Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Breakthrough metasurface materials tech unleashes enhanced control for advanced telecommunications and beyond
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-breakthrough-metasurface-materials-tech-unleashes.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Symmetry has been a crucial ingredient in every major advance in physics for more than a century. In recent years, symmetries have been reformulated into a form that can now be applied to quantum field theory, promising new breakthroughs.
A New Kind of Symmetry Shakes Up Physics
By
KEVIN HARTNETT
April 18, 2023
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-kind-of-symmetry-shakes-up-physics-20230418/?fbclid=IwAR2L7R8SN3iywGr1rEbM_tZby1QHrpgKrtLB59ho-PphwPmK4mm9IItUfL8
So-called “higher symmetries” are illuminating everything from particle decays to the behavior of complex quantum systems.
This reformulation, which crystallized earlier work in the area, revealed that disparate observations physicists had made in the past 40 years were really manifestations of the same lurking symmetry. In doing so, it created an organizing principle that physicists could use to categorize and understand phenomena. “That’s really a stroke of genius,” said Nathaniel Craig, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The principle identified in the paper came to be known as “higher symmetries.” The name reflects the way the symmetries apply to higher-dimensional objects such as lines, rather than lower-dimensional objects such as particles at single points in space. By giving the symmetry a name and language and by identifying places it had been observed before, the paper prompted physicists to search for other places it might appear.
“By putting a different perspective on a known sort of physical problem, it just opened up a huge new area,” said Sakura Schafer-Nameki, a physicist at the University of Oxford.
Symmetry Matters
To understand why a paper that merely points out the breadth of lurking symmetries can make such a big impact, it helps to first understand how symmetry makes life easier for physicists. Symmetry means fewer details to keep track of. That’s true whether you’re doing high-energy physics or laying bathroom tile.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Every conservation law is associated with a symmetry, and every symmetry is associated with a conservation law,” Seiberg said. “It’s well understood and it’s very deep.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
“They’ve done a great job … of taking an issue that philosophers have been debating about for centuries and defining models with predictable outcomes and testing them.” —Thomas Naselaris, neuroscientist
Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference.
By
YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU
May 24, 2023
https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-it-real-or-imagined-how-your-brain-tells-the-difference-20230524/?fbclid=IwAR0WJIvsoFtM0nmp2DS8voYpueGrjJazWV_ZvMmje0crefm3wVJB57ihh8E
New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a “reality threshold.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
A long-standing challenge in the field of quantum physics is the efficient synchronization of individual and independently generated photons (i.e., light particles).
Research team synchronizes single photons using an atomic quantum memory
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-team-synchronizes-photons-atomic-quantum.html?fbclid=IwAR2aU3KoF_zfTODBujLRet97MArbwGBOB5WSrh3Qs18ZEtQcMV_MgpvkPy0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using ultra-high-precision laser spectroscopy on a simple molecule, a group of physicists led by Professor Stephan Schiller Ph.D. from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has measured the wave-like vibration of atomic nuclei with an unprecedented level of precision.
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-atomic-nuclei-vibrate-greater-degree.html?fbclid=IwAR2nPWQGUJDYywl0-P6qikC_f1jetrLP2oDovKRcZlBjRksDXYQEEq0UZA8
Tomi Engdahl says:
A spectacular superconductor claim is making news. Here’s why experts are doubtful
Skepticism abounds for claim that lead-based material perfectly conducts electricity at room temperature and pressure
https://www.science.org/content/article/spectacular-superconductor-claim-making-news-here-s-why-experts-are-doubtful
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers use quantum computer to identify molecular candidate for development of more efficient solar cells
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-quantum-molecular-candidate-efficient-solar.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Non abelian-anyons’ recollection of their past has enabled physicists to weave them into complex entangled designs with new behaviors.
Bizarre particle that can remember its own past created inside quantum computer
News
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/bizarre-particle-that-can-remember-its-own-past-created-inside-quantum-computer?utm_content=livescience&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR254o0uHAx7pLZfM7WCMIX1gDE2Ie8KFbB0maaiyNUHcL3NNRaS-isdYSM
By Ben Turner published about 15 hours ago
Non abelian-anyons’ recollection of their past has enabled physicists to weave them into complex entangled designs with new behaviors.
A weirdo particle that can remember its own past has been created inside a quantum computer, and scientists think it could be used to probe even deeper into quantum phenomena.
The quasiparticles, called non-abelian anyons, maintain records of their previous location when swapped with each other — enabling physicists to weave them together into complex entangled designs with new and weird behaviors.
In quantum physics jargon, we say that particles are abelian: the order we observe them in doesn’t matter because they are indistinguishable.
Yet for non-abelian anyons, the opposite is the case. First proposed by the theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek in1982, each change to the positions of the bizarre particles causes them to become more entangled with each other, altering their quantum vibrations to form an ever-more-complex braid that remains visible even after they have been swapped.
For physicists designing quantum computers, this gives non-abelian anyons some very alluring properties. Quantum bits, or qubits, can easily be exposed to noise and scrambled, meaning that scientists often try to encode information in quantum systems not in the bits themselves, but in how the bits are arranged relative to each other.
For an analogy, imagine a book “where every page is empty, but if you look at all the pages at once, the information slowly adds up,”
Dryer explained that until now, physicists working on quantum computers have connected the pages using abelian particles, or ones that are completely interchangeable. This is an effective method to account for noise, but because abelian particles are indistinguishable from each other, it requires computationally intense workarounds to prevent the qubits from getting mixed up.
To find a way around this, Dryer and his colleagues developed a new quantum computer, named H2, that trapped ions of barium and ytterbium inside powerful magnetic fields, before tuning the ions with lasers to transform them into qubits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The founder of a Japanese media company is offering $1 million to anyone who can disprove mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki’s 500-page proof of the ABC conjecture, reports Manon Bischoff for Scientific American.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-million-will-go-to-the-mathematician-who-busts-the-abc-conjecture-theory/
In 2018, Erica Klarreich reported for Quanta on two mathematicians who published a report that found a serious gap in the proof. However, they were unable to come to a consensus with the proof’s author.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/titans-of-mathematics-clash-over-epic-proof-of-abc-conjecture-20180920/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Physicists have identified a new crystalline superconducting state in uranium ditelluride. The existence of this state challenges the conventional picture of superconductivity and could have implications for the development of quantum computers. https://ow.ly/7eA550PrxGA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Last week, a group of South Korean physicists made a startling claim. In two papers uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, they say they have created a material that “opens a new era for humankind.”
Viral room-temperature superconductor claims spark excitement—and skepticism
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-viral-room-temperature-superconductor-excitementand-skepticism.html?fbclid=IwAR2cDMrlhMcfwZENPIRxjRpr6icvW2jI-WB0VkOhXvHdy4VSLnHgVLu-zzg
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new technique for exploiting the random energy fluctuations present in empty space and biasing the fluctuations with an applied field has been demonstrated by scientists at MIT. https://ow.ly/QQoN50PtZ5s
Quantum fluctuations are controlled for the first time, say optics researchers
https://physicsworld.com/a/quantum-fluctuations-are-controlled-for-the-first-time-say-optics-researchers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fyysikoilta väite uskomattomasta saavutuksesta – jos se on totta, löytöä voi pitää vuosisadan tiedeläpimurtona
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/babdbc12-dd56-41b9-89eb-31b08814a422
Joukko eri tutkimuslaitoksissa Etelä-Koreassa työskenteleviä fyysikoita väittää saaneensa aikaan huoneenlämpötilassa ja normaalipaineessa suprajohtavan materiaalin. Asiasta kertovat muun muassa Phys.org ja New Scientist.
Nimen LK-99 alustavasti saanut materiaali ja sen käyttäytyminen on kuvattu kahdessa arXiv-palvelussa julkaistussa tiedeartikkelissa. On kuitenkin huomattava, että kumpikaan artikkeleista ei ole vertaisarvioitu, minkä vuoksi tieteellistä sensaatiota ei voi julistaa kovinkaan varmaksi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In just 2 weeks, a claim of room-temperature superconductivity skyrockets to internet fame—and then begins to fall back to Earth.
The short, spectacular life of that viral room-temperature superconductivity claim
https://www.science.org/content/article/short-spectacular-life-viral-room-temperature-superconductivity-claim?utm_campaign=SciMag&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=ownedSocial&fbclid=IwAR1HxsCqekeXhzrkXjA7q5mpKyakfYwS_39uCTJ8lcaKbnDW1i7G3h5nEPg
In just 2 weeks, unlikely “discovery” skyrockets to internet fame and then begins to fall back to Earth
For the past 2 weeks, the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has been aflutter over a paper titled “The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor.” The title of the paper, which was posted with a companion on the arXiv preprint server on 22 July, says it all: When seasoned with copper, a humble lead-based mineral becomes a superconductor that works far above room temperature and at atmospheric pressure. To date, all superconductors—materials that can convey electricity without resistance or loss of energy to heat—have required temperatures far colder than room temperature or crushing pressures.
If the claim by Sukbae Lee and Ji-Hoon Kim of South Korea’s Quantum Energy Research Centre and their colleagues holds up, the material could usher in all sorts of technological marvels
But some physicists are deeply skeptical. The authors “come off as real amateurs,” says Michael Norman, a theorist at Argonne National Laboratory. “They don’t know much about superconductivity and the way they’ve presented some of the data is fishy.” On the other hand, he says, “People here are taking it seriously and trying to grow this stuff.” Already, some experimental groups have reported that they could not reproduce the work, whereas others have provided modest support. The South Korean team did not respond to a request for comment.
Superconductivity is inherently a low-temperature phenomenon. Ordinarily, electrons cannot pass easily through a crystalline solid because they bounce off vibrating atoms in the crystal lattice. However, in some materials, at low enough temperatures, the electrons form loosely bound, overlapping pairs that can’t be deflected without breaking the pairs. And at low temperatures, the vibrations aren’t strong enough to break the bonds, so those electron pairs glide through the material unimpeded.
The catch is, there’s no rule for predicting how cold a material must be to superconduct. Some so-called high-temperature superconductors convey current without resistance at up to 133 K (more than 100° below freezing).
After 30 years theorists still can’t explain exactly how the materials do that, so they can’t predict a limiting temperature. And controversial claims abound, for example around new “hydride” superconductors, said to work at room temperature though generally at ultrahigh pressures.
But even in a field filled with bold assertions, the South Korean researchers’ claim is extraordinary. In the papers, which have not been peer reviewed, they argue that when doped with copper, the mineral lead apatite—which contains lead, oxygen, and phosphorus—superconducts at ambient pressure and temperatures of at least 400 K, higher than the boiling point of water. If that is true, then just sitting on your desk, the stuff should convey electricity without resistance.
The papers present data that purport to show the material not only has zero resistance, but can also expel a magnetic field. That’s a key sign of superconductivity—although not a unique signature—and the reason a superconductor levitates when placed on a magnet.
“I appreciate that the authors took appropriate data and were clear about their fabrication techniques,” says Nadya Mason, a condensed matter physicist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Still, she cautions, “The data seems a bit sloppy.”
For example, when viewed in detail, key voltage-versus-current graphs do not show the telltale plunge straight to zero, which would indicate vanishing resistance. The papers also show identical magnetic data in plots with incommensurate axes. And, according to press reports, the papers were posted without the permission of all authors. South Korea has started an investigation into the matter.
There are also questions of basic physics, Norman says. Conventional superconductors, such as niobium, tin, and mercury, are all metals. High-temperature superconductors, such as yttrium barium copper oxide, have to be doped to make them metallic before they’ll superconduct. In contrast, undoped lead apatite is an insulator, Norman says. What’s more, copper and lead atoms are similar enough that substituting copper atoms for some of the lead atoms in lead apatite shouldn’t affect the material’s electrical properties. “You have a rock, and [after doping] you should still end up with a rock,” Norman says.
Still, with no theory of high-temperature superconductivity, there’s no way to say for sure the material can’t be a superconductor.
The South Korean researchers speculate that within their material, the doping slightly distorts long, naturally occurring chains of lead atoms. They say these 1D channels might carry current without resistance. Lee and Kim also suggest that a kind of undulation of charge might exist in the chains. Mason notes that similar charge patterns have been seen in high-temperature superconductors.
As of Tuesday evening, more than a dozen follow-up studies, most theoretical, had hit arXiv. One group in China claims to see zero resistance in the material, but only at temperatures below 100 K—cooler than some known superconductors. Three others report no sign of superconductivity.
Several theoretical papers suggest the material may have an electrical structure promising for, but far from guaranteeing, superconductivity.
No one can say for sure where this is all going. But Kaplan, condensed matter physics’ first internet influencer, has changed his mind, posting on 7 August that the evidence rules out superconductivity.
https://twitter.com/alexkaplan0/status/1688731316777275392
It’s as close to official as we’ll probably get: LK-99 is likely simply a ferromagnetic material, which explains its levitating properties, according to new research from Peking University.
The room temperature superconductivity revolution will have to wait another day.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bizarre ‘demon’ particle found inside superconductor could help unlock a ‘holy grail’ of physics
News
By Ben Turner published 2 days ago
The transparent, chargeless quasiparticle could shed more light on the underlying mechanics of superconductivity
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/bizarre-demon-particle-found-inside-superconductor-could-help-unlock-a-holy-grail-of-physics
Tomi Engdahl says:
The XY problem is asking about your attempted solution rather than your actual problem. This leads to enormous amounts of wasted time and energy, both on the part of people asking for help, and on the part of those providing help.
https://xyproblem.info/?fbclid=IwAR3wrWsEKdx-gb5cGxrGpo1DBDd_7WT9PAILdxg2UX6UPpWnsscPipv8aFw
Tomi Engdahl says:
THE WEALTHY ARE WEIRDLY PSYCHED TO DOWNLOAD THEIR BRAINS INTO COMPUTERS
https://futurism.com/the-byte/wealthy-pysched-download-brains-computers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Two Students Unravel a Widely Believed Math Conjecture
By
MAX G. LEVY
August 10, 2023
https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-students-unravel-a-widely-believed-math-conjecture-20230810/
Mathematicians thought they were on the cusp of proving a conjecture about the ancient structures known as Apollonian circles. But a summer project would lead to its downfall.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tama-keksinto-voi-mullistaa-koko-elektroniikka-alan-mikali-se-vain-on-totta-uudesta-ihmeaineesta-luvattu-naytteita-hyvin-pian/72328b54-b4c1-499e-aa5e-4c8a2ac1053e
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.engadget.com/scientists-have-reproduced-last-years-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-200611282.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
ASTROPHYSICS
A Background ‘Hum’ Pervades the Universe. Scientists Are Racing to Find Its Source
Astronomers are now seeking to pinpoint the origins of an exciting new form of gravitational waves that was announced earlier this year
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-background-hum-pervades-the-universe-scientists-are-racing-to-find-its-source/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists discover the highest-energy light coming from the sun
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-highest-energy-sun.html
Sometimes, the best place to hide a secret is in broad daylight. Just ask the sun.
“The sun is more surprising than we knew,” said Mehr Un Nisa, a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University. “We thought we had this star figured out, but that’s not the case.”
Nisa, who will soon be joining MSU’s faculty, is the corresponding author of a new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters that details the discovery of the highest-energy light ever observed from the sun.
The international team behind the discovery also found that this type of light, known as gamma rays, is surprisingly bright. That is, there’s more of it than scientists had previously anticipated.
Although the high-energy light doesn’t reach the Earth’s surface, these gamma rays create telltale signatures that were detected by Nisa and her colleagues working with the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, or HAWC.
HAWC is an important part of the story. Unlike other observatories, it works around the clock.
The gamma rays that Nisa and her colleagues observed had about 1 trillion electron volts, or 1 tera electron volt, abbreviated 1 TeV. Not only was this energy level surprising, but so was the fact that they were seeing so much of it.
In the 1990s, scientists predicted that the sun could produce gamma rays when high-energy cosmic rays—particles accelerated by a cosmic powerhouse like a black hole or supernova—smash into protons in the sun. But, based on what was known about cosmic rays and the sun, the researchers also hypothesized it would be rare to see these gamma rays reach Earth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/08/01/accelerating-electrons-to-tev-levels-using-curved-laser-beams/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harnessing the power of light: Advancements in photonic memory for faster optical computing
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-harnessing-power-advancements-photonic-memory.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers develop breakthrough prototype of stretchable fabric-based lithium-ion battery
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-breakthrough-prototype-stretchable-fabric-based-lithium-ion.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using a foreign language can reduce false memories, study shows
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/using-foreign-language-can-reduce-false-memories-study-shows
UChicago psychology study finds novel relationship between memory and bilingualism
Athief sneaks into a museum late at night. They pass by a pair of statues—or were they suits of armor? You see them take a necklace. Or wait. Didn’t the news report say it was a watch?
Our memories shape the past, our sense of reality. But they aren’t always true. Language is often a culprit for planting these false memories. In a recent study published by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, two UChicago research groups came together to examine the relationship between language and memory—specifically the role of multilingualism.
Doing anything in a language that isn’t your own—from ordering lunch to learning something new—can be tough. This may lead some to believe foreign language users would be more susceptible to false memories.
However, according to Prof. Boaz Keysar, that’s not the case.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Waves of charge signal rare physics at work inside a superconductor
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-rare-physics-superconductor.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
This changes everything in audio engineering?
The classic film “Alien” was once promoted with the tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Researchers in Finland have found that in certain situations, sound can be transmitted strongly across a vacuum region.
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-physicists-transmitted-vacuum.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-physicists-breakthrough-monte-carlo-simulations.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
9 Scientists to Celebrate for Women’s History Month and Beyond
https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/life-in-the-lab/9-scientists-in-womens-history/?cid=bid_cbu_sbu_r01_co_cp1450_pjt9002_bid11wblg_0so_fbk_da_awa_vt_s18_womenblg23&fbclid=IwAR0ezyXCaVSd8cMIxIK77OZVyjXWTv-gmVTqcE38LRbJmjkn2A9-8vly60w_aem_AXVwytPPCiWnQ2KD7UzTI1M7yKaf9mRyVTmKPnt0s6SJj_OR6CeKtREzei4lQQ6qRW1yMjLHujpy_tThF67vNQ8F
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uutinen mullistavasta suprajohteesta oli liian hyvä ollakseen totta
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15197&via=n&datum=2023-08-14_15:04:39&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15214-miksi-langaton-usb-epaeonnistui
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here’s how scientists concluded that the room-temperature superconductor isn’t real, showing the scientific process still works, at least.
It’s official: LK-99 isn’t a room-temperature superconductor
https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/18/lk-99-room-temperature-superconductor/?tpcc=tcplusfacebook&fbclid=IwAR3YsJsPLQ3NCtQhQhlfpJfYH0TPkqBOJ29ICW9ALOX3HOkN7ENAUMrF3Mc&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL20uZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAI_WwIwPghhPDgUx10piZEgckNANF-N9AruIHHm7UMdmVa7j05MgDm3eCkwoyEJeo-yPeHXbe5Nu93npxsmmU5U1eAOO3vHcLSSDoDvJoSiA0ZdmV0aKfYsscwuhe49je4TGDK-KR8-lb3PyYtjx7ZiNoXqINBm-gOl_oSZngihi
If there was any hope remaining that LK-99 might be a room-temperature superconductor, it’s pretty much dead now.
In fact, it’s worse than that. Pure samples of the substance show that it is an insulator — the opposite of a superconductor. The glimmers of hope that kept the story in the news for weeks appear to be the result of impurities in the original samples.
Dozens of studies published in the last week or two have coalesced around the conclusion, less than a month after a sensational preprint paper was published by a team at the Quantum Energy Research Centre, a small company housed in the basement of a modest apartment building in Seoul, South Korea.
The Korean team made waves when it published preprints on July 22, claiming to have created a material that exhibited superconductor-like properties at ambient temperature and pressure. What’s more, the material was made of plebeian ingredients: lead, copper, phosphorus and oxygen. It flew in the face of decades of research into superconductors.
And yet it appeared to possess some of the same qualities that define superconductors. A video released by the team showed it partially levitating above a magnet, and when probing it for electrical resistance, they noticed a sharp drop around 104.8°C. Both the levitation and the resistance drop are hallmarks of superconductors.
There were warnings early on that the claims might be bunk.
preprints are far from the gold standard. There’s no peer review of preprints, and the bar for submission is pretty low.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-useless-perspective-that-transformed-mathematics-20200609/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Could white holes actually exist?
By Paul Sutter published 5 days ago
White holes are mathematically possible, according to general relativity. But does that mean they’re actually out there?
https://www.space.com/could-white-holes-exist-space-mysteries?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=space.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR0-Udgo0DyXOGKYIF8ozXb8ymOq2S1JqqiamecFz9SCcUrekcBSs6BWirY
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/universumimme-voi-olla-avaruusolentojen-laboratorion-luomus-harvardin-yliopiston-professori-ehdottaa/
Tomi Engdahl says:
LK-99 isn’t a superconductor — how science sleuths solved the mystery
Efforts to replicate the material have pieced together the puzzle of why it displayed superconducting-like behaviours.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02585-7
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vuoden isoin tiedesensaatio lässähti – Ihmemateriaali LK-99:n ”suprajohtavuus” johtuikin aineen epäpuhtauksista
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/vuoden-isoin-tiedesensaatio-lassahti-ihmemateriaali-lk-99n-suprajohtavuus-johtuikin-aineen-epapuhtauksista/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://passive-components.eu/researchers-reveal-relationship-between-magnetic-field-and-supercapacitors/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-magnet.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/math-proof-draws-new-boundaries-around-black-hole-formation-20230816/
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Last Hope’ Experiment Finds Evidence for Unknown Particles
By
NATALIE WOLCHOVER
April 7, 2021
https://www.quantamagazine.org/last-hope-experiment-finds-evidence-for-unknown-particles-20210407/
Today’s long-anticipated announcement by Fermilab’s Muon g-2 team appears to solidify a tantalizing conflict between nature and theory. But a separate calculation, published at the same time, has clouded the picture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Long-lived quantum state points the way to solving a mystery in radioactive nuclei
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-long-lived-quantum-state-mystery-radioactive.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Achieve the Impossible by transmitting Sound Through Empty Space (Vacuum)
https://charmingscience.com/scientists-achieve-the-impossible-by-transmitting-sound-through-empty-space-vacuum/
Physicists Zhuoran Geng and Ilari Maasilta from the Nanoscience Center at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, have demonstrated that, on the contrary, in certain situations, sound can be transmitted strongly across a vacuum region.
In a recent article published in Communications Physics they show that in some cases, a sound wave can jump or “tunnel” fully across a vacuum gap between two solids if the materials in question are piezoelectric. In such materials, vibrations (sound waves) produce an electrical response as well, and since an electric field can exist in vacuum, it can transmit the sound waves.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Current takes a surprising path in quantum material
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/08/current-takes-surprising-path-quantum-material
Cornell researchers used magnetic imaging to obtain the first direct visualization of how electrons flow in a special type of insulator, and by doing so they discovered that the transport current moves through the interior of the material, rather than at the edges, as scientists had long assumed.
The finding provides new insights into the electron behavior in so-called quantum anomalous Hall insulators and should help settle a decades-long debate about how current flows in more general quantum Hall insulators. These insights will inform the development of topological materials for next-generation quantum devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where was the lithium-ion battery really invented? Was it at Exxon, which briefly commercialized an early coin cell then washed its hands of the technology? At the University of Oxford, which declined to pursue a patent? At Sony, needing a small powerful rechargeable for its Handicam? Or at one of the other companies in between whose researchers grabbed, then dropped, the technology.
WHO REALLY INVENTED THE RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY?
Many dropped the baton before Sony finally took it across the finish line
https://spectrum.ieee.org/lithium-ion-battery-2662487214?fbclid=IwAR0kEG3pMv8vTkdM0znX-8Nr-V6i0NNof31koZ-lCXvL4XJstN7EzF5kzUc
Tomi Engdahl says:
WHO REALLY INVENTED THE RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY?
Many dropped the baton before Sony finally took it across the finish line
https://spectrum.ieee.org/lithium-ion-battery-2662487214#toggle-gdpr
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/if-we-re-living-in-a-simulation-a-computer-scientist-has-a-plan-to-escape-66235
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA’s mission to a $10-quintillion asteroid is two months from launch
Whether you call it 10 quintillion, 10 million trillion, or 10 billion billion, it’s a 1 followed by 19 zeroes.
https://www.freethink.com/space/16-psyche-mission#Echobox=1692564662