Transparent Aluminum Is "New State of Matter" 406
Professor_Quail writes with this interesting excerpt: "Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminum by bombarding the metal with the world's most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminum' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion."
FTA (Score:1, Insightful)
The last time I checked, the colloquail definition of "transparent" means "passes visible light".Glad to know those scientists can see in the UV range - sounds like evolution is moving apace.
How is this statement justified? So far, all I hear is "I pissed on a rock and it turned to mud - it's a new state of matter!"
Before jumping to conclusions, read the article (Score:5, Insightful)
This does not mean this process can be used to make transparent armor or other applications for super-strong glass. The article states that the x-rays wereï focused to a spot with a diameter smaller than a human hair's, the aluminum was transparent to ultraviolet, and the state lasted 40 femtoseconds. Details left out of the summary.
Nonetheless, this is incredibly cool. The new state of matter that is being boasted about is one where a non-valent electron is removed from atoms. Very cool.
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:"Tansparent" (Score:4, Insightful)
I would say that a microscopic hole that is transparent for a few femtoseconds to a small slice of the magnetic spectrum is more of a proof of potential possibility than a proof of concept of what the phrase "transparent aluminum" brings to mind.
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:1, Insightful)
The solution would seem to be to wear both hats.
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:2, Insightful)
But it's so simple. Only a great fool would reach for the tin foil hat. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose aluminum foil hat. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose tin foil hat.
So, you're saying that NEITHER tin nor aluminum is effective?!?
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
In the same way the Russians still use thermionic valves for aircraft and spacecraft, and indeed high-end audiophiles use them for sound systems, there may be contexts in 25th century engineering where a mechanical keyboard is safer/superior to a touchscreen panel. In that case, Scotty would certainly have needed to be proficient with them.
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
In the same way the Russians still use thermionic valves for aircraft and spacecraft, and indeed high-end audiophiles use them for sound systems, there may be contexts in 25th century engineering where a mechanical keyboard is safer/superior to a touchscreen panel.
You're overthinking this. There would still be needs to input text manually in certain situations. They do use touchscreens... why wouldn't QWERTY have survived on a touch surface? The difference doesn't need to be as exotic as telegraph to telephone; it might just be manual typewriter to electric typewriter.
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe using an "old style" keyboard had become something of a game, something that engineering students would compete on to prove they were hard core.
Or maybe, just maybe, it is only a piece of entertainment. If you are going to fail to suspend disbelief at the moment Scotty is able to use a keyboard proficiently how did you get through the previous scenes like the time travel thing, the whales communicating with aliens, and so on.
Actually, I think it's more (as I heard before) that it's OK to expect audiences to believe the impossible, but not the improbable. So it's fine that the crew of the Enterprise just time-travelled back to 1986 on a Bird of Prey, but it's not fine that a 23rd century engineer is able to touch type and operate a mid-80s Mac like he'd done this all his life.
It may not be completely logical, but since when is the human mind completely logical?
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:2, Insightful)
It may not be completely logical, but since when is the human mind completely logical?
I don't see no points on your ears boy, but you sound like a Vulcan...
I was more impressed... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This is a great breakthrough... (Score:3, Insightful)
I find his expertise with a keyboard a bit unlikely, though perhaps plausible.
What I find *totally* laughable is not that he type like a daemon, but that he not only knows a 20th-century (hundreds of years old, to him) CAD program, he knows it so well that he even has all the keyboard shortcuts memorized and can create a highly complex engineering document without even touching the mouse. In about 30 seconds.