Lifeboat Foundation

What would happen if an electric current no longer flowed, but trickled instead? This was the question investigated by researchers working with Christian Ast at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. Their investigation involved cooling their scanning tunnelling microscope down to a fifteen thousandth of a degree above absolute zero. At these extremely low temperatures, the electrons reveal their quantum nature. The electric current is therefore a granular medium, consisting of individual particles. The electrons trickle through a conductor like grains of sand in an hourglass, a phenomenon that can be explained with the aid of quantum electrodynamics.

Flowing water from a tap feels like a homogeneous medium – it is impossible to distinguish between the individual water molecules. Exactly the same thing is true about electric current. So many electrons flow in a conventional cable that the current appears to be homogeneous. Although it is not possible to distinguish individual electrons, quantum mechanics says they should exist. So how do they behave? Under which conditions does the current not flow like water through a tap, but rather trickles like sand in an hourglass?

For the first time ever, laser physicists have recorded an internal atomic event with an accuracy of a trillionth of a billionth of a second.

When light strikes electrons in atoms, their states can change unimaginably quickly. Laser physicists at LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have now measured the duration of such a phenomenon – namely that of photoionization, in which an electron exits a helium atom after excitation by light – for the first time with zeptosecond precision. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a a second (10−21 s). This is the first absolute determination of the timescale of photoionization, and the degree of precision achieved is unprecedented for a direct measurement of the interaction of light and matter.

When a light particle (photon) interacts with the two electrons in a helium atom, the changes take place not only on an ultra-short timescale, but quantum mechanics also comes into play. Its rules dictate that either the entire energy of the photon is absorbed by one of the electrons, or the energy is distributed between them. Regardless of the mode of energy transfer, one electron is ejected from the helium atom. This process is called photoemission, or the photoelectric effect, and was discovered by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the last century. In order to observe what occurs, you need a camera with an incredibly fast shutter speed: The whole process, from the point at which the photon interacts with the electrons to the instant when one of the electrons leaves the atom, takes between 5 and 15 attoseconds (1 as is 10–18 seconds) as physicists have worked out in recent years.

Continue reading “A Zeptosecond Stopwatch for The Microcosm” »

Tune in tomorrow (Thursday, Nov 10, 2016) at 4:30PM Eastern. Find out what Edward Snowden has to say on the future of the US. _{[Source: StartPage via Engadget]}

Continue reading “Edward Snowden will discuss Trump & privacy: Nov 10th” »

One of the highlights this year was the SENS RB2016 conference which was live streamed and is available to watch right now if you missed if the first time around. Three days of exciting biotechnology smile

Although the event itself was invitation-only, our free live stream allowed viewers from 62 countries to enjoy a broad range of presentations on the emerging rejuvenation biotechnology industry and SRF’s critical role in driving forward the clinical translation of truly effective medicine for age-related disease.

Don’t worry if you missed it, though — the streamed videos remain available here!

Continue reading “Rejuvenation Biotechnology 2016” »

Mitochondria — the structures within cells mostly known for converting nutrients into usable energy — may play a larger and more direct role in the aging process than previously thought, according to USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Assistant Professor David Lee.

In addition to powering cells, mitochondria serve important roles in coordinating metabolism, Lee said. And evidence has shown that mitochondria — which have their own smaller genome separate from the larger collection of genes in a cell’s nucleus — lose function and accrue DNA damage during the aging process, reflecting a role in aging.

In trying to determine how the mitochondria are involved in aging, many researchers have studied the signals sent from the nucleus to the mitochondria and how they change with age. However, Lee theorizes that communication between the cell’s powerhouse and its control center may be taking place in both directions, with signaling molecules originally coded in the mitochondrial DNA regulating the nucleus and causing changes that affect key cellular factors of aging, such as metabolism.

On October 5th 2016, Ranga Dias and Isaac F. Silvera of Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard University released the first experimental evidence that solid metallic hydrogen has been synthesized in the laboratory.

It took 495 GPa pressure to create. The sample is being held in the cryostat in liquid nitrogen.

If as predicted by theory the metallic hydrogen remains metastable when the extreme pressure is removed then the world will eventually be greatly changed.

Continue reading “IF solid metallic hydrogen is a really good room temperature superconductor” »

If your political conversations on social media seem mechanical and predictable, it might be because you are debating with a robot.

A study published the day before the election found an estimated 400,000 bots operating on Twitter that were tweeting—and being retweeted—at a remarkable pace, generating nearly 20 percent of all election-related messages.

US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance mental skills of staff, in research that aims to boost the performance of air crews, drone operators and others in the armed forces’ most demanding roles.

The successful tests of the devices pave the way for servicemen and women to be wired up at critical times of duty, so that electrical pulses can be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high pressure situations.

The brain stimulation kits use five electrodes to send weak electric currents through the skull and into specific parts of the cortex. Previous studies have found evidence that by helping neurons to fire, these minor brain zaps can boost cognitive ability.

Continue reading “US military successfully tests electrical brain stimulation to enhance staff skills” »

““The School of Humanities and Sciences is systematically re-thinking how we teach entry-level courses in the sciences,” said Richard P. Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, during opening remarks for the event. “Half of all freshman enrollments in Stanford are in beginning-level sciences and math. We have tremendous impact by raising the level of teaching in these areas.””

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