Beware the dark side of da force!What is the mysterious dark energy that's causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate? Is it some form of Einstein's famous cosmological constant, or is it an exotic repulsive force, dubbed "quintessence," that could make up as much as three-quarters of the cosmos?
Physics news
Finding a Way to Test for Dark Energy
Tiny Computers Go Where No Computer Has Gone Before 
Nanoo! Nanoo! (as Mork would say)
Nanotechnology? Resistance is futile!A major breakthrough in the use of molecules as information processors is to be announced at this year's BA Festival of Science in Dublin.
Nanotechnology experts are exploring the capabilities of molecules that act like conventional computers but can operate in tiny places where no silicon-based chip or semiconductor can go.
Nanoo! Nanoo! (as Mork would say)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK!!brian wrote:Speaking of going where none have gone before, today is STAR TREK's 39th birthday!
brian wrote: We won't discuss how old that makes us.
Hmmmmm 
brian wrote: Or how it died -- er, went into hibernation, at 38.
Yeah........ 
lswoteccl 2:13
"A Government big enough to give you every thing you want, is big enough to take away every thing you have."
......Thomas Jefferson......
You know, I never saw a single episode of Lost in Space until last year, when it came out on DVD. I was too young to see it in its original run, being born in '67. And it just happened that it was never in repeats where I lived. I saw plenty of Star Trek and Rin Tin Tin, though. 
And Bewitched. And I Dream of Jeannie. The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch...
And Bewitched. And I Dream of Jeannie. The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch...
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."-- Eleanor Roosevelt
NIST Improves Accuracy of ‘Watt Balance’ Method for Defining the Kilogram
A leading experimental method for defining the kilogram in terms of properties of nature is now more accurate than ever, scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported today.
[...]
The other six basic units of the international measurement system are the meter (unit of length), second (time), ampere (electric current), kelvin (temperature), mole (amount of substance) and candela (luminous intensity). All six are defined in terms of properties of nature and can be measured at any suitably equipped laboratory.
Purdue scientists see biochemistry's future – with quantum physics
(Let the spinning electron spin... )Chemists who have trouble predicting how some large, complex biological molecules will react with others may soon have a solution from the world of computational quantum physics, say Purdue University researchers.
New material found recently
watch for it in your science magazines.Governmentium
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named Governmentium.
Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, whichare surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of governmentium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally take less than a second.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 3 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.
Physicists Measure Tiny Force That Limits How Far Machines Can Shrink
(Nanites! The world is shrinking! Er, so to speak.)University of Arizona physicists have directly measured how close speeding atoms can come to a surface before the atoms' wavelengths change.
Theirs is a first, fundamental measurement that confirms the idea that the wave of a fast-moving atom shortens and lengthens depending on its distance from a surface, an idea first proposed by pioneering quantum physicists in the late 1920s.
NIST Atomic Fountain Clock Gets Much Better with Time 
)
Henry
(Temporal mechanics at work!The world’s best clock, NIST-F1, has been improved over the past few years and now measures time and frequency more than twice as accurately as it did in 1999 when first used as a national standard, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report.
)Henry