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The merge in zipper fashion theory of traffic flow is flawed in that it assumes a level of human cooperation infrequently found in nature, requiring a level of commitment to order apparently beneath the common human, heretofore only exhibited by the uncommon ant.

Yep. A Google search revealed the historical reason that I had presumed from the beginning: it's because of the 12 tribes of Israel: https://www.insidescience.org/news/mathematics-jury-size

More directly, it was connected to Jesus' twelve apostles, but the reason there were 12 apostles was because it was symbolic of the 12 tribes.

Yes, it was stolen-- in a collaborative effort involving, among other countries -- from, say, Austria, as is the norm for scientific endeavors.

Is China the Leader in Quantum Communications?

Chinese scientists have built two major quantum infrastructure projects, and the race is on to take the next step.

A bit of googling with DuckDuckGo dug up this

https://www.insidescience.org/...

A 1960s adaptation of general relativity, called the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory of gravity, takes into account effects from quantum mechanics. It not only provides a step towards quantum gravity but also leads to an alternative picture of the universe. This variation of general relativity incorporates an important quantum property known as spin. Particles such as atoms and electrons possess spin, or the internal angular momentum that is analogous to a skater spinning on ice.

In this picture, spins in particles interact with spacetime and endow it with a property called "torsion." To understand torsion, imagine spacetime not as a two-dimensional canvas, but as a flexible, one-dimensional rod. Bending the rod corresponds to curving spacetime, and twisting the rod corresponds to spacetime torsion. If a rod is thin, you can bend it, but it's hard to see if it's twisted or not.

Spacetime torsion would only be significant, let alone noticeable, in the early universe or in black holes. In these extreme environments, spacetime torsion would manifest itself as a repulsive force that counters the attractive gravitational force coming from spacetime curvature. As in the standard version of general relativity, very massive stars end up collapsing into black holes: regions of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape.

Here is how torsion would play out in the beginning moments of our universe. Initially, the gravitational attraction from curved space would overcome torsion's repulsive forces, serving to collapse matter into smaller regions of space. But eventually torsion would become very strong and prevent matter from compressing into a point of infinite density; matter would reach a state of extremely large but finite density. As energy can be converted into mass, the immensely high gravitational energy in this extremely dense state would cause an intense production of particles, greatly increasing the mass inside the black hole.

The increasing numbers of particles with spin would result in higher levels of spacetime torsion. The repulsive torsion would stop the collapse and would create a "big bounce" like a compressed beach ball that snaps outward. The rapid recoil after such a big bounce could be what has led to our expanding universe. The result of this recoil matches observations of the universe's shape, geometry, and distribution of mass.

In turn, the torsion mechanism suggests an astonishing scenario: every black hole would produce a new, baby universe inside. If that is true, then the first matter in our universe came from somewhere else. So our own universe could be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe. Just as we cannot see what is going on inside black holes in the cosmos, any observers in the parent universe could not see what is going on in ours.

The motion of matter through the black hole's boundary, called an "event horizon," would only happen in one direction, providing a direction of time that we perceive as moving forward. The arrow of time in our universe would therefore be inherited, through torsion, from the parent universe.

Torsion could also explain the observed imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe. Because of torsion, matter would decay into familiar electrons and quarks, and antimatter would decay into "dark matter," a mysterious invisible form of matter that appears to account for a majority of matter in the universe.

Finally, torsion could be the source of "dark energy," a mysterious form of energy that permeates all of space and increases the rate of expansion of the universe. Geometry with torsion naturally produces a "cosmological constant," a sort of added-on outward force which is the simplest way to explain dark energy. Thus, the observed accelerating expansion of the universe may end up b

Try looking for real perspective than repeating FUD and misreading facts;

http://link.springer.com/artic...

http://www.reuters.com/article...

http://blogs.scientificamerica...

http://news.discovery.com/eart...

http://www.insidescience.org/c...

First off, there never was a scientific consensus that there was going to be global cooling. There was a Newsweek article on it in 1975, but you'd have to really stretch to claim that a scientific consensus was warning of global cooling. At the time the two major competing mechanisms going on was cooling due to atmospheric aerosols, and warming due to greenhouse gases. You also have to keep in mind that in the 1970s the aerosol issue was dramatically addressed by banning CFC aerosols, which dramatically reduced the aerosols in the atmosphere (and thus, dramatically reducing their cooling potential), so we're left with greenhouse gases dominating. It isn't "they keep changing their story," it is that one of the issues was successfully addressed. Now, it would be nice if the other issue could be addressed.

You can see what the guy who wrote that Newsweek article has to say about it in retrospect.

...

Now, these mirrors in space I mentioned could be used to cool the Earth too -- don't shine the reflected light on the Earth, but instead use them to shade part of the Earth. I think there are some international laws against such things right now, but such things could be a possible stop-gap solution to the problem of global warming. I don't know how practical the idea is -- it's probably more science fiction for now and has plenty of problems, but it's not totally unfeasable.

There are plenty of SciFi ideas that might help but even some relatively mundane ones as well. Change the Earth's albedo and we can lower temps, however there are some drawbacks like potentially less rain.

And how much of that is due to the elevation difference between SLC (~1288 m) and Sochi (near sea level). I'm too lazy to do the math for all of them, but based on my experience in cycling at sea level vs. 1500 m, those look like substantially attributable to the elevation. Add in differences in ice quality, and you might have all the difference. A more appropriate comparison is to look at how they've been doing against all their international competition over the past year, looking at performances at the same venue on the same day, and extrapolating.

This article: why higher elevation is better even points out that the final training for the US team was done at elevation. Training at sea level and using hypoxic tents at night might have been a better idea.

The research has potential uses in creating security barriers that permit voice communication to pass through, and in developing types of sound-based microscopes that could find application in research laboratories and medical practice.

The scientific paper further notes:

Such a high concentration of acoustic energy into a small hole of radius enables sensitive detection of acoustic signals with subwavelength resolution ... the present work not only opens the way to the efficient realization of [near-field acoustics] in fluid ultrasonics and underwater acoustics, but also to the analogous realization in solid-state ultrasonics.

More broadly, results obtained for one kind of wave behavior often have implications for other kinds. I.e.: results in controlling acoustic waves sometimes have implications in controlling/sensing light-fields, or radio waves, or even more esoteric things like electron beams or neutron beams (which are also regulated by wave equations).

The last one that I saw which was pretty cool was this one which was a photo of a carbon atom taken by Ukranian researchers. It at least shows two pictures showing different electron clouds.

I couldn't find an article to the original article, but this article has the picture that I was searching for anyhow, which shows a "net" of Germanium atoms on an ink blot.

Did someone post the wrong image? Isn't this the winner of last year's "Least detailed photo of anything" contest? I'm pretty sure it is.

The unscaled photo is here:

http://insidescience.org/polopoly_fs/1.918!image/671260397.jpg