1

Physiology & Medicine / Re: When was the first case of cancer?

« on: 22/06/2018 19:24:37 »

Uncontrolled cell multiplication seems to happen to any and all species, though sick sharks are very rare.So we can presume that DNA has gone rogue from time to time since it first appeared.

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General Science / Re: What are the leading technological and social challenges that need addressing?

« on: 22/06/2018 19:18:36 »

Thanks but I want to participate in an innovation competition, I cannot propose a Final Solution for the overpopulation issue!

As I recall, the inventors of contraceptive devices and pharmaceuticals have generally been  praised and rewarded for their innovations. The simple sociological solution is to pay women to use these products, and limit any child-related benefits to the first child. The appropriate rate of pay in the UK would be £500 every 6 months if she is not pregnant,  The saving in health, education, welfare and other benefit costs would outweigh the expenditure within 2- 5 years and the longterm environmental impact would be wholly beneficial, uncontroversial, sustainable, and cost-free.

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General Science / Re: What are the leading technological and social challenges that need addressing?

« on: 22/06/2018 13:26:19 »

The only variable over which we have complete control, and which will devastate everyone's life if not controlled, is human population.

The solution is simple, does not require anyone to actually do or make anything,  and in the long run saves money. However there is no possibility of any individual or corporation profiting from it in the short term, so it won't happen and we are doomed.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 22/06/2018 13:20:42 »

Maxwell's equations (or the way they're being applied) are a simplification which depends on relativity for producing the same answers regardless of speed through space. I

As I have said before, they are not a simplification and have nothing to do with relativity. They are the means by which we explain the observed selfpropagation of  electromagnetic radiation, from well-characterised phenomena that do not involve the movement of anything in any particular direction.

Relativity derives from the Maxwellian fact that c is not a vector.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why is pendulum energy analysis ignoring inertia of the pendulum bob?

« on: 22/06/2018 09:15:15 »

You are complaining that the equation for a simple pendulum (with a point mass) is not the same as that for a compound pendulum (with a distributed mass). Perfectly true. The art of real life is either to solve the complete equation (which is what engineers have to do when designing oscillating things like cars and bridges) or to design an experiment that eliminates the second-order terms (which is what physicists try to do when measuring things like g).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kater%27s_pendulum shows how a rigid compond pendulum can be designed to eliminate many  of  the unknowns.

If your freely-rotating bob is on a frictionless axle, there is no torque making it rotate with respect to the vertical, so
 ω = 0

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Just Chat! / Re: How about invisible ?

« on: 22/06/2018 08:55:38 »

Nice demo!

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Just Chat! / Re: Speed of light drive .

« on: 21/06/2018 20:21:14 »

Do you smoke, drink or inject it?

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General Science / Re: What's the resolution of the human eye?

« on: 21/06/2018 16:23:48 »

Angular resolution: about 1 arcminute, approximately 0.02° or 0.0003 radians, which corresponds to 0.3 m at a 1 km distance.

So roughly 3300 linear pixels in the centre field, which is fairly unimpressive compared with most birds or even a cheap desktop scanner. The clever bit is the integrating and interpolating capability of the brain. I remember noting that I could clearly see the 0.5 cm diameter tow rope trailing from an aeroplane 300 m above me - well below the theoretical resolution of a human eye but clearly discernible by a combination of integration, interpolation and training. Much more difficult to see the rigging of a small boat or radio mast at the same distance because they aren't moving across the visual field.

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Just Chat! / Re: Pee'd off , objectively I have got to give it all away.

« on: 21/06/2018 12:34:44 »

We eagerly await full disclosure of your substitutes for penicillin, "cats' eyes", or whatever other unpatented boons to mankind you have to offer. No ideas, please (they always cause trouble), just products.

10

General Science / Re: Teleportation (homemade)

« on: 21/06/2018 12:19:29 »

Compression and movement, eh? Like stuffing your clothes into a bag and mailing it? Revolutionary and  almost certainly illegal in Lalaland.

Nothing wrong with warm, flat beer, Colin (far tastier than American piss and fizz)  and British Rail has a proud history of both curled sandwiches and leisurely teleportation. Perhaps the homeland of Heath Robinson is a better proving ground for such ideas than that of Rube Goldberg.

So here's my offer: teleport yourself to my workshop for tea and cash. Bring 51% share certificates.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is it possible for something to absorb light without reflecting it?

« on: 21/06/2018 12:12:46 »

A "black body" comes close to a perfect absorber. If you drill a small hole in a large hollow sphere, almost everything that enters the sphere stays inside it.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 21/06/2018 09:45:58 »

You haven't produced any experimental proofs that the one-way speed of light in vacuo is the same as the two-way value. All you have done is present experiments which are incapable of determining anything relevant to that at all. In every single case, you build an assumption into it and then read that assumption back out at the end.

On the contrary. I have referenced Maxwell's ab initio calculation of the speed of an electromagnetic wave which, being independent of any medium, is independent of direction, and an everyday experiment that shows the energy of a pair-annihilation photon m_ec₀² is independent of direction. If c_A→B = c_B→A then any measurement of c in vacuo is equivalent to its one-way speed.

A philosopher might argue that I can't see a tree. Being a really clever smartarse he would say that I am receiving the photons emitted by the tree a few nanoseconds ago. Bishop Berkeley dismissed such pointless hairsplitting in 1710. I think physics has moved on since then.

If you want  c_A→B > c_B→A you will have to answer the questions about the physical properties of the "fabric of space", show us its universal axes of anisotropy, and explain why Maxwell's equations are correct.

13

Just Chat! / Re: Is the USA becoming a fascist state under Trump?

« on: 20/06/2018 18:08:25 »

Politics is a very delicate game, and the world is better off without enemies,

No. Politics is a very rough game, and the most disgusting politicians get elected by inventing a common enemy who is too weak to resist a bit of populist pogrom. Trump is simply following the examples of Macchiavelli, Hitler, Thatcher, George W, Tony B.Liar, Karadzic, and every other scumbag who has lied his way to democratic power.

For a marginally less distasteful but equally dishonest example, note how, whenever asked about the fate of the Windrush generation, Conservative MPs talk about illegal immigrants.

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Just Chat! / Re: Is the USA becoming a fascist state under Trump?

« on: 20/06/2018 17:51:58 »

Nah. All that's happening is that Trump is a racist moron.

Trouble is that he's a racist moron that lots of people voted for- even though because it was clear that he's a racist moron.

Fact is that he had a policy, and got 90% of all the press and TV coverage because he is a racist moron. As his hero Goebbels said, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

All Hillary got to say was "look, I'm a woman". Hardly newsworthy, and not a policy.  Surprisingly, though, it won the popular vote.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 20/06/2018 17:47:50 »

Never mind fairy gossamer or whatever you are on about, I have simply given a couple of experimental proofs that c is independent of direction so the one-way speed of light in vacuo is the same as the two-way value.

Some smart-arse will say "but you haven't measured it". To which I reply if two identical cans of beans cost $1, one can costs 50c. Or does fairy gossamer LET give quantity discounts?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 20/06/2018 17:41:33 »

the fabric of space

Please set down the physical characteristics of this wondrous fabric. Density? Elastic modulus? Viscosity? ε_FS and μ_FS?

If I can move relative to it, what is it fixed to?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 20/06/2018 17:37:57 »

Can anyone enlighten me as to the meaning of LET?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 20/06/2018 14:08:32 »

Here's another example. When an electron and a positron annihilate, they produce two photons, moving in exactly opposite (though unpredictable) directions and each with energy 511 keV. It is no coincidence that m_p c² = m_ec² = 511 keV,and of course the photons can only move at c.

It is "quite" easy (it only took my team 20 man-years) to measure the energy of the photons by several different means, none of which involves any spatial dimension. To nobody's surprise, the energy of the left-right photon is exactly the same as that of the right-left photon and conservation of momentum thus demands that c is independent of direction.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we measure the one way speed of light?

« on: 20/06/2018 07:30:06 »

Wholly different experiment, wholly different result.

In my experiment the source does not move during the measurement.The only moving part is the locally oscillating part of the receiver, and the measurement is of the Doppler shift between the fixed and moving parts of the receiver when the direction of the incoming beam is fixed.

Your "ring experiments" are also irrelevant. c is the speed of light in vacuo, not in a medium. c_m is subject to all sorts of variations.

20

Technology / Re: Is higher education outdated in the age of the Internet?

« on: 20/06/2018 00:30:41 »

Facts have been available since printing was invented. Education isn't about learning facts, it's about learning how to use them.