The Little Magnet That Could!

Check out the super-conducting magnet in the pic.   This golf ball sized magnet has a secret.  It is how much magnetic force this little wonder can generate.  It can develop a force greater than that of an MRI machine or say 3 thousand time greater than a fridge magnet.  In the science world it produces a magnetic field of 17.6 Tesla or in terms easier to understand....3.3 TONS!   Needless to say, this monster set a new worlds record by annihilating the previous holder by 0.4 Tesla.

Now if your mind wasn't already blown....check out how the magnet was formed, from the Gizmodo article:

• This new magnet was created by growing gadolinium barium copper oxide  very carefully and slowly, into a single grain that measured an inch in diameter. Then, the sample was reinforced before being pumped with current to generate the magnetic field; without that reinforcement, the sample could have torn itself apart.

Unbelievable or what?!  The really remarkable discovery is in the manufacturing of a single crystal, one inch in diameter.  The process is called "melt processing" and as the article points out...it is a fairly simple process.  The implications are astounding.  From super efficient energy recovery systems, to efficient and inexpensive mass transit systems.

 Gizmodo article HERE

BMU Episode 412 now online

After my opening observations I play the closing theme for the anime series called Red Data girl. 
I then play a short story by CrystalWizard called Best Laid Plans. 

I ran this story back in April of 09, its' every bit as good today.

From the blog - Musk of SpaceX and Tesla motors has some concerns on AI  Deep Mind and Vicarious are two businesses that Musk uses to keep an eye on the emerging artificial inteligence field.

A grea Fall by Phil Temples is a story that takes a well known tale and retells it as a mystery....Enjoy

How Pillars of Creation May Have Formed Using Computer Animation

In 1995, the Hubble space telescope trained its' optics on a cloud of gas and dust inside the Eagle Nebula some 7 thousand light years from Earth. The resulting image became as iconic as the Apollo "Earth Rise" or Sagen's "Pale Blue Dot". That image became known as "The Pillars of Creation"

From the Space.Com article:

• Scientists think the "pillars" in the image ... formed as cooler interstellar gas was worn away by intense radiation and powerful winds from nearby massive stars......

The massive stars in question that may have formed the "Pillars" were O-type stars, more than 16 times more massive than the sun.  O-type also have surface temperatures over 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit.







Scott Balfour, an astronomer at Cardiff University, wanted to see if type O stars, forming inside such a cloud of gas and dust, could indeed form structures like the pillars.   Condensed 1.6 million years of cosmic history into several weeks of computing time:

• "The model neatly produces exactly the same kind of structures seen by astronomers in the classic 1995 image....." Balfour said in a recent statement.

Space.Com article HERE

Soccer in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace....

Ok here we go.  Less than a minute of soccer weirdness aboard the ISS between US and Germany astronauts.





From the ARTICLE :
NASA's Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who hails from Germany, showed off their moves in a soccer exhibition aboard the orbiting lab recently.

Elon Musk of Space X Says to be Wary of Artificial Intelgence

Elon Musk is easily one of the most forward looking people today. The driving force behind Tesla Motors and Space X, Musk has his feet firmly planted in the future. Even so, in recent interviews Elon has reveled concerns for the future of technological advancement.

Musk's concerns center around artificial intelligence that has made great improvements and advancements over the past decade. He feels without proper stop gaps there is a very real possibility of a "Terminator" class breakdown.

During a recent CNBC interview, Musk said "There are some scary outcomes...." Elon intimated that vigilance will go a long way towards making sure that the outcomes are good....

Musk has made substantial investments in A.I. companies like DeepMind and another called Vicarious - From the Article:

• "It's not from the standpoint of actually trying to make any investment return," Musk explained. ".... I like to just keep an eye on what's going on with artificial intelligence. I think there is a potentially dangerous outcome there." 

Here is the CNBC video where Musk speaks at length about a variety of subjects such as advancements in electric cars and batteries as well as solar generation:

complete NBC News article link HERE