Sadly this is the way we overcome our big problems. Not by foresight, predictions and educated action. The shit has to start hitting the fan to get people moving in the right direction. I mean this whole rare earth situation has been foreseen. It was obvious that China was building a monopoly years ago.
The same thing happens with the coming helium shortage, energy problems, global warming, you name it. It really has to get nasty for people to do something about these things.
Manned mission to the Moon? A new space station? Even if these are just rumors I'm sure it should make the US a bit uneasy. Come on guys I want to see another space race!
can you give it enough mass to make it into a decent flywheel?
More precisely, you mean its moment of inertia. It'll make a decent flywheel, if it has low moment of inertia but very high velocity, since the product of these two is what counts.
In this case if you increase the mass (thereby increasing the moment of inertia) the system will just tare itself apart due to centrifugal forces. The thing here is that they could make it spin really, really fast because graphene is very light. For one it is made up of a single sheet of graphite (2D crystal) and graphite itself is made out of carbon, a relatively light element.
Hopefully private sector goals and plans will have a stronger impact on space exploration, than the 4 year political cycle of two steps forward, one step back.
Go SpaceX and Co!
If the lack of scientific rigor of certain science journalists isn't bad enough, the consistence and accuracy the material gets constantly degraded as the story gets picked up by the next blog/news outlet. I call it the deathspiral of knowledge.
Just like FTA stated the biggest issue here is reliability and certification of the instruments. While us mere earthlings can tolerate equipment failures, due to insufficiently tested software, space applications have much lower error tolerance.
I think a lot of arguments in this/. story apply here as well. Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I suppose the effects would be similar to being exposed to very large doses of particles resulting from alpha and beta decay, added a huge dose of X-rays (more precisely synchrotron radiation). I don't think the speed of the particles makes much difference in this case.
since there are companies which specialize in "neutralizing interference waves which are harmful to humans".
In fact I'm thinking of founding a company myself. I could easily disperse the harmful magnetic flux components by switching the polarity in the tachion inverter matrix and rerouting the resulting neutrino flux through the phase coils in the flux capacitor. Now, if only I could find my field remodulator!
Yes it does. This is entirely basic research, although a very exciting (especially for me since I work with STMs)! The pulsed STM concept is the interesting part here for a scientist. The application to memory is just a kind of long term prospect they have to write into the paper, to get it published in a high ranking journal. It is not very applicable in practice yet.
I guess I need not say that the reading, writing, addressing of more than 1 bit of memory is not possible yet. Furthermore, these STMs operate at liquid helium temperatures (3.2 Kelvin). Who would want to carry around a cryostat with they laptop?:)
Yes you are a bit overstating, but the point is still valid. This will most likely turn out to be a show of power by China on the lines of:
"Oh come now Mr. Hatoyama, you don't really mean that. I have you by your balls."
However, situations like this are a sign of bigger problems, namely that tensions over resources are mounting all over the World. We will have to be very careful to avoid (any more) real and bloody conflicts.
If I'm not mistaken coal is used in blacksmiths kilns to melt iron, at about 1500 Celsius. I'm wondering how he got those kind of temperatures with sheep manure. Maybe the manure had an octarine glow to it;)
Exactly. Disorganized cities in Europe (mainly the old city) are so disorganized because they have grown very steadily over time and that is a guarantee for chaos. Large city sections which have been built at once have had a good deal of city planning. Examples are the inner city of Budapest, my hometown, mostly built in the 19th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest) and Barcelona, with its grid-like arrangement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona).
US cities have grown fairly rapidly, with the economic boom of the 20th century, so a good deal of city planning has gone into it.
Slashdot Mirror
Sadly this is the way we overcome our big problems. Not by foresight, predictions and educated action. The shit has to start hitting the fan to get people moving in the right direction. I mean this whole rare earth situation has been foreseen. It was obvious that China was building a monopoly years ago. The same thing happens with the coming helium shortage, energy problems, global warming, you name it. It really has to get nasty for people to do something about these things.
In the words of the famous Nelson Muntz: "HAHA!"
Manned mission to the Moon? A new space station? Even if these are just rumors I'm sure it should make the US a bit uneasy. Come on guys I want to see another space race!
can you give it enough mass to make it into a decent flywheel?
More precisely, you mean its moment of inertia. It'll make a decent flywheel, if it has low moment of inertia but very high velocity, since the product of these two is what counts.
In this case if you increase the mass (thereby increasing the moment of inertia) the system will just tare itself apart due to centrifugal forces. The thing here is that they could make it spin really, really fast because graphene is very light. For one it is made up of a single sheet of graphite (2D crystal) and graphite itself is made out of carbon, a relatively light element.
Hopefully private sector goals and plans will have a stronger impact on space exploration, than the 4 year political cycle of two steps forward, one step back. Go SpaceX and Co!
Where can I bet against these people?
Well, at least you have the pigs for company.
If the lack of scientific rigor of certain science journalists isn't bad enough, the consistence and accuracy the material gets constantly degraded as the story gets picked up by the next blog/news outlet. I call it the deathspiral of knowledge.
I think a lot of arguments in this /. story apply here as well. Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
comes the USA. Good thing I have a 16 fingered head massaging machine to help calm my nerves.
Not that's what I call multitouch! Does it run iOS 4.2?
and dandruff will be a thing of the past
I suppose the effects would be similar to being exposed to very large doses of particles resulting from alpha and beta decay, added a huge dose of X-rays (more precisely synchrotron radiation). I don't think the speed of the particles makes much difference in this case.
In fact I'm thinking of founding a company myself. I could easily disperse the harmful magnetic flux components by switching the polarity in the tachion inverter matrix and rerouting the resulting neutrino flux through the phase coils in the flux capacitor. Now, if only I could find my field remodulator!
Actually some there are projects which aim to do just that, like Serval.
Wonder how many false accusations will result from this operation. This ought to be interesting to watch.
Yes it does. This is entirely basic research, although a very exciting (especially for me since I work with STMs)! The pulsed STM concept is the interesting part here for a scientist. The application to memory is just a kind of long term prospect they have to write into the paper, to get it published in a high ranking journal. It is not very applicable in practice yet. I guess I need not say that the reading, writing, addressing of more than 1 bit of memory is not possible yet. Furthermore, these STMs operate at liquid helium temperatures (3.2 Kelvin). Who would want to carry around a cryostat with they laptop? :)
This news gets posted on Slashdot and it goes down again.
"Oh come now Mr. Hatoyama, you don't really mean that. I have you by your balls."
However, situations like this are a sign of bigger problems, namely that tensions over resources are mounting all over the World. We will have to be very careful to avoid (any more) real and bloody conflicts.
Was I the only one who hoped that his katana would be involved?
Maybe the GREAT ONE lives on Mars.
If I'm not mistaken coal is used in blacksmiths kilns to melt iron, at about 1500 Celsius. I'm wondering how he got those kind of temperatures with sheep manure. Maybe the manure had an octarine glow to it ;)
Exactly. Disorganized cities in Europe (mainly the old city) are so disorganized because they have grown very steadily over time and that is a guarantee for chaos. Large city sections which have been built at once have had a good deal of city planning. Examples are the inner city of Budapest, my hometown, mostly built in the 19th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest) and Barcelona, with its grid-like arrangement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona). US cities have grown fairly rapidly, with the economic boom of the 20th century, so a good deal of city planning has gone into it.
"31% of teens send more than 100 texts a day and 15% send more than 200 a day"
If this follows a power law, there must be one poor fellow out there crunching through thousands of texts every day.
I luv slow newz monday.