Friday, December 30, 2016

20 Foods to eat and avoid on empty stomach

20 item EDIT to breakfast menu 

20 Foods you should consider adding to your breakfast and those you must avoid on empty stomach

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Elsevier unavailable for Germany, Taiwan Peru from 2017

Elsevier unavailable for Germany, Taiwan Peru from 2017

Scientists in Germany, Peru and Taiwan would most likely lose access to Elsevier journals, after negotiations between governments/funding agencies for the trio and the Dutch journal failed.

“It’s very unpleasant,” says Horst Hippler, spokesperson for the DEAL consortium of state-funded universities and research organizations, which is overseeing negotiations in Germany. “But we just cannot accept what Elsevier has proposed so far.”

More at http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-in-germany-peru-and-taiwan-to-lose-access-to-elsevier-journals-1.21223

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Come on bull, hit me now.

In urdu we often say آ بیل مجھے مار , O Bull come and hit me. or

"when you are in deep shit keep your mouth shut"
I would certainly follow the safety first approach by Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), to listen enough before speaking.
According Drake equation there is finite probability for an intelligent life form elsewhere in multiverse.


Same is being done or at least planned to be done in near future by sending a message about our presence on pale blue dot.
Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (METI), a San Francisco-based organization plans to call upon aliens if any on distant planets, instead of waiting for them to contact us here on Earth. They plan to send signals to planets at Proxima Centauri, the next astronomical neighbor.

Famous scientists have already showed concerns about the controversial plan.
Searching for trouble? A thesis on the same subject outlines the trouble expected if the aliens are hostile.
The article on Phys.org accounts the critique by scientists on the subject.

We shouldn't draw attention to ourselves, say science fiction writer David Brin and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
"We have almost zero idea of whether aliens are likely to be dangerous," physicist Mark Buchanan wrote in journal Nature Physics.
Other experts say it's worth waiting until we're better conversationalists - and, then, use use well-established groups with international consultation.
"Babbling babies are not always appreciated during adult conversation," said Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. "Listening and learning is how children become adults, and why not try that for a while?"
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-12-scientists-worlds.html#jCp

Monday, December 26, 2016

Vera Rubin dies at 88.

Vera Rubin the discoverer of Dark matter

(July 23, 1928-December 25, 2016) 

"In a spiral galaxy, the ratio of dark-to-light matter is about a factor of ten. That's probably a good number for the ratio of our ignorance-to-knowledge. We're out of kindergarten, but only in about third grade."
—Vera Rubin 
She was first person to state existence of astronomical ignorance aka DARK MATTER. 
She was denied a Nobel despite quality of her work on DarkMatter.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Lovely Jaegers, the Manned Robots

Manned robot project by "Korea Future Technology

Jaegers made in Korea

I am a fan of Pacific Rim, the way Jaegers would destroy huge alien beings. I was amazed to see these videos. I would love to own one some day. Till then Enjoy these.


Wednesday, December 21, 2016

A laser mediated by water waves

Ripplon laser through stimulated emission mediated by water waves

Among other materials in different forms necessary to sustain life on the pale blue dot in our solar system, water takes the highest accolades. 
Recently, scientists at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion, 32000 Haifa, Israel reported, their findings in Nature Physics Nov 2016 fabricating a laser that uses water instead of crystals or others to sustain population inversion. The reported coherent excitation of capillary resonances were at kilohertz rates and therefore audible.
  1. Supplementary information (504 KB)
    Supplementary Movie 3
  2. Supplementary information (4.81 MB)
    Supplementary Movie 4
  3. Supplementary information (132 KB)
    Supplementary Movie 5
  4. Supplementary information (984 KB)
    Supplementary Movie 6


Sources:
  1. Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
  2. Nature Physics Nov 2016


Infrared Viewers improved

Third Infrared Window

Eyes of human beings can only see in short visible spectrum, thus limiting human vision physically in a very narrow spectrum of colors.
IR viewers can readily detect heat signatures. 
IR spectral windows
The heat detection often diminishes the information gathered and collected as an image by the IR cameras. 
InGaAs sensor can solve bunch of issues in imaging and surveillance in SWIR band.
The shortwave IR aka SWIR viewers however can get even better details about the image, providing better surveillance compared to other cameras in low light situations. InGaAs is remarkable material providing peak sensitivity in the SWIR band, from 900 to 1700 nm
SWIR camera in action
SWIR cameras can now be used to open the third and final window available for infrared photonics. Both Long wave (LWIR) and MWIR sensors can only sense a living being if his thermal signature is more than that of the surroundings. However SWIR uses reflected light, giving a window to look into yet with perks of visible light like imaging, 

Laser gated imaging: working principle

It is a technique that can be used for imaging through atmospheric obscurants such as smoke, haze, fog and dust. The technique employs laser pulses synchronized imaging sensor that illuminates object for duration as short as few nanoseconds to microseconds. The term gated is signified by the way sensor opens up for a short time, thus staying shielded off the scattered unwanted light. The camera gating time or exposure time will define the depth of view.
The two challenges for the technique are 
  1. Imaging through atmospheric obscurants requires longer (IR) wavelengths, in order to reduce scattering on molecules and particles. 
  2. High-power lasers in near-infrared (around 850 nm) are not eye-safe.
Lasers in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range, &#955>1.4 μm, range, photons are absorbed in water within human eye’s surface before reaching its retina. Most eye-safe lasers operate around 1.55 μm, also the prime wavelength for telecomunication and laser range finders. Currently, most cameras operating in IR require cooling for optimal perfromance.

Sources:

  1. SWIR photonics
  2. Security and surveillance
  3. why-swir
  4. Laser Gated Imaging

Sunday, December 11, 2016

All 'Original Seven' American astronauts now dead

All 'Original Seven' American astronauts now dead

All-American John Glenn: Astronaut, fighter pilot, senator
In this Jan. 11,1961 file photo, Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn reaches for controls inside a Mercury capsule procedures trainer as he shows how the first U.S. astronaut will ride through space during a demonstration at the National …
Mercury 7 also known as the ORIGINAL 7 were the riders of the first known pod allowing humans to traverse the then outermost orbit around earth, under the adventurous US space program in 1959. Last week, John Glenn's was the last among these seven brave men to die aged 95.
The Original seven were
  1. Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
  2. John H. Glenn, Jr.
  3. Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom
  4. Scott Carpenter
  5. L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
  6. Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
  7. Donald K. 'Deke' Slayton
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-12-american-astronauts-dead.html#jCp

Book mentioned by Imran Khan about Lost Islamic History

Imran Khan in his tweet today mentioned reading books about Islam. I really appreciate a Pakistani PM actively quoting Islamic on internati...