PARTY(cle) TIME! (Higgs Boson News)

The scientific community is all excited about the most recent development in the search for the Higgs boson particle.

To celebrate this historic moment, I've collected a few links and videos related to the Higgs-boson particle.

Wikipedia on Higgs boson

Wikipedia on Peter Higgs

BBC News on the Higgs-boson-like particle discovery at LHC

Scientific American on Higgs boson and String Theory

Meanwhile, composer Domenico Vicinanza has written musical scores based on the data graph from CERN to come up with a musical piece on what quarks may sound like.

But not everyone is over-joyed.

Professor Stephen Hawking apparently lost a $100 bet on the discovery of the HBP. Tsk tsk tsk...

And of course, a final word on the Higgs boson from my favorite theoretical physicist, Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

Meteor Shower...

Gonna try to catch the Geminids meteor shower in a few minutes... Hoping the clouds clear up...

Gimme A Hand

Been reading up on the latest bionic/prosthetic tech available today.  Aside from Össur's Power Knee, another company, BeBionic has the coolest bionic hand.

There are various battery, skin, and interface options.  It's controlled by your body's electrical impulses so, essentially it works like your regular hand.  Very Star Wars.

I Coulda Gone Pro If It Wasn't For My Bum Knee

Össur, a company that specializes in artificial limbs, has one of the most advanced artificial knees available (availability might be a stretch, since they are not readily available)

The next generation Power Knee is on of the most advanced above-knee prosthetics today.  Adaptive technology allows the knee to adjust to the users actions and provides powered motion for walking and provides necessary power on inclines and stairs.

The technology built into the knee itself seems to be self contained.  A bunch of sensors and processors calculate what the user is doing and lets the knee adapt.  It doesn't seem to take instructions from nerve endings or synaptic activity, but is still impressive nonetheless.

A segue from the Segway...

I don't really know how helpful the Segway has actually been to modern civilization... perhaps a step closer to the future as told by Pixar in Wall-E?  Maybe we really don't need our legs anymore?  But I guess the boys at Honda thought the Segway wasn't stylish enough.

Who needs a Porsche???

Imagine you and your date taking a stro...er... roll down the beach in a pair of these...

Tech Trivia: Transparent Aluminum? That's So Yesterday!

Today's Tech Gospel is about Graphene.  Made up of carbon... you know... that thing that makes up all known living things... diamonds... and your #2 pencil?

I don't know how many geeks actually read my blog, but to the few that do... I'm sure you all know the famous scene in the 1986 movie, Star Trek IV, that shows Scotty 'inventing' the formula for "Transparent Aluminum".  A fictional future material that is supposedly as transparent as glass, but as strong as aluminum.

Fast forward to 2008 when the US Military was experimenting with ALON, a transparent aluminum ceramic that is used as military armor and can withstand 50 cal anti-tank rounds.  Due to cost restrictions (I think it costs about $20,000/m²), the military has decided against this amazing armor plating.  ALON exhibits very similar properties to the fictional "futuristic" material in the Star Trek movie.

Fast forward a little more to 2010, when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov win the Nobel Prize in Physics for Graphene.  (It was actually discovered in 2004, but the recent breakthrough was in its fabrication process.)

This wonder material is hundreds of times stronger than steel... 97% transparent... exhibits better electrical and heat conductive properties than copper... is flexible... and is virtually indestructible (although this is a slight exaggeration, it has a Velcro-like property that allows it to pseudo-heal itself on a molecular level so quickly that it appears to not be damaged at all) ... and unlike the former ALON, Graphene is cheap to produce.  And this is not a It-will-be-cheap-sometime-in-the-future... it's actually cheap to produce NOW.

It's applications include everything from military armor, low-cost/high capacity batteries, computers, solar cells, flexible touchscreens, high-strength windows, and recyclable lighting.