Category: Physical Sciences

Yes – But There Is A Difference This Time

Lorin Olsen


 
In the seventies, I visited the National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, Maryland. And while there, I saw my first Tokamak reactor. It was a small device – about the size of a large room. But I saw a real world example of the fantasies that I had read about for several years. So I started to get really excited.

That excitement waned. Over the decades since then, the sci-fi fantasies continued to be fueled while the real science seemed to be flagging. And the “cold fusion” idiocy didn’t help things much.

But there have been waves of breakthroughs. Each new experimental wave brought about another wave of anticipation. Today, plasma has been contained for multiple seconds. In fact, we can easily see the time when we can indefinitely sustain a usable plasma. Of course,the real trick is to get more power out of the reaction than we put into the process.

At 10:30 in the above video, Joe Scott lets us know that there is a real difference between fusion reactor claims of the past and the progress that is anticipated in the relatively near future. His conclusion is that the addition of private industry will propel fusion reactors from the university to the power plant. Given what Elon Musk and SpaceX have done to spur interplanetary expeditions, I tend to agree with Joe. And if we can just increase the competitive pressure further, we may see sustainable fusion power in our lifetimes.

Annus Mirabilis

Lorin Olsen


The UN has called 2005 the World Year of Physics (WYP). And for scientists and scientific historians, this year has been the 100-year anniversary of Einstein’s annus mirabilis – the year he submitted four papers, three of which are hallmarks of modern physics. In 1905, Albert Einstein submitted his papers on Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect and special relativity. With these papers, Einstein established himself as one of the greatest minds of his (or any) century.
The PBS program Nova will broadcast its Einstein’s Big Idea episode this Tuesday. In his September 27, 1905 paper (“Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?“), Einstein first documented m=e/c**2. I can’t fully describe how important Einstein’s works were. I would need to be a physicist, mathematician and poet. But as an enthusiast, I can only recommend that you watch the PBS special. I will be recording it – and probably downloading a recording from the web (via BitTorrent).
-CyclingRoo-

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Cosmos 1 Set for April 30th Launch

Lorin Olsen

After several years of planning and scheduling delays, the Planetary Society will be launching the Cosmos 1 solar sail on April 30th. The sail assembly will be mated to a Russian ICBM (Voina class) and launched from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea. Given the fact that this will be a submarine launch of an ICBM, the flight logistics have required special clearances/approvals consistent with the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). A good primer on the mission (as well as solar sail technology) can be found at How Stuff Works.
This reminds me of the Explorers episode from the third season of Star Trek DS-9. In this episode, Sisko built a Bajoran ship to re-enact the ancient flight of the Bajorans to Cardassia. Alright, that’s enough geek nostalgia for today.
If this sail works, then the Planetary Society has discussed subsequent missions to further explore the technology. This should be fun. Interplanetary flight simply by light pressure is a staggering mission for anyone – especially a non-governmental agency. Carl Sagan would be proud.
-CyclingRoo-

First Extra-solar Planetary Picture

Lorin Olsen


I just noted that Space.com is reporting the first confirmed “extra-solar” planetary picture ever recorded. While there have been many planets “discovered” based upon gravitational influences, this is the first visual confirmation of such a companion. Ralph Neuhaeuser (European Southern Observatory, Chile) discovered this planet orbiting GQ Lupi. The planet is roughly 100 times further from its sun than the Earth is from our sun. But because the planet is young, it is only ~150 times fainter than the star itself. For comparison purposes, this planet is:

  • 1-2 times the mass of Jupiter,
  • Approximately 2000 degrees (Kelvin), and
  • Orbits its sun with a solar period of ~1,200 Earth years

-CyclingRoo-

News from the Blogosphere

Lorin Olsen

Today is a waiting day. I still wait for the EarJams to be shipped. And I am waiting to get a call from a friend in Boulder. And I am waiting for the Kansas City Star to print the details from last night’s game. So I started wandering around checking out some science links.

Why amble about for science links? Well, part of my job is to identify and categorize distruptive technology trends that we can exploit. So I’ve started to check out some good science blogs. The first place I checked was The Science Blog. Man, is this site cool. I ran across an entry about solar cells being used as retinal implants. Well, CyclingRoo is legally blind. Indeed, I have retinal problems causing much of my troubles. So this entry really caught my attention. Apparently, the field of retinal implants is exploding. The subjects in this test are now able to see light (where none was visible before). Other subjects report that they can read the LED’s on alarm clocks. OK. This isn’t much for most of you. But it is amazing to me. Maybe sometime in my life, I will be able to see. But if not now, then in the eternal. One day, I will see clearly!

I also ran across another great site: The Scientist. While there is way too much to comment upon, I would direct your attention to the notes on stem cells from the spleen. I am not a doctor. Nor do I play one on T.V. But this is really interesting. Apparently, the spleen has been found to be a possible new source for stem cells that produce the Hox11 protein chain. OK. OK. I am as befuddled by this as the next person. But I am heartened that new sources of stem cells may exist beyond embryonic sources. If such stem cell sources can exist until adulthood, maybe we can stop cheapening life by equating it to a harvestable source of scientific collateral.

Finally, I stumbled across CNet’s discussion of Google Maps. The folks at Google really have it going on! I have been impressed by Yahoo! Maps. But this one really rocks. I love the fact that I can mouse around and move the map itself. Oh, the joy of simple pleasures. I can’t wait to see the integration with all the Google search content. This will be amazing. And if there is a disruptive trend to be identified, it is this kind of thing. All of this information will be free (unelss you hate seeing ad copy). Rand-McNally will be struggling against this. Even MapQuest will struggle since they don’t have the content to relate to the maps. Only Yahoo! may be able to keep up.

Whew. There is the fifteen minute roundup for today. Ciao, for now.

-CyclingRoo-

Oh, I forgot one of the most important things! Dana had another good night at basketball. She scored 17. Unfortunately, I don’t know her other stats as they weren’t in the paper. And since I wasn’t there, I couldn’t speak about assists, rebounds, and/or steals. But I know that they won the game. And this was Coach Millard’s 400th career win. Pretty darned good. So Ron has seen 400 wins. He’s celebrated the 10th anniversary of his state championship win. And he is celebrating his 30th year in coaching. Wow. I pray that this brings him some sunshine during an otherwise challenging year. Keep Ron and his wife in your prayers as she is being treated for cancer. May God have mercy on her body and her spirit!