Superconductors? When frogs fly

levitating frogOne of the unwritten rules of physics says you can’t get something for nothing; at best, you can swing a fair exchange rate between energy in and energy out. The problem is heat:  Like an energy embezzler, it skims off the top of chemical reactions, physical systems and electrical circuits (which is why we can’t have perpetual motion machines).

Superconductors don’t break the laws of thermodynamics, but they do manage to find some fairly large loopholes. Send current through a superconducting wire, and it loses no energy to resistance. Bend the wire into a loop, and it will hold charge indefinitely. Levitate it above a magnet, and the sun will devour the Earth before it will fall.

Plus, it can levitate a frog.

What is Superconductivity?
Quiz: How Super are Superconductors?

NASA’s all-singing, all-dancing rocketship

Space Launch System on Launch Pad - Artist Rendition
Image courtesy NASA

NASA is planning its most powerful rocket to date, a jack-of-all-trades vehicle intended to carry the American space program through a dizzying array of potential  missions. Inheriting parts from the now-defunct space shuttle, its stillborn successor, Constellation, and the Saturn V workhorse that launched Americans to the moon, this modular monster is Senate-mandated to meet the requirements of any mission NASA dreams up, from  near-Earth milk runs to  massive undertakings like Mars exploration.

Can a single vehicle serve so many masters in so many ways, or will this phoenix turn out to be a turkey? Find out below – and then test your knowledge in the Big, Bad Space Launch System quiz.

How the Space Launch System Will Work
Blastoff! The Big, Bad Space Launch System Quiz

Beyond the great beyond

Burial image
By Caustic13, via Wikimedia Commons

Anyone can make a bucket list, but why stop with stuff you want to accomplish while you’re alive? Death offers all kinds of opportunities that life simply cannot match: You can be transformed into a diamond, launched in fireworks, propelled in ammunition, or installed as a permanent part of a coral reef community — none of which I would recommend doing while still drawing breath.

Finally, for those who prefer their final resting place out on the final frontier, there’s the ultimate infrequent flyer plan ….

How Space Burial Works
To Star-stuff We Return: The Space Burial Quiz

Molecular biologists bring gamers into the ‘fold’

The Foldit computer program
Image courtesy University of Washington

Playing video games isn’t exactly rocket science but, thanks to a crowdsourcing computer game developed by University of Washington researchers, it can be molecular biology – and can offer hope to sufferers of tough-to-crack diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and HIV.

Like John Henry versus the steam hammer or Garry Kasparov versus Deep Blue, Foldit players show that humans still have a thing or two to teach machines; unlike Henry, who died, or Kasparov, who lost in a rematch, protein-folding gamers still have an edge over the brute-force number crunching of supercomputers.

Has a Video Game Cured HIV?

It’s the pictures that got small

When televisions first entered the marketplace, directors were faced with a challenge: How to develop a visual language that would translate to a tiny black-and-white screen. They couldn’t just borrow from film: When concentrated down to 3 – 12 inches (or, after World War II, 19 – 20), the compositions, symbols and set dressing of massive silver screen productions reduced to a muddle. The effect has only grown more pronounced in the smash-cut, hyper-kinetic summer blockbusters of today.

It would no doubt strike many movie directors as strange to see us with our heads down, staring at our hands and enjoying their bigger-than-life productions on smaller-than-your palm devices. Nevertheless, people want their movies, and they want them on their iPhones, Androids and other portable devices. Here are some of the best apps available for downloading, collecting, experiencing, sharing and playing games about your favorite movies.

10 Mobile Apps for Film Buffs

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