The SRK Science Thread 2.0

[white_shadow]

First order of business:

Densest Matter Created in Big-Bang Machine

Densest Matter Created in Big-Bang Machine

“Besides black holes, there’s nothing denser” we’ve seen, physicist says.

A superhot substance recently made in the Large Hadron Collider (pictures) is the densest form of matter ever observed, scientists announced this week.
**Known as a quark-gluon plasma, the primordial state of matter may be what the entire universe was like in the immediate aftermath of the big bang. **
The exotic material is more than a hundred thousand times hotter than the inside of the sun and is denser than a neutron star, one of the densest known objects in the universe.
“Besides black holes, there’s nothing denser than what we’re creating,” said David Evans, a physicist at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. and a team leader for the LHC’s ALICE detector, which helped observe the quark-gluon plasma.
"If you had a cubic centimeter of this stuff, it would weigh 40 billion tons."
Densest Matter Acts Like Perfect Liquid
By triggering hundreds of thousands of high-speed collisions each second, physicists using the LHC hope to break subatomic particles into even more basic forms of matter, which can be used to study what the universe was like a trillionth of a second after the big bang.
LHC scientists made the quark-gluon plasma last year by smashing together lead ions—lead atoms that have been stripped of their electrons—at nearly the speed of light.
As the name suggests, quark-gluon plasma is made up of quarks and gluons. Quarks are the elementary building blocks of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, which make up atomic cores. Gluons are particles that “glue” quarks together using the so-called strong force.
It’s thought that, as the universe cooled, the quark-gluon plasma that existed after the big bang coalesced to form matter as we know it today. (Related: “Strange Particle Created; May Rewrite How Matter’s Made.”)
The quark-gluon plasma created at the LHC is about twice the amount and about twice as hot as quark-gluon plasma previously made using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.
Still, the plasmas created by the two machines are very similar, scientists said this week during the Quark Matter 2011 Conference in Annecy, France. For example, scientists have now confirmed that both versions behaved like so-called perfect liquids, with nearly zero friction.
“If you stir a cup of tea with a spoon and then take the spoon out, the tea stirs for a while and then it stops. If you had a perfect liquid and you stirred it, it would carry on going around forever,” Evans explained.
Some theories predict that, in the extreme heat of the very early universe, quarks and gluons would have been even more widely spaced, creating a quark-gluon plasma that behaved like a gas. The ALICE team is therefore looking for evidence of gas-like behavior in the early stages of their quark-gluon plasma formation.
“There are slight differences between our measurement and RHIC’s,” Evans said.
"It could well be that in the very early stages [of our quark-gluon plasma], it’s behaving more like a gas, and then as it cools it turns into a liquid, but we will need to investigate this further."
Highs and Lows of Making Matter
If this gas-to-liquid transition has indeed been observed, it would be surprising, since theory predicts that it should occur at much higher temperatures than those currently being produced at the LHC, said Thomas Ludlam, chair of the physics department at Brookhaven.
“I would regard the ALICE claim that they may be seeing hints of this as very interesting, but rather speculative at this stage,” said Ludlam, who was not involved in the project.
The results are nevertheless very exciting, he added. “They show that the LHC”—which went online in 2009 after more than a year’s delay due to mechanical problems—“is squarely in the game now.”
(Related: “LHC Gets First Results; Step Toward ‘God Particle’?”)
Also, by comparing the lower energy quark-gluon plasma created at the RHIC with the higher energy version from the LHC, scientists could gain a better understanding of how and when the substance changed as the universe cooled, Ludlam said.
“I think we’re now at a point where, with these two machines, we can look over a very wide energy range at the properties of the quark-gluon plasma as it evolves with temperature and density,” Ludlam said.
With this goal in mind, he added, RHIC scientists have been trying for the past year to create a quark-gluon plasma at even lower energies, to find the temperature at which quarks and gluons come together to form protons and neutrons.
Meanwhile, the LHC is still operating at only half of its maximum energy, and the ALICE team expects to create even denser forms of quark-gluon plasma as the machine ramps up in the future.

I’m interested in how gravity would behave with matter so dense on such a small scale? Quark-Gluon plasma sounds delicious.

[Syke1]

Wasn’t there a possibility of that thing sucking the town it’s in through the Earth or some shit?

And we need a flux capacitor nao.

[white_shadow]

Wasn’t there a possibility of that thing sucking the town it’s in through the Earth or some shit?

And we need a flux capacitor nao.

No, there wasn’t a threat; just media sensationalism as usual.

[Syke1]

Ok, so this Quark-Gluon Plasma is the heaviest piece of matter…ever. And it spins forever? That’s kinda OP. How the fuck can you move that shit and will they ever disclose how much they have?

[Radiantsilvergun3]

So…like…SCIENCE! or just Science?

[PuFF]

Ok, so this Quark-Gluon Plasma is the heaviest piece of matter…ever. And it spins forever? That’s kinda OP. How the fuck can you move that shit and will they ever disclose how much they have?

I don’t believe they store it. I am pretty sure they can only create it for a split second.

[Sheng-Long]

Ok, so this Quark-Gluon Plasma is the heaviest piece of matter…ever. And it spins forever? That’s kinda OP. How the fuck can you move that shit and will they ever disclose how much they have?

It only exists for a reallly really really really really really really short time . The scientists know that they have created it because of the evidence it left (trace readings on the surrounding environmental effects, etc), not because it was observed directly (by the eyes, because it is humanly impossible to do so).

[Syke1]

Lol whut?

So its tracings still contained the info of it weighing 40 billion tons, and identified it as a perfect liquid?

[Sheng-Long]

It can only be either liquid or gas. Depending on the subparticle interactions thereafter, they can determine whether it is gas or liquid because of the behaviour of the trace and resulting particles. They recreate what they believe the behaviour is when the collision happened from the resulting evidence (similar to how CSI recreates the murder scene and arrives at a conclusion) using mathematical models.

The 40 billion tonne weight is the hypothetical sum IF it is a cubic millimetre combined (they only created a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny*N fraction of that mass). It illustrates the denseness (is that a word?) of the tiny particles they are working with. A drop of water barely weighs anything but how big of a tank would be needed if they need 40 billion tonnes of water? This thing weights 40 billion tonnes already if it is the size of a cubic millimetre, so it the size they are working with to keep it within reasonable energy requirements to reproduce is unimmaginably small.

[white_shadow]

Mixed Race, Pretty Face?

**

[Quote=]
Mixed Race, Pretty Face?
[/Quote]
**

Eurasians may possess genetic advantages that lead to greater health and enhanced beauty.
By William Lee Adams, published on January 01, 2006 - last reviewed on September 28, 2006

Actor Keanu Reeves and supermodel Devon Aoki have more in common than fame, fortune and good looks—both are also part Asian. Known in popular culture by the Hawaiian term hapa (meaning “half”), people with mixed Asian and European origins have become synonymous with exotic glamour. In Hong Kong and Singapore, half-Asian models now crowd runways once dominated by leggy blondes. In the elite world of Asian fashion, half-Asian is the new white.
The trend may seem little more than an effect of 21st century globalization. As more individuals of mixed descent achieve fame (think Norah Jones and Tiger Woods), it seems natural that society would embrace the mixed look. Media exposure, however, doesn’t fully explain the perception of hapa beauty.
Eurasians may possess genetic advantages that lead to greater health and, as a result, enhanced attractiveness. That’s according to a study, the first to find that hapa faces are rated as more beautiful than European or Japanese faces. Researchers say the finding may extend to other racial mixes as well.

The experiment by Gillian Rhodes, a psychologist at the University of Western Australia, found that when Caucasian and Japanese volunteers looked at photos of Caucasian, Japanese and Eurasian faces, both groups rated the Eurasian faces as most attractive. These visages were created by first digitally blending a series of faces from each race into “composites” to create average, middle-of-the-road features typical of each race. Past studies show that “average” features are consistently rated as more attractive than exaggerated features—such as an unusually wide forehead or a small chin.
The finding that Japanese and white subjects preferred mixed-race faces was surprising because, earlier in the same study, most volunteers rated their own race as more beautiful than others. That is, white people typically prefer whites when choosing an ideal image of beauty; blacks prefer blacks; etc.
So why might hapas be considered particularly beautiful? Evolutionary psychologists say it’s because Eurasians and other mixed race individuals appear healthier. Humans, like other animals, look for markers of good genetic health in their quest for a reproductive partner. Take facial symmetry, for example: Studies show that, whether they know it or not, people prefer individuals with evenly spaced eyes and other signs of congruence. In evolutionary terms, these markers are associated with healthy conditions in the womb. Infants exposed prenatally to toxins or pathogens may develop facial irregularities and asymmetry. The human brain may be wired to avoid these overt cues of lackluster health, says R. Elisabeth Cornwell, a psychologist at the University of Colorado. “The signs of beauty are the signs of health,” she says. Rhodes’ findings seem to fit this paradigm: Participants in her study said the Eurasian faces appeared healthier, too.
Similarly, evidence suggests that half-Asians’ diverse genetic ancestry would enhance health. According to evolutionary psychologist Randy Thornhill, at the University of New Mexico, "If you hybridize two genetically diverse populations—another way of saying you cross races—then you create more genetic diversity in the offspring."
Genetic diversity, or heterozygosity, is associated with a lower incidence of some diseases. Genetic diseases, such as hemophilia and Tay-Sachs, occur when a person inherits two copies of a defective gene. This is more likely to happen in isolated populations with little genetic diversity.
In 2004, Craig Roberts, professor of biology at the University of Newcastle in the U.K., found the first direct link between diverse genes and facial attractiveness. He examined genes of the major histocompatability complex (MHC)—a set of genes crucial to a well-functioning immune system. Photos of people with the greatest MHC diversity were rated more attractive than individuals with less MHC diversity. Here, actual health—the ability to resist infection—was linked to perceptions of attractiveness. Roberts believes this preference helps humans pick healthy mates.
Which features radiate both health and beauty? One may be the appearance of the skin. In a second experiment, Roberts found that women rated close-up photos of heterozygous males’ skin as healthier than close-ups of homozygous males’ skin, and these judgments correlated with ratings of overall attractiveness.
Ostensibly, evidence that Caucasians and Asians prefer mixed race faces counters a major tenet of mating theory: that we are drawn to partners who resemble ourselves, such as those with similar hair and eye color.
So does this new research explain the popularity of Brazilians, who frequently have blended racial heritage, as fashion models? That remains to be seen. Says Rhodes: “If a preference for mixed-race faces occurs for many different mixes, we could be more confident that it is tapping into something fundamental about human perceptions of attractiveness.”

So my anecdotal beliefs that racial admixtures do tend to create more symmetrical and possess universally attractive features bears some scientific truth.

Also this documentary was very informative as well: http://www.toflo.com/category/all/film-tv/documentary-is-it-better-to-be-mixed-race/

[Don_Barracuda]

Antimagnets how do they work o_O

Cloaking study yields antimagnet

[MCP]

It’s like a void, in magnetic fields! Sounds interesting.

[remonster]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200512/mixed-race-pretty-face

Uh yeah, any article that says Devon Aoki has good looks should be immediately thrown out. I find psychology interesting, but studies like these make the field a joke.

[white_shadow]

Uh yeah, any article that says Devon Aoki has good looks should be immediately thrown out. I find psychology interesting, but studies like these make the field a joke.

It’s more than psychology, there’s also intensive genetic studies on the topic. Watch the linked documentary as well.

Antimagnet tech was something I thought about a long time ago, visible light is essentially just a part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

[Don_Barracuda]

LHC: Higgs boson ‘may have been glimpsed’

Higgs 'may have been identified'

[Pertho]

LHC: Higgs boson ‘may have been glimpsed’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16158374

Man, I need to get myself leveled up in the hard sciences. Social Sciences are nice and all but they get no respect (good reasons why they do sometimes though).

With Higgs Boson we shall harness the energy of God. We are well on our way to the 4th Bountiful Human Empire.

[white_shadow]

Man, I need to get myself leveled up in the hard sciences. Social Sciences are nice and all but they get no respect (good reasons why they do sometimes though).

With Higgs Boson we shall harness the energy of God. We are well on our way to the 4th Bountiful Human Empire.

As far as I can gather, the discovery of the Higgs particle (which IMO, probably doesn’t exist and we have to rewrite our understanding of physics) would be an impressive feat, but utilization of such a particle probably isn’t feasible. A Higgs Boson acts as a mass transferal system for particles within the “Higgs Field”, an omnipresent field by which fermions can acquire mass. Understanding of the Higgs Field would be the grand source of technological advancement, if it truly exists.

The problem lies in the fact that a Higgs Boson is said to decay within a fractions of a second, so it’s not so much that the particle itself would be usable, moreso the discovery of such a particle would validate their hypothesis… which could lead to bigger discoveries.

If we could turn off the Higgs Field within a localized area, we could probably make fermions massless, meaning that they would automatically travel at the speed of light. So a starship with the power to turn off the Higgs Field could instantly accelerate to lightspeed, but there could be numerous consequences:

such as

Spoiler

-How could the process be maintained?

-How would one stop the process mechanically after initiating it?

-What would happen to the momentum of the ship and its inhabitants once the field was back?

-If everything is massless, would their electromagnetic interactions cause matter to be indistinguishable from one another. (basically ending up as a mush)

Personally speaking, the discovery of superluminal neutrinos is even more astounding, because it opens up so many possibilities and generates many holes in our understanding of physics.

[Pertho]

Snip

you need to surrender all your sources. Every time you write something, I feel like a moron (this is good, it also means every time you write, I learn something new).

[white_shadow]

you need to surrender all your sources. Every time you write something, I feel like a moron (this is good, it also means every time you write, I learn something new).

I read Discover magazine, Popular Science, National Geographic and random online research stuff from time to time. I’ll look around the web for you.

[hubcapsignstop]

I love contemporary particle physics for the sole reason that is one of a few illustrative examples showing that popper’s ideas on the mechanisms of scientific advancment exist primarily in people’s hopes and dreams.

edit: After ignoring Popper for years, I have just now discovered (via Wikipedia) that he shares my belief that Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory. How delightful! I may have to give him a 3rd look. Hurray for philosophers of science and other adherents to the rigid idealogy of logic.
hahaa