Climatologist getting hammered by Democrats for not following "the plan"

Shiloh Raven said:

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."

^ The quote above has been credited to Chief Seattle (Suquamish and Duwamish).

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even heaven and earth, supposedly

"So, no, I am not serious with this estimate, but I it explains why the argument that the current stagnation is not unprecedented is ill-informed. We are today making more investments into the foundations of physics than ever before. And yet nothing is coming out of it. That’s a problem and it’s a problem we should talk about."

Hmmm....

Light on the cosmic web (January): Researchers used the radiation emitted by a quasar as a "cosmic flashlight" to illuminate the hidden tendrils of dark matter that underlie the visible Universe.

Neutrinos from the Sun (August): The Borexino experiment in Italy detected neutrino particles from the main nuclear reaction that powers the Sun. The number of neutrinos it saw agrees with theories, suggesting we do understand what's going on inside our parent star.

Laser fusion milestone (February): Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California made a breakthrough in the long road to self-sustaining fusion when they managed to get more energy out of fusion reactions than was deposited in the fuel by NIF's powerful laser.

Acoustic tractor beam (May): Once the preserve of science fiction, tractor beams are now a reality - at least in the lab. Physicists built a device that can pull objects by firing sound waves at them. The beam could have medical uses, such as manipulating objects within the body.

Supernovas in the lab (June): The Vulcan Laser Facility in Oxfordshire was used to recreate miniature star explosions, offering a window into some of the most powerful and unpredictable events in the cosmos.

Electron magnetism (June): Researchers in Israel were the first to measure the extremely weak magnetic interaction between two separate electron particles.

A better fibre for images (March): Scientists in the US used a physical effect called Anderson Localisation to develop a better optical fibre for transmitting images.

Holographic memory (February): American and Russian physicists built a new type of holographic memory device that stores data in the form of magnetic "bits".

Quantum compression: (September): The ability to compress quantum information was demonstrated for the first time by physicists in Canada and Japan.

This doesn't seem like "nothing" to me.

EpiscipalMe said:

Failing to disclose funding sources is a big no-no in science. Every scientist should willingly disclose their sources of funding. Any scientist who objects to this standard should be held as questionable.

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Yes, this was a huge problem with people like Willy Soon, who produced reports to order for various energy companies, and often failed to disclose who was paying for them.

The Barbarian said:

"So, no, I am not serious with this estimate, but I it explains why the argument that the current stagnation is not unprecedented is ill-informed. We are today making more investments into the foundations of physics than ever before. And yet nothing is coming out of it. That’s a problem and it’s a problem we should talk about."

Hmmm....

Light on the cosmic web (January): Researchers used the radiation emitted by a quasar as a "cosmic flashlight" to illuminate the hidden tendrils of dark matter that underlie the visible Universe.

Neutrinos from the Sun (August): The Borexino experiment in Italy detected neutrino particles from the main nuclear reaction that powers the Sun. The number of neutrinos it saw agrees with theories, suggesting we do understand what's going on inside our parent star.

Laser fusion milestone (February): Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California made a breakthrough in the long road to self-sustaining fusion when they managed to get more energy out of fusion reactions than was deposited in the fuel by NIF's powerful laser.

Acoustic tractor beam (May): Once the preserve of science fiction, tractor beams are now a reality - at least in the lab. Physicists built a device that can pull objects by firing sound waves at them. The beam could have medical uses, such as manipulating objects within the body.

Supernovas in the lab (June): The Vulcan Laser Facility in Oxfordshire was used to recreate miniature star explosions, offering a window into some of the most powerful and unpredictable events in the cosmos.

Electron magnetism (June): Researchers in Israel were the first to measure the extremely weak magnetic interaction between two separate electron particles.

A better fibre for images (March): Scientists in the US used a physical effect called Anderson Localisation to develop a better optical fibre for transmitting images.

Holographic memory (February): American and Russian physicists built a new type of holographic memory device that stores data in the form of magnetic "bits".

Quantum compression: (September): The ability to compress quantum information was demonstrated for the first time by physicists in Canada and Japan.

This doesn't seem like "nothing" to me.

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None of that is investment in THEORETICAL foundations of physics, all of that is practical application. Experimentation and engineering.

Erik Nelson said:

None of that is investment in THEORETICAL foundations of physics, all of that is practical application. Experimentation and engineering.

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Well, yes. At this point, theoretical physics is looking more and more like theology.

The Barbarian said:

Well, yes. At this point, theoretical physics is looking more and more like theology.

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Well, I would very much like you to be careful using the word "theology".

But I think I understand what you mean. More pure speculation than anything based on. Direct observation. Or even observable in principle.

It's a difficult thing. For a long time, math led deeper and deeper into physics.

But it also led farther and farther from our perceptions of the world.

“The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.”
John Haldane

The Barbarian said:

It's a difficult thing. For a long time, math led deeper and deeper into physics.

But it also led farther and farther from our perceptions of the world.

“The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.”
John Haldane

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Well, so far, those words have justified tens of millions of dollars. Worth of dark matter detection experiments. (Based on the predictions of arcane and practically incomprehensible theories) None of which have found anything.

More grant money this year, too.

I notice that the data so far, from diverse sources not only predicts dark matter, but all so far give us the same amount of it out there.

The problem is, there should be a particle involved, and so far, no one's found a single particle that doesn't fit nicely into the standard model.

Which makes it difficult to say what a particle of dark matter would be.

Dr. Levkov and his colleagues, Alexander Panin and Igor Tkachov from the Institute for Nuclear Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, concluded that Bose-Einstein condensate may form in the centres of halos of dwarf galaxies in a time smaller than the lifetime of the Universe. This means that Bose stars could populate them now.


The authors were the first who saw the formation of the Bose-Einstein condensate from light dark matter in computer simulations. In previous numerical studies, the condensate was already present in the initial state, and Bose stars arose from it. According to one hypothesis, the Bose condensate could have formed in the early Universe long before the formation of galaxies or miniclusters, but reliable evidence for that is currently lacking. The authors demonstrated that the condensate is formed in the centres of small halos, and they plan to investigate condensation in the early Universe in further studies.


The scientists pointed out that the Bose stars may produce Fast Radio Bursts that currently have no quantitative explanation. Light dark matter particles called "axions" interact with electromagnetic field very weakly and can decay into radiophotons. This effect is vanishingly small, but inside the Bose star it may be resonantly amplified like in a laser and could lead to giant radio bursts.


"The next obvious step is to predict the number of the Bose stars in the Universe and calculate their mass in models with light dark matter," concluded Dmitry Levkov.
Russian physicists observe dark matter forming droplets

Who's right, or if anyone is right, I don't know. The math makes my head hurt.

The Barbarian said:

I notice that the data so far, from diverse sources not only predicts dark matter, but all so far give us the same amount of it out there.

The problem is, there should be a particle involved, and so far, no one's found a single particle that doesn't fit nicely into the standard model.

Which makes it difficult to say what a particle of dark matter would be.

Dr. Levkov and his colleagues, Alexander Panin and Igor Tkachov from the Institute for Nuclear Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, concluded that Bose-Einstein condensate may form in the centres of halos of dwarf galaxies in a time smaller than the lifetime of the Universe. This means that Bose stars could populate them now.


The authors were the first who saw the formation of the Bose-Einstein condensate from light dark matter in computer simulations. In previous numerical studies, the condensate was already present in the initial state, and Bose stars arose from it. According to one hypothesis, the Bose condensate could have formed in the early Universe long before the formation of galaxies or miniclusters, but reliable evidence for that is currently lacking. The authors demonstrated that the condensate is formed in the centres of small halos, and they plan to investigate condensation in the early Universe in further studies.


The scientists pointed out that the Bose stars may produce Fast Radio Bursts that currently have no quantitative explanation. Light dark matter particles called "axions" interact with electromagnetic field very weakly and can decay into radiophotons. This effect is vanishingly small, but inside the Bose star it may be resonantly amplified like in a laser and could lead to giant radio bursts.


"The next obvious step is to predict the number of the Bose stars in the Universe and calculate their mass in models with light dark matter," concluded Dmitry Levkov.
Russian physicists observe dark matter forming droplets

Who's right, or if anyone is right, I don't know. The math makes my head hurt.

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Direct observations by astronomers. Imply the existence of a large amount of matter to dim for us to detect with current technologies.

Direct observations of stars in our vicinity by astronomers Reveal an "initial mass function" a pattern to the number of stars of each mass that exist around us, N(M) = M^-2.3. That initial mass function predicts. A mathematically infinite amount of mass residing in Sub Stellar. Brown dwarves.

Every single search for MACHOs (Massive compact Halo objects), including Sub Stellar Brown Dwarves as well as Post Stellar Black Dwarfs, Neutron stars and black holes, Has detected At least some (including the most recent one in the news over the past couple of weeks)

No search for exotic dark matter particles has ever found anything whatsoever at all.

The supposed "need" for EXOTIC dark matter particles derives from calculations completed by nuclear particle physicists in 1948. Astronomers and cosmologists themselves never knew they needed EXOTIC dark matter particles -- as opposed to say just really dim hard to detect As yet unobserved dim matter like Brown Dwarfs and dark post stellar compact objects -- until they were told so by the nuclear particle physics department upstairs, so to speak.

The supposed "need" for EXOTIC dark matter particles derives from calculations over 70 years old. Pure equations on chalkboards. In absolutely no way whatsoever at all derived FROM direct observations of the HEAVENS.

EXOTIC dark matter has never one time yet been substantiated or corroborated or supported by direct eyes on the skies.

All of the money poured into EXOTIC dark matter detection experiments could be used to build SUPER LARGE TELESCOPES. In 400 years since Galileo. Every single telescope purchased. Has empowered its proud owner To view innumerable stars and galaxies and wonders throughout the heavens. Every single next generation newer bigger, better telescope has ALWAYS revealed innumerable, NEW stars and galaxies and wonders OVERLOOKED previously.

Once Upon a time science was OBSERVATION driven. Driven by direct observations. And when scientists didn't have the apparati required to make the observations, they invested the time and money into BUILDING those apparatuses first. Doing the experiments. Taking the data. And THEN analyzing the data to derive theory.

Humans on Earth are pouring millions of dollars into chalkboards chalk and underground "Bat cave" EXOTIC dark matter detection apparatuses... And so far batting 0000. Striking out each at bat.

if all that money had been poured into next generation super large telescopes. Guaranteed 100%. New good, solid science and wondrous amazing observations would have resulted. Probability 100%.

(And astronomers would get to go outside to beautiful, sunny places like Arizona, Hawaii and the Andes Mountains. to boot.)

We all would have at LEAST gotten amazing new astronomy pictures of the day. Instead of absolutely nothing whatsoever at all of value.

Who cares? Why is cosmology so important? Why is it so important to know what's actually out there? And get direct "eyes on" detections of it?

Well, who knows? But we all do KNOW that "knowing is half the battle" And "Forewarned is forearmed" so to speak.

Super large telescopes are GUARANTEED 100% to provide at least SOME new "hard intelligence. On the grand strategic scale". So to speak.

Underground "bat cave" EXOTIC dark matter detection apparatuses appear so far to be 100% guaranteed to fail and to provide nothing of value whatsoever at all.

Time passes. The clock is ticking. And time is money wasted can never be reclaimed...

Erik Nelson said:

No search for exotic dark matter particles has ever found anything whatsoever at all.
Batting average on base average slugging average of 0000.

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Until recently, no search for transitional forms between ungulates and whales had every found anything whatsoever at all.

Then, someone found one. And it was in a place and of a time that was not previously investigated. After that, scientists looking in similar strata, found many of them.

Ditto ape/human transitions and dinosaur bird transitions. And then each of these showed up, telling us where to look. And then we shortly had many.

Being a biologist, I don't see "we haven't found anything yet" as a sign that anyone is doing anything wrong.

Basil the Great said:

Sadly, I have personally seen twice in recent years that Dems and Liberals seem to be more narrow minded than Republicans and Conservatives.

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At least three times for me.
The goats claim four.
M-Bob