Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), are strips of graphene with ultra-thin width (<50 nm). Graphene ribbons were introduced as a theoretical model by Mitsutaka Fujita and coauthors to examine the edge and nanoscale size effect in graphene. GNRs are very interesting structures, partly due to their attractive electronic properties. Those properties vary dramatically with changes in the […]
In the previous entry , I described Nick Bostrom’s argument for the ‘simulation hypothesis’, i.e., the conjecture that we are very, very likely living not in a ‘real’ world, but within some kind of computer simulation, and ended offering some skeptical doubts about its structure by comparing it to Bertrand Russell’s prankish argument about whether […]
The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional reference originally inspired by the dietary patterns of Greece, Southern Italy, and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s. The main components of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products […]
Creation of synthetic yeast genome nearly completed Scientists are close to creating synthetic yeast and could have it completed by the end of this year. The artificial genome has been completely designed and is about one-third complete, and once constructed, it could be used to make new biofuels, drugs and unique materials. Wired New radar […]
Beginning in 1928, Felix Bloch, an assistant to Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig, began to make some realistic assumptions in an attempt to formulate a more complete quantum mechanics of electrical conductivity. First, because he wanted to assign a definite momentum and energy to each of the electrons, but not a definite position or a time […]
Biology • Health • Physiology
If you have ever tried to lose weight by exercising you probably know is not that easy. However, you might be happy to know that the problem is not only a matter of motivation. It’s been consistently reported that the effect of exercise on weight is surprisingly smaller than what theory would predict. The reasons […]
One important principle of any sensible social epistemology is that the fraction of crazy-sounding ideas that are really crazy is extremely high. Of course, a lot of crazy-sounding ideas have turned out being right (e.g., the evolution of different species from common ascent, the earth’s being a planet turning around a star, the atomic composition […]
DNA-based computer could solve problems faster A theoretical DNA-based computer called a nondeterministic universal Turing machine could work out difficult problems faster than both conventional and quantum computers. The machine works by endlessly rearranging DNA via gene editing. New Scientist Temperature of Earth’s mantle recalculated Earth’s mantle is much hotter than researchers thought, coming in […]
During World War II the Germans relied on their strong chemical knowledge to overcome the limited access to critical raw materials that the circumstances of the war itself imposed. One of these raw materials was Chilean saltpeter (sodium nitrate), which was the base for explosives. The solution was to use a chemical process designed to […]
Deep in the ice below the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, in Antartica, lies one of the great works that our modern civilization has produced. A kilometer and a half under the frozen surface there is a very special place for science and discovery. Darkness surrounds it but it’s able to see the entire cosmos. The […]