Friday, September 29, 2006

Nanotech Gone Bad: Who You Gonna Call?





"We made measurements of position that are so intense - so strongly coupled - that by looking at it we can make it move," said Schwab. "Quantum mechanics requires that you cannot make a measurement of something and not perturb it. We're doing measurements that are very close to the uncertainty principle; and we can couple so strongly that by measuring the position we can see the thing move."

Spooky stuff. And Schwab wants to push things further, by building a nanomechanical device that exhibits superposition principle properties. In other words, a nano-device that can be in two places at once. "What's really neat is it looks like we should be able to do it," Schwab said. "The hope, the dream, the fantasy, is that we get that superposition and start making bigger devices and find the breakdown." Schwab's continued research on the mysteries that lie between the quantum and classical worlds is tipped to deliver significant advances in quantum computing, cooling engineering, communications and medicine. The list of applications could be unlimited.

(Via The Anomalist.)


UFOs have been observed splitting in two and merging -- as if adhering to quantum laws. Can we accomplish similar feats given a robust understanding of nanotechnology and quantum physics? Or is UFO behavior illusory, choreographed to challenge our definitions of the possible?

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