing-curiosity-rover-prepares-laser-target-practice-1.3912625


Sent from my iPad

Discovery Has Landed. (Impressive video)

Curiosity Has Landed
 

Why do cancers sometimes recur? Mouse studies support idea of hidden ‘seeds’ for tumor growth

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/why-do-some-cancers-come-back-mouse-studies-support-idea-of-hidden-seeds-for-tumor-growth/2012/08/01/gJQAppZWPX_story.html

Could dumping iron in the oceans slow global warming? - CSMonitor.com

http://m.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0718/Could-dumping-iron-in-the-oceans-slow-global-warming

batteries

 

Google and others are starting to use Soldi Oxide fuels cells to power their data centers

 

‘For decades, experts have agreed that solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) hold the greatest potential of any fuel cell technology. With low cost ceramic materials, and extremely high electrical efficiencies, SOFCs can deliver attractive economics without relying on CHP. But until now, there were significant technical challenges inhibiting the commercialization of this promising new technology. SOFCs operate at extremely high temperature (typically above 800°C). This high temperature gives them extremely high electrical efficiencies, and fuel flexibility, both of which contribute to better economics, but it also creates engineering challenges.

 

Bloom has solved these engineering challenges. With breakthroughs in materials science, and revolutionary new design, Bloom's SOFC technology is a cost effective, all-electric solution.

 

Over a century in the making, fuel cells are finally clean, reliable, and most importantly, affordable.’

 

http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/solid-oxide/