Feathers are fuckin' badass as shit, what the fuck are you even talking about.
Do you have any idea how fucking insane it is that feathers are even real? What kind of phenotypical gymnastics nature had to perform to get any one of the many, many designs of feathers that have existed throughout the millenia to manifest on this stinking mudball?
The California Institute of Technology has big news for space-based power. Researchers at the university have reportedly beamed solar power from space to Earth without a single wire—and they say it’s a first.
The experiment is a part of Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project, and the institute announced a successful transmission via press release yesterday. The researchers conducted the power transfer experiment using the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment, or MAPLE, which is a small prototype aboard the in-orbit Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) that launched this past January.
The researchers say that, in a first, MAPLE’s array of transmitters successfully beamed solar power collected in space using microwaves to a receiver on the rooftop of Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering on Caltech’s campus in Pasadena.
“Through the experiments we have run so far, we received confirmation that MAPLE can transmit power successfully to receivers in space,” said Space Solar Power Project co-director Ali Hajimiri in the press release. “We have also been able to program the array to direct its energy toward Earth, which we detected here at Caltech. We had, of course, tested it on Earth, but now we know that it can survive the trip to space and operate there.”
Is there a Moon? I’ll give you power…
+4
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited June 6
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
Pffft, that's a bad attitude! Of course you can't fry anyone with space microwaves with that attitude!
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
[sighs, walks out with the roasting pan full of one whole chicken]
+6
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Ironically, the only ones in danger are the ones wearing tinfoil hats.
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
[sighs, walks out with the roasting pan full of one whole chicken]
You just need to slap that chicken like 1300 times and it’ll be cooked
+1
valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
AP Video Report of a man who’s ability to walk has been restored using a Bluetooth implant reconnecting his brain and spine in a procedure done by Swiss researchers
I wonder what would happen if they accidentally fired that thing at a person walking around on the planet
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
are you sure? that gun obliterates like a 45 degree cone a mile long after charging for like 10 seconds
Feathers are fuckin' badass as shit, what the fuck are you even talking about.
Do you have any idea how fucking insane it is that feathers are even real? What kind of phenotypical gymnastics nature had to perform to get any one of the many, many designs of feathers that have existed throughout the millenia to manifest on this stinking mudball?
Feathered T-Rex is a work of Darwinian Art.
I forget where I saw it, but one thing I watched said that if birds disappeared one day; feathered animals probably wouldn't reevolve. Flying animals would, but they wouldn't be feathered.
It talked about mammals and reptiles that have evolved gliding and flight, but not feathers. I thought it was super neat.
This is so cool. Well, to watch. From a safe distance.
Yeah, I had this on all yesterday while WFH.
Would have done so today also, but Friday is my office in-person day. So I've just got it up on my second monitor, boiling and fountaining away.
the video caused me to go find out whatever happened with Maximum Entropy Production, cause that was all the rage for five minutes and then kind of sunk back under the radar
seems like it's still in Theoretical Physics Purgatory until they figure out some more testable predictions, but it's being used a bit as a framework in applied physics which is nice because the maths is very elegant.
So obviously I totally understand what that video is conveying, but I'm having a hard time explaining it to my idiot friend. Can anyone use layman's terms to explain it so I can copy/paste it to them? TIA.
+5
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
So obviously I totally understand what that video is conveying, but I'm having a hard time explaining it to my idiot friend. Can anyone use layman's terms to explain it so I can copy/paste it to them? TIA.
Entropy's not the whole story when it comes to the progression and life of the universe and structures within it, is the tl;dr I would give.
Mostly I'm surprised it took this long to formalize the idea? The existence of complex structures within the universe (leaving aside anything to do with living organisms, which is a whole other conversation) always indicated that entropy couldn't be the sole concern.
@Pinfeldorf If you a want a mostly-lay-language walk through of a lot of quantum mechanics, general relativity, all that mind bending fun stuff, Brian Greene's books are a decent starting point (heads up, he did go deep down the string theory rabbit hole for a while there).
IIRC the usual argument for the existence of localized order is non uniform entropy decay rates, and the idea that locally entropy can be temporarily reduced through an external energetic input, but when analysed as part of a broader or more complete system will still result in an overall increase, eg the sun blasting out mind boggling amounts of energy allows for local entropic reversal within some parts of the solar system but these local effects are dwarfed by the solar system's overall entropy measure. (The corollary is that the starting point of the universe was an incredibly compacted, highly ordered state with an unimaginable amount of stored potential energy). I have no idea how quantum complexity theory ties into this at all, but I bet its interesting.
@Pinfeldorf If you a want a mostly-lay-language walk through of a lot of quantum mechanics, general relativity, all that mind bending fun stuff, Brian Greene's books are a decent starting point (heads up, he did go deep down the string theory rabbit hole for a while there).
IIRC the usual argument for the existence of localized order is non uniform entropy decay rates, and the idea that locally entropy can be temporarily reduced through an external energetic input, but when analysed as part of a broader or more complete system will still result in an overall increase, eg the sun blasting out mind boggling amounts of energy allows local entropic reversal within the solar system but these local effects are dwarfed by the sun's contribution to the solar systems overall entropy metrics. I have no idea how quantum complexity theory ties into this at all, but I bet its interesting.
Yeah, my point is more, the fact that this can occur at all already indicates that even on a fully cosmic scale entropy couldn't have been the sole consideration in the evolution of the entire system. I'm thinking in terms of like, the existence of stars at all here, which are long term positive entropy but short term very negative entropy.
Which is an idea that every physicist I've met already, like, had, like in no way am I smart or clever here. My surprise is only that it took until 2023 to really formalize it like this.
The explanation used to be "uh, maybe from weird bubbles and ripples in the energetic field resulting from some local conditions within the big bang which we might be able to reconstruct (and would tell us a lot about conditions in the early expansion of the universe) but the maths is very hard". It seems like the step change here is mathematical advances that suddenly allow you to reframe the problem. It's not like there weren't formalized theories before this, people have applied explanatory frameworks to these phenomena /the non uniformity of the universe before, this one is just particularly nice because it might answer a bunch of related questions.
I wouldn't take the "new law of physics" too seriously, thats just PR beat up. Physicists are proposing new laws all the time , that's their favorite thing.
Posts
Do you have any idea how fucking insane it is that feathers are even real? What kind of phenotypical gymnastics nature had to perform to get any one of the many, many designs of feathers that have existed throughout the millenia to manifest on this stinking mudball?
Feathered T-Rex is a work of Darwinian Art.
Like that one breed of sheep
Look, send me a pm and I can hook you up with some art.
Don't put T-Rex in your mouth.
?
yes
Is there a Moon? I’ll give you power…
Nothing much. The intensities we're talking about are more like cell phone towers than microwave ovens, as far as large mammals are concerned. So you might get a little covid if it sets off your 5G microchips, but that's a worst case scenario.
Pffft, that's a bad attitude! Of course you can't fry anyone with space microwaves with that attitude!
[sighs, walks out with the roasting pan full of one whole chicken]
PSN:Furlion
You just need to slap that chicken like 1300 times and it’ll be cooked
AP Video Report of a man who’s ability to walk has been restored using a Bluetooth implant reconnecting his brain and spine in a procedure done by Swiss researchers
are you sure? that gun obliterates like a 45 degree cone a mile long after charging for like 10 seconds
I forget where I saw it, but one thing I watched said that if birds disappeared one day; feathered animals probably wouldn't reevolve. Flying animals would, but they wouldn't be feathered.
It talked about mammals and reptiles that have evolved gliding and flight, but not feathers. I thought it was super neat.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Q5M-5XFplo0?feature=share
This is so cool. Well, to watch. From a safe distance.
Yeah, I had this on all yesterday while WFH.
Would have done so today also, but Friday is my office in-person day. So I've just got it up on my second monitor, boiling and fountaining away.
seems like it's still in Theoretical Physics Purgatory until they figure out some more testable predictions, but it's being used a bit as a framework in applied physics which is nice because the maths is very elegant.
Entropy's not the whole story when it comes to the progression and life of the universe and structures within it, is the tl;dr I would give.
Mostly I'm surprised it took this long to formalize the idea? The existence of complex structures within the universe (leaving aside anything to do with living organisms, which is a whole other conversation) always indicated that entropy couldn't be the sole concern.
IIRC the usual argument for the existence of localized order is non uniform entropy decay rates, and the idea that locally entropy can be temporarily reduced through an external energetic input, but when analysed as part of a broader or more complete system will still result in an overall increase, eg the sun blasting out mind boggling amounts of energy allows for local entropic reversal within some parts of the solar system but these local effects are dwarfed by the solar system's overall entropy measure. (The corollary is that the starting point of the universe was an incredibly compacted, highly ordered state with an unimaginable amount of stored potential energy). I have no idea how quantum complexity theory ties into this at all, but I bet its interesting.
💩 💦 👁️
Yeah, my point is more, the fact that this can occur at all already indicates that even on a fully cosmic scale entropy couldn't have been the sole consideration in the evolution of the entire system. I'm thinking in terms of like, the existence of stars at all here, which are long term positive entropy but short term very negative entropy.
Which is an idea that every physicist I've met already, like, had, like in no way am I smart or clever here. My surprise is only that it took until 2023 to really formalize it like this.