Subversion

Subversion is a version control software very useful for software developers
Here I found a nice video tutorial
http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/video?name=950000&fromSeriesID=95

Efimov states

I've heard about Efimov states some time ago and now I decided to put them in my shopping list

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091211131526.htm

The Challenge to make quantum computers

The challenge to implement a completely scalable  quantum computer is tied with the understanding of the quantum/classical transition where quantum mechanics dominates the explanation of the microscopic world (up to the molecular scale more or less), but classical mechanics explains very well the ordinary macroscopic world. A completely scalable quantum computer would eventually give us a macroscopic taste of the imaginable strange quantum effects that so far have been seen only in the microscopic world.

"Because there are no known fundamental obstacles to such scalability (practical quantum computer with large number of qubits), it has been suggested that failure to achieve it would reveal new physics" -Emanuel Knill


I feel that the most recent papers are becoming more conservative about their predictions on the feasibility of quantum computing despite fact that there is work stating that fault tolerant quantum computation is possible with two ingredients:

• Maximum Error/Gate about 10^-4 to 10^-5
• Effective error correction codes with ancillary qubits.

The last ingredient seems to be more or less accomplished  and the former one does not seem to be fundamentally unattainable despite the fact that we are currently very far. A paper that summarizes these facts with a high degree of scepticism is

Is Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation Really Possible?

which I also like for its entertaining and straightforward writing style. 

Humble opinion about God and science

For some reason many physicists in the past and present such as Einstein and Hawking used the term God when they wanted to describe something essential and fundamental such as the laws of physics or the Big Bang theory. For most people this was an indication of their religiosity. However, anybody who knows the context of those words can tell that truth is different. Here is an article explaining this issue.

My personal point of view is that science does not require God by definition and not because science can prove that God does not exist. Defining science as the rational understanding of nature based on fundamental laws (and axioms), the acknowledgement of the existence of God would contradict this premise. Using God to explain something in science would be equivalent to admit an irrational element in the theory. In other words, admitting something that is not based on fundamental laws or axioms.

However, I think there is still the inconsistent possibility to put God outside science as the something beyond the laws of physics and axioms. Some would place God as the creator of the laws of physics and axioms. I do not see any consistent and rational way to put God as the explanation of absolutely anything. Having said that, I do not consider myself as completely consistent and rational being and I do not think anybody was, is or will ever be, so, here it lies a window for the endless debate for the existence of God.

Will we ever find a rational and consistent explanation for our consciousness and existence? Something tells me that the most likely answer is NOT.

Inverse Tomography

A few years ago I had the pleasure to attend Pedro Goldman's presentation (Argentinian scientist) about his research in inverse tomography and applications to the calculation of the optimal dosage of radiation for radiotherapy.

Fast Optimization or the Radiation Therapy of Tumors -the Impossible Possible


Sitting down on my chair I would not expect that this was going to be one of the most shocking and interesting presentations I ever attended.

This research field is mathematically interesting and extremely important for medical physics.

Computational Law

I did not know about this this research field until my last trip to Beijing China where I met Set Chandler, who develops his programs in Mathematica

http://www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/portraits/sethchandler/

The general idea is to develop models as response of the implementation of the laws. The idea is to minimize the subjectivity in today's approach.

A much more ambitious project is to analyse the self consistency of the laws and their level of complexity. The complexity does not only depend on the document's length but also in how intricate is the relation with itself and other laws.

Videos created in Mathematica

I just learned about a video channel for videos created in Mathematica.

http://vimeo.com/channels/mathematica