Motion Sciences - December 2001

Hello friend,

This message is the first of the monthly physics reviews from the people at Motion Sciences Organization. We had hoped to initiate this series of monthly newsletters in October, but recent world events have delayed our schedules. We thank you for your patience.

This first message has been broadcast to Friends, Members and Sponsors of the Motion Sciences Community, and also a broader group of people who have expressed interest in these subjects in the past. To receive this monthy review in the future, please consider supporting our work by joining the Motion Sciences Community (go to http://motionsciences.org). We are trying to change the world for the better, and we need and appreciate your support!

You'll find below links to some of the most fascinating discoveries being made at the frontier of science today.

I've also included links below to the vocal prerelease of the "Sound of Harmony" -- the soundtrack to our hit online movie, ENGAGE. They are effective antidotes to the depression and discouragement that has followed from the tragic events of September 11. Download the movie and the MP3 vocal soundtrack from the links below, send them to your friends, and enjoy!

My friend, there is a new kind of future awaiting us all, if we have the courage and the will to make it so.

Joe Firmage Chairman Motion Sciences Organization

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MOTION SCIENCES 21ST CENTURY PHYSICS REVIEW - SEPTEMBER 2001

SERIOUS DOUBT CAST ON PHYSICS' CONCEPT OF MASS

The widely reported reanalysis of the Large Electron Positron (LEP) Collider data at CERN is casting serious doubt upon the existence of the Higgs particle. According to a Dec. 5 report in the New Scientist: "The legendary particle that physicists thought explained why matter has mass probably does not exist. So say researchers who have spent a year analysing data from the LEP accelerator at the CERN nuclear physics lab near Geneva." See CNN's early coverage of this bit of science history in the making at
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/12/06/physics.reut/index.html.

This news has direct relevance to the work of Motion Sciences Organization. Working with our partners, Motion Sciences' theoretical studies division, the California Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, has uncovered a promising connection between the electromagnetic quantum vacuum (also called the zero-point field) and the origin of mass. This approach is significant because it does not require a Higgs field. Visit http://motionsciences.org/research to learn more about our work.

OBJECTS MOVED BY THE POWER OF LIGHT

As reported in May 2001 by James Meek, Science Correspondent for Guardian Unlimited:

Researchers in Scotland have come up with a laser device able to grip and twist objects at a distance. The device, invented by a team from the physics department at St Andrews University, is able to rotate microscopic objects, such as a tiny glass rod, twice the thickness of a human hair, with nothing more than the power of light.

"We've only just begun to realise the possibilities for what we might do with this technology," said Kishan Dholakia, one of the researchers who wrote a paper on the "tractor beam" published in the journal Science.

Particles of light have a tiny amount of mass and high velocity, meaning laser beams exert a slight force on objects they touch.

This property has already been used to create "laser tweezers", tightly focused beams which can trap microscopic objects and move them from place to place. But those lasers could not, like traditional tweezers in a human hand, turn most objects around.

By using two lasers together, the St Andrews team created an interference pattern in the form of a spiral of light which traps an object in the arms. Adjusting the beams causes the spiral to rotate, taking the object with it.

As well as the glass rod, which could be used to stir tiny amounts of liquid, the scientists have rotated a hamster chromosome, showing how their technique could be used to study the innermost workings of cells for medical research.

Another use for the "tractor beam" is in nanotechnology, the science of building microscopic machines from components not much larger than a few molecules.

"Our technique could be used to drive motors, mixers, centrifuges, and other rotating parts in cheap, tiny, automated technologies of the future," Dr Dholakia said.

Another member of the team, Michael McDonald, said it would not be practical to scale up the beam to move bigger objects. The power of the lasers used was very low, but that did not mean that a laser 100 times as powerful would be able to move an object 100 times as big.

BUCKYBALLS SHATTER TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN CARBON-BASED MATERIAL

As reported on PhysicsWeb.org:

Physicists have achieved superconductivity in carbon-60 at 54 K - the highest temperature yet in the material - and they think they can do even better. Bertram Batlogg and co-workers at Bell Laboratories in the US broke the record by adding positive charges - instead of electrons - to carbon-60 crystals. They believe this is the highest superconducting temperature attained so far in a non-copper-oxide material (J H Schon et al 2000 Nature 408 549).

Read more at http://physicsweb.org/article/news/4/12/1.

U.S. HAS HEAVILY RESEARCHED GRAVITY PROPULSION TECHNOLOGIES FOR DECADES, ACCORDING TO A TOP DEFENSE JOURNALIST

As reported by Bradley Perrett of Reuters on September 9, 2001:

The U.S. military may have conducted serious research into anti-gravity based on Nazi studies, a top defense journalist suggests in a new book.

In ``The Hunt for Zero Point,'' journalist Nick Cook says, based on a decade's research, he believes by the 1950s the U.S. was seriously working on anti-gravity ``electrogravitics'' technology, which would lift and propel vehicles without wings or thrust.

``I feel intuitively that some vehicle has been developed, particularly given that there is this wealth of scientific data out there, and the Americans have never been slow to pick up on this sort of science,'' Cook, the aerospace consultant for Jane's Defense Weekly, told Reuters in an interview.

Read more at
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/anti_grav_010909.html.

BLACK HOLE OBSERVATIONS RAISING NEW QUESTIONS

As reported in the October 2001 issue of Astronomy Magazine:

Observations from four spacecraft have identified the inner edge of a spinning disk of material around a black hole about 5,000 light-years from Earth. The surprising results show that the disk is much farther from the black hole than astronomers expected.

Read more at
http://astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/000/445wrzvl.asp.

Separately, in the Sept. 8, 2001 (vol. 160, #10) issue of Science News (offline) is an article about a recently measured X-ray/radio flare-up of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The measurements, were for the first time, able to pinpoint the location of this black hole to high precision. Investigators have reported that nearby orbiting stars indicate that the event horizon is 30,000 times larger than it is supposed to be for the measured black hole mass as predicted by current theory. And the nearby orbiting matter is 1,500 times farther away from the event horizon than it should be as predicted by current theory.

AN ANTIDOTE FOR FEELINGS OF DISCOURAGEMENT FROM SEPTEMBER 11

After years of preparatory work, on August 13, 2001, Motion Sciences Organization was launched. Along with our launch, we released a special online movie -- ENGAGE -- presenting the context and vision of our Mission. ENGAGE can be downloaded at:

http://motionsciences.org/engage/vision.movie.html.

Part of the magic of this online movie its beautiful, energetic soundtrack. We're pleased to introduce a new version of this soundtrack by MSO's Matt King, with lyrics by Abby Hasstedt. We encourage you to download the MP3 at:

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/299/kings1ze.html

Send it to your friends with a link to MotionSciences.org!

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Original file name: Motion Sciences - December - converted on Thursday, 20 December 2001, 03:31