How the universe evolved from a liquid

Scientists working at the world’s largest particle smasher – the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, in Switzerland – have found that an exotic soup more than 10 trillion degrees Celsius in temperature was created immediately after the birth of the universe.

This sticky, gloopy substance, known as a quark-gluon plasma, behaved like a hot liquid, according to their results.

This provided the perfect environment for the first particles and atoms to form, which later led to the stars and galaxies that surround us today.

The findings have surprised physicists as they contradict the accepted view of what happened in the immediate aftermath of the creation of the universe – that the Big Bang threw out a superheated gas that clumped together to form matter.

“In the very first instances of the universe, it was actually behaving like a very dense liquid,” explained Dr David Evans, a particle physicist at the University of Birmingham who is the UK’s lead investigator in the experiment.

“These results are telling us about the evolution of the early universe, which inevitably will have had implications for how the universe looks today.

“We have got to do a lot more analysis and put a lot more thought in to understanding this, but it is a really fascinating result.”

The results are the first to be released by a multinational group of more than 1,000 researchers who have been working on an experiment with the Large Hadron Collider that began two weeks ago.

They have been using the particle accelerator to smash atoms of lead together inside a detector known as ALICE in a bid to create “mini big bangs” that are thought to mimic the conditions seen in the fractions of seconds after the universe was created.

The tiny fireballs created inside the 17 mile long particle accelerator, which is buried 300ft beneath the Alpine foothills along the Swiss-French border, reached more than 10 trillion degrees centigrade for a fraction of a second.

via How the universe evolved from a liquid – Telegraph.

 

The liquid is said to exhibit characteristics like nothing else physicists have observed before, and its collective movement is rather like the way a school of fish swims “as one”. In fact, physicists’ tentative calculations suggest that its extraordinarily low viscosity makes it the most perfect fluid ever created.

The new state of matter was forged in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, situated at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Colliding the central cores of gold atoms together, head-on at almost the speed of light, the researchers created a fleeting, microscopic version of the Universe a few microseconds after the Big Bang. This included achieving a temperature of several million million degrees (about 150,000 times the temperature at the center of the Sun). They then detected and analyzed the explosive rush of particles that this miniature Big Bang created. Researchers had confidently believed that they would observe something like “steam”, made up of free quarks and gluons, but instead the researchers saw evidence of collective movement as the hot matter flowed out of the collision site. This indicated stronger interactions between the particles than expected, leading to the belief that the quark-gluon plasma is similar to a liquid.

This latest development is much more unusual than anyone expected. “No one predicted that it would be a liquid,” said Professor John Nelson from the University of Birmingham, who heads the British involvement in the multinational experiment. “This aspect was totally unexpected and will lead to new scientific research regarding the properties of matter at extremes of temperature and density, previously inaccessible in a laboratory.”

via Scienceagogo

Doctors stunned by conjoined twins who share same brain and thoughts

Conjoined twins Krista and Tatiana have stunned the world’s medical experts by seeing through each other’s eyes.

The pretty four-year-old twins have two separate bodies but share the same brain.

The girls have a conjoined thalamus, the part of the brain that sends physical sensations and motor functions to the cerebral cortex, allowing them to hear each other’s thoughts and see through each other’s eyes.

But it wasn’t until their proud mum Felicia Simms saw them playing that she discovered that they could see through each other’s eyes.

She said: ‘When they are playing, one of the girls will reach over and grab something from her sister’s side and know exactly where it is without possibly being able to see it.

‘It’s absolutely awesome to watch them sometimes because there’s no way she can see the toy she is reaching for and it’s just incredible.’ The girls also seem to experience each other’s emotions.

‘If one of the girls is hurt, the other can feel it and if you discipline one the other will also cry.’

The girls, from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada,have been receiving constant medical care since they were born.

Paediatric neurosurgeon Doug Cochrane, who has looked after them from birth, confirmed they can see through each other’s eyes.

He said: ‘The twins are sharing signals from the other twin’s visual field.

‘One twin may see what the other twin does, as the brain of one of the girls receives electronic impulses from the retina of the opposite twin.’

Felicia and her childhood sweetheart, Brendan 26, were unaware their daughters were conjoined until she was five months pregnant.

She underwent an ultrasound scan which diagnosed the twins as having a condition known as Craniopagus.

Felicia said: ‘The doctors told me: ‘The twins are joined together. Further tests are needed, but at the moment we know they are linked in some way’. …

‘Their brain is knitted together so any attempt to split it could be fatal to one or both of them.’ …

via Doctors stunned by conjoined twins who share same brain and thoughts | Mail Online.

I’ve wondered in the past if such a thing is possible, to have two brains connected. These girls will have some fascinating things to teach us about the human brain.  Since thoughts we can hear in our minds all go through the thalamus, it will be interesting to learn to what degree they share one consciousness.

The bilateral removal of the centromedian nucleus (part of the Intra-laminar nucleus of the Thalamus) appears to abolish consciousness, causing coma, PVS, severe mutism and other features that mimic brain death. The centromedian nucleus is also one of the principal sites of action of general anaesthetics and anti-psychotic drugs. This evidence suggests that a functioning thalamus is necessary, but not sufficient, for human consciousness.

via Wikipedia

Some have suggested the controversial notion that human consciousness resides fully or at least mainly in the centromedian nucleus.

via Wikipedia

The thalamus is connected to the entire bottom layer of the cerebral cortex. It is the nexus of the various cortical processors as well as a recipient of independent input from most of the rest of the brain. … The thalamus is ideally placed for integrating brain activity, if tiny parts of the thalamus are removed consciousness is abolished and the thalamus is involved in attention and the global integration of cortical activity. Any impartial judge might pronounce that the site of conscious experience has been found, probably in the ILN of the thalamus, but no one can say how it works.

via Globalnet.uk

Half-Headed Man Takes World’s Most Bizarre Mugshot

There’s clearly something off with this man’s skull. As the profile shot reveals, it’s that he’s missing most of it. Our friend here was arrested in Miami earlier this month for soliciting a prostitute. The Miami New Times swears the photos were not altered in any way, and his mugshot from a separate arrest a month ago pretty much confirms that. From the police report for his November arrest, there was a box to be filled out labeled “unique physical features.” One wonders how long they deliberated before writing in “Half a Head.”

via Half-Headed Man Takes World’s Most Bizarre Mugshot.

Here are mugshots from another arrest this year. No, we don’t know how he’s still alive. … The poor guy has been arrested quite alot during his 25 years for disorderly intoxication, solicitation of a prostitute, possession of weed, and burglary. But really– can you blame him for any of that?

via Miaminewtimes

What could be done for this individual with some reconstructive surgery to better protect his brain and reduce the gawking he must endure? How much would the operation cost? I’d help him out. I think others would as well.

Naked Sleepwalker Donal Kinsella Wins Record $14M Libel Award

Deborah Hastings – An Irish jury has awarded nearly $14 million — the largest libel award in Ireland’s history — to a former executive who said his career had been ruined after his employers insinuated he’d made sexual advances to a colleague by showing up naked at her hotel room door.

Donal Kinsella told the court that he had been sleepwalking. During a business trip to Mozambique in 2007, he had been drinking and taking painkillers before falling asleep. He appeared outside the woman’s room three times in one night, each time wearing only his birthday suit, The New York Times reported.

Even the judge appeared surprised at the huge award. On Thursday, Justice Eamon de Valera asked the jury whether he had read the sum correctly. He ordered that only about $680,000 (500,000 euros) could be paid while the company appeals, Britain’s Daily Mail reported.

Lawyers for Kenmare Resources, a London- and Dublin-based mining company, said they would immediately file an appeal against the amount, calling it “off the Richter scale.”

Kinsella, a married father of six, sued for libel, claiming a press release issued by Kenmare after the incident had ruined his reputation and made him an international “laughing stock” after news reports about his naked somnambulism went viral on the Internet, London’s The Daily Telegraph reported. The 11-person jury unanimously decided that Kenmare’s press release — which did not detail the sleepwalking incident — had implied that Kinsella had “made inappropriate sexual advances to Deirdre Corcoran,” a company secretary.

Jurors also said the statement was intended to embarrass or put pressure on Kinsella to resign.

The award is nearly 10 times the amount of the previously highest libel amount — given to public relations worker Monica Leech when a jury decided a series of newspaper articles falsely suggested she had an affair with a Cabinet minister, The Irish Times said.

via Naked Sleepwalker Donal Kinsella Wins Record $14M Libel Award.

A robot that can fall in love!

Blob … Stefan’s invention looks like a giant pillow

Robots could one day completely replace the need to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Well, that’s what the latest invention suggests.

A robot that can fall in love with its owner could put an end to millions of lonely hearts across the globe.

It has special sensors that react to human touch to show when it is happy — or in love.

The robot has been invented by German designer Stefan Ulrich and can wrap around its owner and even give them a cuddle.

The robot looks like a massive pillow and could be straight out of the latest sci-fi blockbuster — or even comedy.

“The products of the future will, in effect, be alive,” the Sun quoted Ulrich as saying.

“People already bury themselves in possessions and shield themselves from real life with technology. So if robots and objects can fulfil all their emotional needs as well, why do they need other humans?”

The robot uses state-of-the-art research in artificial muscle technology and has micro-sensors under its skin.

They react to pressure, skin temperature and colour to produce a response like a human reaction.

via A robot that can fall in love!.

WISE image reveals strange specimen in starry sea: Dying star surrounded by fluorescing gas, unusual rings

A new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer shows what looks like a glowing jellyfish floating at the bottom of a dark, speckled sea. In reality, this critter belongs to the cosmos — it’s a dying star surrounded by fluorescing gas and two very unusual rings.

“I am reminded of the jellyfish exhibition at the Monterey Bay Aquarium — beautiful things floating in water, except this one is in space,” said Edward (Ned) Wright, the principal investigator of the WISE mission at UCLA, and a co-author of a paper on the findings, reported in The Astronomical Journal.

The object, known as NGC 1514 and sometimes the “Crystal Ball” nebula, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae, which form when dying stars toss off their outer layers of material. Ultraviolet light from a central star, or in this case a pair of stars, causes the gas to fluoresce with colorful light. The result is often beautiful — these objects have been referred to as the butterflies of space.

NGC 1514 was discovered in 1790 by Sir William Herschel, who noted that its “shining fluid” meant that it could not be a faint cluster of stars, as originally suspected. Herschel had previously coined the term planetary nebulae to describe similar objects with circular, planet-like shapes.

via WISE image reveals strange specimen in starry sea: Dying star surrounded by fluorescing gas, unusual rings.

Eerily Specific Inventions Predicted in Science Fiction

The first manned spaceship was launched during the month of December, by the United States from a base in Florida. The ship was made up mostly of aluminum, weighed 19,250 pounds, and cost what would now be about $12.1 billion to build. After three of the astronauts completed their moonwalk, they returned to Earth. Their capsule splashed down into the Pacific Ocean and was recovered by a U.S. Navy vessel.

Why are we boring you with history? Actually, we’re not — this is the plot of an 1865 novel by Jules Verne, whose frighteningly accurate visions of space travel lead us to conclude that he had to be some kind of time-traveling space-wizard.

via 6 Eerily Specific Inventions Predicted in Science Fiction | Cracked.com.

He was born in the harbour city of Nantes in Western France. The oldest of five children, he spent his early years at home with his parents. The family spent summers in a country house just outside the city, on the banks of the Loire River. Verne and his brother Paul, of whom Verne was very fond, would often rent a boat for a franc a day.^[2] The sight of the many ships navigating the river sparked Verne’s imagination, as he describes in the autobiographical short story “Souvenirs d’Enfance et de Jeunesse”. When Verne was nine, he and Paul were sent to boarding school at the Saint Donatien College (Petit séminaire de Saint-Donatien). As a child, he developed a great interest in travel and exploration, a passion he showed as a writer of adventure stories and science fiction. At twelve, he snuck onto a ship that was bound for India, the Coralie, only to be caught and severely whipped by his father. He famously stated, “I shall from now on only travel in my imagination.”

via Wiki

The drugalyser: new weapon in the clampdown on drug driving

A new handheld “drugalyser” that detects substance abuse in under two minutes could become the latest weapon the clampdown on drug driving.

The portable handheld device can detect cocaine and heroine from a saliva sample within 90 seconds and other substances within minutes. It is able to detect drugs in the body at far lower levels than existing testing devices

The new portable device, which will be available in 2011, would mean police officers could carry out tests on suspected drug drivers at the roadside.

A positive result would mean officers would no longer have to wait for permission from a doctor before a blood test could be taken to be used as evidence in court.

via The drugalyser: new weapon in the clampdown on drug driving – Telegraph.

Neat tool, but a forced blood draw, where you are held down by thugs and stuck with a needle, is one of the most traumatic and painful experiences. I know someone who went through this. It should not be permitted by law. Blood tests are not needed since a urine test is just as informative.  Sometimes, even when you consent to give a urine sample, police will do a forced blood draw just to assert their authority, to force you to submit. Such people have no business wearing a uniform.

 

The Royal Society’s lost women scientists

Richard Holmes – … All this year, and all round the globe, the Royal Society of London has been celebrating its 350th birthday. In a sense, it has been a celebration of science itself and the social importance of its history. The senior scientific establishment in Britain, and arguably in the world, the Royal Society dates to the time of Charles II. Its early members included Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley, Robert Hooke, Thomas Hobbes, Christopher Wren and even – rather intriguingly – Samuel Pepys. But amid this year’s seminars, exhibitions and publications, there has been one ghost at the feast: the historic absence of women scientists from its ranks.

Although it was founded in 1660, women were not permitted by statute to become fellows of the Royal Society until 285 years later, in 1945. (An exception was made for Queen Victoria, who was made a royal fellow.) It will be recalled that women over the age of 30 had won the vote nearly 30 years earlier, in 1918. Very similar exclusions operated elsewhere: in the American National Academy of Sciences until 1925; in the Russian National Academy until 1939; and even in that home of Enlightenment science, the Académie des Sciences in France, until 1962. Marie Curie was rejected for membership of the Académie in 1911, the very year she won her second Nobel prize. …

Yet my re-examination of the Royal Society archives during this 350th birthday year has thrown new and unexpected light on the lost women of science. I have tracked down a series of letters, documents and rare publications that begin to fit together to suggest a very different network of support and understanding between the sexes. It emerges that women had a far more fruitful, if sometimes conflicted, relationship with the Royal Society than has previously been supposed….

The first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society was Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle, in May 1667. There were protests from the all-male fellows – Pepys recorded the scandal – and the dangerous experiment was not repeated for another couple of centuries. But Margaret could take advantage of her position, being the second wife of William Cavendish FRS, a member of one of the great aristocratic dynasties of British science. She knew many of the leading fellows, such as Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes. On this occasion, she witnessed several experiments of “colours, loadstones, microscopes” and was “full of admiration”, although according to Pepys, her dress was “so antic and her deportment so unordinary” that the fellows were made strangely uneasy. But this may have been for other reasons.Margaret later raised issues that have become perennial. She mocked the dry, empirical approach of the fellows, violently attacked the practice of vivisection and wondered what rational explanation could be given for women’s exclusion from learned bodies. …

via The Royal Society’s lost women scientists | Science | The Observer.

Penrose claims to have glimpsed universe before Big Bang

Circular patterns within the cosmic microwave background suggest that space and time did not come into being at the Big Bang but that our universe in fact continually cycles through a series of “aeons”. That is the sensational claim being made by University of Oxford theoretical physicist Roger Penrose, who says that data collected by NASA’s WMAP satellite support his idea of “conformal cyclic cosmology”. This claim is bound to prove controversial, however, because it opposes the widely accepted inflationary model of cosmology.

According to inflationary theory, the universe started from a point of infinite density known as the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago, expanded extremely rapidly for a fraction of a second and has continued to expand much more slowly ever since, during which time stars, planets and ultimately humans have emerged. That expansion is now believed to be accelerating and is expected to result in a cold, uniform, featureless universe.

Penrose, however, takes issue with the inflationary picture and in particular believes it cannot account for the very low entropy state in which the universe was believed to have been born – an extremely high degree of order that made complex matter possible. He does not believe that space and time came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang but that the Big Bang was in fact just one in a series of many, with each big bang marking the start of a new “aeon” in the history of the universe.

Central to Penrose’s theory is the idea that in the very distant future the universe will in one sense become very similar to how it was at the Big Bang. He says that at these points the shape, or geometry, of the universe was and will be very smooth, in contrast to its current very jagged form. This continuity of shape, he maintains, will allow a transition from the end of the current aeon, when the universe will have expanded to become infinitely large, to the start of the next, when it once again becomes infinitesimally small and explodes outwards from the next big bang. Crucially, he says, the entropy at this transition stage will be extremely low, because black holes, which destroy all information that they suck in, evaporate as the universe expands and in so doing remove entropy from the universe.

Penrose now claims to have found evidence for this theory in the cosmic microwave background, the all-pervasive microwave radiation that was believed to have been created when the universe was just 300,000 years old and which tells us what conditions were like at that time. The evidence was obtained by Vahe Gurzadyan of the Yerevan Physics Institute in Armenia, who analysed seven years’ worth of microwave data from WMAP, as well as data from the BOOMERanG balloon experiment in Antarctica. Penrose and Gurzadyan say they have clearly identified concentric circles within the data – regions in the microwave sky in which the range of the radiation’s temperature is markedly smaller than elsewhere. …

via Penrose claims to have glimpsed universe before Big Bang – physicsworld.com.