Stumax.com » Science Matters http://www.stumax.com Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatus Nunc Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:43:07 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 That stuff about the universal constant? Never mind. http://www.stumax.com/that-stuff-about-the-universal-constant-never-mind/ http://www.stumax.com/that-stuff-about-the-universal-constant-never-mind/#comments Sun, 21 Aug 2005 21:30:57 +0000 stumax http://www.stumax.com/?p=436 This is freakin' me out, man: Science Blog -- Light that travels faster than light: A team of researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has successfully demonstrated, for the first time, that it is possible to control the speed of light – both slowing it down and speeding it up – in an optical fiber, using off-the-shelf instrumentation in normal environmental conditions. Their results, to be published in the August 22 issue of Applied Physics Letters, could have implications that range from optical computing to the fiber-optic telecommunications industry. I guess I knew that the speed of light could slow down -- say when it encounters water -- but I had no idea you could slow it a stop. And it just goes against everything I know about physics (which, admittedly, ain't much) to find out that you can speed light up!... So nothing moves faster than the speed of light? Apparently, light does.

]]> This is freakin’ me out, man: #

Science Blog—Light that travels faster than light:

A team of researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has successfully demonstrated, for the first time, that it is possible to control the speed of light – both slowing it down and speeding it up – in an optical fiber, using off-the-shelf instrumentation in normal environmental conditions. Their results, to be published in the August 22 issue of Applied Physics Letters, could have implications that range from optical computing to the fiber-optic telecommunications industry.

I guess I knew that the speed of light could slow down – say when it encounters water – but I had no idea you could slow it a stop. And it just goes against everything I know about physics (which, admittedly, ain’t much) to find out that you can speed light up! Jinkies! So nothing moves faster than the speed of light? Apparently, light does. #


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]]> http://www.stumax.com/that-stuff-about-the-universal-constant-never-mind/feed/ 0 Sights and Sounds from Titan http://www.stumax.com/sights-and-sounds-from-titan/ http://www.stumax.com/sights-and-sounds-from-titan/#comments Sat, 15 Jan 2005 16:57:53 +0000 stumax http://www.stumax.com/?p=366 The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe had a successful trip yesterday to the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. At the ESA’s website, you can see the latest images and hear a recording of the descent recorded by the probe’s onboard microphone. #

Unfortunately, the recording isn’t very exciting. Just a bunch of wind noise. I really wanted to hear some aliens screaming, “What the…!? Aieeeeee!” #

Sigh. #

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