Another New State of Matter

llamalicious writes: "And you thought a Nobel Prize for the discovery of Bose-Einstein Condensates was nifty, SciAm's reporting that scientists are taking this new discovery one step further, and have once more proven that we don't really know anything about quantum physics. This new state is being called a patterned fluid, which could supposedly move the field of quantum computing ahead."

Comments

Re:Am I missing the point?

[mshiltonj]

The real accomplishment was using a Bose-Einstein condensate to very easily construct an arrangement of atoms that would otherwise be technologically very hard. That they did it by means of a quantum phase transition (adjusting the parameters of the potential to produce a qualitative different wave function) is cool, but not exactly new.

I agree totally. Like when Jerry hit Tom over the head with a giant mallet and smashed his head into a pancake? I was like, Bugs Bunny did that to Yosemite Sam 20 years earlier! It was still funny when the eyes bugged out like spring coils, but it wasn't new at all. So I know exactly where you're coming from.