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What is Reality – 2011 Film by BBC Horizon

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What is Reality - 2011 Film by BBC Horizon

There is a strange and mysterious world around us, a world largely hidden from our senses. The quest to explain the true nature of reality is a scientific story worthy of a detective. The 2011 film by BBC Horizon titled What is Reality raises many questions and offers answers that are presently available which in turn raises even more questions. What is reality – can such question be answered by our knowledge so far?

The BBC Horizon program begins with Jacobo Konigsberg talking about the discovery of top quark at Fermilab. Frank Wilceck follows with a theory to explain the physics of particles in the hut of countries using a pieces of fruit. Anton Zeilinger shows us the double-slit experiment and then Seth Lloyd demonstrates us the world’s most powerful quantum computer, which despite being the most powerful, still has several holdbacks. Lloyd has some interesting ideas suggesting the universe could be much like a quantum computer.

Lenny Susskind then makes an appearance to tell us about the holographic principle which he discovered after encountering an interesting hologram in the corridor. The principle was holgraphicaly illustrated by projecting an image of Lenny into itself. Max Tegmark then draws some of his favorite equations in a window and tell us that reality is mathematics before dissolution in equations.

The most interesting part of the program was an article about an experiment to build a holometer at Fermilab described by its project leader – Craig Hogan. The laser inteferometer holometer is inspired by the noise in gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO. It is hoped that if the holographic principle is correct this experiment will detect its effects.

The tracks were reconstructed from the depths of the atom, from the event horizon of a black hole, and from the confines of the cosmos. It may be that we are part of a cosmic hologram, projected from the edge of the universe. Or that there are an infinity of parallel worlds. After watching the BBC Horizon program What Is Reality, the reality will never look the same to you again. Full lenght BBC feature can be watched in a YouTube video below:

Brian Greene Explains Super String Theory

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Brian Greene Explains Super String Theory

Brian Greene Explains Super String Theory

In the age of a large hadron collider, it is cool to see deeper inside the universe and what it consists of, as well as at the theory on extra dimensions that we can not see. Brian Greene, the celebrity physicist and the author of the book titled Icarus at the Edge of Time explains in the video presentation below how super string theory works and what exactly it is.

Brian Greene is truly a great guy to explain super string theory as it is something that could be otherwise difficult to perceive by an average folk. Brian Greene has this voice of a stand up comedian that makes it sound captivating. If his voice sounded like a school teacher, it would all be much more difficult to swallow.

I also like how Brian Greene explains the super string theory in non-technical terms. He talks about 11 dimensional universe and physics of Newton, Einstein and others yet even if you didn’t have relevant education in the field, you’d still understand what he talks about. That is great I think. Fantastic presenter.

Let’s get back to the large hardon collider that’s running in Geneva, Switzerland. According to Brian Greene and the string theory he explains, LHC could prove that there are additional dimensions in the universe that we don’t see at the moment. LHC forces particles to fly in opposite direction of each other reaching near speed of light. At some point those particles will be intentionally forced to collide. The scientists then measure energy after the collision and compare it to the energy before the collision and if there is less measurable energy after, it will prove that there are additional dimensions, because the energy would have shifted there during the high speed collision.

For the non physicists among us – energy is a constant. It can never disappear; it can only transform itself and move on. What Brian Greene is talking about, is that within sealed space of large hardon collider, if that energy disappears, it must mean that it was shifted into another dimension that our technology can’t measure at the moment. That would be a fantastic discovery.

I really enjoyed this presentation by Brian Greene. Hope you like it too ;)

Brian Greene Photo by Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post

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Kate McAlpine aka Alpinekat – Rap but Where’s Booty

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Here’s another internet superstar. Kate McAlpine has a YouTube profile under the nick Alpinekat and her call to fame? Kate McAlpine raps about particle physics and the 17 mile circumference machine called Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is about to starts up on September 10, 2008.

You probably didn’t understand a thing of what I just said in that last sentence and neither do I. This is what I was able to learn about it (Kate McAlpine kind of explains it with her rap) – there’s a particle physics lab close to Geneva in Switzerland known as CERN. They’ve been working for 14 years on a machine called Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which they believe will find new particles, such as Higgs boson that give subjects weight characteristics, or the dark matter – the source of gravity, or antimatter that is believed to cancel matter. I’m as clueless about it as you are. Don’t ask…

Kate McAlpine is a 23 year old chick who raps about that stuff. She’s young and hot and all, but where’s the booty. Alpinekat, if you’re going to rap, show some booty or else it’s the waste of time. Regardless of how hot you are. You got to shake some of that booty, oil it up and show it in slim thong. What do you think rap is for? Science?

Kate McAlpine is getting popular on YouTube, though. She uploaded her video Large Hadron Rap a month ago and it already had over 600 000 views. That’s from an unknown author. I know that Chris Crocker can get 600k views in a manner of hours, but he’s Britney Spears’ gay twin sister. That gives him advantages.

BTW – I didn’t last through entire rap. I could not find any booty in it for over a minute so I got bored. Let’s just hope Kate McAlpine gets the memo and takes off some clothes next time. Ans let’s hope that Large Hadron Collider doesn’t get us owned when it’s turned on (did I just use words “hardon” and “turned on” in a single sentence?). I’ve already paid for a trip to Cuba I’m taking later this year.