Science
twitter a π
Why do all three taikonauts of Shenzhou 7 are 42 years old?
Because 42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy
Yesterday, the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy, with the aim of increasing awareness among the public of the importance of astronomical sciences and of promoting widespread access to new knowledge and experiences of astronomical observation.
Top laser stories for 2007?
To me, 2007 is not an exciting year for laser research itself. Maybe, there are great breakthroughs, I am just not aware of, that's why I put a question mark on the title.
But this year I did read a lot of interesting research stories that use lasers as tool. Physics News Update listed top ten Physics stories of the year. One of them is on laser, and three of them use lasers.
What's unique inside Chang'e 1
China's first lunar orbiter, Chang'e 1, begins switching on its science instruments today. The spacecraft should help determine the thickness of the lunar soil and shed new light on the Moon's internal composition, which could help in understanding its origins. via: New Scientist
the laws of physics themselves are subject to quantum uncertainty?
What I'm suggesting -- this is where things depart from the conventional view -- is that the laws of physics themselves are subject to the same quantum uncertainty. So that an observation performed today will select not only a number of histories from an infinite number of possible past histories, but will also select a subset of the laws of physics which are consistent with the emergence of life. That's the radical departure. It's not the backward-in-time aspect, which has been established by experiment.
life is possible in forms different than those on Earth
Scientists: Watch for Weird Life From Beyond:
Life as we know it on Earth is not the only kind possible in the universe, scientists reminded NASA in a report released today.
Issued by the National Academy of Sciences and sponsored by the space agency, the 116-page report reviews current research into what life is and what it needs to survive, as well as the way life might differ on other worlds.
A laser guide star video
It is a quite old video actually, I just find it was uploaded on youtube. It explains the principle of laser guide star well.
Life is hard...
“Life is hard, you get some research money, and then you die.”
So does a conference submission invitation email from Optical Society of America start. :) Of course, it is followed by
But, life is also sprinkled with those exhilarating moments when we make great discoveries, or reveal a bit of Nature’s hidden workings, or simply share our scientific insights with appreciative colleagues.
The quote is really fun. I wonder who is the author.
Social Information Processing in Social News Aggregation
Dave Bacon mentioned this paper , which studied social media sites with Digg as an example, by a Physicist-turned computer Scientist Kristina Lerman.