Quantum Gas Goes Below Absolute Zero 264
First time accepted submitter mromanuk writes in with a story about scientists at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich who have created an atomic gas that goes below absolute zero. "It may sound less likely than hell freezing over, but physicists have created an atomic gas with a sub-absolute-zero temperature for the first time. Their technique opens the door to generating negative-Kelvin materials and new quantum devices, and it could even help to solve a cosmological mystery."
Re:better explanation (Score:5, Funny)
So, temperature uses unsigned floats?
Re:better explanation (Score:3, Funny)
No, the temp was calculated with the original Pentium!
Re:better explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not as new as it seems (Score:5, Funny)
Re:better explanation (Score:4, Funny)
Water is not wet, it just feels that way ;)
Older hardware (Score:5, Funny)
Sadly, our universe runs on a quite old hardware, which allowed the scientists to overflow the temperature variable. Why the Great Programmer didn't use unsigned longs ist beyond me, rookie mistake, really!
Re:better explanation (Score:5, Funny)
It's the previously unquantifiable temperature of a McDonald's Apple Pie.
Simple (Score:5, Funny)
Heat is just atoms moving around, after all, so negative temperatures are easy:
just make the atoms move backwards.
Re:better explanation (Score:5, Funny)
There cannot be any proof, it is obviously impossible to distinguish between "simulated" and "real" reality
Not that obvious to me. You're assuming the simulators have made a perfect simulation, which they may not have done. Or they could leave deliberate clues, if they so wished, which would help us distinguish simulation and reality. Of course, on a broader philisophical point, you could argue there would still be no difference - reality could be a simulation and still be real.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429561/the-measurement-that-would-reveal-the-universe-as-a-computer-simulation/ [technologyreview.com]
Hi there,
You can stop philosophizing, I just deleted that guy from the simulation, he was getting annoying. Incidentally, if you subscribe to the specific flavor of mass delusion you guys call 'Christianity' and are wondering when the rapture will happen, it'll come the day I finally slip up while combining wild-cards and the 'rm' command on my Simulatron 6000 (TM).
Sincerely,
Your lord and cereator.
man pages (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not as new as it seems (Score:5, Funny)
What the hell want you from 900 year old man? English perfect?
The Doctor seems to be doing quite well for his age.
Re:better explanation (Score:2, Funny)
Hotness frequently dances around a pole.
Re:Not as new as it seems (Score:5, Funny)
Just start teaching a "Defense Against the Dark Side" course. I'm sure that will turn out well.
Re:Not as new as it seems (Score:5, Funny)
The Doctor seems to be doing quite well for his age.
Doctor Who?
These researchers had to work at 110% (Score:2, Funny)
These researchers had to give it 110% to achieve this less than nothing.
So, we've reached a new low in science. (Score:2, Funny)
These physicists should hang their heads in shame.