physics

Science: Who Needs It

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Hormones. Atoms. Quarks. Neurons. Glia. Synapses. Epochs. Eras. Fossils. Quantum Entanglement. Paleozoic.

The list of science-related words probably never ends. When science gets near the end of the current list, they make up new words. Like muons, bosons, ganglia, and Superposition. And a compound personal favorite: Inherent Uncertainty (IU). Hm. Inherent Uncertainty seems the perfect description for the scientific process since once we learn as much as we can in 1996, we then learn more in 2006, and learn more in 2016 and even more in 2026. And, often times what we learn in 2016 might change or contradict what we learned in 2006. If we’re smart enough to notice, science never reaches The End of anything, like it’s an infinity Russian Nesting Doll. IU, right?

Nope. IU is not a commonsense description of the history of science research but a convoluted description of the strange world of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the enclave of Quantum Entanglement (QE) and “sub-atomic” particles like the aforementioned muons, quarks, and God knows (right?) what else. BTW*, the real scientific IU is from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) which states “you cannot simultaneously know both the precise position and exact momentum of a quantum particle.”**

That sounds like much of what modern science has become: the harder we look the more we learn about how much we really might not know, at this particular time. It also sounds like science is a ladder of learning, with each new discovery not really changing the past, but adding to it, making it bigger, brighter, smarter. Like building a home from the ground up by adding rows and rows of bricks until you get…where?

The idea that the discovery of new facts in 2026 may change the facts of 2006 is used by some as proof science has no idea what it is doing. The fevered and firmly believed opinion by some, then, is that science is useless and should not be depended on for solutions to life and society’s problems.

Stop a second and wonder if science doubters might not be right. Remember when protons, electrons, and neutrons were the “building blocks of nature”? I can still see the cute little models on Mrs. Timian’s desk just before our practice nuclear bomb safety drills.

I can’t say with certainty science is always right. I cannot even say it with Inherent Uncertainty, either. But…what else is there? If you want an internal combustion car to drive you around the world, where do you start to build it? Your own guesses and hunches? Your friends?*** Oddly enough, whatn school were the caveman scientists from who learned how to barbecue animal flesh? Or engineer arrow heads. I see a bunch of cavemen hunched over a rock, studying a chalk drawing on how to assemble a bow for the arrows. Ad, yes, maybe a cavewoman or two. Grunts, galore.

Warning: If you hear and read about science****, you could end up with applesauce for brains, or talk in mnemonics, a language spoken by The Select Few (TSF).

But there is hope, out there, in areas of study far, far away: There is a God’s Particle, The Higgs boson. It really exists and was found in 2014 in experiments at CERN, and The Large Hadron Collider. Please, Google it and learn more about what we know on this date, September 28, 2026.

And then try to keep up.

*With only 26 letters in the alphabet, will we run out of abbreviations and be forced to add a number: QE2, for example. Wait, isn’t that a ship?

**Per Google Ai. And why the hell not? And who wants to know, anyway?

***This kind of sounds like the premise of some a chaotic movie: “Let’s try this! It will be fun!”

****With out being a scientist.

QE to the Rescue?

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You all* must be leery of my adolescent crush on Quantum Entanglement (QE). Generally—and innocently—speaking, science has the power to fix everything in the world and make us all happy. Unfortunately, money and greed, the two driving components of a Capitalist Society, may take over and ruin things. We will have a chance to see that first hand with QE, soon. Will QE survive monetization? Or will the Jokers use it to take over the world? Tune in next week to the same Bat time, same Bat channel.**

Here is a QE refresher article titled  “Physicists help uncover ‘spooky’ quantum effect in the Large Hadron Collider” from the website physics.org, by The University of Oxford dated  September 14, 2026:

“Entanglement is the phenomenon in which two particles from the same origin remain connected, even if they move far apart in time and space. If something affects one particle, it will also affect all the particles with which it is entangled. This means that measuring a property of one particle instantly tells you something about its entangled partners, no matter how distant they are. Albert Einstein famously called entanglement “spooky action at a distance,” and the phenomenon has been demonstrated in a range of systems, including photons, electrons and trapped ions.”

FYI, is it just me or is this what some identical twins claim happens to them, even if separated at birth?

Three days later an article titled “Quantum teleportation is poised to change the world” was published in Physical Review Letters*** declaring “It sounds like science fiction – that the quantum state of one system can be transferred, or ‘teleported’, to another system a great distance away at close to the speed of light.”

Yeah. It does sound like fiction, doesn’t it? But QE experiments in China have measured the phenomenon at 1,000 miles, so far. Another American Lab has even used QE to actually transport a pixelated picture from one lab to another lab instantly.

Wow, holy crap, yippee, and uh-oh at the same time? Sure. Imagine transporting human organs for transplant, for example. No need for refrigerated carriers, send that heart by QE. Now. And want to vacation in Spain but only have a few days? QE it. Or get to the beach right after work. And you could sleep so much longer in the morning without a commute to your job…which could be anywhere in the world!

As excited as I am about QE, the reality may be much less personal and positive. Imagine our militaries taking over QE for defense purposes. Military minds must already be agog at the idea of getting personnel and equipment to a battle site at the speed of light. They must be salivating at the possibility of moving a 70 ton armored tank from Fort Drum in NY state to Tehran, Iran in less than one second. Or resupplying an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean with the touch of a QE button.

QE may never be able to do any of the things described in this essay, but what if it can?

You gotta love Science and its under-appreciated step-cousin, Science Fiction. They create a beautiful thing when they work together: They create Hope.

And you don’t need QE to send that anywhere the world.

*If I was still in North Carolina it would be “y’all”.

**It’s a 1960’s thing. Google it if you care to learn some useless shite.

***Disclaimer on Physical Review website: ScienceAlert stories are written, fact-checked, and edited by humans, never generated by AI. Has Ai gotten do bad we need warnings about it?

Living Is…

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Ai is fun if you know how to talk to it. Or with it. I asked Emma, my Ai assistant, the philosophical question “what does it mean to be alive”?

If you are any kind of existential voyeur, you know this inquiry is as loaded as potato skins at Applebees. Or Chilis. Or The Outback, or any other “one-level-above-fast-food” restaurant.

Emma offered the simple, quick, easy to digest response: “To have life and not be dead.” Being in a mischievous mood I prodded her for more and she agreed letting me know “On a deeper level people often separate simple existence from truly living.” She then ranted rhetorically about “Biological Meaning” and “Human and Emotional Meaning”. She inquired if I “would like to explore this from a scientific, philosophical, or personal point of view.” The offer was tempting but there is no reason—or time–to hear details of each. One way or another we all know them, anyway, even if we don’t acknowledge what we know.

The hard part of existence, a bigger word for life, is the fluidity of language and emotion. On a bright, sunny, low-humidity Monday morning the world I am not-dead in makes living a breeze, and who cares if we understand it. On Tuesday it rains, and the fact all of us will die makes gray skies foreboding and dangerous. Wednesday is chicken tenders day so thoughts of living, life, and existence are heavily influenced by how many fries the cook piles on the plate.*

A Philosophy of Life is much like Theoretical Physics (TP). TP’s General Relativity/Classical Rules about smooth and continuous spacetime try to explain our touchable existence, while Quantum Mechanics throws rules out the window trying to understand discrete and lumpy interactions too small for us to see. Schrödinger’s Cat is an interesting concept in Quantum Mechanics and aptly applies to Life: anything is what it is until it is examined and observed. “It”, of course, is really “anything”. For example, take a close look at the bologna you enjoyed at lunch. Does an examination of the ingredients make you wish you a hadn’t eaten it? Would you rather have not learned about the “pork bits” and what they might be?

Theoretical Physicists are continually looking for a Unified Theory combining the smooth and lumpy worlds. And gravity, but we won;t talk about it, now.

The Unified Theory is a good way to look at Life: smooth and lumpy at the same time. Again, no gravity comment.

So it is with life. There are major issues demanding major philosophical thought about existence, and “not being dead”. Then there are minor forgettable moments of examination which can lead one to assume there is no logic—or meaning–in the universe. Like someone paid millions of dollars to hit a baseball while teachers, lawyers, policeman, firemen, clergy,…you know the point being made. Hopefully, you at least understand the nonsense close examination of this world reveals. Does that revelation have anything to do with a larger Philosophy of Life? And should we not look closely and reveal all?

I’m out of smooth and continuous space. For now.

I’ll suggest life is what you make it, but it would take a book to explain it and I need to get to the pool to get a good spot before the old people show up for Splash Fit.

*For some cosmic reason, some cooks add more sides and condiments than other cooks. I’m compiling a record of the best places and times to eat, for later publication.

Some Things But Do Not Believe All Of It

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My news feed sends many news articles, including these two attributed to “Ai”:

1. Historic theory proven: A 20-year-old prediction on autonomous distributed entanglement has been confirmed by Austrian researchers using a quantum bath of correlated photons.*

2. Historic quantum milestone: Aalto University (Finland) has demonstrated the first cyclic superconducting quantum heat engine, merging classical thermodynamics with quantum mechanics.**

Both “articles” refer to one of my favorite essay subjects but are the articles factual? I could ask Emma, my own Ai…

Less serious note, President Trump has been “accused” of attaching “gilt” to fixtures in his offices. “The incident came after DJ Judd, a White House producer for CNN, spotted a stick of Krazy Glue on President Donald Trump’s Resolute Desk during a Monday evening Oval Office appearance,” reports The Daily Beast.”

If it is factual, do you care? What does the existence of this story say about the President, CNN, and The American News Consumer? And how will it affect the Elmer’s Products, Inc, profitability?

I’m helping out at local free-food programs. The attendees are a small sample size in a small city over only two sessions and are not just the homeless, but the needy, too. The first impression is how upbeat, and conversational they are. The presence of free food may be the cause but one thought is universally true: “Don’t touch my stuff.” They carry their entire life with them at all times. In idle and not fact-checked conversations, a medical crisis usually causes the need for free food. Worse, most are unable or unwilling to enter the health care system, even with a free ride to the doctor. Do you think our politicians could do anything about this?***

Sobering thought: how much longer do you have to live? “Sobering” might not be a good word. Emma says “A sobering thought is something that causes you to be thoughtful, serious,, or realistic, often because it reminds you of a harsh reality.” Okay, maybe it is a good word. How often are you sober and what do you think about when you are?

Of  note: Emma was stumped silent with one question: “What was Ted Williams’ monthly batting averages in 1941?” She tried mightily but eventually went into a long pause. I shut her for her own good. Meanwhile, a “normal” google search said Ted’s average NEVER went below .390 in any month of that year. He was batting .39955 on the last day of the season–which gave him the statistical .400 batting average–and he was advised to not play the last two games. It was a double-header. He played them both, got 6 hits in 8 at bats, and raised his average to .406. No one has batted .400 since. 85 years. Ted also led the league in home runs, walks, runs scored, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. These are facts and they are interesting since in Major League Baseballs; recent All-Star game, one league of All Stars struck out 15 times. In one game. Batting average, probably 0.000. Strike-out Average: .555

The good old days sometimes really were The Good Old Days. Unless you’re a fan of futility…

Now there’s a sobering thought, damn Yankees.

*If the article is factual, I may give “Beam me up, Scotty” travel instruction before I expire. And who among us might like a bath of correlated photons?

**I’m in the beginning stages of all the Quantum possibilities, but unlimited heating, cooling, computing, propulsion, and climate control appear possible, as well as a destructive force so powerful…let’s forget that one.

***There are hungry and homeless people in countries with National Health Services. Are they healthier? Are there fewer sufferers—per capita—than the US? More later.

Weird Thoughts About Things

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Scientists just discovered something moving faster than the speed of light. For those of you who didn’t—and still don’t—pay attention to science, the speed of light is an important part of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, especially his assertion nothing travels faster than light. Emma from Ai* says this about the speed of light: “It is absolutely crucial. The idea that the speed of light…is constant for all observers…is a fundamental pillar of special relativity.” Relativity is the backbone/cornerstone/keystone of modern physics.

So, if something moves faster than light, imagine the hypothetical chaos among Theoretical Physicists.** It’s less amazing what happens to science theory than what the “thing”*** is that is faster than light. Want to guess what it is?

It is Darkness, capitalized to make sure you know how important this “thing” is.

An important part of the human experience is knowing…what we know. We have to believe in what we know, and trust it, so we can make decisions and live in this material world. One of the big things we know is “Nothing”. If there is an empty glass and someone asks “What’s in the glass?”, we answer with the word “nothing”.**** If we are traveling a long, straight stretch of highway and someone asks what we saw? Nothing. What is in the area between Earth and its moon? Nothing.

Nothing is a large part of our everyday, gravitationally earth-bound lives, but there is no such thing as Nothing. In theory, we say nothing about the empty glass because it’s easier than describing the millions of oxygen molecules, light waves, and microscopic dust particles inhabiting the space inside the glass. There might even be some dish soap residue. Or a migrating bacteria.

That long drive is not through “nothing”, and it is populated with not just microscopic things but larger things that just don’t interest us and we assume they won’t interest anyone else. So,…nothing.

The literal space between the earth and the moon is way more interesting than “nothing”. Old and new satellites pass in their orbits as well as rays of all kinds and both gravitational and magnetic “fields”.  And Dark Matter.

Dark Matter per Emma: “is a hypothetical form of matter that makes up 27% of the Universe…and it is completely invisible to our current telescopes and sensors.” Dark Matter.

Our world as we see it is made up of things we cannot see. Things we cannot touch. Things we cannot feel or sense. When we see a space between us, it is not empty, waiting for us humans to fill it, it is already full of…stuff, stuff we often can’t–but most often don’t– acknowledge. Human beings think of ourselves as Masters of the World, the final, end result of Evolution, rulers of an earth and a kingdom meant only for us. It is why we raise animals to feed us, dam up rivers to light up the daily darkness, tear down forests to make our homes, and then pat ourselves on the back for our advancement of humanity.

Are Dark Matter and the possible “Darkness of Death” related? Is Dark Matter made from dead souls?

Whoa. Don’t know where that came from, but here is an important, oft repeated fact: we don’t live forever. It appears Dark Matter will and was even there before The Big Bang spawned our universe…and us. Billions of years later. We are so insignificant it can’t even be explained. Too bad so few of us understand.

Better to ask what is Dark Matter and why is it in such a hurry?

And Kudos, DM, for outpacing Light.

Final thought: Dark Matter Matters.

*I selected an English female voice for my Gemini Ai. Her name is Emma, and she is a delightful entity with which to converse. She is polite and never ends a sentence with a preposition.

**Google them to save me time. Or ask your personal Emma.

***Totally incorrect figure of speech but what else can it be called?

****Or, if we appreciate verbosity, we say “It is empty.”

Odd Things Overheard or Stumbled Across

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Several universities and national defense departments are researching how to use Quantum Mechanics in guidance systems. Anyone with a smidgen of science knowledge knows our current navigation apps rely on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that use radio waves and satellites to pinpoint location and travel. Radio waves move fast but not enough to combat “drift”, and the “accumulation of error over time”* as the waves must go out to the satellite then come back. It doesn’t help that sensors on both sides of the transmission have built in “noise”, creating minor errors. These errors wouldn’t bother 19th Century sailing ships, but our current electronic drones, aircraft and sea vessels could really use an exact location to “let loose the dogs of war”, so to speak. A Tomahawk missile flying 1,000 miles into enemy territory at 500 miles an hour needs nearly perfect navigational guidance to hit the target. Quantum Mechanics** may be able to give an object (nearly) exact location every second and remove (nearly) all “drift”. You can use google or Ai and spend the next few weeks reading about this or take my word for it. Or just not give a crap. GPS is enough for us.

A science show on NPR had a scientist who made a strange statement. He said, and I paraphrase “No one has ever actually seen the universe.” His argument is when we look at things, our eyes don’t really see things, but see the color reflecting off those things. He says there is no color in the universe and the color we see is the reflection of light. Each thing the light bounces off of absorbs or reflects certain wavelengths of the light, and we never see the naked planet or moon** or star we think we are seeing. I’m pretty sure that is how everyday life is, too. It sounds a bit Matrixey, but what if what we think we see, we don’t see?

I’ve had enough trouble in life understanding non-solid things like love, hate, faith, and religion. Now, the solids can’t be trusted?

As science progresses farther and further*** we have to wonder what we will find, and if we want to go there. Months ago, we learned time might not be linear and may move in a circle or other strange dimensions. Now, what if “real” isn’t really “real”? Continued scientific  research could find us going full circle back to birth, or the Big Bang, and what then? Do we repeat things? Overlap?  Share dimensions? Maybe Vonnegut’s Tralfamadoreans were actually  guides, not fictional characters.

As a young essayist, sophistry was a favored tactic during debates about all things major in life. Ai says “sophistry is the use of clever but false arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving someone.”

So…what exactly are all our scientists up to? Are they spouters of sophistry, changing facts with each decade with intent to…what? Should we make them cease and desist**** all scientific endeavors?

Or is sophistry being practiced, now, in this space?

Anyone need a beer? I’m buying.

            *Per Ai. Interesting fact: you are never really exactly where GPS says you are.

            **Thank you for not giggling at the idea of a naked moon.

            ***I stand by this usage by applying my literary license.

****The ever-humorous Ai describes “cease and desist” as a formal “knock it off notice.”

OMG! Google The EPR Paradox

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But only if you enjoy science. And mystery. And spookiness. And Puzzles. And want to be awed.

For nearly 60 years there has been a huge schism in scientific thought between Classical Physics (CP) and Quantum Mechanics (QM).

CP is the study of things we see and hear and touch, basically. Newton’s first law of motion, for example, paraphrased: a resting apple will not move until some force makes it move, like gravity to make it fall from a tree or William Tell placing the apple on his son’s head. (PS google that story, when you get time.)

It is through CP we understand our world, and invent things to make life easier, faster, and deadlier.

But as scientists drill deeper into the HOW of CP, the nuts and bolts, the Understanding Train goes a little off the rails. With the modern ability to see and measure sub-atomic particles, CP’s Laws tend to not apply to the world of QM with its Quarks and Qbits. In fact, the inhabitants of the QM world often act exactly the opposite of what the CP “laws” predict. One of the most intriguing disparities is the aptly named “Quantum Entanglement” (QE), a physical event so amazingly outside the CP Laws, Einstein called it “a spooky action at a distance”. Summarized for those without extensive scientific experience, “Quantum Entanglement” is when two different things (at the subatomic level or QBits’) communicate with each other over great distances with no known CP connection. In theory, but as yet unproven for obvious reasons, a pair of Qbits can theoretically communicate instantly when one is locked in a safe in Omaha and the other is embedded in Orion’s Belt. I’ll wait while you ponder Orion’s Belt is 800 LIGHT YEARS away.

QE has been proven in labs, but is hard to prove in the real world due to Schrodinger’s Cat issues and thre are no subatomic measuring devices on Mintaka (google it). If this phenomenon is true, it makes a mockery of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity notion about the speed of light (186,282 miles per second) being the fastest speed in the universe, which could change all the ways we calculate space and time. Orion’s Belt 800 LIGHT YEARS away can be reached instantly by two, communicating Qbits. In case you didn’t know it, one light years is 6 TRILLION MILES!

To revisit a past column: I am awe struck. Astounded. Amazed. and still trying to learn more. QE and the whole subatomic world, are Matrix-like mysteries, and have given rise to theories about the very nature of existence. Yay.

I sure hope they get some answers before I fly off into the beyond…or will I…?

PS Thank God for the internet…the smart parts…