Quantum interference of large organic molecules

The effusive source emits molecules that are velocity-selected by the three delimiters S1, S2 and S3. The KDTL interferometer is composed of two SiNx gratings G1 and G3, as well as the standing light wave G2. The optical dipole force grating imprints a phase modulation ϕ(x)∝αopt·P/(v·wy) onto the matter wave. Here αopt is the optical …

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Gendercide in China, India and other countries

India gender imbalance is heading to 110 boys to 100 girls The news from India’s 2011 census is almost all heartening. Literacy is up; life expectancy is up; family size is stabilising. But there is one grim exception. In 2011 India counted only 914 girls aged six and under for every 1,000 boys. Parents choose …

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MIT also working on printing buildings

Model maker: Neri Oxman works on “Cartesian Wax: Prototype for a Responsive Skin,” a model that is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Credit: Mikey Siegel Neri Oxman, an architect and a professor at MIT’s Media Lab, intends to print buildings instead—essentially using concrete, polymers, and …

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Problems with the Union of Concerned Scientists Position on Nuclear Power

The Union of Concerned Scientists position on Nuclear Power and Global warming has the following problems To address global warming, we need a profound transformation of the ways in which we generate and consume energy. The urgency of this situation demands that we be willing to consider all possible options for coping with climate change. …

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Carnival of Space 191

Mercury from Orbit. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / Carnegie Institution of Washington Carnival of Space 191 is up at the Planetary Society blog Chris Dann from WeirdWarp shows us some of MESSENGER’s first photos of Mercury from orbit and explains why we’re bothering to capture them. Astroengine looks at new research that life in solar …

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The Economic ends of Empires – Soviet Union, British Empire and the USA

The Brookings Institute published the English translation of “Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia,” which was a bestseller in Russia. Written by Yegor Gaidar, an economist who was Russia’s acting prime minister between 1991 and 1994, the book uses information from Soviet archives to tell the story of the last few years of …

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An IMF working paper analyzed US finances and indicates of higher taxes or cuts in services that add up to 35% are needed

The working paper of the IMF finds that, under a baseline scenario, a full elimination of the US fiscal and generational imbalances would require all taxes to go up and all transfers to be cut immediately and permanently by 35 percent. A delay in the adjustment makes it more costly. “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal …

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