Holographic messaging

Infographic with Leia describing holographic messaging

Continuing with the life imitating science fiction trend, hologram messaging is close to becoming reality. If you happen to have a Nature subscription, you can probably read more about it.

A University of Arizona team says it has devised a system that can make a holographic display appear in another place and update it in near real-time.

In other news, Princess Leia illustration used as infographic for serious article about scientific research.


Antimatter produced

Scientists at CERN have managed to produce and trap antimatter atoms.

Because matter and antimatter annihilate when they meet, the antihydrogen atoms have a very short life expectancy. This can be extended, however, by using strong and complex magnetic fields to trap them and thus prevent them from coming into contact with matter.

As life continues to emulate Star Trek, we are one step closer to solving all future problems by ejecting the warp core.


An article about a scientific paper

A brilliant sendup of half-assed newspaper articles about scientific papers.

In this paragraph I will state the main claim that the research makes, making appropriate use of “scare quotes” to ensure that it’s clear that I have no opinion about this research whatsoever.

In this paragraph I will briefly (because no paragraph should be more than one line) state which existing scientific ideas this new research “challenges”.


Space bomb

In the summer of 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in outer space. Apparently, they were trying to see if the Van Allen radiation belt could be used to attack a hostile nation.

In any case, says the science history professor, “this is the first occasion I’ve ever discovered where someone discovered something and immediately decided to blow it up.”

It was one of those scientific theories that had “good idea” written all over it.


Our matryoshka universe

Every black hole contains another universe? It’s possible that our universe is actually sitting inside the black hole of another universe and the black holes in our universe may lead to alternate realities.

According to a mind-bending new theory, a black hole is actually a tunnel between universes—a type of wormhole. The matter the black hole attracts doesn’t collapse into a single point, as has been predicted, but rather gushes out a “white hole” at the other end of the black one, the theory goes.



Living in a hologram

Our world may be a giant hologram.

Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface.

the 3D information about a precursor star can be completely encoded in the 2D horizon of the subsequent black hole – not unlike the 3D image of an object being encoded in a 2D hologram.

Mind blown, check back later (via justin).