Dr. Chau recently made a significant advancement in the field of nanotechnology, where he demonstrated that light could actually pull a nano-scale object, rather than just push. The implications are very important, both for the field, and eventually for the production of military, scientific, and consumer products.

The kind of materials that Dr. Chau and others in his field work with, named ‘metamaterials’, offer many benefits to military, scientific, and consumer fields. For the military, such materials and devices can create new metal alloys, with potential unique properties, like extreme heat resistance or superior strength. On top of that, metamaterials offer the possibilities of perfect lenses, or perfectly reflective mirrors. In the more futuristic list of possibilities, it is believed that this field of nanotechnology will eventually allow us to build an invisibility cloak, or even optical computers, but both such inventions are far from being created.

All objects can be characterized by a refractive index, or an index of refraction as it is also called. This is the degree to which light is slowed down within the medium. As well, when light crosses the boundary between two mediums with different refractive indexes, light bends. Microscopes and lenses work by bending light in useful ways. All natural mediums have a positive refractive index, meaning that light is slowed down within the medium. However, some metamaterials have a property known as a negative refractive index, where light is bent in the opposite direction than in materials with a positive refractive index.

This is where the radiation pressure of light comes into play. Light has momentum, like any object that is in motion. However, light has a very small momentum, and can only affect small particles. The radiation pressure effect of light is why comets’ tails are always pointed away from the sun; the charged particles are pushed away by the radiation pressure of light. Picture a fire hose being pointed at you. The pressure of the hose pushes you away.

When the radiation pressure of light is combined with a negative index of refraction, Dr. Chau, proved, via experiment, that light can actually exert a pull force, in addition to pushing around particles. It is like some method of making the fire hose pull you, instead of pushing you away. If researchers can construct objects with arbitrary optical properties, then they can manipulate light in arbitrary ways, leading to all of the innovations listed previously, and many more not imagined yet. We have things, previously thought to be only in the realm of science fiction, happening in labs every day, around the world, and even on our campus.

Currently, the Chau Research group Dr. Chau is working on several exciting projects, and require talented and capable students with diverse backgrounds. One project Dr. Chau is involved in is the construction of a computer cluster, also known as a supercomputer, for simulating complex physical phenomenon. Another is a project to build a sensor, capable of detecting contaminants in water, by using spectroscopic analysis of light that comes out of properly formed droplets of water. One possible use for this optical sensor is to detect vanishingly small amounts of impurities in water.

On Tuesday, September 22nd, Microsoft released details about a product now in “late development”, the Microsoft Courier. Microsoft calls it a “booklet”, rather than a “tablet”, due to the two touchscreens the Courier offers, with a bendable spine. The Courier also comes with a camera on the back of one half of the booklet, as well as a single Apple-like Home button in the spine, which is used for powering the device on and off as well.

The Courier will be a full-featured computer, running a specialized GUI meant specifically for the Courier. It will have wireless and Microsoft’s famed handwriting recognition, however, there is no indication of USB ports or other items. The killer feature though is the handwriting recognition, which in XP, Vista, and now Windows 7, is beyond fantastic.

There is a video circulating which shows a fantastic, and well-thought out GUI, which is focused on productivity and Getting Stuff Done, rather than the cool, slick, media-focused iPhone and iPod Touch. With the two screens, the handwriting recognition, and the the integration with the OS, the Courier looks like an ideal tool for executives, creative professionals, and students.

Microsoft has not yet detailed what the specs of the Courier will be, and there is no word on battery life.

There is speculation that this is part of a business move to lower sales and interest in Apple’s rumored iTablet. However, the promotional material and the design of the Courier is very distinctive and unique, and seems to be trying to carve a new niche for Microsoft, in the world of the Professional.

The only downside to the Courier, is that it is not out yet, and not before this editor graduates.

Part of the reason why the Japanese are so fascinated, and even encouraging of robots and androids, is that for the longest time, Japanese and other Asian fiction lacked a common trope that is often seen here in the west; that of the robots rising to crush their so-easily-crushed oppressors. Namely, us. It wasn’t until recently that this trope was seen in Japanese popular culture, and an excellent example is Cashern, a hyper-surreal action movie, where artificial life rises up and kills us all.

Some sociologists theorize that Japan lacks this common trope because industrialization was seen as largely positive for the country, particularly in the aftermath of WWII. In contrast, there was a large amount of social upheaval in western countries during their industrialization periods, where the machines were seen as a distinct threat.

On average, Japan has one of the oldest populations in the industrialized world. In just a few short years, many Japanese will reach the age of 65, and retire, making it so that 1 in every 4 Japanese will be over the age of 65. This is leading to a significant lack of employees, in turn leading to increasing wage costs for companies.

There are two major markets for robots and androids in Japan, one for the elderly, and one for replacing limited employees where possible. The elderly market requires assistants and companions, especially for the elderly that have no family, or whose family doesn’t visit them. There are already a few preliminary models of elderly assistants, and they are selling very, very well. The other market requires robots to replace humans in easy-to-automate jobs, like store greeters, or waitresses in busy restaurants. One particular requirement is that they look and act as human as possible within the limited purview of the job.

The increasing use of robots and androids in Japan has already sparked several major concerns with their use. There are worries that people will begin to prefer talking to and dealing with robots and androids over their human brethren. As well, there are concerns about the material costs of robots and androids, especially maintenance costs, and whether it really would be more cost-effective than the humans that are being replaced. In addition, Japan has signed several environmental treaties, and increasing their high-tech usage will only hurt their compliance with these treaties.

There is also an issue from an economic viewpoint. The desire to replace humans with robots is because the humans are becoming more expensive to employ. This increases the number of people available for jobs, thus driving down the average wage, making it cheaper to hire people again. However, once hiring increases, then people become more expensive to employ again. It is an inherently unstable situation, unless the government steps in to stabilize the see-saw effect.

One thing is for sure, Japan loves their robots, and they are currently the world leader in practical robotics.

What super-positioning means is when something is in two or more states at the same time. The classic analogy is known as the Schroedinger cat experiment. This is a thought-experiment(meaning its never been performed in real life, but only in the mind) where a cat is placed in a box, where a poison will be released only if a radioactive object decays within the time period inside the box. The decay probability is 50%, so the cat has a 50% chance of being alive, and an equal chance of being dead. The trick, however, is that until observed, the cat is in both states, as in, the cat is both dead and alive. The cat is in a superposition, two states at once.

This is intuitively difficult for many people, including physicists. When the cat is observed, the cat becomes either dead or alive, but not both. This is called collapsing the wave function, where observation of some form(even by a sensor) causes the superposition to resolve to one state or another.

What the researchers want to do is to cool some matter, namely a virus, down to its quantum ground state in a vacuum, until there is no subatomic activity from the virus. Then they zap the virus with a special kind of laser, which causes the virus to both be in an excited state, and a ground state, at the same time; a superposition. Having performed this same experiment with photons, electrons, and even whole molecules, they wish to see if they can make a much larger bit of matter reach a superposition. This will help show if such quantum mechanical effects apply on the macroscopic(large) scale, instead of just the microscopic scale.

The virus they need to use for the experiment needs to have several special qualities, and luckily(for our karmic revenge) the common flu virus fits this bill. In addition the tobacco mosaic virus would also be perfect for the experiment.

There is a debate raging in the halls of Britain’s government, across the internet, and across many people’s minds. Right now, there is a growing movement for the British government to apologize to Alan Turing, posthumously, for their, to modern-day sensibilities, atrocious treatment.

Alan Turing is regarded by many to be the father of modern computing. His work formalized the concept of the algorithm(a way of solving a problem, like how to do long-division without a calculator) and many other things. One of the most important facets of his work was on that of the “halting problem”, which asks if there is an algorithm that can determine if another algorithm will ever complete, given a set of inputs. He was able to show that there is no such algorithm, that will work with every algorithm and set of inputs, in a fairly long and involved proof. He also developed the notion of a programmable machine(the Turing machine), able to emulate any other machine, only as long as that machine can emulate a Turing machine.

All of modern computing, from Facebook, to Halo, owes Turing a debt of gratitude for his work and efforts in designing computers, formalizing many of the important mathematics underlying modern computers, and demonstrating their use during WWII. For a time, Turing was responsible for the unit(known as Hut deciphering Nazi naval communications, and was responsible for saving many lives during WWII. He also designed the bombe, which was the key tool to breaking Enigma, the Nazi cipher. And he did all this before the age of 42.

Because it was at the age of 42 when Alan Turing died, of suicide. Two years previous, in 1952, Turing was outed as a homosexual, and under the laws of Britain at the time, tried and found guilty of being a homosexual. The punishment: castration. Turing was found guilty of the same laws that Oscar Wilde suffered under, only Turing chose to be chemically castrated, rather than go to jail.

These laws have since been repealed in Britain, and are now against the UN Charter of Human Rights, and against the EU constitution. What is happening right now, is that people want the government of Britain to acknowledge wrongdoing in their actions, not just against Turing, but against anyone that suffered under those laws, many of whom are still alive today. Over 6000 signatures have already been added to the petition regarding the apology at the time this article went to press.

Editors note: The British Government, on the same date of publication, offered up an apology to Alan Turing and the thousands of other gay men wrongly punished under this law.

E-textbooks provide several advantages over paper textbooks. For example, you do not have to carry around a 500 page, 3 pound textbook, in addition to a laptop and other matériel. Finally, our backs can breathe easy. In addition, the e-textbook saves on gasoline, since it doesn’t need to be shipped. As well, the e-textbook can save you significant money, always important to starving students, with the e-textbooks selling for half the price of the paper textbook. Coursesmart provides extensive tools to make their e-textbooks that much more useful, like search, go to page X, notes you can add to any point in the book, highlighting any section you wish, or undoing the highlighting, copy, paste, and even printing pages out on demand. These are certainly powerful tools, that many students have wished they had with the paper textbooks.

However, there are certain limitations to the system. You can only download your e-textbook to one computer, and there is little indication of the process for getting another book through Coursesmart if your computer hardware fries. On the other hand, you can choose to access the e-textbook through Coursesmart’s website, and have it available on any computer, as long as you have a supported browser. In addition, the e-textbook will only be available for 180 days, which is certainly long enough to outlast your classes.

To obtain and use e-textbooks, you must first check if the professor for your course is okay with the students using e-textbooks. If so, the book for your course will also have a second tag, listing an e-textbook for purchase. Then you inform the cashier you are buying the e-textbook, and follow the cashier’s instructions. You will receive a receipt with a code on it, and a URL to visit. This URL, at press-time, was http://www.coursesmart.com/redemption?coupon= where you place the PIN after the equal sign.

Follow the instructions at Coursesmart, and choose whether to download the e-textbook, or access it online through Coursesmart’s website. You cannot choose both. Downloading the e-textbook will require the download and installation of Coursesmart’s Bookshelf software. Both downloading and accessing the book through Coursesmart’s website offer the exact same functionality.

The other process is to sign up with Coursesmart directly, find the book for your course, and buy it through them.

There is also a limitation on printing with Coursesmart’s e-textbook. You can only print ten(10) pages at any one time, for a maximum of 150% of the total pages in the textbook. So if the textbook has 200 pages, you can print a total of 300 pages. Coursesmart acknowledges there may be a bug that occurs sometimes with printing, where a user will run out of their allowed pages, at which point, you can contact Coursesmart’s customer service to enable more pages to print.

Coursesmart’s e-textbooks provide a cheap, planet-conscious, weight-less alternative to expensive, dead-tree, and heavy textbooks. This, obviously, comes with some restrictions, which depending on the person can be reasonable, or completely unreasonable. Itis up to the students to decide what is the best option for them. It can certainly be useful to buy an e-textbook for a course that isn’t one’s major, but is still required by the university.

They’re an interesting group, pretty fun. All macs in the office, something else to note. It seems like creative groups always use macs, but thats aside from the point.

They want a webmaster, because, to put it plainly, their website is boring. Also, their was a bit of work involved in posting each story.

What they want is a rebuilt website that changes both of those, and I offered a few ideas. Of all print publications, a student newspaper can try new things out, new methods, new ways of news and interacting with their readers.

They also have the benefit that they’re writing for the new generation of movers and shakers. This audience, aged 18-24, are the people that put Facebook and Myspace on the map. Okay, I grant that that doesn’t mean too much in a sense, but it also means that these people love interaction. They love media. And a student newspaper can provide a new angle on news gathering and interaction.

They(the editors of the Phoenix) discussed an issue about how, due to their bi-weekly schedule, they get submissions that they just can’t publish. It would be too late, or too early, or just not right. A good website could change that. One thing thats annoyed me, is how news will publish stories, but there are no updates, no follow-ups, no linking together. Its still them pushing the news, what they decide as news, to us.

I do have to point out the one exception to this generality, CBC news. (I think its them, correct me if I’m wrong) They have a tag cloud, linking relevant news stories together. That is quite cool, and very very useful. What a tag cloud does, is that it takes the tags people place on the stories, and you can check out other stories with similar tags. Take for example, “Iraq”. You’d be able to see all the articles tagged with “Iraq” as well as common tags on those articles. Those tags are seen as being related, say, “US Foreign Policy” as an example.

The ideas I threw out for their website were as follows: staff blogs, forums, and online-only articles, on timely and relevant news. Say for example, the recent cougar sightings.

And here’s the best idea: individualized filters, ratings for each articles that contribute to your personal filter, which will contribute to feedback to the staff members on which stories were liked, and weren’t liked. Ones that people wanna hear more about will be rated higher, and the news staff can see this, and this is big: tailor their stories to satisfy this demand.

Those are my ideas for their website, and hopefully I get the job, despite the low pay. It will be a very interesting experience, will look good on a resume, and give me much needed experience.