Super fast quantum computers one step closer

Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an significant development in electrically controlling quantum states of electrons, a step that could help in the development of quantum computing, and lead to first super computers. What the researchers from Santa Barbara done was that they demonstrated the ability to electrically manipulate, at gigahertz rates, the quantum states of electrons trapped on individual defects in diamond crystals.

So what this has to do with computers? Well these guys believe that this is an important step to development of quantum computers that could use electron spins to perform computations at unprecedented speed.

For their experiment, the scientists used electromagnetic waveguides on diamond-based chips, and with it they were able to generate magnetic fields large and powerful enough to change the quantum state of an atomic-scale defect in less than one billionth of a second.

Lead author Greg Fuchs, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSB, said: "We set out to see if there is a practical limit to how fast we can manipulate these quantum states in diamond, and eventually, we reached the point where the standard assumptions of magnetic resonance no longer hold, but to our surprise we found that we actually gained an increase in operation speed by breaking the conventional assumptions".

It is pretty amazing that researchers can already electrically control the quantum state of just a few atoms at gigahertz rates, which ares speeds speeds similar to ones we have at our computer at home. Of course scientists still have to learn lot of things about controlling the quantum systems but at least they are going in the right direction, and who knows with little luck we may soon witness the first quantum supercomputer.

Read more...

Are there any benefits of excessive carbon dioxide emissions?

Climate change problem caused by excessive carbon dioxide emissions due to heavy industrialization and dependence on fossil fuels to satisfy current energy demand is something that only looks to be extremely negative, something that will push world towards the big environmental disaster in form of floods, drought, hunger, hurricanes, sea level rise, brand new diseases, etc. The concentration of atmospheric CO2 has already increased by about 30% since the beginning of the industrial revolution, and carbon emissions are still not slowing down. While there is almost no doubt in scientific community how excessive carbon emissions can only cause great damage in the long run, there are also some very rarely mentioned short term benefits of excessive carbon emissions.

The greatest benefit of excessive carbon emissions is definitely the faster growth of the forests and plants, basically the most simplified concept looks something like "the more carbon emissions we release in the atmosphere the faster will forests and plants grow". During the famous photosynthesis process, plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to create food, but as the plant dies and decays, CO2 gets released back into the atmosphere. To keep this trend positive we need to make sure to have more plants that are growing compared to the ones that are dying. However, it also has to be said that there is much bigger possibility that at some point carbon emissions will surely become too excessive, and plants won't be able to handle CO2 on desired way meaning more plants will die than grow. Because of this we must do everything that is in our power not to make carbon emissions too excessive for plants to handle. This is very difficult to do since nobody doesn't know the maximum limit of carbon emissions that plants can handle.

Some latest studies have shown that climate change is causing the growth spurt of the tress, and especially encouraging is the fact that some of the oldest trees on Earth grow faster thanks to higher carbon emissions, and as some of you know older trees absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere than their younger relatives. However there is also the downside to this phenomenon, namely that the faster growth means also the faster death of the trees; this is really not so surprising when you look at some reports that say how for instance bristlecone pines have grown faster in the past 50 years than they have in 3.7 millennia before.

Some scientists however do not see the sooner dying of these trees as the negative impact on climate change because they believe how this fast growth has potential to fertilize forests enabling many other trees and plants better conditions to grow, so is definitely a good sign to see these ancient trees kicking into life once again. In any case it is still to early to say whether benefits outweigh negatives in this whole story. Perhaps with more research we'll know the answer.

Ancient trees has certain benefits from excessive carbon emissions .

Read more...

What does the surface of Sun look like?

The Sun, gigantic central star in our solar system that enables life on our planet has always been fascinating topic to many scientists around the globe. Gigantic size, and extreme temperatures are two main characteristics our Sun is famous for but how you ever wondered what does the surface of the Sun look like? Here are some rather interesting data you might not know.

First of all Sun has grainy surface structure which is the result of different gases that rise and sink. On the ground, dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart up, and all is guided by strong magnetic fields. The Sun appears to be yellow from our planet but actually the color of the Sun is white, it only appears yellow to us because of atmospheric scattering.

The Sun, unlike Earth and other rocky planets, does not have a definite boundary, and in its outer parts the density of its gases drops approximately exponentially with increasing distance from its center. The visible surface of the sun is called photosphere. Temperature at Sun's surface are in average around 5800 K, and the coldest places on Sun have temperatures around 3800 K (sunspots).

Sunspots that can even have diameter up to 50,000 km are significantly cooler regions at the surface of the Sun that have something to do with variations in magnetic field, though the exact reasons for sunspots have not yet been explained.

Though photosphere is usually referred to as the Sun's surface it has to be said that is actually not exactly right because the Sun's photosphere is nothing but some form of liquid plasma layer made of neon that covers the actual surface of the sun.

The Sun photosphere covers the actual surface of the Sun because photosphere is extremely bright, and therefore able to cover the darker, more rigid Sun's surface. The actual surface layer of the Sun would be probably best described as the calcium-ferrite surface layer.

Many things that happen on the Sun, are still great mystery to scientists, and science has only explained some of them, while other Sun's mysteries still wait to be answered. The thing about Sun that occupies scientists the most is Sun's magnetic field, that is not only extremely powerful, but also operates highly complicated, opening door for many different scientific theories and thesis.

Read more...

What is the origin of water on our planet?

Water is the most precious resource on our planet, a key ingredient together with air for development of all life on Earth, in fact even our bodies are mostly water so when you think about it you have to ask yourself a question what is the origin of all this immense amount water in our planet, and how were our oceans formed.

If we go way back in the past, around 4.5 billion years ago, we could see the Earth was bequeathed with sufficient water for oceans to form and for life to find favorable areas in the seas and on the continents that resulted from plate tectonics. But how did water arrive on our planet and filled this gigantic oceans?

The most accepted theory suggests that oceans were formed from vapors emitted during intense volcanism that happened at the time when our planet appeared in endless space. According to this theory both the ocean as well as the atmosphere were formed from volcanic gases that originated in Earth's interior. According to this theory water was key part of Earth's initial inventory, but not all scientists believe in this theory. There are some scientists like Francis Albarède of the Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre that believe how water in fact came much later on our planet from the turbulence caused in the outer Solar System by giant planets. According to his theory the ice-covered asteroids thus reached the Earth one hundred million years after the birth of the planets.

The water on our planet could even have extraterrestrial origin.

This would of course mean that the origin of water on our planet is extraterrestrial,and could have arrived on our planet much later than dominant theories believe it had. The main thesis of his theory is that during the formation of the Solar System, the temperature between the Sun and the orbit of Jupiter never dropped enough for volatile elements to be able to condense with planetary material. The arrival of water on Earth therefore has to correspond to a later episode in Earth's history.

The water on our planet could have its origin in a space phenomenon that happened some tens of millions of years after the lunar impact, namely the big clean up of the outer Solar System initiated by many giant planets. These planets had very strong gravity, and so were able to sent the final ice-rich planetary bodies in all directions, including the direction of our planet.

These ice-rich planetary bodies then penetrated into the mantle through the surface and so the plate tectonics began creating continents surrounded by vast oceans. This theory would even explained why there is no life on Mars because Mars probably Mars dried out before water managed to penetrate in depth.

In any case this theory is rather interesting, and what ever caused water to flow on our planet enabled something to our planet that no other planet in Solar system has, it enabled Earth to harbor life.

Read more...

Science facts about quantum mechanics and quantum particles

Quantum mechanics is basically set of different principles that describes the physical reality of the matter at atomic and subatomic level. Its origin is quantum theory that began with the study of the interactions of matter and radiation in the early years of the 20th century. Quantum theory is all about the exploring the nature of the matter by exploring its tiniest pieces (subatomic level).

Planck's constant is very important to quantum theory and quantum mechanics in general. It states that the energy of each quantum is equal to the frequency of the radiation multiplied by the universal constant: E=f*h, where h is 6.63 * 10E-34 Js.

Quantum mechanics can be referred to as the mathematical description of physical reality of the matter, like almost any other scientific model. According to quantum mechanics the most complete description we can make of a system is its wavefunction, which is mathematically speaking just a number varying between time and place.

Read more...

Fascinating science facts about Mars

Mars has extremely low temperatures, and frequent out of this world dust storms that are the biggest in our Solar system.

Martian dust storms occur every two to four Mars years are so powerful that they can cover the whole planet with dust for months.

In winter, the temperatures at the Mars' poles can go down to -140°C (-220 degrees Fahrenheit), these temperatures are so called that even carbon dioxide freezes.

The most difficult problem to any future human mission to Mars is to ensure reliable radio communication because Sun often blocks communication between Earth and Mars.

Read more...

Army ants - Interesting facts

The name "army ants" refers to over 200 ant species characterized by huge numbers of ants foraging simultaneously over a certain area, attacking prey in vast numbers.

Unlike most ant species, army ants do not construct permanent nests. They usually move from one place to another.

Army ants are usually antagonistic to each other, attacking soldiers from rival colonies in border disputes that keep the army ant colonies separate from each other.

The big boss of the army ant colony is the large ant queen who produces the eggs from which all of the colony's ants are born.

Army ants colonies consists of queen, workers, and soldiers.

Army ants queen mates only once in her lifetime.

Read more...

Why is it good to have plants in your office?

Why is it good to have plants in your office? This is not just the matter of aesthetics but also the very important health matter, especially helpful against indoor air pollution. Many people are not aware that indoor air pollution is significant problem across the globe. In fact according to World Health Organization (WHO) indoor air pollution is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths each year. Indoor air pollution can emanate from many different sources such as paints, varnishes, furnishings, clothing, solvents, building materials, tap water, etc. Simple plants can be excellent ally in fight against indoor air pollution.

Read more...

Hybrid cars facts

Hybrid car is like its name suggests a car that uses more than one power sources to move the vehicle (usually two-combination of an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors).

Hybrid cars have very expensive parts but they also have long lasting warranties that usually provide replacement of the most expensive parts if they get broken before the warranty is over.

Hybrid cars are recommended from environmental point of view because they emit significantly less emissions compared to conventional gasoline cars.

Hybrid cars have significantly higher fuel efficiency compared to conventional cars.

Currently the three most popular hybrid vehicles are Honda Civic, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius.

Read more...