ISS Could Become the Coldest Place In the Universe?!

What happens when things get cold?  Well, we pretty much have that down as far as our macro universe goes.  But when things get extra cold at the quantum level....well weird crap starts to happen.

NASA is sending some new equipment to the ISS with the sole purpose of getting COOOOOLD.
And not just everyday cold...no sir NASA is looking to create the coldest place in the universe.  The Cold Atom Lab, due to arrive at the ISS in 2016,  it will be able to create an environment that can be kept stable at something extremely close to absolute zero. 

Why would you want to do that you might ask....remember you asked....NASA wants  to study Bose-Einstein condensates.  Kinda makes your brain hurt right?    So what are Bose-Einstein condensates?  Well in simple enough terms that my tiny brain can understand, it is a condition that happens when gasses are cooled to extremely cold temperatures.  At the quantum level each atom begins to behaves much like one giant atom, making quantum effects visible on a macroscopic scale.  Which means that even though the quantum level effects can not be resolved, atomic and sub atomic effects can be observed, so if a bunch of atoms starts acting like one atom, then by proxy, we can observe a quantum state.  Yep, at the very least, NASA and that means we, will for the first time be able to see quantum physics work in real time!

Check out the youTube video below for a much saner explanation. 





Here is the complete DVice article  HERE

Captain America 2 Trailer

Here is the newest Captain America 2 trailer. Movie due out in April!

Felix's Fall From Space

Here is the long awaited film of Felix Baumgartner's harrowing jump from 128,1000 feet above Earth's surface. And yes he trashed the sound barrier....

BMU #397 Now Online

Here we are for another week of Beam Me Up.  This Week episode 397.

After my opening comments I play another track from John Anelio's Walk the Fire album.   This Week's cut, "Stuck at the Bottom of the Mine".

I have been doing Star Trek trivia for some time, but it IS wearing a bit thin, so I have swapped in some Twilight Zone odd facts which seem to be many!

Off to the Beam Me Up blog:

First is a review of the animated feature "The Croods"

Early Solar system dynamics were pretty chaotic with the gas giants doing a dance through the inner system!

I have a link to one of the most clever short films

Plus the funniest rip on the early Batman & Robin feature film, all the incontestability and just plain WRONG material, this short actually makes the older film more enjoyable!

The Sierra Nevada corp uncovers it's Dream Chaser, a reusable lifting body, which will help deliver men and supplies to the ISS.

and our story for this week....KS Dearsley's  "The pitch"  

Enjoy!                                                                                  

review: The Croods

Directed by     Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders 

Starring     Nicolas Cage    Emma Stone
        Ryan Reynolds    Catherine Keener
        Clark Duke    Cloris Leachman

Meet the Croods.  Three generations of cave dwellers at the dawn of time.  It would seem that they are the last of their "kind" as all their neighbors came to rather untimely end, each more gruesome end.

The Croods most likely will fall victim to just the same kind of even, that was until the daughter discovers a strange boy with an even stranger pet he calls fire.  

This strange boy is running from the end of the world and to prove his point the Croods'  cave is destroyed by  a massive rock slide.

Now they must travel to find a new cave all the while avoiding all forms of wild flora & fauna that would like nothing more that to have them for lunch.

The Croods is again a step up in animation.  There are several places in the film that all you can think "oh now they are just showing off!"  It really is that sumptuous.  I had to remind myself at times that what I was watching WAS animation.  It wasn't so much the main characters or even the story line which bears little resemblance to historical or archeological records, but the little things in an environment or passing moment that comes and goes with hardly a notice.  Blades of grass wave in the breeze as does hair on their heads.  Fire moves as though alive.  All the little subtleties that convince you that an environment is real.  From huge flocks of birds  to gargantuan explosion, everything blends into an environment that is both surreal and totally real at the same time.

The Croods had something for all ages, but to be honest, it is a movie for the young but for those of you that are sitting there watching, you will find the level of detail in the animation at times breath taking.  

I would give the film a 7 mainly because there was no effort to keep the timeline accurate.  But that will have to be my only bitch, it certain IS worth a watch....if you have kids...add it to your collection even.