Plankton: Minemizu "Black Water Dive"

Japanese Underwater Photographer Ryo Minemizu (@ryo_minemizu) captures the beauty of plankton. Minemizu developed the Black Water Dive, a night dive with underwater lighting to bring out the best of larval plankton pic.twitter.com/TbV1VuRKKz

— 41 Strange (@41Strange) February 26, 2019

Laser removal of rust (video)

This is how laser cleaning works to remove rust pic.twitter.com/XfXtBXF5KC

— How Things Work (@ThingsWork) August 16, 2018

Fascinating. Brave for the guy to run the thing over his hand?

Get on your e-bike

Mars panorama

Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2 in New Mexico

"Wild flowers are overpowered by exhaust fumes"

Nature - Environment - The Independent

Nitrogen pollution from exhaust fumes and airborne farm fertiliser is causing loss of wildflower species that thrive on poor soil . The harebell is given as an example (photo). Stinging nettles, cow parsley and some grasses are said to be crowding them out.

Quantum locking

A demonstration of levitation and suspension of an object at various angles

Small earthquake in Blackpool, major shock for UK's energy policy

Science, News - The Independent

"The process involves pumping millions of gallons of water, mixed with rock-dissolving chemicals, into the earth to unsettle rocks and release the gas trapped there."

Duh, the clue is in the description. When will we ever stop "cutting off the branch we're sitting on"? Earth is our home, stop digging it up, burning it, dissolving it and start protecting it. No?

Google freeloading on your wireless network

Google spied on British emails and computer passwords (Telegraph)

The Telegraph has missed the point. It's not the embarrassing but uninteresting emails of stupid people with no passwords on their networks, it's the annoying arrogance of Google in planning to use your wireless network identity as an indicator of location. For example be a person is walking down your street with a mobile phone using the Google Maps application. Google Maps is busy detecting where exactly he or she is, and in doing so it could scan for local wireless networks and recognise yours from its Streetview survey data, then use that to triangulate the person's location. The annoying thing is you are providing a service for which you are not being paid, though you are paying for its upkeep. They are using you, freeloading, without a by-your-leave. It's a matter of principle.

Simon

Use concrete slabs to staunch Gulf of Mexico oil leak?

The idea is to keep adding concrete slabs till the flow is staunched on the same principle as first aid for an arterial bleed. The concrete slabs can be made rapidly as was done for system-built apartment blocks in the 1960's.

A tongue and groove system could be used to seal the edges and where the flat sides come together. The size of the panels would be geared to the capacity of the delivery machinery available. Would 10 x 10 x 2 ft be too heavy to put in place?

The result might be a partial pyramid, possibly 100 m² with several interlocking and overlapping layers, as many as are needed so their weight exceeds the force of the gusher, in the same way  that we are told to apply pressure to an arterial bleed, for example. The seabed might need levelling though, unless custom cast pieces can be created to fit to the existing topography.       


|-------100m?-----|

      ___ ___

    ___ ___ ___

  ___ ___ ___ ___

___ ___ ___ ___ ___

                        *

                   ( leak)

An alternative approach might be to lower one absolutely massive piece of concrete onto the leak but such a heavy piece might not be manageable, in which case "the one piece" could be put together lego-like by lowering it down it in interlocking sections each on top of  the previous - a bit similar to the tiling plan but with much bigger pieces over a smaller area.


Is it not the case that if you pressed a gusher like that forcefully enough that it could not continue? Why would this not work?

Kronk

Dusty sunset

"The eruptions from the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano continue to pump out ash clouds sporadically, which means the disruption is set to continue. Although the cloud is too high to pose a health risk, people with breathing problems have been advised to take extra care if it falls to ground level." (Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights. BBC)

Blue marble home

"... the "blue marble" beauty of our home planet ... [the image] was produced by a team of scientists using months of satellite observations of the land, oceans, sea ice and clouds, covering every square kilometre of the Earth's surface. The wafer-thin atmosphere on which all life depends can just be discerned as a brilliant blue glow on the western horizon, while the vast expanse of blue ocean illustrates that the Earth is truly a water world." (The Independent)

They play marbles don't they, the gods...

The Known Universe by AMNH

Somebody should dub that Monty Python song to this...

Grand unification theory questions

Einstein's formulae predict correctly how things will seem from different viewpoints (frames of reference). You can state what is measured from one point of view then feed in variables and calculate how the same event would seem from a different point of view. The idea that reality depended on point of view was and remains shocking but it is true, i.e. it works and accords with observable reality and has been proven by experiment. Although it describes a sort of mutability it is in its own way absolute in that it predicts exactly how events will be perceived.

Einstein's thoughts mainly had to do with things on a grand scale - light, time, planets, people and everyday objects but when it comes to the very tiny world of atoms and electrons, it seems that there is no such predictability. There is a finding called Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle that says you cannot properly know about an atomic particle because by observing it you change it. There was a famous conference of the top physicists and theorists at which Einstein presented a thought experiment (an imagined experiment) that appeared to prove you could find out the mass of a particle at the same time as finding out its position, using a specially designed machine. However, on the next day of the conference another great scientist - Bohr? - pointed out a loophole that invalidated Einstein's thought experiment.

This troubled Einstein - he didn't accept it - and he spent most of his life trying to work out a way to reconcile his theory of Relativity and the apparently anomalous experimental evidence and conclusions of quantum (smallest possible scale) science. He said "God does not play dice." At other times he confirmed that he was an atheist, but he believed in a universe that follows set laws, rules that could be discovered and documented. He was trying to produce a new theory that would hold true at both the large scale and the quantum scale. Such a theory, one that would comprise a consistent set of rules that hold for all realms of science, is known as a Grand Unification Theory and is still being sought.

It was previously thought that electrons were particles that orbited around the nuclei of atoms but it is now known that they behave as if they are simultaneously all around the atom - smeared. Yet if "observed" or put into use, they will behave as particles. An electron is at the same time a wave and a particle, they say.

It seems to me that there is something in common between these two scientific theories, the conclusion that "different snapshots of the same thing" seem to comprise different realities. On the one hand it seems that X is the case but on the other hand it seems that Y is the case. For example in relativity on the one hand it seems that 20,000 years have gone by; on the other hand (for a space traveller travelling near the speed of light) it seems that only a few years have gone by. In quantum mechanics on the one hand it appears that a photon has gone through one slit in the apparatus, on the other it appears that it has gone through the other slit in the apparatus (in a device that tries to see which route a photon takes, which produces an inconclusive result).

In relativity an event in effect is more than one thing. To viewer A it is something but to viewer B it is something else. Yet there is only one event. In quantum mechanics a photon "is more than one thing". From a pattern seen on the surface of a detector it appears that the photon has gone through both slit A and slit B.

An electron is not in one location in orbit around a nucleus. But what does being in one location consist of for something that is moving - is it ever in one location? No, because it is moving - never in one location. So let us not be surprised that we cannot discover its location, especially as it is travelling at the speed of light - a speed at which time stands still. It is making its way from place to place but in no time. Therefore there is no time interval between it being in one place and the other, which in our terms comprises being in two places (N places) at the same time.

These particles participate in the very weft and warp of what reality is. It should not surprise us, therefore, that they appear miraculous since this whole dream of life is some sort of miracle. That there are elements that are in more than one place at the same time is no more amazing than any everyday event in life - all are equally miraculous. I doubt that anything people discover or describe will ever make life any less miraculous or mysterious.

The point I want to make is that this uncertainty of position is like relativity, it is a form of certainty, in that we know that these particles will be in more than one place at once. The whole question of where the electron is is an analogy of relativity's multiple viewpoints for the same event, where the electron is the event and the multiple locations are the multiple viewpoints.

Since this electron moves at the speed of light time stands still for it. "To the electron" no time passes, yet it moves from one location around the atom to another and therefore is in both places at once, since there is no time interval, there cannot be at the speed of light - when time "stands still". To the electron it is in more than one place at the same time. We cannot participate in this, so by trying to observe and detect this we disrupt it, effectively crash the electron. All we can see is a blur, which is the blur of a particle that is in the process of simultaneously being in more than one place at the same time.

Turning back to the idea that the multiple locations might be thought of as multiple observers of the electron, imagining that at several locations around the nucleus tiny observers could be placed who would have their impressions of where the electron was, they would all receive the same impression, that it was at their location all the time. What I want to ask is this: for these tiny imaginary observers observing the electron moving at the speed of light, and setting the speed of the observed object equal to the speed of light, will we not find that the laws and formulae of relativity do indeed apply and produce the same result for every tiny observer?

Whether or not the existing formulae apply, is it not the case that a set of formulae could be worked out that would correlate the multiple location impression, i.e. quantum uncertainty, with the "definite uncertainty" of relativity where what different observers will perceive can be calculated exactly? In effect is this not just a change to the variables whereby the event is moving at the speed of light and the observers are located in an orbital path of the event such that they all receive the same impression, despite their different locations. Can this quantum scenario not be derived by some transformation of Einstein's equations? (Where T=0?)

Kronk

Playing the audience

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Brilliant demonstration of audience musical ability leads scientist to quip to Bobby McFerrin, "If you ever want a job in neuroscience..."

African tribe populated rest of the world

"The entire human race outside Africa owes its existence to the survival of a single tribe of around 200 people who crossed the Red Sea 70,000 years ago, scientists have discovered. [...] Professor Li Jin, a geneticist at Fudan University in Shanghai whose laboratory carried out the research, said: “We did not find a single individual [who did not match with this group]. I think we should all be happy with that, as after all, it means that people from all over the world are not all that different from each other.” (Telegraph)

Based on "The Incredible Human Journey" (starting tonight at 9.30pm on BBC Two)

Comet 'unlikely to wipe out Earth'

Oh great. But remember a few years ago we watched those unexpected impacts on Jupiter. Well there's been another thing that's hit Jupiter, you probably heard about it last week, but did you know how big a "thing" it was that hit? According to the marvellous last paragraph almost like an afterthought in this Telegraph report, "Last week an amateur astronomer spotted that a comet or asteroid the size of the Earth had crashed into Jupiter, leaving a large crater." (Large crater - no kidding?) There are "things" flying around randomly smashing into Jupiter every few years and last week's one was "the size of the Earth". Does this mean we can have free love starting now? However, they also say that Jupiter and Saturn are protecting Earth somewhat.

L'Osservatore Willesdensio

Global warming to protect from solar cooling?

We've heard that the sun is at its lowest level for ages and that we might have another mini ice age, similar to the one about 300 years ago that lasted for what 20 years? (honestly I'm a blogger, I'm not paid to check all this - you can check for yourself). People went ice skating on the Thames and all that. At the same time we are told that greenhouse gases are going to cause the earth's temperature to rise. So what do we do faced with these marvellously counterbalanced changes? We say let's prevent the warming and have an ice age instead. This is purely from the point of view of "bloke in a pub". I don't really know anything about it but duh, no?

Kronk Pub Theories

Why are butterflies so beautiful?

Chalkhill Blue. Join the Great British Butterfly Hunt (Independent)

How does evolution explain the glorious patterning? Is there something in DNA that knows exactly how to place a line? It's not just butterflies, many plants and animals have lines and colours that seem designed for "aesthetic" effect. How on earth can that be encoded? - there simply isn't enough coding potential in the DNA system we're supposed to credit for it. How on earth, I repeat, can a plate full of amino acids resolve themselves not just into little robots, but into aesthetically drawn lines and colours, as well as living, wriggling, flitting, galloping creatures that put any imaginable battery power and programming completely nowhere by comparison. You can take any combination of chemicals you like and place them on any planet you like for however many million years, and you can pretty well guarantee that if you could come back in a billion years they'd still be sitting where you left them. They just don't do anything.

Laboratoires Kronk

Good news

Scientists film HIV spreading for first time:

"Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how HIV spreads through the human body after filming the process for the first time ever." (Telegraph)

Newsdesk

Willesden tech show 2009

Dragons' Den cold sweat inducing gadgets at the biennial Willesden tech show 2009

The disappearing book: After a page has been read it fades to blank from exposure to light. At the end you're left with a handy notebook.

The Kronk, an electronic golf putter: This will be used mainly for training purposes, as it's unlikely to be allowed in competitive tournaments. Tiny cameras in the putter scan the terrain, including slopes, between the putter and the hole when you place the putter on the ground. When the data is processed the putter head displays a red light on the left or right along a scale to indicate when your putter head is angled too far to either side, or a green light in the centre of the scale when it's angled correctly. Next, sensors will analyse your practice swings and activate forward or backward red lights along another scale to indicate when you need to increase or reduce your swing, or a green light in the centre of the scale when it's correct. Anyone who has used a guitar tuner will understand this system of red and green lights along a scale. When you get the two green lights, go for it and hole every time. (This was the W.H. science correspondent's idea.)

Toothpaste dispenser: All the cost of toothpaste is in the packaging. Get a cheap refill and put it in our handy wall-mounted or free-standing dispenser. Simply press the big lever to dispense directly onto your toothbrush. No more arguments about who squeezes the tube in the middle! Plus you save money and help the environment.

Biodegradable poopscoopers: This is basically a special cardboard and lined paper bag with its own built-in handles to operate like a plastic poopscooper but you pop the entire thing into the dog waste bin and it is handier and better for the environment. If you've ever had to fiddle with those dreadful plastic bags that take an age to open and place into those special plastic contraptions, especially if you have two dogs or more to walk, you'll know what a royal pain it can be. Now you can simply take the next self-contained impervious cardboard and paper ready-made scoops, which are shaped and behave just like the plastic ones, and you're not only saving time but switching to biodegradable containers. The paper mechanism for "turning inside out" such that the hands are protected and the container sealed would be refined and worked out so that the thing snaps over and seals itself.

There are millions to be made from any new application for paper, I believe, as there is a limitless supply of cheap material that can be resold expensively if only more applications can be discovered. So kindly send me an ex-gratia payment if you become the next Percy Cats'-Eyes wozname, from any of these. I still haven't had anything after suggesting "Chilli Non Carne" to Linda McCartney Foods, they just used it and never even replied (true).

Simon Moribund