Large Hadron Collider

While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest high-energy particle accelerator, was not expected to come online and be available for research activities for another six months, this information-transfer process was tested during the system’s post-installation efficacy evaluation process (PIEEP). The LHC resides within a 27 km circumference underground tunnel that ranges in depth below ground level from 50 to 150 meters.

The telecommunications network, which requires no physical interstitial points of transmission, will allow transmission bandwidth of at least 100MB/s between endpoints. Owing to the quantum distribution properties of protons and the availability of unused geosynchronous satellites currently in orbit, terrestrial endpoints may be located anywhere and airborne endpoints may be located to a maximum altitude of 150 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Technology Background

A proton is a subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge of one fundamental unit (1.602 x 10-19 coulomb). The CERN scientists, led by Dr. Albus Luminare, were able to store 8 bytes of quantum data within a single photon of pure white light. Using light photons, which travel through a vacuum at 299,792,458 meters per second, the scientists were able to effect the high bandwidth data network, creating multiple individual channels of data between two end points at near fiber-optic speed.

The current research demonstrates that data transmission does not have to be limited to a single transmission medium, such as a fiber-optic cable. Rather, multiple independent transmission streams may be effected through the use of quantum entanglement, and directed focus mirrors, which allow the digital data to be transmitted without the need of physical cables. Data endpoints may transmit and receive data between cellular and internet endpoints using satellite-based mirrors, literally reflecting the multiple data streams off mirrors in geostationary orbit, 22,500 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Dr. Luminare, chairman of the Worldwide System Hardware Language Infrastructure Systems & Technology Symposium (WiSHLISTS), has announced that the charitable organization will license—at no cost–the new technology, called the Proton-based Information System (PIS), to nations willing to offer free nationalized cellular and internet service to citizens, without restriction.

Dave’s Opinion

The PIS network sounds the death knell for terrestrial telephone and broadband providers. My sources confirm that the symposium’s services will be available before the end of the year, and I expect to see a plethora of new mobile digital devices that will take advantage of this high-speed data network.
It is fortunate that Dr. Luminaire’s team of scientists conducted their research during the LHC’s PIEEP phase, as CERN reported earlier this week that the LHC suffered a failure of its three quadrupole magnets.

Call for Comments

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References

CERN
LHC Magnet Test Failure

 

John Stossel’s latest book, Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel–Why Everything You Know is Wrong is a fun, quick read. I learned that the United States spends more on public education than we do on military spending: I am furious that we spend $536 billon each year on elementary and secondary education* and many adults that I meet are poor readers and absolutely horrendous writers. I must incorporate a few hours of basic grammar and composition lecture into each of my university classes, for both undergraduate and graduate students! Give me a break!

This book is a must read for every citizen that desires who seeks to be informed and is willing to have his or her opinions challenged.

*I confirmed this number on the U.S. Department of Education website.

Recommendation: Read Now

Buy this book at Amazon.com

 

Chesapeake Invader is a difficult read, as Poag adopts a pedagogic writing style that lacks the grace and fluidity of a science writer experienced in writing books for the public.

Rather than putting the meteorite’s impact in either social or geographic perspective, Poag focuses on the technical details of geology, submarine stratification, tsunami and extinction. The later two topics were well developed and offered the most interesting reading.

The details were presented in a clear, systematic manner that, I judge, would be too simplistic for a geologist, yet were presented out of social context, leaving them to be less interesting to the general reader.

Recommendation: Read if you have a particular interst in the subject.

Buy this book at Amazon.com

 

I enjoyed reading It’s Raining Frogs and Fishes more than any other books, this season. It is fun romp through the natural sciences, organized by annual season: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Dennis describes natural weather patterns and their effects, including a particularly lucid explanation of the Coriolis effect. As a certified pilot, I have studied weather extensively, and I wish I had read this book, during my training; it is much more readable than the aviation weather texts I have previously read.

The book is chock full of accessible explanations of the causes of heat, hail, and halos.

I judge this is a book that appropriate for each household’s bookshelf; it is a perfect family reading. I have ordered a personal copy for my family’s collection!

Recommendation: Read Now

Buy this book at Amazon.com

 

I enjoyed this Krakatoa, immensely, just as I have each of Winchester’s other books. I am preparing to watch the Discover Channel special on Krakatoa, and I wanted to gain a factually-accurate, social perspective of the August 27, 1883 event before watching the televised show.

Winchester, in his trademark 360 degree evaluation style, lead me through the geologic and scientific history of this South Pacific area, now known as Indonesia. The volcano does not begin to erupt until page 209—more than halfway through the book. By the time the events of Monday, August 27th are described, I had a firm understanding of the affected people,, both the Dutch colonialists and the indigenous.

Following the detailed description of the events that took up much of the 1883 summer, Winchester explains the social effects the explosions had: the growth of fundamentalist Islam, leading to Indonesia’s becoming the most populous Muslim country in the world, with 170 million members of the Islamic faith.

Recommendation: Read

Buy this book at Amazon.com

 

Initial tests of the EUBPAWT system confirm that reptiles and mammals can be converted to photons of light, transported through a hydrogen gas tube, and delivered, intact, over a distance of up to one statute mile (1.609 km).

Working with research scientists from the Stanford School for Graduate Physics and Engineering, as well as the University of Aberdeen Institute of Advanced Molecular Research, military scientists have successfully tested the EUBPAWT system on soldiers, weighing up to 180 lbs (81.646 kg), successfully quantum transporting them using the flexible gas-tight polycarbonate tube, across a psuedo-urban test environment. without the need to pass through the intervening space. According to Major General W. Herbert Walters, author of the joint military release, “…in plain English, the courageous volunteers stepped into the transporter and were immediately delivered to the reception station. While the laws of quantum mechanics are too complex to include in the announcement, suffice it to say that the soldiers were delivered to the intended destination without passing through the intervening space. One moment they were here, the next they were there.”

Dr. Richard Heisenberg, professor of quantum physics at the Aberdeen laboratory, directed the initial experiments and was present for the successful human test, conducted in the presence of media and peer review committees. Many of the Aberdeen and Stanford research team members were uncertain if the four volunteers would actually survive the proton-hydrogen transport.

Much of the scientists’ incertitude began with Werner Heisenberg, Richard’s namesake, who was the first scientist to realize that certain pairs of measurements have an intrinsic uncertainty associated with them and published his theory, in 1927, in his seminal uncertainty paper. For instance, if you have a very good idea of where something is located, then, to a certain degree, you must have a poor idea of how fast it is moving or in what direction. Now referred to as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, in effect, the principle states that within the principles of quantum mechanics one can’t measure both the direction and speed of a moving object.

Dave’s Opinion
If you are a long-time reader of my work, you know that I have been following the development of quantum devices for many years. This project appears to be the first equipment created following the rules of quantum mechanics to demonstrate an immediate and useful application of quantum teleportation.

I will keep you informed as I earn more about this device and the application of quantum teleportation, which may provide a safe and effective means of allowing the military forces to traverse the intricate urban landscape surrounding the nuclear weapons facilities built by the Iranian government, just west of Tehran.

Call for Comments
What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

References
US Department of Defense
UK Ministry of Defence

 

Charles Darwin, born February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England is a member of a privileged family; he went on to study both medicine and theology. His most famous work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (often abbreviated as The Origin of Species) describes the processes of development, competition, and death in the natural selection of biological attributes that most effectively support variation (incipient species, as Darwin preferred).

Darwin, In the news this past year as a rallying call for religious arguments against evolution, described natural selection more so than evolution, Darwin’s work has been placed in counterpoint to the rigorist religious calls for the inclusion of intelligent design in public school science curricula. Natural selection, as described by Darwin, is, currently, the greatest challenge to the fundamental tenets of religion, that an omniscient hand created the universe: the complexity of life is such that it could not possibly have been created through a scientifically-explainable process.

Also born on the same day was Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, on Sinking Spring Farm in the Southeast part of Hardin County, Kentucky to an uneducated, but relatively affluent family; he received about 18 months of formal education from itinerant teachers, yet earned a liberal education through his own efforts; he never joined a church. His personal opinions are best exemplified in his, arguably, most famous work, his second inaugural address. Rallying the nation with religious references, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in,” Lincoln recognized the common values shared by most Americans, one of which was a strong religious foundation.

It as mystery, although I judge not one of a religious nature, that two men, so well known, could be born within hours of each other, hold such distinctly different religious opinions, and yet, be remembered–out of context–for, not their values and beliefs, but for a few words that they left behind.

 

Saturday evening, the world’s most accurate clocks will read, 23:59:59, 23:59:60, 00:00:00; normally there is no sixtieth second in a minute, but for one second this weekend, time will be created, effectively slowing down the world’s clocks.

Dave’s Opinion
I hope that my radio-controlled clocks will be quick to pickup the adjustment; I would hate to to have my clocks be inaccurate.

References
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second

Call for Comments
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Quantum computers can use individual atoms to store binary quantum bits (qubits) of data (0 or 1), much like traditional computer microprocessors; however, the rules of quantum physics apply at the atomic level, one of the rules being that a qubit may hold multiple states simultaneously and multiple qubits may be linked through quantum entanglement, leading to increases in some types of processing speed.

A quantum computer requires the qubit to be trapped, prevented from normal interaction with the outside world. The University of Michigan project allows for multiple trapped qubits to be integrated, scaled to a useful level. Initial reviews indicate that the university’s project may be scaled to hundreds of thousands of integrated qubits.

Dave’s Opinion
Should the University of Michigan’s project develop into a scalable quantum computer chip, it would be a watershed in the development of quantum computer, opening the door to commercial applications for computing at the atomic level.

Call for Comments
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References
University of Michigan

 

The European scientists think that a major contributor to global warming is the methane emissions generated by cattle. Globally, 1.4 billion cows produce 500 liters of methane each day, approximately 14% of the world’s methane emissions.

By altering the animal’s diet, methane emissions can be reduced by up to 70%. This would be a significant change to the effect of global greenhouse gas, as methane has a warming capacity 23 times greater than carbon dioxide, the leading contributor to global warming. Reducing ruminant methane by 70% is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide production by 8,000 liters a day.

Scientists at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, have developed a bovine diet that includes a mixture of organic sugars and a bacterium. The resulting mixture is similar to fumaric acid that in experiments reduced methane emissions by 70%.

Dave’s Opinion
As of 2003, the most recent report I was able to access, U.S. energy production is the the largest producer of methane; however agriculture, including the production of ruminant animals, contributed 72% as much of the greenhouse gas, more than waste management and industrial process combined.

What’s surprising to me about this recent research is that it’s taken so long to consider ways to reduce methane emissions from ruminant animals.

 

The principles of quantum mechanics allow for superpositions, in which a bit of memory may represent both 0 and 1 at the same time. The recent experiments, using beryllium ions, have created a less volatile data storage medium with a useful storage period over a million times longer than is necessary to enable quantum data processing.

Dave’s Opinion
The scientists at NIST have made a great leap forward in the development of quantum memory. Rather than relying on data backup and duplication to create a fault tolerant environment, the longer lasting memory may serve to protect data bits while they are being used for calculations and processing.

Call for Comments
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References
NIST

Related Articles
Quantum Computer to be Ready in Three Years

 

Other researchers have been able to slow, and in some cases, completely stop the speed of light; however, each previous experiment required controlled laboratory condition. The EPFL scientists, based in Switzerland, have demonstrated a methodology for speed control without the need for specialized equipment. Rather, standard optical fibers are used as the medium in which the experiment took place. The speed of the light signal can easily be adjusted, allowing the operator to control the transmission speed over a wide variance.

This is not just a scientific novelty. The ability to accelerate and decelerate the speed at light travels in a fully-optical environment will have profound impact on the telecommunication’s industry, which relies heavily on fiber-optic cable for both long-haul and short-hop data connectivity. Currently fiber-optic transmissions must be converted to slower electrical transmissions before the data can be processed. Data traveling at the speed of light that is controllable may allow all-optical data transmission media, eliminating the current need for electrical conversion.

The EPFL scientists demonstrated the creation of optical memory using their Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) method, which decelerated the light transmission by 72 percent.

Dave’s Opinion
One of the personal benefits that I see to an all optical network is faster data transmission speeds, both for corporate and consumer networks. Currently, broadband bandwidth is throttled to prevent electrical switches from being overtaxed during peak loads. The available bandwidth is limited to prevent excessive peaks in requested bandwidth. An all-optical network, with increased available bandwidth may increase the users’ available bandwidth, even allowing for management by pro-rata share and throttling.

Call for Comments
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References
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

 

About 1000 AD, the Archimedes treatises were scribed onto parchment; however, about 200 years later, the text and diagrams were erased to allow the valuable writing material to be reused. Christian prayers, written in Greek, were scribed over Archimedes’ words, creating a palimpsest, a reused parchment. The prayer book was used in religious study for seven hundred years, until Danish philologist John Ludvig Heiberg discovered the palimpsest in the library of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Istanbul. It was Heiberg who recognized that the document was a palimpsest and contained text and diagrams that were authored by Archimedes.

Stanford’s accelerator is able to detect tiny amounts of iron in the erased ink by using x-rays so cause the iron to fluoresce, to glow. Most of the text was revealed by scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the Rochester Institute of Technology, using digital cameras and ultraviolet or infrared filters, the accelerator will help to fill in the missing parts. This palimpsest contains the only copy of Archimedes’ treatise, “Method of Mechanical Theorems,” which describes how the mathematician used mechanical means to develop his theorems, and the only original Greek version of the treatise “On Floating Bodies,” in which Archimedes addresses the physics related to flotation and gravity.

Dave’s Opinion
All I can say is Eureka!

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