Are dental drills a thing of the past?

There is no sound more full of memories than the dentist's drill. The noise is unique and linked in our memories to at least discomfort, and in many cases actual pain. But new technology may finally make that noise a thing of the past, replacing it with "cold plasma".

The benefits are huge. The drill is not only loud, but it’s extremely invasive and damaging, and can actually cause more problems then it solves. Researchers have discovered a way to make something called “cold plasma” which will actually sterilize a tooth instead of grinding out the damaged tissue. To be honest, researchers aren’t entirely sure exactly how the plasma works to destroy the bacteria, but they are able to determine that a burst of about 12-18 seconds will completely eliminate the problem.

Relativity, Here We Come!

The Electron has been Split!

If you ask a modern quantum physicist, he or she will tell you that there are two indivisible kinds of particles - quarks and electrons. Get anywhere smaller than these two particles and you're into a energy soup defined by E=mC^2 that Einstein talked about. An electron, we were always taught, is a "fundamental" particle.

Turns out, it is not so fundamental.

A team from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have successfully split the electron into two separate particles - one which holds the electron's charge and one which holds its magnetic spin. They have been named holons and spinons. The split only occurs when electrons are forced into tight proximity that overcomes their natural electromagnetic repulsion.

This has the potential to transform how we see the world around us, and could have huge implications for quantum computing and nanoscale technologies.

Mmm... Counter-intuitive...

All the Physics and Math Nerds will get this

First step toward Replicators

One of the cooler technologies of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "replicators" - devices capable of producing nearly any food, material, or device from pure energy. In the mythology of Trek, these devices have essentially ended the laws of supply and demand by providing any material item, providing there is enough energy available. For the first time, scientists have taken a first step toward such technology by creating a primitive form of matter out of a beam of light.

It is only a first step, but who knows where it may lead?

Parallel Universes Go Legit

One of the fun things about physics is the strange things predicted by Quantum Mechanics. For example, the idea that a particle can move from point A to point B without ever occupying the space in between. Or the idea that an object can be in multiple states (i.e. dead and not dead) simultaneously. But one of the strangest predictions of Quantum Mechanics has to be the Star Trek-esque idea that everytime you make a choice, the universe splits into two parallel universes in which you make each choice. For years, people have made fun of this idea. But now, it appears that the idea is not so crazy. Lazy sci fi writers, have at it!

Criticism of FTL Claims

ArsTechnica has up an analysis of the claims by two German scientists to have broken the light-speed barrier. Basically, it looks like the Germans forgot a few things like experimental data for others to look at and some important differences between "the speed of light in a vacuum" and "the speed of light in anything else".

Furthermore, if you analyze the components of the fields that contain the energy, you find that they do have a non-zero speed of light and it is—you guessed it—the same c that applies everywhere else in the universe.

So although this makes for an interesting physics lecture—or at least I thought it was interesting—it is not new physics and not a breakdown of special relativity.

I am hoping that this is brought to heel quickly, and does not turn into another Cold Fusion debacle.

Speed of Light Exceeded?

There are few fundamental constraints of the universe. But according to Einstein, one of them is that NOTHING can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum. No matter how matter how many sci fi shows you have watched which played fast and loose with faster-than-light travel, they all are a major volation of physical law as we know it.

But now two German scientists have claimed to have broken that law by means of electron tunneling. They claim to have instantaneously moved a light particle between points in space. If proven right - and if proven without massive caveats - this could be one of the biggest discoveries since quantum theory.

Other problems with Barry Bonds home runs than steroids

I found this article yesterday and it raises an interesting question - are there more problems with Barry Bonds's breaking of Hank Aaron's home run record than just his steroid use?

As a student of baseball – and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team -- I believe I have insight into the Bonds "achievement." I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs.

For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear – unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus.

I reviewed this article with CRChair, and he was right in noting that it appears none of the "advantages" of the body armor appear to be illegal under MLB rules. However, one must wonder how well it compares with Hank Aaron who used only muscle, bone, tendon, and a wooden bat.

Simpsons-ese enters Scientific Parlance

In the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast", the following exchange happens.

Jebediah: [on film] A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
Edna: Embiggens? I never heard that word before I moved to Springfield
Ms. Hoover: I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

This little exchange makes fun of the ease with which small communities invent their own lingo. Well, in a sign of the cultural power of the Simpsons, "embiggens" has appeared in a recent Physics paper and the author appears to be happy it is drawing some attention.

The Return of Cold Fusion?

When I was in high school, Ponns and Fleishman announced their infamous Cold Fusion results which appeared to show that fusion was possble using relatively cheap and simple technology, at room temperatures, on a tabletop. The world went wild. "The biggest scientific news in a generation!" "Cheap energy for all!" "The end of the Oil monopolies!" As a high school student fascinated with physics, it could not come at a better time. I read everything I could find on the subject, and even was thinking about how I could try and reproduce the experiment. And then came the bad news. The results could NOT be replicated... and there were even signals that the original results may have been tweaked to look more promising than they were. Cold fusion was debunked, and few reputable scientists could get funding to investigate further.

Since then, the "hot fusion" scientists working with high-energy plasmas have still not managed to even reach a break-even point in almost 20 years, and largely the world is looking to sunlight, wind power, ethanol, etc. to meet the growing energy appetite of a technology saturated world. It seems like Cold Fusion might still be worth looking into. It turns out the Navy never gave up hope. And they claim to have results! I hope they are right.

Shields Up!

Believe it or not, the first "Star Trek" technology that might make it to real life is "shields." As nations ponder a return to space, British scientists are considering how they can better protect astronauts from high-energy particles. However, the theory here is not exactly like the "Star Trek" approach which tends to be simply a projection of "force". This device would generate a powerful magnetic field and fill it with plasma (basically gas with an electric charge) which would be held in place by the field. Then high energy particles would be slowed down by the plasma until no longer dangerous or deflected to the sides.

This is technically more like a Star Trek deflector field, if there are any Trekkie Geeks out there ready to rip me a new one for my inaccurate technobabble.

New Theory for Physics Shows a "Trinity of the Physical Realm"?

Not many of our readers are as interested in physics as I am, but I thought this particular thought from a paper on a new theory for space-time which attempts to replace String Theory with a more useable potential Theory of Everything was notable.

"A very interesting aspect is that Newton fought strongly against the idea of the trinity (in a religious context)," Sparling noted. "It is ironic that I am invoking that very same idea in the context of gravity: perhaps Newton saw that the concept could be used in physics, but because he could not think of such a use he rebelled strongly against it (of course, I have no evidence for this!)."

There, now it is an article for the physicist and theologian both!