Random Science news and articles

Remove this Banner Ad

1712191015310.png ​
Microsoft, those folks that bought us Microsoft Bob and Clippy, may have knocked off the error problem in Quantum computing by using virtual bits instead of Qubits directly, Big advance if it pans out, can't wait to try out an Quantum computing, AI enhanced Clippy MkII.

Microsoft may have finally made quantum computing useful

Microsoft and Quantinuum say they've developed the most error-free quantum computing system yet.
www.engadget.com
 
French noble, Georges-Louis Leclerc who one hundred years before Darwin had similar ideas about evolution of organisms.

The French aristocrat who understood evolution 100 years before Darwin – and even worried about climate change

Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book reveals
www.theguardian.com

Remember Wallace, of the famous line, came up with similar concepts of evolution independently during Darwin's later life. Ideas arise in the milieu of the times and clearly evolutions time had come. A similar thing happened with atoms, the wonderfully named Democritus of Abdera proposed the concept of atoms in classical times, but it was only centuries later the ideas caught on. There was also Xenocrates the Strange, who proposed Quarks......
 
Last edited:
Peter Higgs just died at a ripe old age of 94. Perhaps one of the best known particle physicists because he proposed a havy boun as the mediator of mass, 40+ years after his insight it was found by CERN with the large hadron collider. A triumph for the Standard Model of particle physics.

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

During a walk in the Scottish Highlands, one of the greats of particle physics had the idea of a lifetime
theconversation.com

It also lead to the discovery of the 5th force, no not it's not love, rather it's called the Yukawa coupling. This “fifth force” of nature complement the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. Below is a text book description, which I can't say I really understand.

Yukawa interaction is used to describe the nuclear force between a proton or a neutron, mediated by pions (which are pseudoscalar mesons). A Yukawa interaction is also used in the Standard Model to describe the coupling between the Higgs field and massless quark and lepton fields (i.e., the fundamental fermion particles). Through spontaneous symmetry breaking, these fermions acquire a mass proportional to the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Enough noise has been made to make the he SA government review it's terrible plans for the SA museum.

SA Museum boss says proposed changes 'not about diminishing research'

The head of the South Australian Museum has acknowledged his proposed restructure of the institution will likely change following a government review.
www.abc.net.au

Hopefully it will change it's plans and allow continued access to researchers which it has been recently denying.

I have no problem with increased public engagement and the adventure park concept, I think it's great. But not at the cost of denying researchers access to the collection. That is criminal.
 
CD Xbow said:
Enough noise has been made to make the he SA government review it's terrible plans for the SA museum.

SA Museum boss says proposed changes 'not about diminishing research'

The head of the South Australian Museum has acknowledged his proposed restructure of the institution will likely change following a government review.
www.abc.net.au

Hopefully it will change it's plans and allow continued access to researchers which it has been recently denying.

I have no problem with increased public engagement and the adventure park concept, I think it's great. But not at the cost of denying researchers access to the collection. That is criminal.
Click to expand...
At that point you might as well pack it up and send it to a museum that can give access.
 
This is really exciting, personalised mRNA vaccines for melanoma entering phase III trials. In the earlier phase II trials the vaccines dramatically reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence. A sample of melanoma is taken and an mRNA vaccine tailored to stimulate an immune response against the tumour. Brilliant. Melanoma is one of the the odd tumours that would sometimes would go into spontaneous remission, this is thought to be immunological.

‘Real hope’ for cancer cure as personal mRNA vaccine for melanoma trialled

Excitement among patients and researchers as custom-built jabs enter phase 3 trial
www.theguardian.com

After I read it I, thought about a friend of mine who died of Melenoma in his early 40's. There was more melanoma than 'him' left when he died, his liver was the size of a car fridge. It was awful.
I also thought about those poor thought disordered antivaxxers. Will they accept this evil, DNA destroying (in their minds) mRNA vaccine to save their lives or their children's lives? Some folks are going to face some interesting conundrums if this proves to be an effective treatment.
 
Let the cat out of the bag (box)! The famous Schrödinger's cat paradox might have been solved. Italian physicist, Matteo Carlesso and his team have tweaked the Schrödinger's equation and perhaps found an explanation why macroscopic objects don't show the same 'quantum uncertainty' as tiny, fundamental particles do.

In their tweaked version of quantum physics, the researchers eliminated the distinction between objects subject to measurement and measuring devices. Instead, they proposed that each system's state undergoes spontaneous collapse at regular intervals, leading to the acquisition of definite values for some of their attributes.

For large systems, spontaneous collapse occurs frequently, rendering them classical in appearance. Subatomic objects interacting with these systems become part of them, leading to rapid collapse of their state and the acquisition of definite coordinates, akin to measurement.

"With no action from external entities, any system localizes (or collapses) spontaneously in a particular state. In place of having a cat being dead AND alive, one finds it dead OR alive," Carlesso said.

Tweak to Schrödinger's cat equation could unite Einstein's relativity and quantum mechanics, study hints

Physicists have proposed modifications to the infamous Schrödinger's cat paradox that could help explain why quantum particles can exist in more than one state simultaneously, while large objects (like the universe) seemingly cannot.
www.livescience.com

This is all theoretical and will need some difficult experiments to see if their is evidence to support this.

For the scholars the original article is here https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)193
 
1714952395314.png ​
Gizmodo have an article looking at 7 Sci Fi inventions by Hugo Gernsback from the first half of last century. His name is used for the annual Sci Fi media awards, the Hugo's. Ther article has got some nice graphics in it.

7 Extremely Weird Inventions From the Grandfather of Science Fiction

Hugo Gernsback was a pioneer in the world of science fiction during the first half of the 20th century—so much so that the Hugo Awards are named after him. But Gernback also edited serious tech magazines and came up with ideas that were often way ahead of their time. Or, in the case of the […]
gizmodo.com.au

Two of them have definitely come to pass, 'Diagnosis by radio' (telemedicine) and 'Telephot' (videochat). The automatic autograph could be done now and in some ways it is with merchandise with celebs signatures on. It's a flawed concept because it would not be considered a real autograph. The Matchmaker isn't quite there, I don't think current love dolls meet the requirements but a future android with AI might. Same with the thought machine, progress has been made interpreting brain signals and neural implant development continues. The "Sleep Eliminator' and 'The Isolator' could be done but would be considered torture.
 
JG Ballard is one of my favorite authors, writing across a variety of genres, most of his work falls into the speculative fiction bucket. I didn't know he experimented in the 1960's with computer written poetry. You might say this article from the Conversation is written in the shadow of rise of the AI's such as ChatGPT etc. A very Ballardian theme.

Novelist J.G. Ballard was experimenting with computer-generated poetry 50 years before ChatGPT was invented

Looking through the archive of an arts magazine I discovered how Ballard was trying out an early form of computer-generated poetry.
theconversation.com

Note - Ballardian is a real word. See https://www.collinsdictionary.com/d...ogical, social, or environmental developments
 
'Massless batteries' probably better called structural batteries, are when the material is used to build a structure is able store charge. There have been a few attempts, the one described below is one of the more promising ones, using a slightly softer carbon fibre.

Swedish startup promises “massless” carbon fibre battery for wind blades, EVs and aircraft

Massless batteries may allow wind turbines to store their own excess energy in blades, or make battery-powered planes a reality.
reneweconomy.com.au
 
Epigenetics in action. Article talks about some of the experiments showing epigenetic effects across generations. Appears a little bit of neo-Lamarckism goes along with Darwinian genetics.

'Scientists working in the emerging field of epigenetics have discovered the mechanism that allows lived experience and acquired knowledge to be passed on within one generation, by altering the shape of a particular gene. This means that an individual’s life experience doesn’t die with them but endures in genetic form. The impact of the starvation your Dutch grandmother suffered during the second world war, for example, or the trauma inflicted on your grandfather when he fled his home as a refugee, might go on to shape your parents’ brains, their behaviours and eventually yours.'

The big idea: can you inherit memories from your ancestors?

The science of epigenetics suggests we can pass on trauma – but trust and compassion too
www.theguardian.com
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

The CSIRO have been studying the native Pompano for aquaculture up North. I've never fished up North so I know nothing of this fish. It says the flesh is firm, slightly sweet and cooks well in a variety of ways. Seems like a goer.

Fresh catch: CSIRO introduces new white fish variety to Australian aquaculture

Successful breeding trials identified the Pompano (Trachinotus anak) as an ideal candidate to broaden the limited white-flesh fish options available in Australia
www.csiro.au
 
A article from the Conversation by a synthetic biologist (he's not synthetic, the systems he works on are!) warning against building 'mirror life'. For those who don't know, all our protein and sugars have a 'handedness' wrt which way they fold, it's called chirality, an it's either D or L depending on which way twist. Proteins are L and sugars are D. Mirror life involves the creation of bacteria with the opposite chirality.

Mirror life is a scientific fantasy leading to a dangerous reality − a synthetic biologist explains how mirror bacteria could conquer life on Earth

Synthetic cells that look just like natural cells but are chemically reversed could outcompete other living organisms − with dire consequences for human health and the environment.
theconversation.com

I agree with the author, the production of mirror life organisms should be banned. It's just too dangerous and there seems to be minimal gains. Don't do it.

People speculate about the dangers of AI, I actually think developments in biology may be a greater risk through the rest of this century. Manufacturing artificial pathogens, biological nanotech and this mirror life are some of the high risk area's.
 
First commercial general purpose quantum computing chips made in Brissy. I'll have to stop making jokes about Queenslanders.

How ‘Omega’ is a quantum leap for Australia – interview available - News Hub

PsiQuantum, the company building the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, has just announced a significant scientific milestone: Omega – a manufacturable chipset that will take quantum computing out of the lab and into the real world. The chipset contains all the advanced...
newshub.medianet.com.au
It could be a game changer. If it is I expect it will be the usual story of Australian innovation and commercialization elsewhere.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Random Science news and articles


Write your reply...

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top