Atoms hit record cold temperature

Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of "negative temperatures."

Oddly, another way to look at these negative temperatures is to consider them hotter than infinity, researchers added.

This unusual advance could lead to new engines that could technically be more than 100 percent efficient, and shed light on mysteries such as dark energy, the mysterious substance that is apparently pulling our universe apart.

An object's temperature is a measure of how much its atoms move ? the colder an object is, the slower the atoms are. At the physically impossible-to-reach temperature of zero kelvin, or minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), atoms would stop moving. As such, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.

Bizarro negative temperatures

To comprehend the negative temperatures scientists have now devised, one might think of temperature as existing on a scale that is actually circular, not linear. Positive temperatures make up one part of the circle, while negative temperatures make up the other part. When temperatures go either below zero or above infinity on the positive region of this scale, they end up in negative territory. [ What's That? Your Basic Physics Questions Answered ]

With positive temperatures, atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states, a pattern known as Boltzmann distribution in physics. When an object is heated, its atoms can reach higher energy levels.

At absolute zero, atoms would not occupy any energy states. At an infinite temperature, atoms would occupy all energy states. Negative temperatures then are the opposite of positive temperatures ? atoms more likely occupy high-energy states than low-energy states.

"The inverted Boltzmann distribution is the hallmark of negative absolute temperature, and this is what we have achieved," said researcher Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the University of Munich in Germany. "Yet the gas is not colder than zero kelvin, but hotter. It is even hotter than at any positive temperature ? the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead."

As one might expect, objects with negative temperatures behave in very odd ways. For instance, energy typically flows from objects with a higher positive temperature to ones with a lower positive temperature ? that is, hotter objects heat up cooler objects, and colder objects cool down hotter ones, until they reach a common temperature. However, energy will always flow from objects with negative temperature to ones with positive temperatures. In this sense, objects with negative temperatures are always hotter than ones with positive temperatures.

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Another odd consequence of negative temperatures has to do with entropy, which is a measure of how disorderly a system is. When objects with positive temperature release energy, they increase the entropy of things around them, making them behave more chaotically. However, when objects with negative temperatures release energy, they can actually absorb entropy.

Negative temperatures would be thought impossible, since there is typically no upper bound for how much energy atoms can have, as far as theory currently suggests. (There is a limit to what speed they can travel ? according to Einstein's theory of relativity, nothing can accelerate to speeds faster than light.)

Wacky physics experiment
To generate negative temperatures, scientists created a system where atoms do have a limit to how much energy they can possess. They first cooled about 100,000 atoms to a positive temperature of a few nanokelvin, or billionth of a kelvin. They cooled the atoms within a vacuum chamber, which ?isolated them from any environmental influence that could potentially heat the atoms up accidentally. The researchers also used a web of laser beams and magnetic fields to very precisely control how these atoms behaved, helping to push them into a new temperature realm. [ Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings ]

"The temperatures we achieved are negative nanokelvin," Schneider told LiveScience.

Temperature depends on how much atoms move ? how much kinetic energy they have. The web of laser beams created a perfectly ordered array of millions of bright spots of light, and in this "optical lattice," atoms could still move, but their kinetic energy was limited.

Temperature also depends on how much potential energy atoms have, and how much energy lies in the interactions between the atoms. The researchers limited how much potential energy the atoms had with a system of magnetic fields, and they could also very finely control the interactions between atoms, making them either attractive or repulsive.

Temperature is linked with pressure ? the hotter something is, the more it expands outward, and the colder something is, the more it contracts inward. To make sure this gas had a negative temperature, the researchers had to give it a negative pressure as well, tinkering with the interactions between atoms until they attracted each other more than they repelled each other.

"We have created the first negative absolute temperature state for moving particles," said researcher Simon Braun at the University of Munich in Germany.

New kinds of engines
Negative temperatures could be used to create heat engines ? engines that convert heat energy to mechanical work, such as combustion engines ? that are more than 100 percent efficient, something seemingly impossible. Such engines would essentially not only absorb energy from hotter substances, but also colder ones. As such, the work the engine performed could be larger than the energy taken from the hotter substance alone.

Negative temperatures might also help shed light on one of the greatest mysteries in science. Scientists had expected the gravitational pull of matter to slow down the universe's expansion after the Big Bang, eventually bringing it to a dead stop or even reversing it for a "Big Crunch." However, the universe's expansion is apparently speeding up, accelerated growth that cosmologists suggest may be due to dark energy, an as-yet-unknown substance that could make up more than 70 percent of the cosmos.

In much the same way, the negative pressure of the cold gas the researchers created should make it collapse. However, its negative temperature keeps it from doing so. As such, negative temperatures might have interesting parallels with dark energy that may help scientists understand this enigma.

Negative temperatures could also shed light on exotic states of matter, generating systems that normally might not be stable without them. "A better understanding of temperature could lead to new things we haven't even thought of yet," Schneider said. "When you study the basics very thoroughly, you never know where it may end."

The scientists will detail their findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook? and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50356682/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Talking Special Olympics | TheGazette

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Source: http://thegazette.com/2013/01/04/talking-special-olympics/

S

Congress approves some Sandy storm relief amid anger over delay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress on Friday approved $9.7 billion in initial relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy, but New York and New Jersey lawmakers seethed over delays in passing the rest of a $60.4 billion federal aid package.

The House of Representatives voted 354-67 to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent and able to pay claims of thousands of homeowners who suffered flood damage in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from the October storm.

The Senate then quickly passed the measure by voice vote, and it now moves to President Barack Obama to be signed into law on his vacation in Hawaii.

House Speaker John Boehner drew scathing criticism this week - including blasts from New York and New Jersey Republicans - when he canceled a House vote on the full $60.4 billion aid package passed by the Senate.

The frustration continued on Friday as lawmakers from both parties complained that the flood insurance infusion would do little to help the bulk of those suffering more than two months after the devastating October 29 storm.

"It took only 10 days after Katrina for President (George W.) Bush to sign $60 billion in Katrina aid," said New Jersey Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell, referring to the 2005 hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast. "How dare you come to this floor and make people think everything is OK."

Boehner, re-elected on Thursday for another term as House speaker, canceled the earlier vote on the full Sandy aid package amid Republican discontent on Tuesday over the "fiscal cliff" deal. That legislation prevented tax hikes on most Americans but did not achieve the significant spending cuts House Republicans wanted.

An aide to Boehner said Tuesday night was "not a good time" to hold a vote on another massive spending bill.

But after coming under fire from Republicans, including Representative Peter King of New York and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a potential presidential contender for 2016, Boehner scheduled Friday's vote on the piece of the package.

He also promised a second vote on January 15 for the remaining portion of nearly $51 billion in aid. The House is not in session next week.

"This is a crisis of unimaginable proportions," King said. "If you saw the suffering that's going on, if you saw the people who don't have food and shelter, you'd realize how horrible this is."

The federal flood insurance program will run out of money next week to pay claims without the $9.7 billion increase in borrowing capacity, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

Putting more money into the program would come months after Obama signed a law aimed at improving its finances. Congress bailed out the program after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and it is nearly $20 billion in debt.

NO REFORMS, NO VOTE

The 67 votes against the bill stemmed largely from Republican discontent with the lack of reforms to keep the flood insurance program solvent.

Among these were Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate, who said in a statement it "would be irresponsible to raise an insolvent program's debt ceiling without making the necessary reforms."

Standard homeowners' insurance does not cover flooding. The government set up its flood insurance program in 1968 to provide affordable insurance, impose flood management policies on vulnerable communities and reduce federal disaster aid costs.

Critics of the program complain it is inefficient and say it subsidizes people who live and build in dangerous and environmentally sensitive flood zones.

While Friday's vote will ensure that claims by more than 100,000 homeowners will be paid, there are hundreds of thousands of other homes and businesses destroyed by Sandy that did not have flood insurance. Owners of many of these structures will depend on disaster aid distributed through community development block grants proposed in the remainder of the aid package.

But when the House returns to consider this portion on January 15, Republicans bent on cutting spending will have a chance to vote for a smaller amount. The package will be considered in two parts - about $17 billion for immediate needs and another $33 billion for longer term projects.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he is concerned about a fight over Republican plans to shrink the bill or restrict access to aid that were not in an earlier, Senate-passed version.

"We're worried," Schumer said, adding that he was now hoping that Obama could sign the full package into law by the end of January. The Senate returns from a recess after Obama's inauguration on January 21.

Republican aides said the House bill also will delete some items that party members say are unrelated to storm damage in the Northeast, such as funds for fishery replenishment in Alaska and the Gulf Coast.

"We need to get the pork out," said Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, who called for negotiations with the Senate to resolve differences in the two aid packages before the January 15 vote.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson.; Editing by Eric Beech and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-passes-sandy-insurance-bill-amid-anger-over-164013036--sector.html

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Sweden honors WWII hero with commemoration day

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Sweden will honor its World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg with an annual commemoration day in recognition of his achievements in saving thousands of Jews from the Nazis in Hungary.

Wallenberg, who would have turned 100 this year, was on a diplomatic mission in Hungary when detained by Soviet authorities in 1945. He is believed to have died in captivity, though the time and circumstances of his death remain a mystery.

Wallenberg is credited for saving at least 20,000 Jews by giving them Swedish travel documents, or moving them to safe houses. He was also instrumental in dissuading German officers from massacring the 70,000 inhabitants of Budapest's ghetto.

Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth said Friday that the country will earmark Aug. 27 as an official Wallenberg day.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sweden-honors-wwii-hero-commemoration-day-113734981.html

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Texas Chainsaw 3D Producer Promises "Some Level of Integrity"

Jan. 03, 2013 | 8:30 a.m.

Heather Miller (Alexandra Daddario) on the run from Leatherface (Dan Yeager) in ?Texas Chainsaw 3D.? (Lionsgate)

It might not be as well known to some moviegoers as ?Friday the 13th,? ?Nightmare on Elm Street? or ?Saw,? but ?The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? ranks high among the most revered titles in the horror genre.

The 1974 serial killer story by Tobe Hooper sent five friends into the clutches of the Sawyer family, a clan of rural cannibals. Although the film?s central villain, the power tool-wielding Leatherface, lived on in sequels and a 2003 remake starring Jessica Biel, the series has lain dormant since 2006?s ?The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,? which was a flop critically and commercially.

Now, director John Luessenhop (?Takers,? ?Lockdown?) and a team of producers are resurrecting Leatherface with ?Texas Chainsaw 3D.? The movie opens Friday and is expected to do strong business of as much as $18 million in its debut weekend.

?From the beginning, it?s been a mismanaged franchise ? a boat that drifted off course,? said Carl Mazzocone, the producer most active in securing rights for and developing the new film.

The fact that there are far more producers ? 15 ? listed in the credits of ?Texas Chainsaw 3D? than there are maimed corpses in the sequel itself, is proof not only of how complicated it can be to relaunch a horror franchise but also of Luessenhop?s desire to dial down the film?s body count.

The new film emphasizes a storyline about the relationship between a woman named Heather (Alexandra Daddario) and Leatherface (Dan Yeager), who share common kin. In the story, Heather inherits a home whose cellar happens to be occupied by a rather antisocial relative.

?What if you discovered the only family left to you was a monster?? Luessenhop said.

In fall 2008, Mazzocone traveled to Austin, Texas, to meet with the representatives controlling the ?Texas Chainsaw? rights. The producer?s pitch was simple: The story of Leatherface should be as popular as the ?Saw? movies, which Mazzocone and producer Mark Burg?s Twisted Pictures had made.

Director John Luessenhop with Alexandra Daddario on the set of ?Texas Chainsaw 3D.? (Justin Lubin/Lionsgate)

?I told them we needed to put some level of integrity into the story,? Mazzocone said.

While the basic terms of the deal were hammered out in about 15 minutes, it took more than a year to finalize the contract and even longer to assemble a script that felt both fresh and reverential.

Mazzocone needed someone to bankroll the production. Lionsgate, which had released the ?Saw? films and felt like a natural home for a new ?Texas Chainsaw? film, was focused at the time on fending off takeover investor Carl Icahn and launching its ?Hunger Games? series.

?They put all their chips on black with ?Hunger Games,?? Luessenhop said.

Eventually, the project made its way to Campbell Grobman Films, a new company formed by Christa Campbell, an actress and former pinup girl, and Lati Grobman, a producer who had a long partnership with Avi Lerner and his Millennium Pictures.

Executive producers of ?Texas Chainsaw 3D? Christa Campbell, left, and Lati Grobman were dogged in getting the film made. (Arkasha Stevenson/Los Angeles Times)

?We were taking meetings with other directors and writers pitching ideas of what could be the next big franchise,? said Campbell, who has acted in a number of horror movies including ?2001 Maniacs,? ?Day of the Dead? and ?The Tomb.?

Added Grobman: ?I know nothing about horror. I?m not a fan of it. But Christa knows the market, she knows the people. She?s the queen of horror.?

All the same, Lerner wasn?t inclined to finance the film, which was budgeted just below $20 million. Millennium specializes in action movies featuring actors with international appeal ? ?The Expendables,? with Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, a perfect example of his taste ? not horror tales populated with no-name performers.

What?s more, Lerner likes to shoot his movies in places like Bulgaria to keep costs down, no small problem for a movie with Texas in its title (it was ultimately shot in Louisiana).

Campbell and Grobman kept pressing. ?We would not leave Avi alone,? Grobman said. ?I think he made the movie just because he wanted us to stop bugging him.?

With the money in place, Mazzocone turned to Luessenhop, despite the fact that he had never made a horror film before.

Dan Yeager stars as Leatherface in ?Texas Chainsaw 3D.? (Justin Lubin/ Lionsgate)

The movie is credited to screenwriters Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan, Kirsten Elms and Stephen Susco based on characters created by Kim Henkel and Hooper, and Luessenhop worked closely with Mazzocone in revising their screenplay.

In earlier scripts, Leatherface would deflect bullets with his chain saw; Luessenhop believed those kind of superhuman feats undermined his credibility as a villain. At the same time, by establishing that familial tie and reinforcing Leatherface?s origin story (using 15 minutes of footage from the original film in a prologue), Luessenhop thought the film would feel less gothic.

?It?s all about humanizing this guy that makes the movie,? the director said. ?He?s damaged, abused, stunted ? but lethal.?

Yet not too deadly. Several characters meet particularly gruesome ends, but the carnage is remarkably modest given the title.

?I kept the body count low on purpose,? Luessenhop said. ?It desensitizes you if you do it too much.?

Along the same lines, the stereoscopic effects, mandated by the global success of 2010?s ?Saw 3D: The Final Chapter,? were kept to a minimum.

Nikki (Tania Raymonde) and Ryan (Tremaine ?Trey Songz? Neverson) in ?Texas Chainsaw 3D.? (Justin Lubin/ Lionsgate)

The movie, which Millennium sold to Lionsgate for domestic distribution, was originally set to open Oct. 26 of last year, but its proceeds would have been hurt by Superstorm Sandy, which reached its peak intensity a day earlier.

The new date gives the sequel a quick but open berth, as it is the only new film in wide release this weekend ? although it?s still opening in the aftermath of a national tragedy, the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., which has rekindled debate about violence in films and other popular entertainment.

Although it?s too early to say if there?s another ?Texas Chainsaw? movie in the immediate future, Mazzocone and his producing partners are confident.

?I believe we made a classic monster movie,? Mazzocone said. ?Many ?Texas Chainsaw Massacre? films have exploited more of the slasher aspects of the genre. This one doesn?t.?

? John Horn

Follow us on Twitter: @LATHeroComplex

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926586/news/1926586/

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Movea gesture control coming to Orange's Livebox Play TV system, launches next month

In a bid to spruce up its hardware, European mobile operator Orange has drafted in Movea to bring gesture controls to its new set-top box. Running the SmartMotion server, movements will be picked up by Movea's MEMS motion-sensing remote, with gestures for volume control, web browsing and even gamepad and joystick commands. The new Livebox Play will pick up ten "contextually aware" movements, with a 'check' gesture aimed to avoid the frustration at selecting items on a distant screen, while there's also a close function embedded into the TV remote. Alongside gestures, the LiveBox Play service will offer the obligatory internet, social network and VOD bells and whistles, as well as access to games and apps on your big screen. Sick of buttons? The device is available on pre-order (for now, in France) and launches next month -- we've embedded a quick demo of the remote's precision after the break as a quick refresher.

Continue reading Movea gesture control coming to Orange's Livebox Play TV system, launches next month

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Christ Before the Cause: The New Evangelical Politics

Peter Wehner?s recent guest post here at Philosophical Fragments ? ?The Callous Theology of James Dobson?? was shared on Facebook and Twitter over 40,000 times. It helped to provoke an important conversation about the Christian response to the Sandy Hook school massacre and the responsibilities of those who represent evangelical opinion in the public marketplace of ideas. Mr Wehner is a friend and an influential political thought-leader who is both a principled conservative and a committed evangelical. A central part of the vision of Patheos? Evangelical Channel has always been the cultivation and promotion of new generations of evangelical public intellectuals ? so I?m honored now?to publish this follow-up reflection.

*

By Peter Wehner

In a piece?I wrote for Patheos a few weeks ago, I referred to the ?callous theology? of James Dobson, whom I correctly identified as the founder of Focus on the Family. What I didn?t say then, but I believe is worth saying now, is that several years ago Dr. Dobson severed his ties with Focus on the Family. The organization is therefore quite different now ? and I would argue a good deal more winsome and effective ? than it was.

The reason has to do with institutional leadership. Jim Daly is now president and CEO of Focus on the Family. It still devotes a huge amount of its work to strengthening marriages and offering parental counseling ? something at which Dobson was quite accomplished and for which he deserves credit. But there has been a fairly dramatic shift in style, away from the ?culture war? mentality to a more irenic approach. Mr. Daly has shown a much greater willingness than Dobson to engage in dialogue with those who disagree with him. And it?s fair to say, I think, that Daly ? while theologically orthodox and socially conservative ? is a person who is cut from a different temperamental cloth from Dobson. Mr. Daly is less abrasive and combative than his predecessor.

Beneath their stylistic differences, however, lies something important. One of the things I?ve noticed over the years is that some of the most prominent Christian figures in politics radiate a sense that their work is essential if the Lord is to accomplish His goals on earth. Because they believe so much depends on them, they develop an aggressive, anxious, even desperate spirit. They seem to believe that only they and a few others are strong enough to resist compromising with evil. And over the years they have demonstrated a barely contained disdain toward those who do not share their zeal for their cause. This can create its own set of problems.

I?m reminded here of the cautionary tale of Sheldon Vanauken, who in A Severe Mercy wrote about his days in the anti-Vietnam war movement. ?I was one of those caught up in the mood and action oft the 1960s,? Vanauken wrote:

Christ, I thought, would surely have me oppose what appeared an unjust war. But the Movement, whatever its ideals, did a good deal of hating. And Christ, gradually, was pushed to the rear: Movement goals, not God, became first, in fact ? not only for me but for other Christians involved, including priests. I now think that making God secondary (which in the end is to make Him nothing) is, quite simply, the mortal danger in social action, especially in view of the marked intimations of virtue ? even arrogant virtue ? that often perilously accompany it. Some may avoid this danger, perhaps. But I was not obeying the first and greatest commandment ? to love God first ? nor it is clear that I was obeying the second ? to love my neighbour. Hating the oppressors of my neighbor isn?t perhaps quite what Christ had in mind.

Over the years, some politically active Christian leaders seem to believe that at stake in their work is nothing less than the influence of Christianity in America, as if Christ depends on them instead of the other way around. There are multiple effects to such a mindset, including apocalyptic rhetoric and absolutism. At some point, though, characterizing every election and every important piece of social legislation as a moral tipping point for America begins to wear thin.

My own sense of things is that an increasing ?number of evangelicals, particularly younger evangelicals, want their brand of politics to be less partisan and bitter than in the past, as well as more high-minded and more firmly rooted in principles. They want their leaders to display a lighter touch, a less distraught and angry spirit, a more gracious tone. In short, they seem to be looking for a politics that is both moral and civil. And they are thirsting for more serious Christian reflection on human society and the human person ? on first principles.

Which brings me back to Jim Daly and his impressive efforts to Re-Focus on the Family in a manner that strikes me, at least, as principled and effective. He carries himself and his institution in a way that seeks the welfare of the city to which we have been exiled ? and understands that while the City of Man is our residence for now, the City of God is our ultimate home.

Peter Wehner co-authored?City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era?with Michael Gerson, and?Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism?with Arthur C. Brooks. Presently he is a Senior Fellow at the?Ethics and Public Policy Center?and writes frequently for?Commentary.

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/philosophicalfragments/2013/01/02/christ-before-the-cause/

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