Tag Archives: nobel-prize

Nuclear Physics – W. Heisenberg

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Nuclear Physics

W. Heisenberg

Genre: Physics

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: May 7, 2019

Publisher: Philosophical Library/Open Road

Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC


The Nobel Prize–winning physicist offers a fascinating popular introduction to nuclear physics from early atomic theory to its transformative applications. Theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg is famous for developing the uncertainty principle, which bears his name, and for his pioneering work in quantum mechanics. A central figure in the development of the atomic bomb and a close colleague of Albert Einstein, Heisenberg wrote Nuclear Physics “for readers who, while interested in natural sciences, have no previous training in theoretical physics.”   Compiled from a series of his lectures on the subject, Heisenberg begins with a short history of atomic physics before delving into the nature of nuclear forces and reactions, the tools of nuclear physics, and its world-changing technical and practical applications. Nuclear Physics is an ideal book for general readers interested in learning about some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century.  

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Nuclear Physics – W. Heisenberg

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The Disordered Mind – Eric R. Kandel

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The Disordered Mind

What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves

Eric R. Kandel

Genre: Life Sciences

Price: $14.99

Publish Date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Seller: Macmillan


Eric R. Kandel, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his foundational research into memory storage in the brain, is one of the pioneers of modern brain science. His work continues to shape our understanding of how learning and memory work and to break down age-old barriers between the sciences and the arts. In his seminal new book, The Disordered Mind , Kandel draws on a lifetime of pathbreaking research and the work of many other leading neuroscientists to take us on an unusual tour of the brain. He confronts one of the most difficult questions we face: How does our mind, our individual sense of self, emerge from the physical matter of the brain? The brain’s 86 billion neurons communicate with one another through very precise connections. But sometimes those connections are disrupted. The brain processes that give rise to our mind can become disordered, resulting in diseases such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. While these disruptions bring great suffering, they can also reveal the mysteries of how the brain produces our most fundamental experiences and capabilities—the very nature of what it means to be human. Studies of autism illuminate the neurological foundations of our social instincts; research into depression offers important insights on emotions and the integrity of the self; and paradigm-shifting work on addiction has led to a new understanding of the relationship between pleasure and willpower. By studying disruptions to typical brain functioning and exploring their potential treatments, we will deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behavior, memory, and creativity. Only then can we grapple with the big question of how billions of neurons generate consciousness itself.

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The Disordered Mind – Eric R. Kandel

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Here Are Our Top 20 Imports From Mexico

Mother Jones

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How much would a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports cost us? I think it’s pointless to delve very deeply into this until President Trump and congressional Republicans produce a serious plan of some kind. Relying on random tweets and leaks from GOP gatherings will just drive us all crazy, as we try to analyze every dumb idea that gets run up the flagpole. Hell, even Paul Krugman says he’s a little confused about some of this stuff, and his Nobel Prize was for international trade.

However, there is one bit of raw data that you might as well get familiar with, since it’s not going to change. Here are our top 20 imports from Mexico:

I’ve highlighted a few of the categories that get the most attention: cars, televisions, crude oil, and produce. Generally speaking, if we tax these things at X percent, their price in the US is going to increase X percent. It won’t be quite that much, since trade will adjust based on the taxes, and in the long run the dollar will rise. Probably. And this all assumes there’s no retaliation from Mexico, which there probably would be.

Still, in the short and medium term, a 20 percent tax will increase the price of Mexican goods by 20 percent. That means a Ford Focus will cost 20 percent more, flat-screen televisions will cost 20 percent more, and avocados will cost 20 percent more. The problem, of course, is that Ford can’t increase the price of a Focus by 20 percent. Nobody would buy them. So they’ll just have to keep prices low and take it in the shorts.

Bottom line: in some cases, prices will go up, which will be bad for US consumers. In other cases, importers who are stuck with Mexican factories will have to accept lower profits, which is bad for US companies. In yet other cases, imports will just cease and plants will be shut down, which will be bad for Mexico.

So who will this be good for? That’s a very good question. In the case of cars and TVs, probably Japan and South Korea. In the case of produce, maybe Chile. In the case of crude oil, maybe Iran.

Of course, if we decide to put a tax on all imports from everywhere—not just Mexico—then consumer prices of just about everything will go up with no release valve. This would violate every trade treaty we’re part of, which means that the entire world would probably retaliate. In the end, prices would go up and American factories would either keep production unchanged or even cut back some. This would be pretty disastrous for the working class folks who voted for Trump.

But that’s what everyone is talking about.

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Here Are Our Top 20 Imports From Mexico

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Nanotechnology just netted its first Nobel.

It all has to do with “molecular machines” — teeny devices made out of individual atoms — that mark the start of a wave of nano-innovation that could drastically change, well, a LOT. You want transparent solar panels? Tiny, super-efficient supercomputers? Cancer-killing robots that wander your bloodstream like assassin Ms. Frizzles? Nanotechnology could be the way.

The three winners — Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Frasier Stoddart, and Bernard L. Feringa — will split the $930,000 prize for their work, including building a “molecular motor,” a light-powered device powerful enough to rotate a glass tube 10,000 times its size.

“The molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans, and food processors,” the Nobel committee said in the press release announcing the prize.

Of course, nanomaterials come with some troubling potential side effects, from extra-sharp nanotubes that could act like asbestos in the lungs to teeny tiny pesticide nanodroplets that might never go away. But the Nobel committee, for one, is betting that these technologies, deployed correctly, have a whole lot of good to offer us.

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Nanotechnology just netted its first Nobel.

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How many Nobel Prize-winning physicists did it take to invent the LED lightbulb?

Green Light

How many Nobel Prize-winning physicists did it take to invent the LED lightbulb?

7 Oct 2014 7:05 PM

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In the early 1990s, three physicists figured out how to make white light with a tiny fraction of the energy required to power a standard incandescent bulb. Now they’ve got a Nobel Prize in physics to show for it.

Light-emitting diode lamps, or LED bulbs, are revolutionizing the way we illuminate the world — and shrinking lighting’s carbon footprint every time one’s screwed in. But this low-energy lighting wasn’t a sure thing until the blue LED was invented by the three noble Nobel laureates: Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and Shuji Nakamura of the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Wait, how did creating blue light enable white light that’s greener? Dennis Overbye of The New York Times explains:

Red- and green-emitting diodes have been around for a long time, but nobody knew how to make a blue one, which was needed for blending with the others to create white light. … That is where the new laureates, working independently, came in. 

It’s a good thing these super smart guys are so stoked about making semiconductors that produce light. Until the sexy LED bulbs became affordable a few years back, the consensus was that compact fluorescents would be the watt-saving replacement for old-fangled incandescents. But CFL bulbs produce unattractive light, don’t play nice with dimmers, contain mercury, and take a little while to come to full brightness.

Thanks to the innovations of Akasaki, Amano, and Nakamura — and countless others who have steadily improved upon LED technology — bulb buyers no longer need to pick between first-class and eco-friendly.

For anyone who thinks scientists are in it for the money, check out Akasaki’s acceptance speech in the video below:

Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel wanted prizes given to people who “conferred the greatest benefit to mankind,” according to his will. For this reason, systems thinker James Dyke of the University of Southampton imagines that ol’ Alfie would fancy a Nobel Prize for sustainability if he were around these days.

Yet even without a separate category for green discovery, it seems reasonable to expect an environmental bent to near-future winners in the existing fields — medicine and physiology, physics, chemistry, economics, literature, and peace — given that the survival of human civilization depends on learning to interact with nature like we’re part of it.

Source:
2 Japanese and 1 American Share Nobel in Physics for Work on LED Lights

, New York Times.

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How many Nobel Prize-winning physicists did it take to invent the LED lightbulb?

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