Friday, August 4, 2023

News bits: 4-Dimensional metamaterial discovered; About the indictment - Civil war?; Brain-machine interface advance

Researchers in the Structured Materials and Dynamics Lab at the University of Missouri College of Engineering have made a strange 3-dimensional material that has a "synthetic" fourth dimension property related to the behavior of energy waves on its surface.

Energy wave simulation

This synthetic 4D metamaterial can trap and control energy waves on its solid surface. STD writes:
Everyday life involves the three dimensions or 3D — along an X, Y, and Z axis, or up and down, left and right, and forward and back. But, in recent years scientists like Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, have explored a “fourth dimension” (4D), or synthetic dimension, as an extension of our current physical reality.

Recently, Huang together with a team of scientists in the Structured Materials and Dynamics Lab at the MU College of Engineering, achieved a significant breakthrough. They successfully created a new synthetic metamaterial with 4D capabilities. This includes the ability to control energy waves on the surface of a solid material. These energy waves, referred to as mechanical surface waves, are fundamental to how vibrations travel along the surface of solid materials.

2D rendering of the 3D metamaterial with the 
energy-trapping synthetic 4D property

While the team’s discovery, at this stage, is simply a building block for other scientists to take and adapt as needed, the material also has the potential to be scaled up for larger applications related to civil engineering, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and national defense uses.

“Conventional materials are limited to only three dimensions with an X, Y, and Z axis,” Huang said. “But now we are building materials in the synthetic dimension, or 4D, which allows us to manipulate the energy wave path to go exactly where we want it to go as it travels from one corner of a material to another.”

This groundbreaking discovery, called ‘topological pumping,’ could potentially lead to advancements in quantum mechanics and quantum computing. This is due to the development of higher dimension quantum-mechanical effects it might allow.

The work builds upon previous research conducted by Huang and his colleagues. Their earlier studies demonstrated how a passive metamaterial could control the path of sound waves as they travel from one corner of a material to another.

[This research] is supported by grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office.
Notice the US military funding this. We can only speculate what exciting new killing machines they have in mind. I do not have a feel for what civilian or military impacts this could wind up having in the coming years. It feels potentially important to very important. Time will tell.

The published research paper is here.

Personal anecdote: Years ago, I spoke with a weapons designer engineer working as a civilian contractor for the US military. I think he worked for either General Atomics or Cubic Corp. He indicated that his research team really needed to know if space (or space-time, can't remember which) was smooth or chunky for them to further proceed developing a groovy new weapon he could not talk about. From what I understand now, space (space-time?) is both smooth and chunky. I guess that's sort of like light is both a wave and a particle. Anyway, the point is this, do not underestimate the ingenuity and money the US military has at its disposal for finding new ways to kill people, the rationale being: If we don't do it, they will. 

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

To me, it is starting to feel like DJT's legal defense will partly rely on publicly trying to incite a civil war. Multiple sources are reporting that DJT's defense attorney, John Lauro, went on Faux news and Newsmax yesterday and made statements that confirm some key the allegations in the indictment against DJT. The affirmed allegations relate to DJT trying to delay the electoral vote count. That is weird to say the least. 

And, Lauro continues to concede damaging facts that are already in the public record. He responded to Newsweek late yesterday or this morning with these comments:
"Unfortunately, some of the legal commentary is not focused on the actual facts of the case. But instead is based on an erroneous understanding of what happened. Sadly, that leads to a lot of public misinformation, which is to be expected in this highly charged political environment. My comments were consistent with the facts that are already in the public record, and by no means constitute any admission."
How is it possible that Lauro's comments that appear to confirm that DJT broke the law? Two possibilities come to mind, both of which are possible, probably likely, at the same time. One is that although the alleged facts are actually true, what DJT did was not illegal because he had no intent to break any law and was innocently acting on advice of his (crackpot) attorneys like John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani and/or the Kraken (Sidney Powell). The other, scarier, possibility is that DJT is appealing to his cult by signaling to them something like, "Hey! Just look at the little things the Biden-weaponized DoJ is coming after me for. There was no law broken there because I never intended to break any law. If the American people do not rise up and defend democracy and the rule of law, we will be engulfed in socialist tyranny, corruption and moral depravity. Stand with me to protect America!! KAGA!! (keep America great again)"

Lauro said his comments by no means constituted any admission. Well, he undeniably admitted some damaging facts alleged against DJT. What he can say his own words constituted no admission that those facts alone amounted DJT breaking any law because he did not have the requisite criminal intent.

Maybe by conceding and embracing undeniable damaging facts, DJT is using Lauro to position public opinion and the jury pool in DC to make DJT look innocent in his actions because he had no criminal intent. If the evidence does not convince every person on the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that DJT knew what he was doing was illegal, the case against him collapses and he will be acquitted. If that analysis is correct, DJT has decided to rely on threat of public violence up to and including civil war because he believes he is going to lose in court. Maybe inciting civil war is DJT's plan B if he loses in court.

Lauro might be right to say that public opinion is too heated. This video from MSNBC is foaming at the mouth and over the top about how damaging Lauro's admission is. Did Lauro sucker punch MSNBC and the pundits? Lauro is no fool. DJT is a master of manipulation public opinion and creating plausible deniability. At present, plausible deniability seems to be DJT's best defense in court. Fomenting a civil war is just the back-up plan.


____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

One area of science I try to follow somewhat is BMI (brain-machine interface) research. Due to the complexity of merging machines with living tissue, this is a slow moving area of research. One area of BMI research relates to treating paralyzed people and people who have lost a limb. Medical Express writes about treatment of a paralyzed patient: 
For the first time researchers restore feeling and lasting 
movement in man living with quadriplegia

In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, bioelectronic medicine researchers, engineers and surgeons at Northwell Health's The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research have successfully implanted microchips into the brain of a man living with paralysis, and have developed artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to re-link his brain to his body and spinal cord.

This double neural bypass forms an electronic bridge that allows information to flow once again between the man's paralyzed body and brain to restore movement and sensations in his hand with lasting gains in his arm and wrist outside of the laboratory. The research team unveiled the trial participant's groundbreaking progress four months after a 15-hour open-brain surgery that took place on March 9 at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH).

"This is the first time the brain, body and spinal cord have been linked together electronically in a paralyzed human to restore lasting movement and sensation," said Chad Bouton, professor in the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes, vice president of advanced engineering at Northwell Health, developer of the technology and principal investigator of the clinical trial.  
"When the study participant thinks about moving his arm or hand, we 'supercharge' his spinal cord and stimulate his brain and muscles to help rebuild connections, provide sensory feedback, and promote recovery. This type of thought-driven therapy is a game-changer. Our goal is to use this technology one day to give people living with paralysis the ability to live fuller, more independent lives."
See, microchips are people. It's not a crackpot QAnon conspiracy. 

No comments:

Post a Comment