71248269
submission
quax writes:
Steve Wozniak maintained for a long time that true AI is relegated to the realm of science fiction. But recent advances in quantum computing have him reconsider his stance. Just like Elon Musk, he is now worried about what this development will mean for humanity. Will this kind of fear actually engender the dangers that these titans of industry fear? Will Steve Wozniak draw the same conclusion and invest in quantum comuting to keep an eye on the development? One of the bloggers in the field thinks that would be a logical step to take. If you can't beat'em, and the quantum AI is coming, you should at least try to steer the outcome.
56547727
submission
quax writes:
Mainstream media always follows the same kind of 'He said she said" template, that is why even climate change deniers get their say, although they are a tiny minority. The leading science journals on the other hand are expensive and behind pay-walls. But it turns out there are places on the web where you can follow science up close and personal: The many personal blogs written by scientists — and the conversation there is changing the very nature of scientific debate.
54808997
submission
quax writes:
Slashdot first reported on the Canadian start-up company that attempts piston powered nuclear fusion back in 2009. This new blog post takes a look at where they are now, and give some additional behind the scene info. For instance, a massive experimental rig for magnetized target fusion in the US is currently underutilized, because ITER's increasing cost absorbs all the public fusion research funding. Yet, because this Shiva Star device is located in an Air Force base, security restrictions prevent any meaningful cooperation with a none US company. Even if US researchers would love to rent this out in order to advance the science of magnetized target fusion, this is a no go.
Is this just security paranoia, or should the US preferably not use experimental facilities rather than allowing foreign companies to conduct experiments with them?
37930189
submission
quax writes:
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster the nuclear industry again faces massive opposition. Germany even decided to abandon nuclear energy altogether and the future of the industry is under a cloud of uncertainty in Japan. But one thing seems to be here to stay for a very, very long time: The radioactive waste that has half-lives measured in thousands of years.
But there is a technology under development in Belgium that could change all this: A sub-critical reactor design, driven by a particle accelerator that can transmute the nuclear waste into something that goes away within about two hundred years.
Could this lead to a revival of the nuclear industry and the reprocessing of spend reactor fuel?
37359785
submission
quax writes:
Bettina Wulff faces an uphill battle for her reputation. Her husband had to resign as Germany's president due to corruption allegations and has many detractors. Apparently some of them started a character assassination campaign against his wife. At least that is, if you trust serious journalists who looked into the matter and stated that it is made up. Unfortunately though for Bettina Wulff, the rumors took off on the Internet. Now whenever you enter her name Google suggest the additional search terms "prostitute" and "escort". Google refuses to alter its search index.
What do you think, should Google be allowed to destroy somebody's reputation like this?
37022591
submission
quax writes:
In school you probably learned that the decay rate of radioactive matter is solely determined by the halftime specific to the element. There is no environmental factor that can somehow tweak this process. At least there shouldn’t be. Now a second study confirmed previous findings that the decay rate of some elements seems to be under the subtle and mysterious influence of the sun. As of now there is no theoretical explanation for this strange effect buried in the decay rate data.
36001029
submission
quax writes:
Getting a scientific paper published that goes against the grain of conventional wisdom was never easy. Especially when it seems to contain an obvious glaring mistake. Fortunately despite already being some kind of pop celebrity with no shortage of fan mail, Einstein still opened letters he received from strangers. And this is how a trivial, fateful counting mistake was able to change the course of physics forever.
