Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein proven right
It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists.A brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms.
According to the conventional model of particle physics, protons and neutrons comprise smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons.
The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five per cent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 per cent?
The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons.
In other words, energy and mass are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905.
The e=mc2 formula shows that mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass.
By showing how much energy would be released if a certain amount of mass were to be converted into energy, the equation has been used many times, most famously as the inspirational basis for building atomic weapons.
But resolving e-mc2 at the scale of sub-atomic particles -- in equations called quantum chromodynamics -- has been fiendishly difficult.
"Until now, this has been a hypothesis," France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said proudly in a press release.
Michael Jackson is now Mikaeel
Michael Jackson has converted to Islam and changed his name to Mikaeel.
The 50-year-old star, pledged his allegiance to the Koran in a ceremony at a friend's mansion in Los Angeles, the Sun reported.
Jackson sat on the floor wearing a tiny hat after an Imam was summoned to officiate -- days before the singer is due to appear at London's High Court where he is being sued by an Arab Sheik, the paper said.
The star decided to adopt the new religion while he was recording a song at the home of his friend where a Jehovah's witness was brought up to help him through the ceremony.
Apparently, the Beat It star was convinced by his producer and songwriter friends David Wharnsby and Phillip Bubal.
"They began talking to him about their beliefs, and how they thought they had become better people after they converted. Michael soon began warming to the idea. An Imam was summoned from the mosque and Michael went through the shahada, which is the Muslim declaration of belief," the source revealed.
Mikaeel is the name of one of Allah's angels.
"Jacko rejected an alternative name, Mustafa meaning "the chosen one", the source added.
The singer, who rarely ventures out without a mask, is due to give evidence on Monday in a 4.7 million pound lawsuit brought by Prince Abdulla Al-Khalif of Bahrain for defaulting on an exclusive recording contract.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
$130,265 mobile phone
Softbank's Tiffany mobile phone is studded with 537 diamonds, a total of 18.34 carats, designed by US jeweler Tiffany and Co and Japanese electronics giant Sharp.
The company has launched ten limited-edition Tiffany phones at a whopping price tag of 12.98 million yen ($130,265). Of these, eight limited-edition phones were sold out in just three days!
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