Minding The Planet is Nova Spivack’s weblog on emerging technologies and trends. It focuses ways in which the Web is becoming more present, personalized and precise.
Nova Spivack is a technology futurist, entrepreneur, and angel investor, and a leading voice on search, collective intelligence and the Semantic Web. More...
This is a really cool science and art project — Researchers in Japan have developed a device that uses waves to cause images to form on the surface of water. Check the link for a cool picture.
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OK this is a clip from Fox News, which is not normally a source that I consider to be factual or trustworthy — but it cerrtainly is an interesting story. The video clip profiles an inventor who has developed a novel method of converting water to useful fuel. He powers a welding torch and a [...]
A new mathematical technique provides a dramatically better way to
analyze data, such as audio data, radar, sonar, or any other form of
time-frequency data.
Humans have 200 million light receptors in their eyes,
10 to 20 million receptors devoted to smell, but only 8,000 dedicated
to sound. Yet despite this miniscule number, the auditory system is the
fastest [...]
Wow — this page has some fabulous photos of devices for locating things using sound. Think radar, only much louder…
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This is pretty cool. It turns out you can freeze water at room temperature, creating so-called "hot ice." There are at least two known methods for doing this. Hot ice effectively transforms water into a solid that is like a form of glue. This opens the door for some interesting potential applications — including using [...]
Hot news from Fermilab… (see this article)
Tom Spears
Ottawa Citizen
A major physics lab in the
U.S. has found a particle, far smaller than any atom, that switches
itself back and forth between being a piece of matter and a piece of
anti-matter 17 trillion times each second.
It has taken 700
people in 20 countries, millions of dollars’ worth of custom [...]
An innovative new 3D display technology uses lasers to create plasma dots in mid-air. Can you say, "Help me, Obi-Wan," anybody? Check the link to see the kewl pics!
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The theory of quantum evolution is a radical new take on how mutations
in DNA occur. Basically the theory postulates that DNA molecules are in
fact macroscopic quantum objects that undergo quantum interference. It
is spearheaded by Johnjoe McFadden, a professor in the UK and makes for an interesting
read. Here is a brief overview of the main ideas [...]
This is a great overview of the current state of the art in quantum computing, and how it could benefit all of us in the future.
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Check out these microscope images of the insides of meteorites. Beautiful, and strange. Some of them are reminiscent of bacteria and computer circuit boards.
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A radical new form of propulsion is being researched that may enable travel from Earth to Mars in 3 hours, and travel to nearby stars in just 80 days. The system is based on a novel quantum theory termed Heim quantum
theory (HQT).
The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is
based on a controversial [...]
The Edge has published mini-essays by 119 "big thinkers" on their "most dangerous ideas" — fun reading.
The history of science is replete with discoveries
that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally
dangerous in their time; the Copernican and
Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious.
What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think
about (not necessarily one you originated)
that is [...]
This is a cool idea — some researchers are considering whether the cosmic background radiation may contain an encoded "message from God." OK I doubt it. I think it is more likely to be somewhere in our DNA, or in the digits of Pi, or perhaps in the distribution of the prime numbers. But it’s [...]
This site was submitted by a reader. It’s an intriguing and well-illustrated alternative theory of electromagnetism. It certainly seems to be worth investigating more closely. Hopefully the physicists in the audience will take note. I would suggest going through the site sections and animations starting from the Overview. It’s interesting stuff. (Disclaimer: This guy may [...]
Now this is really interesting! New research has found that certain parts of the body emit measurable numbers of photons. This may open up new diagnostic techniques. But that’s just the beginning. Spiritual healers from many different faiths have long said that they experience light coming from their hands, and can feel (and even see) [...]
A new source of inexpensive, renewable energy that depends on a modified form of hydrogen has quantum theorists up in arms: they say it violates the laws of quantum mechanics. The inventors, on the other hand, claim they have extensive proof that it works.
It seems too good to be
true: a new source of near-limitless power [...]
This just in…
NASA has outlined what it could do, and in what time frame, in case a
quarter-mile-wide asteroid named Apophis is on a course to slam into
Earth in the year 2036. The timetable was released by the B612
Foundation, a group that is pressing NASA and other government agencies
to do more to head off threats from [...]
This organization has some very cool projects studying exotic new energy devices. Check out their Projects page.
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Today I read this nice article which provides a short consumer-friendly overview of the history of the Digital Physics paradigm. Digital Physics is not mainstream physics — but it is growing and someday could become huge. It brings together computer scientists and physicists in an interdisciplinary approach to physics. While many advocates simply take the [...]
I just read that a Japanese team is actually developing technology to store data in human fingernails. I proposed this concept on this blog last year in this post. That may qualify as prior art. I wonder if they are going to try to patent this? Not that I mind, I think it’s a great [...]
In a very interesting new finding, researchers have discovered the people’s brains contain individual neurons, or small groups of neurons, that seem exist only to recognize particular people or concepts. This would imply that there is one neuron, or at least a small group of neurons, in our brains for every unique thing that we [...]
D-Wave, a Canadian startup, claims it will have a working quantum computer within 3 years. Unlike other quantum computer designs which are based on the principle of quantum entanglement, the D-Wave design is based on quantum tunneling. While this makes it less powerful, it is still ideal for complex calculations such as the "traveling salesman [...]
Quantum researchers have proposed a new model of time travel that may overcome paradoxes (such as going back in time and undoing something that causes an impossibility in your future — for example, preventing yourself from being born). The basic idea is that if you travel to your past you cannot interact with anything that [...]
A system for wireless quantum cryptography has been announced by BBN. This is curious: I wonder how they manage the key exchange? They could be using a laser, I suppose, but that would only be line of sight, or would require airborne reflectors. Another possibility would be the EPR effect, but if they actually built [...]
Significant new research findings indicate that a new ice age may be starting sooner than anyone expected…
CLIMATE change researchers have detected the
first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream — the mighty ocean current
that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing.
They have found that one of the “engines” driving the Gulf Stream —
the sinking [...]
There’s a very interesting event taking place at MIT tonight — the first (and only?) Time Traveler Convention. The organizers are inviting anyone in the future who is capable of time travel to travel back to the geo coordinates of this event (to be held at MIT) and attend it, along with proof that they [...]
These visualizations were produced at MIT — they look like modern art but are actually visualizations of electromagnetic fields. Pretty!
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This interesting abstract from CERN proposes a third form of matter that is between matter and antimatter: "unmatter." Interesting idea to track. It could have huge implications if confirmed.
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Many years ago I spoke with Will Wright — one of the most interesting visionaries I’ve met (and who happens to be the creator of Sim City) about his dream of a universe game — one in which the player could evolve life from the simple cellular level all the way up through galactic scale [...]
Watch the Simpsons version of the classic Powers of Ten film.
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