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Warp Drive: A Reality
By: Clara Moskowitz on SPACE.com
HOUSTON (09/17/2012) -- A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel
-- a concept popularized in television's Star Trek -- may not be as
unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.
A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship,
taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent
anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp
drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre,
however subsequent calculations found that such a device would require
prohibitive amounts of energy.
Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp
drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy,
potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction
into science.
An
Alcubierre warp drive would involve a football-shape spacecraft
attached to a large ring encircling it. This ring, potentially made of
exotic matter, would cause space-time to warp around the starship,
creating a region of contracted space in front of it and expanded space
behind.
Meanwhile, the starship itself would stay inside a bubble of flat space-time that wasn't being warped at all.
"Everything within space is restricted by the speed of light. But the really cool thing is space-time, the fabric of space, is not limited by the speed of light."
With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective
speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the
cosmic speed limit.
The only problem is, previous studies estimated the warp drive would
require a minimum amount of energy about equal to the mass-energy of the
planet Jupiter.
Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center calculated what
would happen if the shape of the ring encircling the spacecraft was
adjusted into more of a rounded donut, as opposed to a flat ring. He
found in that case, the warp drive could be powered by a mass about the
size of a spacecraft like the Voyager 1 probe NASA launched in 1977.
Furthermore, if the intensity of the space warps can be oscillated over
time, the energy required is reduced even more.
White and his colleagues have begun experimenting with a mini version of
the warp drive in their laboratory. They set up what they call the
White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer at the Johnson Space Center,
essentially creating a laser interferometer that instigates micro
versions of space-time warps.
"We're trying to see if we can generate a very tiny instance of this in a tabletop experiment, to try to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million." -- Harold White (NASA)
He called the project a "humble experiment" compared to what would be
needed for a real warp drive, but said it represents a promising first
step.
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"A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority."
-- Eric Hoffer
Monsanto's GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure
Huffington Post -- Updated: 05/25/11 04:10 PM ET
In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences,
analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian
health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto's GM corn is
linked to organ damage in rats.
According to the study, which was summarized by Rady Ananda at Food
Freedom, "Three varieties of Monsanto's GM corn -- Mon 863,
insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup herbicide-absorbing NK 603 --
were approved for consumption by US, European and several other
national food safety authorities."
Monsanto gathered its own crude statistical data after conducting a
90-day study, even though chronic problems can rarely be found after 90
days, and concluded that the corn was safe for consumption. The stamp of
approval may have been premature, however.
In the conclusion of the IJBS study, researchers wrote:
"Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity....These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown."
Monsanto has immediately responded to the study, stating that the
research is "based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning and do not
call into question the safety findings for these products."
The IJBS study's author Gilles-Eric Séralini responded to the Monsanto
statement on the blog, Food Freedom, "Our study contradicts Monsanto
conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health
effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs,
or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake,
dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our
work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data."
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On a universal scale, dissent from the Universal Truth has its immediate appeal in releasing humans of the restrictions imposed by morality. When there are no consequences of behavior, which harms the self or others, the resulting conduct can be expressed in the words of the famous Satanist, Allister Crowley:
"Do what thou will is the whole of the law."
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