Lifeboat Foundation

Older, but interesting…

Under the hypothesis that ordinary matter is ultimately made of subelementary constitutive primary charged entities or ‘‘partons’’ bound in the manner of traditional elementary Planck oscillators (a time-honored classical technique), it is shown that a heretofore uninvestigated Lorentz force (specifically, the magnetic component of the Lorentz force) arises in any accelerated reference frame from the interaction of the partons with the vacuum electromagnetic zero-point field (ZPF). Partons, though asymptotically free at the highest frequencies, are endowed with a sufficiently large ‘‘bare mass’’ to allow interactions with the ZPF at very high frequencies up to the Planck frequencies. This Lorentz force, though originating at the subelementary parton level, appears to produce an opposition to the acceleration of material objects at a macroscopic level having the correct characteristics to account for the property of inertia. We thus propose the interpretation that inertia is an electromagnetic resistance arising from the known spectral distortion of the ZPF in accelerated frames. The proposed concept also suggests a physically rigorous version of Mach’s principle. Moreover, some preliminary independent corroboration is suggested for ideas proposed by Sakharov (Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 177, 70 (1968) [Sov. Phys. Dokl. 12, 1040 (1968)]) and further explored by one of us [H. E. Puthoff, Phys. Rev. A 39, 2333 (1989)] concerning a ZPF-based model of Newtonian gravity, and for the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass as dictated by the principle of equivalence.

DARPA taking on the designer viruses and resistant fighting viruses that we hate. Who knows; they may finally find the fountain of youth in the process.

Vaccines are great, but they’re no match for most viruses in play at any given time. This is due largely in part to the ever-changing nature of viruses and the expense and difficulty in developing new vaccines to target them. DARPA wants that reality to change, citing the numerous concerning viruses, past and present, that affect humanity. Under the “INTERCEPT” program, DARPA seeks “shape-shifting” vaccines that adapt to kill off viruses as they evolve.

One of the biggest virus scares at the moment is the zika virus, but ebola was just recently a big issue and other viruses, including influenza and dengue, are a continuous problem. Once someone is infected, the virus is able to “mutate and morph as they reproduce inside their hosts,” says DARPA, making any vaccines quickly obsolete. If the agency’s new INTERfering and Co-Evolving Prevention and Therapy (INTERCEPT) program proves successful, though, things will change in a big way.

Continue reading “DARPA wants ‘shape-shifting’ vaccines that evolve with viruses” »

Along with equipment and supplies for the astronauts, the rocket was supposed to deliver several scientific experiments, including one Grattoni and his team spent five years perfecting: a study of how drug-like particles disperse through 100 tiny channels etched in a dime-sized microchip. […] it hit him: the rocket — and his work — was gone. Led by Grattoni, the center has secured coveted approval to conduct several experiments in coming years aboard the $100 billion space station, where scientists can exploit the lack of gravity about 200 miles above the Earth’s surface to perform studies they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to do on Earth.

Another reason for being in east TN this month.

Genevieve Martin/ORNL This rendering illustrates the excitation of a spin liquid on a honeycomb lattice using neutrons. As with many other liquids, it is difficult to see a spin liquid unless it is “splashed,” in this case by neutrons depicted as moving balls. The misaligned and vibrating spin pair in the middle signifies the ephemeral Majorana fermion constantly in motion. The ripples formed when the neutrons hit the spin liquid represent the excitations that are a signature of the Majorana fermions. The atomic structure on the left signifies the honeycomb alpha-ruthenium trichloride, in which each ruthenium atom has a spin and is surrounded by a cage of chlorine atoms.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and UT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Physics and Astronomy used neutrons to uncover novel behavior in materials that holds promise for quantum computing.

Continue reading “ORNL, UT Team Up on Breakthrough That Could Aid Quantum Computing” »

Very cool.

For more than a decade, biomedical researchers have been looking for better ways to deliver cancer-killing medication directly to tumors in the body. Tiny capsules, called nanoparticles, are now being used to transport chemotherapy medicine through the bloodstream, to the doorstep of cancerous tumors. But figuring out the best way for the particles to get past the tumor’s “velvet rope” and enter the tumor is a challenge scientists are still working out. Drexel University researchers believe that the trick to gaining access to the pernicious cellular masses is to give the nanoparticles a new look—and that dressing to impress will be able to get them past the tumor’s biological bouncers.

Targeted cancer therapy is most effective when the medication is released as close as possible to the interior of a tumor, to increase its odds of penetrating and killing off cancerous cells. The challenge that has faced cancer researchers for years is making a delivery vehicle that is sturdy enough to safely get the medication through the bloodstream to tumors—which is no smooth ride—but is also lithe enough to squeeze through the tumor’s dense extra cellular space—a matrix stuffed with sugars called hyaluronic acid.

Continue reading “Dressed to kill: Tailoring a suit for tumor-penetrating cancer meds” »

Nanostructured samples and materials can be efficiently and reliable characterized using Anton Paar’s SAXSpace small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SWAXS) system. Users can obtain the size, shape, and size distribution of nano-sized samples and particle domains with the help of the SAXSpace. The device is ideally suited for the analysis of colloidal, biological (Bio-SAXS), and isotropic samples.

The SWAXS system also has a wide selection of accurate and versatile sample stages to meet each SAXS application. Easy handling and automatic alignment facilitate smooth operation. With the unique combination of robust design, short measurement time, and high system uptime, the device not only provides superior WAXS or SAXS results but also ensures high sample throughput. These capabilities make SAXSpace ideally suited to explore nanostructure in various materials, including surfactants, pharmaceuticals, proteins, foods, polymers, and nanoparticles.

Key Features

Continue reading “High-Resolution, SWAXS Characterisation of Nanostructures and Nanomaterials with the SAXSpace” »

University of Oregon physicists have combined light and sound to control electron states in an atom-like system, providing a new tool in efforts to move toward quantum-computing systems.

The work was done on diamond topped with a layer of zinc oxide containing electrical conductors and performed at a temperature of 8 degrees Kelvin (−445.27 Fahrenheit, −265.15 Celsius) — just above absolute zero.

Using sound waves known as surface acoustic waves to change electron states could foster data transfer between quantum bits, the researcher said. The interaction of qubits, as is the case with binary bits in current computing, is seen as vital in building advanced systems.

In an international first, a research team of experimental physicists has measured long-range magnetic interactions between ultracold particles confined in an optical lattice. Their work introduces a new control knob to quantum simulation.

The theoretical results of a piece of international research published in Nature, whose first author is Ion Errea, a researcher at the UPV/EHU and DIPC, suggest that the quantum nature of hydrogen (in other words, the possibility of it behaving like a particle or a wave) considerably affects the structural properties of hydrogen-rich compounds (potential room-temperature superconducting substances). This is in fact the case of the superconductor hydrogen sulphide: a stinking compound that smells of rotten eggs, which when subjected to pressures a million times higher than atmospheric pressure, behaves like a superconductor at the highest temperature ever identified. This new advance in understanding the physics of high-temperature superconductivity could help to drive forward progress in the search for room-temperature superconductors, which could be used in levitating trains or next-generation supercomputers, for example.

Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with zero electrical resistance. Conventional or low-temperature ones behave that way only when the substance is cooled down to temperatures close to absolute zero (−273 °C o 0 degrees Kelvin). Last year, however, German researchers identified the high-temperature superconducting properties of hydrogen sulphide which makes it the superconductor at the highest temperature ever discovered: −70 °C or 203 K.