News 18 February 2023 There are some people who believe the island of Santorini was the home of Atlantis. A very powerful volcanic explosion took place and blew part of the island into the sea and these people believe this destroyed Atlantis. Did you ever hear the saying what comes around goes around? Scientists have discovered a large pool of magma from an underwater volcano is building up near the island again and could lead to another large explosion. One has to wonder if there is some way the pressure could be released, perhaps by drilling into the pool in several areas, but I am not an engineer and what I am saying might be totally impractical for different reasons. A much milder eruption, if there is such a thing, took place about 400 years ago and killed seventy people on the island. Scientists have estimated it will be about 150 years until the next event. This may give enough time for technology to advance and solve the problem, or not. A new discovery was made concerning dinosaurs, and who doesn’t love dinosaurs? We often think of dinosaurs as big, plodding, stupid beasts with the only desire they have is to eat other animals, of course unless they are herbivores which would then make them just big, plodding and stupid. Guess what, it was just found some at least may not have been as stupid as we thought. A new study has found that at least some of them may have been as smart as primates. Scientists have found their neural brain densities were about the same in some animals. The latest study compares the intelligence of a T-Rex to that of a baboon. This must have made them far more dangerous. Another big step in the advancement of quantum computers has been accomplished. One of the most important events in quantum research is being able to accomplish quantum computing at room temperature without those huge refrigeration units being employed now. As one can see this would cut down tremendously on the power requirements and also allow quantum computers to take up far less room. For those who know about the history of digital computers, they know at first, they filled rooms with their parts and now fit into a shirt pocket in the form of our smart phones. The same thing seems to be happening with quantum computers. One very important part, a quantum harmonic oscillator that controls quantum particles can now operate at normal temperatures. A second discovery was made which had to do with spin control of electrons in quantum particles. Suffice it to say this could open the door to a billion qubit quantum computer. This is a far cry from what we are using today. German scientists have figured out how to use neutrons to see inside things. They used them on an 800 year old amulet and saw there were tiny bones inside it. This test was brought on by the fact they felt if they would have opened the amulet, it would have damaged it beyond repair. One thing I do not get is why people listen to the predictions of Uri Geller who is famous for bending spoons. He was not liked by the magician The Amazing Randy who told me he duplicated all of his tricks and offered him one million dollars if he could do something the magician couldn’t duplicate. I was told he never collected. Anyway, it seems he is making predictions about the future. He is predicting an alien invasion, but we already have one, oh wait those are people from other countries crossing our borders, he is talking about extraterrestrials. Why would anyone take him seriously? It is being said by those in the know, the current idea on how to classify documents started during World War II and never stopped, and today the idea is to classify everything we can and that is why we have so many more classified documents in this country than we should have. I remember some documents Wikileaks released were only classified to protect some politicians from embarrassment, and when they were exposed, the story went on to say some of these people were asking for the death penalty against Julian Assange, the head of the company. Many believe we have gone overboard with this system and the people of this country deserve to know more. There will always be a need for classified documents, but the reasons for classification need to be reviewed and changed. For years researchers thought the reason Roman concrete was so strong was the fact volcanic ash was added to it, but recently this was rethought. It was discovered the cement was self-healing for two reasons. The first was the fact lime clasts were added to the mixture. The second reason was the Romans used hot mixing. When cracks were formed, they became healed and that is why the concrete becomes stronger as it ages. We could learn a lot from how this was accomplished. Our modern buildings have a much shorter life span than the Roman ones, some of which are still in use after 2,000 years. Now if we could only find out how the ancients moved those huge stones weighing hundreds of tons. Maybe we should perform tests on the biggest ones and see if there is anything different about them or a residue or something they all have in common. I always find new inventions fascinating and one of the things which has had a long run is our refrigerators. They may be nearing their end. A new way to cool things has been found and it takes zero energy. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered this method called ionocaloric cooling. The flow of ions will cause the cooling. Material containing the Ions has an electric current applied to it releasing these ions and forcing them to move changing the temperature. Depending on how an when the current is applied, cooling or heating can occur. I would also think this could make refrigeration much cheaper. It seems for some reason finding the wrecks of 16th century ships is a rare occurrence. One of them as just been discovered in England. It was found on land about 1,000 feet from the coast. It is now believed by archaeologists this area was once the coast. It is said what makes this so exciting was the fact it was a great period in the change of ship construction. The age of the ship was discovered by examining the wood. They did a dendrochronological analysis, which is just the examination of tree rings in the wood to date it.
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