Has dark matter finally been detected? | The Guardian
Posted by lemiffe in Science on Dec 18th, 2009 | 0 commentsSo, has the time come? Have we discovered dark matter? This article from the Guardian seems to relate to such an idea. If this is true, it will surely be a breakthrough which will start a series of discoveries in the Scientific community.
For 80 years, it has eluded the finest minds in science. But tonight it appeared that the hunt may be over for dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance that accounts for three-quarters of the matter in the universe.
In a series of coordinated announcements at several US laboratories, researchers said they believed they had captured dark matter in a defunct iron ore mine half a mile underground. The claim, if confirmed next year, will rank as one the most spectacular discoveries in physics in the past century.
Tantalising glimpses of dark matter particles were picked up by highly sensitive detectors at the bottom of the Soudan mine in Minnesota, the scientists said.
Dan Bauer, head of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search CDMS, said the group had spotted two particles with all the expected characteristics of dark matter. There is a one in four chance that the result is due to some other effect in the underground detectors, Bauer told a seminar at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago.
Rumours that Bauers group was on the verge of making an announcement surfaced on physicists blogs a few weeks ago. Though tentative, tonights results triggered an immediate wave of excitement in the science community.
“If they have a real signal, its a seriously big deal. The scale on which people are looking for dark matter is vast,”
via Has dark matter finally been detected? | Science | The Guardian.
Weekly Highlights (13/12/2009)
Posted by lemiffe in Art, Life, Photography, Weekly Highlights on Dec 13th, 2009 | 0 comments
This is a photograph from last Monday, the 7th of December, near Glasgow City Centre. I fancied a bit of a walk after work through George Square and this is what I found. People everywhere, not as many as in the Christmas Fair in Edinburgh, but quite a few people enjoying themselves equally as good..
This is a photograph of my visit to Livingston, a small town just a wee bit west from Edinburgh. It is mostly residential, and according to the taxi driver the tallest building is probably a car park in the city centre, apart from that the only “grand” thing on High Street is the shopping mall. Mind you, they have around 5 or 6 industrial parks, which is why Livingston is so frequently visited.
This photograph is from today, the 13th of December, upon North Bridge at about 3:45PM… just before the sun went down. I love the Edinburgh fair, however much I distaste enormous crowds trying to walk in all possible directions. I also caught a cold and sore throat today, but that’s not enough to prevent me from uploading these photos from the week!
Hope you liked them! More next week (Obviously) hehe.
Learning about: Time Lapse? Stop Motion?
Posted by lemiffe in Art, Learning, Life, Movies on Dec 13th, 2009 | 0 commentsFirst of all a disclaimer: No I am not going to teach you how to do time lapse and stop motion in this video, although I feel tempted to actually practise a bit with both.
As previously stated I have begun with my first session of progressive learning. I started with formulating a question that I had:
What is the difference between Time Lapse and Stop Motion?
I then proceeded to dedicate 15 minutes of my time to investigating and developing a conclusion which I will post here.
What is Time Lapse?
A video or animation consisting of frames separated by a fixed time interval. For example: A video of the sky in which a frame is taken every x amount of seconds.
What is Stop Motion?
A video or animation in which every frame is taken without consideration for the time interval between frames. For example: You can take a picture of a man in one position, and the following frame could be taken 15 minutes later, or 30 minutes later, and the following could be the following day.
Thanks to Andy for a great site on Time Lapse and Stop Motion. This concludes my learning for today.
Science goes back to basics on AI (BBC News)
Posted by lemiffe in A.I. on Dec 10th, 2009 | 0 commentsScience goes back to basics on AI
Robots are widely used but few are considered intelligent
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun a project to re-think artificial intelligence research.
The Mind Machine Project will return to the basics of AI research to re-examine what lies behind human intelligence.
Spanning five years and funded by a $5m (£3.1m) grant, it will bring together scientists who have had success in distinct fields of AI.
By uniting researchers, MIT hopes to produce robotic companions smart enough to aid those suffering from dementia.
“Essentially, we want to rewind to 30 years ago and revisit some ideas that had gotten frozen,” said Neil Gershenfeld, one of the scientists leading the MMP and director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms.
Weekly Highlights (06/12/2009)
Posted by lemiffe in Life, Photography, Weekly Highlights on Dec 7th, 2009 | 0 comments
St. Andrew’s celebrations have come and gone, but not without a mad bagpiper frenzy. Different clans gathered in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, starting near the church and ending in the Castle’s esplanade where they all played Scotland’s national anthem and then departed. A joyful moment indeed.
This is the view that I get each morning while waiting for the bus. It looks a bit better in real life but my camera lacks depth-of-field. It’s rather relaxing to see the sun come up with such beautiful colours.
OK, this was something that totally freaked me out, somewhat. Seagulls in the middle of the city, they seemed really lost. They were weaving in and out, hovering just above cars, touching the ground and flying off just as another car approached, circling aimlessly, merely avoiding being splattered.
I have no clue if this tends to happen, so can anyone in a coastal city tell me if it is normal for seagulls to get lost and mess about amidst traffic?
