O brave new quantum world!
Over at The World’s Fair, a challenge:
Anyway, this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What’s that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively. Then have a go at your own blog. If all goes well, I’d like to create a page at the Science Creative Quarterly, that collects (and links to) the good ones.
In an article on stopping a large spectrum of light with metamaterials in The Telegraph (research which is very cool, but isn’t available online, yet, as far as I can tell), I find some lines that would make the Optimizer go bonkers:
By contrast, the switches in a quantum computer can be both “on” and “off” at the same time. A “qubit” could do two calculations at once, two qubits would do four and so on. Thus, it was theoretically possible to use quantum computers to explore vast numbers of potential solutions to a problem simultaneously.
Ouch, my brain hurts.
Continue reading “Let This Quantum Computing Bastardization Pass?”
This morning I received a funny email from a graduate student here at UW, Nicholas Murphy, which made me laugh out loud (reproduced and linkified here with permission from Nicholas):
Subject: Times Higher Education Supplement rankings: a study in spin
http://www.topmba.com/fileadmin/pdfs/2007_Top_200_Compact.pdf
For entertainment purposes, the same news story from different university publications:
Harvard:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520741
Duke:
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/11/13/News/Duke-Stays.13.In.Thes.Rankings-3096978.shtml
Yale:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22370
Stanford (I particularly enjoy the terse, annoyed tone here, especially given the first comment):
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/11/13/briefStanfordRankingFallsFrom6thTo19th
BBC generally:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7083292.stm
To which I will gleefully add my own spin: the west coast of the US gets no respect, damnit!
Tonight I watched NOVA’s Judgement Day: Intelligent Design On Trial. Ah shucks, us quantum physicists never get to have so much fun (err, I mean, experience so much pain and deal with so much silliness) trying to defend our science. It’s not like, you know, there aren’t people who think quantum theory is wrong or that quantum theory is somehow related to the Vedic teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. So why is it that quantum theory (which after all is “just a theory” wink, wink, nod, nod) doesn’t illicit courtroom battles of such epic scope as the Dover trial?
Continue reading “I Am a Quantumist: Bring it On!”
Grad school opportunities, postdoc opportunities, interference experiments, more D-wave, and sabbatical at the Blackberry hole
Continue reading “Happenings in the Quantum World: Nov 13, 2007”
Okay, there are some weird plots in science papers out there, but something about this one (which Pak at scirate.com pointed me to), taken from arXiv:0711.1751 “Paleontological Tests: Human-like Intelligence is not a Convergent Feature of Evolution,” by Charles H. Lineweaver made me laugh:
Last night I went to the Seahawks/49ers game at Seattle’s spectacular Qwest field. While the field was spectacular, my SF 49ers were less than spectacular, losing the game 24-0. In fact they down right stunk. Ouch. Qwest field really is a rocking venue: I attended a game last year right after the league started investigating the Seahawks for pumping in noise over the speakers (which the team denied, and as far as I know no one has ever shown.) That game had the loudest crowd I have ever heard. Walking to the game from downtown Seattle you could hear the crowd from a huge distance away.
Last night’s game wasn’t quite as loud, but still the crowd was able to illicit multiple off-sides from the niners. More interestingly, and more disturbing I might add, I’m pretty sure the guy right behind me was yelling “I Love You!” throughout the second half whenever the crowd started making noise.
Continue reading “Love Songs at a Football Game”
D-wave systems, whose paracomputer
Continue reading “Life-Size Quantum Computers”
I’m fascinated by watching the developments in touch and movement based computer interfaces over the past few years. From the Apple iPhone to the Nintendo Wii, it seems that there is a great deal of excitement over these new interfaces. Nearly every week I see something interesting in this domain. Here, for example is a neat little video demoing how to do IR tracking with Nintendo Wii’s sensor and some IR reflecting tape on your fingers:
Here is the story of a seven year old (supposed) prodigy whose parents are looking for a university which will enroll him. I always find it interesting in these stories that such an emphasis is put on degrees and tests. It also reminds me of my high school math teacher who told us he could teach his six year old son to do calculus.