Large Hadron Collider

8 07 2008

The gigantic scientific instrument called Large Hadron Collider has to be started up today in a world’s largest and most respected centre for scientific research near Geneva at the border Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. This grand scientist experiment will help physicists to learn more about the laws of Nature. What is the result we should expect from such grandioso human’s practical activities on the Earth? There are many theories and discussions about. But the main goal is finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works.

Do you think the answer will be found soon? I don’t so. But no doubt today is the beginning of the process.





ATLAS and CMS

26 06 2008

While the discussion about ATLAS and CMS, general-purpose particle physics experiments is continuing scientists do their work. The ambition project called for help to see a wide range of particles and phenomena produced in LHC collisions has involved approximately 2,000 physicists from some 35 countries.

They will use the data collected from the complex ATLAS and CMS detectors to search for new phenomena, including the Higgs boson, super symmetry and extra dimensions. They will also measure the properties of previously discovered quarks and bosons with unprecedented precision, and be on the lookout for completely new, unpredicted phenomena.

What is Higgs boson? This is “a fundamental particle predicted by theorist Peter Higgs, may be the key to understanding why elementary particles have mass”, Howard E. Haber from University of California, Santa Cruz explanes. “Explaining the connection, I am reminded of the puzzler, “If sound cannot travel in a vacuum, why are vacuum cleaners so noisy?” This riddle actually touches on a profound insight of modern physics: the vacuum—or empty space—is far from empty. It is indeed “noisy” and full of virtual particles and force fields. The origin of mass seems to be related to this phenomenon.
In Einstein’s theory of relativity, there is a crucial difference between massless and massive particles: All massless particles must travel at the speed of light, whereas massive particles can never attain this ultimate speed. But, how do massive particles arise? Higgs proposed that the vacuum contains an omnipresent field that can slow down some (otherwise massless) elementary particles—like a vat of molasses slowing down a high-speed bullet. Such particles would behave like massive particles traveling at less than light speed. Other particles—such as the photons of light—are immune to the field: they do not slow down and remain massless.

Although the Higgs field is not directly measurable, accelerators can excite this field and “shake loose” detectable particles called Higgs bosons. So far, experiments using the world’s most powerful accelerators have not observed any Higgs bosons, but indirect experimental evidence suggests that particle physicists are poised for a profound discovery.”





Ecologically Better Way Construction.

18 04 2008

Five designs have been shortlisted in a competition to create an iconic visitor centre for a Lancashire wildlife haven. Lancashire Wildlife Trust has won the race to save Brockholes Wetland, a former gravel extraction site near Preston. The first phase will include the restoration of the wetlands, creation of ponds, seeding of meadows, planting new hedgerows and trees, making access paths and building proper bird watching hides.

It is hoped that the most urgent works can be completed in about three months, when there will be a grand opening by the Partners. However, this will only be the beginning of a project that will be measured in years. Local people will be encouraged to become involved in the reserve, trained and assisted by Wildlife Trust staff on site.

Brockholes will be an inspirational visitor attraction: a mosaic of lakes, reed beds, flower-rich grassland and woodland. It is encircled by the River Ribble, where otters are returning and is bordered by the largest ancient woodland in Lancashire, where badgers and bluebells thrive. It is already one of the finest sites for bird watching in the North West of England.

Critically, the development of Brockholes will also have a significant economic impact at both a local and regional level – dramatically enhancing a key gateway into the region (the site sits along side the M6), driving increased investment into the area through the extensive visitor and tourism facilities that will be developed on site and by providing an attractive and well managed area of green space for local people.

It is already home to a fantastic variety of birdlife including Lapwing, Sand Martin and Kingfisher, together with more vulnerable species such as Whimbrel, Skylark and Reed Bunting. The rich diversity of wildlife will include Great Crested Newts, bats, dragonflies and damselflies.





Robot Big Dog.

20 03 2008

Watching the Big Dog lifelike moves and balances I was filled with mixed feelings. I would not like to meet this monster tête-à-tête :-) But it’s really good job! The robot was created by Boston Dynamics Inc and you can see here its climbing through the woods, through snow, and recovering its balance while trying to negotiate an icy parking lot. Bravo creators!

Boston Dynamics engineers were contracted to develop a robot with the ability to run, maneuver and jump to avoid obstacles. The robot would measure 1 meter tall and 2 meters wide, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The goal of the project, which was slotted to last 15 months, is to produce a robot with animal-like strength, speed and mobility, according to defense officials.

The DARPA contract, which was commissioned by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, includes three one-year contract renewals valued at total of $40 million.





Bio-Electromagnetic Weapons.

18 02 2008

At the beginning of February the U.S. Navy test fired an incredibly powerful new big gun designed to replace conventional weaponry aboard ships. New weapon uses electromagnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster. The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact.
The test-firing, captured on video, took place Jan. 31 in Dahlgren, Va., and Navy officials called it the “world’s most powerful electromagnetic railgun.”

“I never ever want to see a Sailor or Marine in a fair fight. I always want them to have the advantage,” said Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead. “We should never lose sight of always looking for the next big thing, always looking to make our capability better, more effective than what anyone else can put on the battlefield.”

What is Bio-electromagnetic Weapons?
This is an ultimate weapon system that operates at the speed of light; they can kill, torture and enslave; but the public are largely unaware that they exist, because these weapons operate by stealth and leave no physical evidence. Electromagnetic weapons have been tested on human beings since 1976 and according to “Science in Society” this weapon was being deployed in Iraq.

There is only one electromagnetic spectrum. Nuclear weapons release a great deal of ionizing radiation in the high frequency range above visible light, where the energy of the radiation is capable of breaking chemical bonds. The beginning of working up started in 1959 when Saul B. Sells, a professor of social psychology at a minor US university submitted a proposal to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to build for them the most sophisticated electroencephalography machine that would have an integral computational capacity to analyze and, hopefully, make sense of the brain waves it recorded. In other words, the professor proposed to make a machine that could tell the CIA what a person was thinking, whether or not the person wished to disclose that information. In 1973, Joseph C. Sharp, an experimental psychologist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research performed an experiment that was pivotal to the development of the torture equipment being shipped to Iraq today. He had James Lin set up equipment in his laboratory which converted the shape of sound waves into microwave radiation that enabled him to hear himself vocalize the names of the numbers from one to ten in his head, by-passing the mechanism of his own ears. This particular experiment was never published but is mentioned in Lin’s book, Microwave Auditory Effects and Applications, published in 1978.

Today after the weapon test we can definitely say that the inevitable has occurred! But what is in store for us in future? I don’t thing it will be something good. Any weapon wants to be used.





Do We Have a Future?

5 02 2008

Recent scientific researches argued that a new epoch in the planet’s geologic history has begun. It seams that we have to say goodbye to the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch and hello to the Anthropocene. Our world is in trouble.
Among the major changes heralding this two-century-old man-made epoch:
Vastly altered sediment erosion and deposition patterns.
Major disturbances to the carbon cycle and global temperature.
Wholesale changes in biology, from altered flowering times to new migration patterns.
Acidification of the ocean, which threatens tiny marine life that forms the bottom of the food chain.
In the February issue of the journal GSA Today, a publication of the Geological Society of America, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams of the University of Leicester and colleagues at the Geological Society of London argue that industrialization has wrought changes that usher in a new epoch, livescience.com. reports. Scientists of the future will have no trouble deciding if the proposal was timely. All they’ll need to do is dig into the planet and examine its stratigraphic layers, which reveal a chronology of the changing conditions that existed as each layer is created. Layers can reflect volcanic upheaval, ice ages or mass extinctions.
“Sufficient evidence has emerged of stratigraphically significant change (both elapsed and imminent) for recognition of the Anthropocene — currently a vivid yet informal metaphor of global environmental change — as a new geological epoch to be considered for formalization by international discussion,” Zalasiewicz’s team writes.
Up to half of Earth’s land has been transformed by human activity, wrote Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer of the University of Michigan. They also noted the dramatic increase in greenhouse gases and other chemicals and pollutants humans have introduced into global ecosystems.
As early as the late 1800s scientists were writing about man’s wholesale impact on the planet and the possibility of an “anthropozoic era” having begun, according to Crutzen, who is credited with coining the term Anthropocene (anthropo = human; cene = new) back in 2000. That year, Crutzen and a colleague wrote in the scientific newsletter International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme about some of the dramatic changes:
“Urbanization has … increased tenfold in the past century. In a few generations mankind is exhausting the fossil fuels that were generated over several hundred million years.”
Up to half of Earth’s land has been transformed by human activity, wrote Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer of the University of Michigan. They also noted the dramatic increase in greenhouse gases and other chemicals and pollutants humans have introduced into global ecosystems.
The epochal idea has merit, according to geologist Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University.
“In land, water, air, ice, and ecosystems, the human impact is clear, large, and growing,”Alley told ScienceNow, an online publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “A geologist from the far distant future almost surely would draw a new line, and begin using a new name, where and when our impacts show up.”

Calling things by their right the main and only cause of dramatic change is a critical mass of humanity that influences change at a global scale. What is the solution?





Clones of men.

20 01 2008

According to BBC US scientists have produced embryos that are clones of two men, in an attempt to produce patient-specific stem cells. Researchers removed DNA from donated human eggs, and replaced it with DNA from the skin cells of two volunteers.

They produced embryos with genetic material that matched the men’s, but did not go on to extract stem cells. UK experts say the research, published in the journal Stem Cells, is a small but not a great step forward.





IP Telephony.

12 12 2007

What is this VoIP? This is just IP Telephony also known as Internet telephony or Voice over Broadband. This is real telephone of future. Using your high-speed Internet connection you can make all your phone calls with having the cost advantages to consumers over traditional telephone networks. Besides that you get the ability to transmit more than one telephone call down the same broadband-connected telephone line. Therefore VoIP is real great idea for a simple way to add an extra telephone line to a home or office. Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone over traditional phone lines, like digitizing and digital transmission are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream. 3-way calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID; features that traditional telecommunication companies normally charge extra for.

Secure calls using standardized protocols (such as Secure Real-time Transport Protocol.) Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone over traditional phone lines, like digitizing and digital transmission are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream. You get integration with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books, and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.
VoIP gives the ability to be mobile. One can make international calls to be in contact anytime, anywhere with an internet connection.
So, one has all reasons now to start to use VoIP. I hope people involved in this project taking care of the future compatibility, security and reliability issue of the exchanges.





Cars of Future.

16 11 2007

This very interesting Porsche Carma concept was represented by a team of students from the Institute Supérieur de Design (Valenciennes, France). Among the project features is the aerodynamic study of the body and underbody.
The Carma Concept was created (in alphabetic order) by Germain Baillot, Pierre Fichet Delavault, Julie Dicks, Simon Menu, who are currently attending their fourth year at the French Design School ISD (Institute Supérieur de Design - Valenciennes, France).

There’s insight to be gained into the future of car design by examining the projects inside the world’s institutions of.





Robots and Their Sacrifice.

16 11 2007

The mother of a Polish man who was tasered and died at Vancouver International Airport last month is uncertain why the RCMP won’t release a video that could help explain what happened that night. Zosia Cisowski is simply looking for answers in Robert Dziekanski’s death. “I don’t understand why they don’t want to give [the video],” said Ms. Cisowski.

The video was shot by Paul Pritchard. Mr. Pritchard says police told him they would return it to him within 48 hours, but that did not happen and he is now suing the RCMP to get it back. By the way, as I see Mr. Pritchard had a good camera with a very good Digital Camera Batteries which let him to shoot all this.

According to court documents, Mr. Pritchard videotaped high-quality footage of “Mr. Dziekanski before the arrival of police, during Mr. Dziekanski’s interaction with police, and after Mr. Dziekanski was apparently unconscious or deceased on the ground.”

Walter Kosteckyj, Ms. Cisowski’s lawyer, has seen the tape and would like for his client to view it. “I would like [Ms. Cisowski] to be able to see it,” said Mr. Kosteckyj, adding that he hoped she could do so before it is publicly released.

Mr. Kosteckyj, who has described the contents of the video as a perfect example of what police officers shouldn’t do when handling a man in distress, believes the time has come for police to release the footage. “I think it was appropriate for them to seize the tape and make sure it wasn’t viewed before they interviewed witnesses,” said Mr. Kosteckyj. “But I believe that most people that were at the scene were already interviewed. I’m fairly convinced that they’ve interviewed everyone who saw what occurred.”

In a prepared statement, Corporal Dale Carr said, “This video evidence is vital to the investigation and its release to the public at this time could clearly compromise the investigators’ goal of conducting a fair and unbiased investigation” because it could influence witnesses if they see it before making a statement.
VANCOUVER — The mother of a Polish man who was tasered and died at Vancouver International Airport last month is uncertain why the RCMP won’t release a video that could help explain what happened that night. Zosia Cisowski is simply looking for answers in Robert Dziekanski’s death. “I don’t understand why they don’t want to give [the video],” said Ms. Cisowski. The video was shot by Paul Pritchard.

An eyewitness’s video recording of a man dying after being stunned with a Taser by police on Oct. 14 at Vancouver International Airport has been released to the public.