MPJ

Rarely do I get a chance and a real opportunity to revive an old article from the past and to update it to fit better in the present day. Actually, the quantum weirdness is still where it was four years ago—science is not something that changes over night, especially with quantum mechanics, so I am not going to update the post with any new physics or breakthroughs. Instead, what's new and what pushed me to repost today is one extraordinary novel in the field. The book that kept me from sleeping last weekend was "Quantum Space" by Douglas Phillips, and in short, it is by far one of the best titles I read this year. It is one of those true sci-fi stories that follows the real science and, in this case, the weirdness of the quantum world I wrote about in this post, and I would add one of those articles I enjoyed the most writing in the history of the blog. But, before a couple of my glimpses at the book itself, followed by my warm recommendation, and especially if you want t...

I have an old friend who couple of years ago made a decision to radically change his way of life. What he did is almost unreal for the rest of us. He simply stopped eating food we are all familiar with and instead he eats only fruits, vegetables and various grains and nuts. All that in its raw and natural form without any cooking, baking or frying. Of course as a practical man (he is a math teacher in my wife's school) he didn't do this over night and instead used methodical approach so his switch from "ordinary" food to this final stage of the most strict vegetarian diet possible lasted couple of years in order to adapt his organism better and to avoid potential dangers on the way. Contrary to other vegetarians I know he didn't do this because of some illness or because his organism is not capable of digesting meat and thermally processed food. Instead this was an act of free will and strong belief that he is doing a good thing. I strongly admire him for this and...

Do you know what is one significant difference between Uranus and all the other planets in Solar system? Unlike the other seven planets who, more or less, rotate in "normal" up-down position (or down-up in case of Venus), Uranus is quite abnormal. It's north-south pole rotational axis lies almost in ecliptic because it is tilted by 97.8 degrees and rotates in almost vertical direction toward the orbiting plane. In simple words, Uranus is one giant rolling ball where if you are located on its pole, you would be experiencing only one day and one night during 84 years long orbit while if you are settled near the equator, thanks to ultra-fast rotation time (for a giant planet) of 17 hours you would be experiencing fast switching between day and night and during both solstices the Sun would always be on the horizon. Thanks to this strange position of Uranus axis (probably due to some cosmic collision happened in early Solar system), the weather and climate on Uranus are always...

Recently, my five years old boy asked me the question I knew it would eventually come. The very question all parents are inevitably facing with, when the right time comes. With my son it came in the most simplest form: "What is God?" popped occasionally after tons of OMGs he heard everywhere in his realm of cartoons, video games, YouTube channels and TV shows. I wasn't prepared completely. I mean I had pretty good idea of how to explain mythical phenomenons, unknown and unexplainable tales and the very concept of belief, but I didn't know how to do it without destroying Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and other fairy tales he enjoys every year. To me, it's much too early for that age in life. It would only add disappointment and confusion and its better to leave it for little later. So I performed good and old evasive maneuvers and in a couple of curves succeeded in changing the topic and postponing the inevitable for the next time which will come probably sooner than I...

In the last post of the Beth's Q&A we tried to understand four basic forces and their corresponding particle carriers or bosons. With almost certain discovery of the Higgs boson physicist completed the search for this last mystery of the standard model and we now know how larger particles get their mass and how interact with each other. Now is the time to bring this story up one level and write about chemical elements representing basic 'lego' blocks of almost everything in the universe we currently comprehend. Hmm, everything but mysterious dark matter that we still don't have a clue what it's made of. Every now and again in media (mostly internet) we can read about how we all are made out of stars and other violent events in the universe dating back in time even so far in the past to the Big Bang itself. Following some of this articles Beth posted another idea for the thread and I am paraphrasing her thoughts: "I keep reading we are made from the ...

Starting with this post I would like to introduce something new to the blog. Something different and yet written in a similar fashion compared to my previous stories. This would be a new thread dedicated to science only with my own narration, style and write up. When I started with the blog year ago all I wanted is to have a place where I could be able to write my public thoughts, something that could give random reader a good description of me and my view to the world and beyond. That goes to both random readers, either one living in present day or the one reading this from some different point in future time. But now with this post I am trying to expand the blog a little bit further. I am still doing it off work and in my spare time but nevertheless it is always fun and inspirational for me. CMS Particle Detector The idea for the new thread I got after my post about human relations, genographic projects and conversation with my dear Facebook friend Beth Perry Steger. Genealo...