Wednesday 23 August 2006

Busy Week


Well, a lot of things happened this week. First of all, you don't need to look for Grigory Perelman anymore. Yes, he was found, he won the Fields Medal and, as expected, he declined it. The guy is tough. Anyway, he had his reasons (at least he said that). Read the detailed news here: Maths genius declines top prize.

There is also a very important news. NASA researchers are saying that they proved that dark matter exists beyond doubt by indirect observations. They crossed data from three different sources (three telescopes) and measured the gravity in a huge collision. Dark matter was proposed as a kind of matter that only interacts by gravity (no electromagnetism, no weak force, no strong force...) to explain why galaxies have the observed structure although we cannot see the matter which should be there to explain that. There are alternative theories though, but the researchers say that the main explanation has to be dark matter according to the measurements. In short, what they saw was an event where electromagnetism separated the ordinary matter from dark matter, allowing guys to measure it. The complete story is here: Cosmic smash-up provides proof of dark matter.

This week, although I knew its existence for a long time, I tried to explore Wikibooks, a project related to Wikipedia where people share knowledge in the form of free books. There is an incredible variety and they are extremely interesting. I recommend it strongly!

Another interesting news is an article about the bombing plot here in the UK. Everybody heard about that. The police discovered a plot to detonate liquid explosives in planes going to the USA. It seems like an action movie and, if this article make sense, it really is: Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible?. I am not a chemist to know if the article is correct. If there is one reading this, please give your opinion.

And for those researchers interested in helping the human space colonization, the Mars Society is looking for volunteers for an experiment: Four-Month Mars Mission Simulation at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station: Hard Work, No Pay, Eternal Glory. I would be a volunteer, if I was not married...

To finish this random collection of paragraphs today, the guys of the 'Delta de Dirac' rock band contacted me. I heard their music and its the kind of rock that I really like. Their site (finally I know) is www.deltadedirac.com. You can download a demo of their music there. They told me that their guitar player studied electronic engineering, that's the reason of the name. And their logo is amazingly cool too! :)

Picture: Busy Life, by Edwin Gardner.

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