Fermionic Condensates
I think I had posted this news previously, but here it is in a clear to understand summary. Scientists have discovered a new form of matter. We all learned of solids, liquids and gases in elementary school -- then in high school, we learn about plasmas. In 1995, Bose-Einstein condensates were discovered -- this state occurs when bosons are supercooled, and merge to form a single super-particle that behaves more like a wave than a particle. Now, meet fermionic condensate (read the preprint [PDF])-- related to Bose-Einstein condensates, in that it occurs at temperatures close to absolute zero. The properties of this new form of matter isn't fully known or understood yet, but initial thoughts are that it should flow without viscosity -- akin to superconductors. The commerical application of superconductors are wide ranging -- so expect further research into this form of matter to grow -- especially in industry.
The first chef
First came fire ... and then, as the camera shifts to the soon to be late-village idiot, you're left wondering -- just what was going through that mind -- and food is put on the fire, for the first time, and cooking is accidentally discovered by humanity. The first chef is ridiculed by grunts, then the local thug tries a sample of the burnt carcass, and soon, everybody gets queued at the McDonalds drive-thru. What happened? Richard Wrangham of Harvard believes there's more to cooking than evolutionary history would have you believe. Wrangham points out that there is no way homo sapiens could survive on just raw food. Raw food just doesn't give up calories as easily as cooked food -- and raw food makes the digestive system expend more energy to get at those calories. Cooking on the other hand breaks complex molecules down, allowing the digestive system to make easy work of them -- and cooking also softens food, allowing the body to get to the calories with less effort...
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