Keith wrote: I've been living in the Holodeck for years. You lot behave or I'll turn it off, and then you'll all just disappear.
Sir, I protest! I am not a Merry Man!
Seriously, tho..I'm with the science guys on this one. Containing anti-matter, even just for a moment? Rock On! When do I get my Warp Drive?
EastCoastMojo wrote: I wonder if they are working on an anti-miata LOL
It already exists.
Like matter, usually the Miata is annihilated when it contacts Antimiata. Unlike antimatter, the Antimiata usually isn't. 
Man, it's amazing... antimatter was a farfetched staple of 'hard' SF for years, now here it is becoming (possibly) controllable.
I believe it was Isaac Asimov who said that each time something momentous happens to humanity SF has already been there, examined all the angles and moved on to something new.
Pumpkin Escobar wrote: Perhaps I am reading too far into other people comments, but I just notice the people who oppose science of this nature are also typically opposed to teaching evolution in schools, the mechanical creation of the universe, and other "blasphemous" topics. If this is not the case, then egg on my face. Having only a highschool graduates education in physics, I find the study of topics like anti/dark matter, black holes, time-space, quantum mechanics etc FASCINATING. Someone who has devoted themselves to the study of physics on a scale that puts them in a position to work with "the big bang machine" has a stronger understanding of this fascinating science than I will ever dream of having. Most of us probably dont have that level of devotion to anything outside of maybe religion.To call them an "f-up" simply because they may be working in a field you dont care for/understand/believe in is not only ignorant, but borderline insulting.
Sheesh! Gimme a break. I'm an artist. I was painting a picture. You know--with words. I thought the idea of a bunch of nuclear physicists standing around the supercollider saying "Hey y'all, watch this!" was pretty darn funny. Calling them "f-ups" just completes the picture.
So now somebody wants to attribute all manner of nasty character traits to me. I'm ignorant, and I don't like physics. I might even be religious. What a nut!
I won't claim not to be ignorant, but I certainly don't have anything against physics. I even passed a year of college physics during my stint in college. Heck, Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite TV shows, but I haven't seen it since they moved it from the Monday night slot after Two and A Half Men.
Welcome to the internet, where sarcasm is lost, and everyone wants to jump right in the middle of your E36 M3 for saying something they don't 100% agree with. Heck, there are people on this forum that will tell you they're not impressed with a '66 Nova that runs the quarter in less than seven seconds because it's not really a "street car."
And for the record, if these physicist dudes manage to make a black hole and suck the earth into itself, then the aliens watching us are pretty much gonna be sayin' that they were, in fact, a bunch of f-ups. No?
COOL! Finally unlimited electrical energy production in a package small enough to power and electric race car for more than 100 miles!!
Anti-matter? Isn't that what most of the threads in the "off topic" forum do?
carguy123 wrote: COOL! Finally unlimited electrical energy production in a package small enough to power and electric race car for more than 100 miles!!
Sure, as long as you can go 100 miles in less than 170 milliseconds and/or have a particle physics laboratory in your trunk. 
Xceler8x wrote: ..that or the power problems we currently have go away in a couple of discoveries. Wouldn't it be nice to tell the Middle East to blow itself all to hell? We just don't care anymore because now we have anti-matter!
I would love to tell every country in that region to kiss my ass, and whenever we finally figure out something better than fossil fuels to get used to begging us for water, because they don't even have that. Oil is all they have.
And on the lighter side of things, this is sweet. Even the word "antimatter" sounds badass. Now build me some antimatter bullets that I can use on people that hotlink pictures on the Interwebs.
I don't think people should be berkeleying with E36 M3 that can implode the planet. Forget to carry the 1 and we could all be berkeleyed.
This is an actual illustration of the antimatter containment field generator. Hotlinked for extra win.
xd wrote: I don't think people should be berkeleying with E36 M3 that can implode the planet. Forget to carry the 1 and we could all be berkeleyed.
This.
This will end well, or destroy the earth and kill us all. I like the sound of that. No wait, the other thing, the fear thing. Let's just hope this doesn't take us out before the zombie apocalypse. I want to get in some zombie-head-smashing.
On that note, isn't an 'Annihilation detector' a bit superfluous? 
xd wrote: I don't think people should be berkeleying with E36 M3 that can implode the planet. Forget to carry the 1 and we could all be berkeleyed.
Dude, I hope you're cracking a joke here.
One of the reasons physists study this crap is because there's a bunch more matter in the universe then there is antimatter. Imploding the planet is out of the question..it ain't like there's cubic light years of the stuff floating around, and it ain't like they can score enough of it in the lab to do the trick.
To find out why there's no great clouds of antimatter in the universe, they have to scoop up what little antimatter they can find (actually, they have to create it to study it!), and see if they can find out what it actually does. That's why this thing is so cool. It's the first time anybody's ever scooped it up long enough to look at it for a moment. Problem is, they gotta get better at it. "A moment" isn't long enough to figure out what it does.
And of course, if you were joking..I'm satirically impared, and ya gotta use more "emoticons".
Give me millions of $$ to play with funny looking gizmos that may or may not work, and I'll tell you I created something that doesn't, or maybe does, exist-but only I can see it, and it only exists, if it does, for such a short period of time as to be virtually insignificant. In fact, I think I can do that for just a few hundred thou $ annually and you can spend the rest of the $$$ on something that's really useful.
And for those satirically impaired, don't get your panties in a bunch
Luke wrote: On that note, isn't an 'Annihilation detector' a bit superfluous?
No. When matter and anti-matter come in contact they undergo annihilation. Where they essentially cease to exist and release a gamma (or gammas depending on their energy). A positron does this with an electron. The antiproton would do this with a proton. No idea if in this case if the entire anti hydrogen atom annihilates with a hydrogen atom or if the parts go their separate ways and each do their own annihilation.
Annihilation in this sense is the opposite of pair production where a high energy gamma can turn into an electron and a positron. There is some E=mc^2 going on there so there is a possibility of harnessing the energy from anti-matter.
if someone would just discover some dilithium deposits, we could get started on our trek to the stars..
xd wrote: I don't think people should be berkeleying with E36 M3 that can implode the planet. Forget to carry the 1 and we could all be berkeleyed.
I don't think this is exactly accurate. Okay, I don't think it's slightly accurate. "Forget to carry the 1" and the experiment fails and you don't get the mind numbingly small amount of anti-hydrogen that can destroy, um, a few hydrogen atoms. They can make so little and it takes so much work, I'm sure it would take years to make a significant amount- maybe on the scale of millions of years. There's plenty of real danger out there. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.
novaderrik wrote: if someone would just discover some dilithium deposits, we could get started on our trek to the stars..
I think I have some in the tank of my toilet.
Been upper decking? Ewww.
TJ wrote: It's funny that the article seems to imply that creating anti-matter is part of the breakthrough.
I thought the same thing when I read the article. If anyone's ever had a PET scan done at your hospital, you've had anti-matter inside of you.
Bob
The secret is to bang the rocks together guys!
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