Science Toys

Science toys you play with at home. Pretty cool.

Fractional Calculus

In reviewing emails of current published papers I came across the idea of "fractional calculus."

Frankly, I had never heard of such a thing so I did some searches. The link above is to Wikipedia which has a good discussion of this. Here's another good link.

It seems that fractional calculus is the generalization of standard calculus to fractions of derivatives. We usually talk about the "first derivative" of a function, and the "second derivative" of a function. So, why not talk about the "one and a half derivative" of a function. Seems like we could do that.

In fact, that can be done. Just what that means and why you would want to do it is something for another day. Today, it's interesting that it can be done.

Quantum Mechanics: Not Enough

I am interested in understand quantum mechanics better than I do. I ran across this sight from a Google search and it has the attractive URL of "Quantumintro.com." Looks good, or so I thought. I read through it and it only told me that it doesn't tell enough. I'll look elsewhere.

Quantum Sights and Physics Rendered Beautifully

The images within this site are truly gorgeous. They marvel and amaze and are worth a click or two to view. The explanations are excellent as well. The negative is the cost to buy an image is very steep. Oh well, they're still great to see on your screen.

Quatum Theory and the Cosmos: There's a connection

Turns out some of the equations we see connected to quantum theory apply to celestial navigation. Same equations mean the same solutions means there is a connection.

I downloaded and read the paper cited, you can get the paper here. It's not too difficult to read, especially if you skip the parts you don't understand. :-)

Seriously, the paper is pretty readable and the figures show you the connections the authors want you to see.

2005 Visualization Challenge

Here are the winners from the 2005 Visualization Challenge. The images are absolutely stunning for detail, content, and raw beauty.

Quantum bit: Catch the light

"Physicists in Australia have slowed a speeding laser pulse and captured it in a crystal, a feat that could be instrumental in creating quantum computers."

This is the first step, well, maybe not the first, to building a quantum computer. The ability to stop light (or slow enough) is the beginning of memory for a quantum computer. Quantum computers have been talked about for years. Feynmann thought about them many years ago. Now, they are slowing coming along, bit by bit, or, should I say, Qubit by Qubit!!

Immune cells: Phone home

Immune cells communicate with each other with tiny tubes.

"The research not only proves cells other than neurons are capable of long-distance communication, but it reveals a hereto-unknown mechanism cells use for exchanging information."

"Blood-derived dendritic cells and macrophages, both antigen-presenting cells, make use of these so-called tunneling nanotubules to relay molecular messages."

This may explain how the immune system is able to respond so quickly to invasions. Fascinating.

Smallest Fountain Pen

Researchers have developed the world's smallest fountain pen.

"[It is so] tiny it can draw lines a hundred times thinner than a red blood cell.

... [I]t can paint lines as thin as 40 nanometers and has its own reservoir to hold various types of inks, including pigments for painting patterns and organic materials for designing sensors.

...

The new pen can be attached to the atomic-force microscope, which allows scientists to see nanoscale environments as well as draw on them. Possible uses for such a tiny pen, or an array of several of them, include crafting miniscule protein arrays and complex semiconductors.

Because scientists built the pen using standard microfabrication techniques and materials, it will be possible to mass-produce the tips."

Dust Devils: On Mars

Here's a short movie of dust devils moving across the Martian landscape. I don't know what this means, but it's neat to see.

Nobel Prize: Keep at it

From an online editorial in the Wall Street Journal (link may require a subscription):

"Australian physician Barry Marshall suggested, at a Brussels conference in 1983, that peptic ulcers might have a bacterial cause, his findings were dismissed by colleagues as "the most preposterous thing ever heard," according to his entry in the Current Biography Yearbook. ...

Today, the milk-and-rest cure is a thing of the past, surgeries are rare, and a disease that affects some four million Americans annually can usually be treated successfully within a few weeks with an antibiotic cocktail. For their findings, yesterday Drs. Marshall and Warren shared this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and its $1.3 million prize. It's an inspired choice -- and a useful reminder that just because there's a scientific "consensus," that doesn't mean it's true."

So, when folks tell you they already know something to be true, you should keep working. Science is NOT a democratic endeavor: we don't vote on who is correct, nature tells you who's right.