Friday Fragments - Quantum Lasers using Teamwork?

After about a month hiatus the Friday Fragments are back.  For those of you who are new to my site, the Friday Fragments are just a collection of interesting stories and links that usually are centered around science but can offer a wide arrange of info.  Enjoy!

-First, my shameless "Plug of the Week."  The Bucket List is a new blog that my friend Rob started to document his experiences trying to complete his baseball bucket list. It's the off-season now but head on over, slap a bookmark on it, and check it out from time to time if you're a baseball/sports fan.  It may inspire you do check off a few items on your bucket list as well.

-Fun with Lasers and Balloons!  Always love a good laser video, but wait and see what happens when they pull out the white balloon!




-Now while the jury is still out on the whole breaking the speed of light theory, scientists have recently published a paper about the quantum speed limit (which I thought would be the same as the speed light but once again quantum mechanics throws me a curve ball).  If you like physics, read this quick summary of their findings.


-This kid got lost inside a computer....granted it was in the 1950's when computers took up the size of whole rooms but still.


-This week I came across a small article about pharmacies and the controversial Plan B birth control.  A new study has found that some pharmacists are taking the moral issue into their own hands and not allowing girls of legal age to buy the emergency contraceptive (17 years or older) even when they have some in stock.  Now whether or not you agree with Plan B and whether it is morally and ethically alright, pharmacists do NOT have the right to deny someone of a medicine if they are legally allowed to purchase it.  I'm just saying!


-I hope you're all ready for the massive solar storm coming our way.  Wait, it's happening as we speak.  That's right, one of the largest solar storms in the last decade is bombarding our planet right now and fortunately nothing major has been affected.  Unless you are traveling in space or use precision GPS (down to the foot) for your job, you probably wouldn't notice the effects at all.


-I'll leave you with one of the best displays of teamwork...

All this work just to play the Demo of Mario Kart 7?  Worth it!

Friday Fragments (7/15/11)

Well, it's that time of the week again folks! Do you ever have one of the weeks that seems to have a crazy flow and ebb like a roller coaster? That was my week in a nutshell, but I did get some really interesting micrographs of my new model drug and I hope to share a couple pictures with you, but I need to get approval before I put them up on the web.  Anyway, here are my favorite links of the week...

The trachea grown from a person's stem cells and successfully
transplanted into the patient.

-Scientists in Sweden have successfully grown the first "organ" from a patients own stem cells.  I say "organ" because it is actually the patients trachea, which isn't an organ by itself, but it is a huge step forward. I remember sitting in a lecture hall at Indianapolis my junior year in high school during a field trip for my AP Biology.  A visiting professor gave a 4 hour lecture about Biomedical Engineering and he described how they were growing ears in petri-dishes!  He said the technology was still ten years away at best and here we are 6 years later, did I  mention this is big news!

-Here is a video of a pretty cool optical illusion...of women's faces, enjoy!

-Another video, this time of a guy playing the guitar from inside the guitar.  The strings seem to bounce around in crazy designs, but it's just the rolling shutter of the iPhone.  The camera not the guy is inside the guitar (I know you were thinking it).

Euthanasia Coaster [wikipedia.org]
That's a 1600 foot drop and 7 loops!

-I went to King's Island a few week back and really enjoyed just riding roller coasters instead of blowing my money of carnival games because I was too scared to ride the coasters.  Anyway, I had heard of a new coaster which hopefully will just intrigue you but might also offend you.  It's a concept coaster named "The Euthanasia Coaster" because it kills all of it's passengers.  Yep, it is designed as a form of capital punishment. Basically it makes up blackout then kills you from oxygen deprivation.  Here is an article, and here is the wikipedia page.

-These kilobots from Harvard University are both really cool and a little disturbing because they could eventually rule the world.  And they cost $14 each!

-Earlier this week the space shuttle Discovery had it's last launch and I spent a good half hour looking at space shuttle stuff on the web.  Here's the best link, a 360 panoramic view of the cockpit.  See if you can find the duct-tape job that I could have engineered as a 12 year old! I also think that regardless of what the next space rocket is going to be, it better have a cockpit that at the very least looks like it's from this millennium.

Until next week!

Friday Fragments

Last week I published a post on "Quick Random Thoughts."  I liked the idea of weekly putting together a bunch of little stories that I like.  So I introduce to the world my...Friday Fragments!

1) Movies!  The new Aliens prequel title was released (Paradise) and it was announced that it will being shooting next March.  I would like to see a new Aliens movie since Alien vs. Predator 2:Requiem was soooo good!  Next, the first trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and it features the famous Purdue astronaut, Neil Armstrong.  Check it out!



Lastly, I found a viral movie called The Tunnel.  It looks a bit like a crossed between Blair Witch and Cloverfield.  And it's only going to be released on torrents (which I despise).  However, I'm intrigued and will decide whether to get the movie once more trailers are out.  Oh and Inception is out on DVD!

2) Private Space Flight took some major steps forward as of late.  The Dragon Spacecraft became the first privately operated ship to reach orbit AND return to earth safely.  Owned by SpaceX, this is the future of space exploration since the Space Shuttle is retiring.  I will be working on a full write up with my opinions on the subject over the Holidays.

3) I believe there is a Boilermaker curse upon us.  Even the invincible Chris Kramer has suffered a knee injury in his first season with the NBA D-league Ft. Wayne Mad Ants.  This whole knee injury stuff is just getting annoying now!

4) And lastly...an 11-year old who can dunk.

I hope everyone enjoys the first Friday Fragments.