M.J. Rose

“So why can’t you use quantum tunneling to walk through a wall? Quantum mechanical calculations show that for something as big as a person, the probability is so small that you could wait until the end of the universe and most likely still not find yourself on the other side…”

Still, there’s a chance! They’ve proven quantum tunneling (AKA walking through walls) at the quantum level, and are now working on experiments with larger objects, so perhaps it’s just a matter of time before we’re all impersonating ghosts?

Walk-Through-Wall Effect Might Be Possible With Humanmade Object, Physicists Predict

by Nathan Collins

If you’ve ever tried the experiment, you know you can’t walk through a wall. But subatomic particles can pull off similar feats through a weird process called quantum tunneling. Now, a team of physicists says that it might just be possible to observe such tunneling with a larger, humanmade object, though others say the proposal faces major challenges.

If successful, the experiment would be a striking advance toward fashioning mechanical systems that behave quantum mechanically. In 2010, physicists took a key first step in that direction by coaxing a tiny object into states of motion that can be described only by quantum mechanics. Tunneling would be an even bigger achievement.

So how does quantum tunneling work?…

For the complete article click here to go to ScienceMag.

This is discovery is completely surprising, not to mention it implies that life could indeed be found just about anywhere and could be made from all sorts of things other than carbon. One day we will be laughing at the “dark ages” when humans though they were the only life in the universe…

Scientist creates lifelike cells out of metal
Researcher says he has created living cells made of metal instead of carbon — and they may be evolving.

By Bryan Nelson

 

Photo: p.Gordon/Flickr

 

Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element?

 

One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible. The discovery opens the door to the possibility that there may be life forms in the universe not based on carbon, reports New Scientist…

 

Read the complete article here at Mother Nature Network.

Signs of early advanced civilization on earth are getting more and more frequent. I think our understanding of what humanity was up to 50 to 100,000 years ago is very quickly going to be stretched so far that soon we will have to rewrite everything we know about anthropology.

“Archaeologists have found evidence of deep-sea fishing 42,000 years ago at Jerimalai, a cave on the eastern end of East Timor.” –

When Humans First Plied the Deep Blue Sea

by Michael Balter

In a shallow cave on an island north of Australia, researchers have made a surprising discovery: the 42,000-year-old bones of tuna and sharks that were clearly brought there by human hands. The find, reported online today in Science, provides the strongest evidence yet that people were deep-sea fishing so long ago. And those maritime skills may have allowed the inhabitants of this region to colonize lands far and wide.

The earliest known boats, found in France and the Netherlands, are only 10,000 years old, but archaeologists know they don’t tell the whole story. Wood and other common boat-building materials don’t preserve well in the archaeological record. And the colonization of Australia and the nearby islands of Southeast Asia, which began at least 45,000 years ago, required sea crossings of at least 30 kilometers. Yet whether these early migrants put out to sea deliberately in boats or simply drifted with the tides in rafts meant for near-shore exploration has been a matter of fierce debate…

For the complete piece click here to go to Science Now.