Saturday Quotes: Quantum Coherence; increased coal emissions; ‘More uses for snail juice are being discovered every day’

In the first week of September, researchers reported on the sharks that burned, how to maintain quantum coherence and good news for the sale of old coal barons. Addition: Snail slime is really amazing if you look at it from a molecular point of view.

Sharks are tired: Everyone knows the terrible effects that great white sharks have on Amity Island tourists. But does anyone stop to think about how tourists affect sharks? According to a study published in Scientific Reportsthese negative effects probably include stress and disturbed behavioral patterns typified by the meandering swimming pattern associated with flight in predators.

The researchers were studying a form of ecotourism where people pay to swim with groups of sharks, the ultimate dream of anchor-pattern-jacket-wearing Amity Mayor Larry Vaughn. It sounds strange, but it seems to be a multi-million dollar business. Researchers suggest that tourists should be more aware of shark behavior and keep a small distance from the animals.

Dirty energy: Do you have an unrequited desire for an ancient cityscape ruined by smoky factories and ash-covered buildings? What about the beautiful, sun-filtered air that is thick with asthma-causing lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other heavy metals?

Well, hold on to your jaunty felt derby hat, because the per capita emissions of coal from the G20 countries are increasing, now, in the year 2023, even in the face of extreme climate and promises from governments to transition to sustainable sources of energy. Listen: Can you hear Scott Joplin’s annoying piano music coming from somewhere in all the carbon fog? It’s like going back in time.

Goo has many properties: Imagine if you designed a goop gun that could apply adhesive glue, high-viscosity lubricant and waterproof sunscreen, all from one nozzle. Congratulations, Edison, you’ve been “bioinspired” by a snail’s butt. Researchers at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center have published a profile of the slime exuded by the Cornu aspersum snail, which has three utilitarian methods.

They found that of the three goo subtypes, the snail’s mucus contains the lowest amount of calcium-binding proteins and its binding mucus contains the most. In the main text of the article, chemistry and biochemistry Professor Adam Braunschwieg says, “Many uses of snail mucus are found every day,” which is an honest argument in support of government-sponsored research if you disagree with your uncle. at a family dinner.

Noise is annoying: Nuclear spin ensembles only retain quantum states for about 150 milliseconds before they are erased by noise in the form of heat and other sources. Oh, were you storing some information in this quantum system? Well, it’s over, now. Good thing you backed up your data on another nuclear spin ensemble—oh, that just got merged, too.

Noise is the enemy of quantum coherence and therefore the enemy of engineers trying to build quantum computing systems and quantum sensors. But it turns out that noise is also its worst enemy.

Physicists at MIT are now reporting on how to increase the nuclear coherence time three gargantuan milliseconds. The team demonstrated the thermal noise affecting the nuclear quadrupole interaction in the quantum system and used the same noise source to eliminate it – as the article points out, their system works similarly to noise canceling headphones.

Sweet star: Astronomers using the Neil Geherls Swift Observatory report that a sun-like star in a nearby galaxy is slowly being destroyed by a small black hole. Caught in a circular orbit around a black hole, a star loses the equivalent of about three Earth masses every time it swings closer, like a hot dog on a leash swinging a vulture.

The researchers identified a bright X-ray emission from the nearby galaxy 2MASX J02301709+2836050, and over subsequent observations, they noted that the source would glow brightly for seven to 10 days and then fade suddenly, repeating over 25 days. All of this indicates what a recent discovery by one of the astronomers calls a “repetitive, disruptive wave event,” and it closes a gap in the knowledge of the behavior of the black hole’s food.