space-time crystal
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Alt-week 9.29.12: 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and laser-controlled worms
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Dimensions, they're like buses. You wait for ages, and then three come along at once. And then another one right after that. While that might be about where the analogy ends, this week sees us off to the moon, where we then leap from the third, right into the fourth. Once there, we'll learn how we could eventually be controlled by lasers, before getting up close and personal with a 300 million-year old bug. Sound like some sort of psychedelic dream? Better than that, this is alt-week.
Researchers create space-time crystal schematic, still won't undo those ill-advised high school photos
Think your cute little Minecraft schematics are the bomb? Well, a group of international researchers sees your quaint, little 3D masterpiece and raises you the blueprint for a 4D space-time crystal. Building on an idea floated earlier this year by theoretical physics guru and Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek of MIT, a team led by UC Berkeley researcher Tongcang Li has created a schematic for a crystal with a fourth dimension -- movement in time. The resulting space-time crystal is being described as something akin to an infinitely running clock that does not require any additional energy once it starts going. The researchers also claim that the crystal can be built in just a few years -- provided that the necessary funding is available to the team that decides to take on the project, of course. Unfortunately, the crystal is still a long way from the Mr. Fusion-powered, time-traveling DeLorean that we truly desire. In the meantime, brainy types can feel free to click on the source link for more nuggets of wisdom about the research.
