Jon Stewart Interview: Why Fear Mongers Will Not Accept Science

                          Image via Wikipedia                    Image via WikipediaFrom Denny:  Stewart interviews author and physicist Lisa Randall, of the new book "Knocking On Heaven's Door:  How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World."

Stewart asks, "Why do we fight so hard to be illuminated by it?"  He is referencing the conservative political atmosphere that fears science unreasonably.

Randall offers up that perhaps the reason science is not so easily accepted is because "so many of the theories are far removed from what we see in our daily lives - and not necessarily the most intuitive."

She believes that if people would go beyond just human scale - where only technology can measure - that perhaps they will not be so afraid if they learn more about it and be more interested.

Stewart poses the question as to why are God and science incompatible?  Clearly, that is what so many people fear - like science will be 100 percent provable and certain, eliminating room for God.

Video: What is Quantum Tunneling?

From Denny: This is a short little video. This sure takes me back to philosophy class where nothing is certain and the best you can do is kind of figure out where it might post up! :) From The Tabletop Explainer...

"This video is an adaptation of an earlier piece of mine--Perspective on quantum mechanical tunneling. That film, however, was designed for a unique audience, and I felt its overall length was limiting its appeal here. So I've repackaged it as one of my weekly postings. I Hope you enjoy.

People have been asking for the math. So here it is. The Sun's core temp is ~13.6 MK. For hydrogen nuclei the Coulomb barrier is roughly 0.1 MeV. This corresponds to a temperature in excess of 1 GK! Luckily, tunneling and the distribution of speeds among nuclei lower the actual temperature required. So without tunneling even the Sun's core isn't hot enough for fusion. To see most of this worked through, check out this link:

http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr2...
for a less mathematical explanation, try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_...

Transcript: http://www.davidcolarusso.com/edblog/...

The Tabletop Explainer is an intermittent educational vlog presenting answers to viewer questions, brief science lessons, and ideas for teachers and students. It is a feature of my blog "Tilts at Windmils" which can be found at http://www.davidcolarusso.com/blog/"

Category: How-to & Style




quantum tunneling physics sub-atomic physics quantum mechanics tunneling fusion potential energy star reality uncertainty measurement

Video: Who Lives in the 11th Dimension? Parallel Universes

From Denny: OK, this was a cool little video of scientists discussing what kind of life we might find in the 11th dimension. Parallel universes are back in fashion again to dream about and wonder. Listen in on their speculations...

"Scientists discuss what sort of life could be found in the eleventh dimension. With talk of world of lightning bolts, electricity, unstable atoms and more, this video from BBC show 'Parallel Universe' is full of mind-bending theories to set your imagination racing."



BBC space Parallel Universe Science Physics Awesome Free Education Video Weird Wow Astronomy Einstein Formulas

Video: Imagining the Tenth Dimension part 2 of 2

From Denny: Part 2 of our entertaining scientists' dimensional equivalent of an acid trip... this stuff really does bend your mind to consider the weirdest imaginations. Can't wait until they find ways to move through these dimensions as easily as they talk about their existence.



philosophy science theory space time dimensions tenthdimension Bryanton physics

Video: Imagining the Tenth Dimension part 1 of 2

From Denny: Boy, I sure enjoy these video and science versions of an acid trip. Who needs drugs when you have scientists to entertain you all day long! :)



"This is the first part of the animation illustrating the concepts found in chapter one of the book "Imagining the Tenth Dimension - a new way of thinking about time and space" by Rob Bryanton, from tenthdimension.com

full version
http://one.revver.com/watch/99898"

animation reality tenthdimension philosophy theory dimensions timetravel Bryanton physics tenth dimension

Is Warp Speed Possible? We Ask a String Theorist

From Denny: This guy, Michio Kaku, is one of my favorite science guys when it comes to physics. He brings it all down to earth for the non-technical crowd. He also gets interviewed a lot and does various science shows because he can talk on the average person's level who is not an expert in the field and mostly, because he is passionate about his subject.

This article came out in May when the new Star Trek movie was shown.

Popular Science has an interesting article asking him about warp speed possibilities. Here's an excerpt from PopSci's article:

"PopSci talks to futurist Michio Kaku about the (not necessarily) impossible physics of Star Trek

By Rebecca Boyle

Science geeks, Trekkers, and action-movie fans have now had a few days to digest the newest incarnation of the Star Trek franchise. PopSci set out to answer some of the movie's most puzzling questions (aside from what Winona Ryder was doing on Vulcan): Can we time-travel through black holes? Can we seed said black holes using something called "red matter"? How about teleportation -- will someone named Scotty (or Chekov) ever beam someone up?

To get a better grasp on these seemingly impossible concepts, PopSci talked to Michio Kaku, co-creator of string theory, professor, author and, of course, Star Trek fan. Kaku's latest bestseller, Physics of the Impossible, has entire chapters devoted to Star Trek lore like phasers, force fields, and time travel. A TV show with the same name will debut this fall on the Science Channel.

According to Kaku, science fiction is often prescient. He believes scientists might one day create laser (or phaser) guns powered by nano-batteries or nano-capacitors, for instance. And he doesn't rule out warp-speed travel.

This really isn't too far-fetched; there have been many instances wherein fiction fertilizes real discoveries. Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea inspired American Simon Lake to invent the submarine, for instance. In H.G. Wells' 1914 book The World Set Free, a scientist unlocks the secret of atomic bombs in 1933. The Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard read that book in 1932 and made the discovery his goal. In 1933, he figured out the chain reaction process. And when the U.S. created its first reusable space ship, we named the prototype the Enterprise.

There are a few spoilers ahead, so consider this fair warning.

PopSci: Let's talk about some concepts that are familiar in the show and that you talk about in your book, like teleportation. There is a scene in the movie where Kirk and Sulu are falling without a parachute, and they have to be beamed up; Chekov decides he has to do it manually. Unlike "The Next Generation," which had "Heisenberg compensators," the movie doesn't mention the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (the more precisely you locate the position of a particle, the less you can know about its momentum.) I know there has been success in teleporting atoms, but will we ever be able to teleport a human?

Michio Kaku: Well, quantum teleportation already exists. For the past 10 years, we've been teleporting photons as well as atoms of cesium and rubidium and terbium. The world record is 1,800 feet, across the Danube River. I suspect very soon that we will be teleporting molecules. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the coming decades, we are able to teleport DNA, or maybe even a virus. But beyond that, it starts to get very difficult. You have to entangle two atoms, they have to vibrate in unison, and that is very difficult beyond the molecular level. But, Star Trek takes place in the 23rd century, so maybe by then we can teleport 100 trillion cells, which is about the number of cells in a human body.

In the entanglement process, is the initial piece of matter that you are teleporting destroyed or changed in some way? What would happen to a person?


You have to have a carbon copy waiting for you; you can't be beamed to the surface of a planet. And the information content of the original gets destroyed when you beam the information over to another place. You are destroying the original to reconstruct it somewhere else. Well, then you begin to ask the question, who is this copy over there? All the atoms and cells get destroyed; you're dead. But somebody over there has emerged who is identical, atom to atom, to you. Well then it raises the question, who are you? Are you your body and all your neurons, or are you just information that can be transmitted across a room? Is there a soul? It raises all sorts of questions.

The movie makes frequent use of black holes. Future Spock, or old Spock, travels through one after he fails to save a planet from being blown up by a supernova, and he winds up 130 years in the past. Events change that alter the course of history as we know it for the Enterprise crew (which will be handy for sequels.) But my understanding of physics is that it's not possible to go through a black hole and come back out, at least in one piece?

Yes and no. There is a debate about this question. If you have a spinning black hole -- and all the black holes we've seen in space are spinning very rapidly -- then the math says they collapse to a ring, not a dot. If you fall through the ring, you wind up in a parallel universe. This solution was first found by Roy Kerr in 1963, and it is the most realistic description of a spinning black hole. There are many, many questions raised by this. If you could go through the ring, then who knows where the other universe is located? It could be backwards in time, it could be a parallel universe. But there are problems like radiation. The radiation would be very intense. And if you add radiation, there is a debate among physicists right now about, will it close up the wormhole, is it stable? Math says there is a wormhole at the middle of a spinning black hole. To keep the hole open so you can go through it, you need negative matter to stabilize the black hole. These are called transversable wormholes; you can go back and forth freely without too much effect."

For the rest of this interesting article just click on the title link.


Michio Kaku, Star Trek, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea, Winona Ryder, Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers Force Fields Teleportation and Time Travel, Parallel universe, Jules Verne, Physics

Video: What Time Is It? 5 of 5

From Denny: This awesome program really gets your creative thoughts spinning! :) Prof. Cox starts with talking about the Mayans and their knowledge and concepts of Time in video 1 and moves along to discussing Einsteins' classic theory about space-time continuum right up to Cox's field of quantum mechanics' view of Time. These videos are quite a thrill ride! :)

This video discusses Time beyond the Big Bang theory as all past, present and future exists somewhere in the space-time continuum and then gets into what the quantum mechanics folks think is true about Time.

Video: What Time Is It? 4 of 5

From Denny: This awesome program really gets your creative thoughts spinning! :) Prof. Cox starts with talking about the Mayans and their knowledge and concepts of Time in video 1 and moves along to discussing Einsteins' classic theory about space-time continuum right up to Cox's field of quantum mechanics' view of Time. These videos are quite a thrill ride! :) This one demos a new camera that can slow down Time into chunks we can easily see like any where from 80 times slower to 40,000 times slower. Reminds you of a circus fun house of mirrors.

Video: What Time Is It? 3 of 5

From Denny: This awesome program really gets your creative thoughts spinning! :) Prof. Cox starts with talking about the Mayans and their knowledge and concepts of Time in video 1 and moves along to discussing Einsteins' classic theory about space-time continuum right up to Cox's field of quantum mechanics' view of Time. These videos are quite a thrill ride! :)

A Good Science Quote

Wax museum model of Einstein in Berlin - Image by Getty Images via Daylife

From Denny: I love a good quote by a scientist with a sense of humor who doesn't take themselves too seriously. Einstein was one of those rarest of creatures!

Quote

"I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about space and time. My intellectual development was retarded, as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had grown up."

- Albert Einstein

Physics: How Does That Martial Arts Bed of Nails Really Feel?

From Denny: OK, these guys got MY attention with this nail bed demo. When I lived in Taiwan during high school I often saw interesting demos like this one from local martial arts experts during public festivals.

Here Popular Science breaks it down as to the physics and what they think it's all about. While part of what the science guys say is true there really is a spriritual component as well. Anyway you look at it, whew! Talk about an extreme sport!



"The Breakdown looks at the physics of a remarkable feat

Is this a death-defying demonstration requiring a level of mastery only arrived at after years of intensive martial arts training, or is it a theatrical display based more on physics than on chi? In order to answer that question, just take a look at the second video. Those guys haven't spent years in the dojo as far as we know, but they do know a little bit about fundamental principles of physics." - Popular Science

Just click on the title link to take you to Popular Science's article or go here.

Astronomy: Nebulas - nature's wonders hidden from many.

Nebulas - nature's wonders hidden from many:

"What are Nebulas?

Nebulas are interstellar bodies; clouds of dust, (hydrogen, alpha and beta) gas and plasma. The mixture attracts other matter and finally beautiful stars are formed. Some nebulas form while the stars are in the process of formation and others are formed while stars undergo destruction. You can often sight them in a dark night."

By nazishnasim @ HubPages

Eagles Head Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: This is a great basic introduction to the subject of nebulas. A lot of nebula photos to stare at in wonderment!

Photos of Crab Nebula and Pillars of Creation (Eagles Head) Nebula

Physics: Spooky Physics

Photo by mikeleary83 @ flickr

Spooky Physics: "Entangled particle research has largely been ignored and left unexplored by science because it shows a variance in the very theories of physics that we depend on in many fields of study. Einstein coined the term “spooky physics” in regard to entanglement because it defied his theories and though he knew it to exist he did not choose to understand it or to focus on that aspect of physics.

Some scientist believe entangled particles to be the basis of our memories or conscious mind. Some romantics believe it to be basis for 'soul mates.' What ever the relationship, it is a fascinating theory that will start to reveal itself more and more as we shift towards 'new age' thinking; a connectedness of the mind and mindful thinking."

By focus on living @ HubPages

From Denny: Fascinating subject! I'm always bemused at how scientists keep trying to redefine the spiritual as something else. It is engaging to watch the vocabulary dance as they rename and deconstruct a huge subject with infinite layers. So now the connectedness of spirituality is called "entangled particle physics."

This new vocabulary does suggest another article I read about how humanity is moving toward right brain dominance and away from left brain control. The right brain handles linking of many concepts and can synthesize disparate elements into an innovative new situation or object like art.

Maybe scientists are beginning to use their right brain thinking more to help understand many layered concepts that defy the plodding attitude of the left brain. It seems the science community is in a transition of sorts. Where it leads is still a mystery. I like a good mystery! The journey is the most fun part of all.