Although the aims of alchemists of transforming base metals into gold has been previously achieved through synthetic transmutation first in 1941 by heavy bombardment of mercury with neutrons—though the resulting isotopes were extremely radioactive and again in 1980 by Glenn Seaborg at Lawrence Livermore labs by surgically removing protons and neutrons from bismuth atoms, these demonstration projects were prohibitively expensive and would need to be scaled up a trillion-fold in order to produce a microscopic speck of the precious metal. We learn, however—via tmn—that researchers working on the ALICE programme at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the acronym somewhat disappointingly only standing for A Large Ion Collider Experiment designed to study conditions immediately after the Big Bang with by creating exotic plasma phases of matter, have recently detected the mass albeit very short-lived conversion of lead into gold as the extremely hot and close-packed conditions cause dissociative reactions that can cause the target element to eject a small number of protons and neutrons, producing gold (the similar densities probably what inspired the study of alchemy in the first place). The above quick-silver and thallium were also temporary by-products of nuclear transmutation. Related to the title term, ฯฯฯ
ฯฮฟฯฮฟฮนฮฏฮฑ, แผฯฮณฯ
ฯฮฟฯฮฟฮนฮฏฮฑ (argyropeia) refers to artificial silver-making, usually trying with copper.
Friday, 9 May 2025
chrysopoeia (12. 443)
Friday, 21 March 2025
spaghettification (12. 323)
One might be familiar with the above transformation when one wanders too close to a black hole but there’s more physical properties to ponder in pasta that touch on the broader mysteries of the Cosmos. Noting the expertise required to produce the finest and most delicate varieties of angel hair, researchers applied science to create a matrix of nano-noodles to study the limits of dough and starch, inadvertently finding the resulting pasta to have enhanced stiffness and with possible applications as a biodegradable substitute for plastic. Enduring conundrums also present themselves in the form of the slurping problem—and variants—and Richard Feynman’s obsessive quandaries (previously) over why dry spaghetti always snapped in two and the physics behind stress and tension, which after a quarter of a century yielded a three way fracture with some mechanical finesse. More from BBC contributor Joseph Howlett at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: World Puppetry Day (with synchronoptica), the Loyalty Order (1947) plus a Disneyland Dream (1956)
seven years ago: Karl Marx pedestrian signals, Tanglewood Tales plus Lewis Carroll’s logic game
eight years ago: assorted links worth revisiting
nine years ago: pixelated palettes plus artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder
ten years ago: Russian disinformation campaigns, the Reeperbahn and the Order of the Garter, more links to revisit plus Frida Kahlo in Detroit
Friday, 31 January 2025
12x12 (12. 196)
happy to be hard core: a sampling of the genre produced on Amiga computers—via Web Curios
biodiesel: grassroots efforts opposing plans to transform Hungary into an EV battery manufacturing hub—see previously
pc gamer: vintage scans of computer and arcade hobbyists’ magazines
eureka moment: the account of the rediscovery of one of Archimedes’ lost manuscripts—see previously
signature block: as part of Trump’s attempt to redefine gender as a sexual binary and “defend women,” US federal workers are directed to remove preferred pronouns from their emails
the cruel kids’ table: a look at the resurgent fratocracy of Americans under thirty, as witnessed at Trump’s inaugural parties
hexaflexagons: fun with paper models—via MetFilter
m23: Rwandan-backed rebel forces take provincial capital of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly with designs on annexing the eastern region
hold the line: the new legal council of the US Office of Personnel Management (previously and under new management) is a soi-disant “raging mysogynist”
clu clu land: the Video Game History Foundation opens its archives to the public—via Ars Technica
doggerland: archeological exploration of the submerged North Sea region
mixolydian mode: compose chords and compare output in a range of dozens of scales—see previously—via ibฤซdem
synchronoptica
one year ago: a film by Rosa von Praunheim (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit plus another banger from ABBA
seven years ago: telepresence, more links to enjoy, credit for the discovery of x-rays plus an executive order from the desk of Richard Nixon
eight years ago: film-strip leader ladies
nine years ago: even more links plus perspectives in price-lists
ten years ago: chance decision-making, the mad monk plus electromagnetic moats
Tuesday, 28 January 2025
10x10 (12. 191)
i saw, i cut, i applied: a retrospective of the textile art of Ayako Miyawaki (ๅฎฎ่็ถพๅญ) at the Tokyo Station Gallery
hadron therapy: researchers at CERN are collaborating with oncologists to develop precision treatment that last a fraction of a second—via the new Shelton wet/dry
drag and drop: the development of tools that easily move data around with confidence it would not be lost
shวusuรฌ: an exhibition on community resilience through helps gird one for the trying year ahead

oreoboros: a round-up of recently introduced snacks and treats—via MetaFilter
comparative entomology: an 1879 study in the colour patterns in moths and butterflies
object impermanence: a glitchy and broken AI knock-off of Minecraft makes for a strangely compelling experience
experimental advanced superconducting tokamak: an artificial sun burned for nearly eighteen minutes at the EAST plasma physics lab in Hefei—a significant milestone for sustainable fusion reactions—via Boing Boing
the little loomhouse: the history and evolution of an ensemble of Kentucky cabins to a thriving arts community
Sunday, 5 January 2025
8x8 (12. 147)
black swan event: futurist forecast a host of unpredictable geopolitical scenarios for 2025—via the New Shelton wet/dry
it’s schoolhouse rocky—that chip off the block—of your favourite schoolhouse, schoolhouse rock: a rather incredible thrift store find of Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell performing some numbers from the educational cartoon series—see previously

to unalive or not unalive: the resurgence of the term was prompted by a way to get around advertiser blacklists with euphemisms—see more
reboot: the Landauer Limit, thermodynamics and more efficient computing—see also
post-scarcity, post-singularity: it’s still easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism—via Duck Soup
the eagle & child: Oracle’s Larry Ellison has purchased the Oxford pub frequented by Tolkien and C S Lewis—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest
the year that was and wasn’t: The Morning News interviews some of their favourite journalists about the most and least important stories and trends of 2024—see also the dumbest timeline
Friday, 3 January 2025
๐ = 360° sin ๐ / day (12. 139)
Devised by observing a lathe demonstrating an unexpected but explainable gyroscopic effect, physicist Lรฉon Foucault first constructed his eponymous pendulum in the basement of his home on this day in 1851, bringing the experiment to the public a month later at the Meridian of the Paris Observatory. Allowing observers to conclude from the change in the plane of oscillation of a heavy weight over time the rotation of the Earth, and showing that at latitudes other than the equator the displacement of each cycle (best viewed on a very big set up) progresses relative to the turning of the Earth throughout the diurnal period. Though a long established fact that the Earth revolved, Foucault’s experiment was proof easily attainable and not necessitating watching for the minute movements of the stars and planets, rather elegantly showing that the Earth moves beneath the fixed and motionless pivot point. Such demonstrations have become popular installations at universities and museums around the world—see one in action here from a dedicated live webcam.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Jim Henson’s custom car
seven years ago: Memento Mori, deep dreaming, Communist era interiors plus Trump’s minders
eight years ago: saccadic masking, book-culling algorithms, more links to enjoy plus literary-inspired resolutions
nine years ago: even more links
ten years ago: the last man on the Moon plus food pyramids and fad-diets
Tuesday, 31 December 2024
effervescence (12. 128)
Having previously explored the physics of tiny bubbles, we enjoyed this deep dive that brings together the study of flutes and coupes, the fermentation process and the celebrated through probably apocryphal declaration by Dom Pierre Pรฉrignon that he was tasting the stars, which nonetheless has its place above earthly bounds insofar that the science behind it fizzy drinks also has applications in aerosols, cloud formation and carbon-sequestration on our planet and beyond. The article circles back to the glass and the toast with suggestions to optimise effervescence and all the factors, virtual sytnhesis of synaesthesia, that effect the palette. More BBC features correspondent Nicola Jones at the link above.
Friday, 27 December 2024
starquake (12. 115)
On this day in 2004, forty-two thousand years after a powerful explosion occurred on the surface of the magnetar, a class of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, the resultant gamma ray reached Earth, the brightest event known to have been experienced on the planet with an origin outside the universe, the incredibly dense and compact star (only fifteen kilometres in diameter) designated as SGR 1806-20 and discovered in 1979 as a gamma-repeater (see previously) releasing as much energy in a tenth of a second as the Sun will in one hundred and fifty thousand years. The expanding cloud, shock wave of radiation briefly enlarged the ionosphere and it is estimated that a comparable blast within ten light years of Earth would ravage the atmosphere and destroy the ozone layer.
synchronoptica
one year ago: solfรจge in other languages (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: messianic complexes, one of small character, memories of y2k plus an inverted skyscraper
eight years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus telegraphing kisses
nine years ago: banana supply chains plus more links to enjoy
ten years ago: tiny houses, Russian metro stations plus stress and motivation
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
forschungslaboratorium fรผr elektronenphysik (12. 106)
Autodidact in applied physics and prolific inventor, Baron Manfred von Ardenne, after presenting to the public his concept of Fernsehen a year and a half earlier, achieved his first wholly electronic transmission of television pictures, using a cathode ray tube (see more) for both transmission and reception, on this day in 1933. Following trial runs on broadcasters, Ardenne’s technological advance progressed quickly with the private station of Paul Nipkow culminating with the live airing of the 1936 Berlin Games. Having also conducted pioneering experiments in the fields of radar, radio, isotope separation and inventing the scanning electron microscope, Ardenne’s research facilities in Berlin-Lichtenfelde were put a protective order by Soviet occupying forces in April 1945 and Ardenne and his colleagues were reassigned to laboratories in Abkhazia to work on the atomic bomb project (see also)—like the Russian version of Operation Paperclip. Realising that participation in such a plan would jeopardise his eventual repatriation to East Germany, Ardenne convinced authorities to focus on uranium enrichment rather than weaponising the programme, slowly development until the Americans bombed Japan and an extensive espionage network determined that it was more than theoretical possible. Once Ardenne returned to the DDR and assumed an advisory role in the government, he applied his study and resources to medical diagnostics, inventing an early form MRI scanner and radiotherapies to treat cancer.

synchronoptica
one year ago: Christmas Greetings (with synchronoptica), Aida (1871) plus more accidental Renaissance art
seven years ago: Sleighrunner, Trump’s challenge coin plus more Season’s Greetings
eight years ago: A Human Document, internet court plus a collection of Yule Logs
nine years ago: more Yule Logs
ten years ago: a visit from Father Frost
eleven years ago: 2013 wrapped plus a holiday reckoning
Sunday, 22 December 2024
demi-conductor (12. 103)
Via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links, we are directed to a class of quasiparticles in condensed matter physics—the field of study that focuses on the difference of properties and behaviours on macroscopic versus microscopic scales—that has the unexpected quality of carrying mass and charge in one direction only and when turned 90° suddenly become massless. Though the scholarship has been established for about a decade regarding such topological behaviour, researchers believe that harnessing such novel semi-Dirac fermions (with a strangely definitive level of certainty for the quantum realm) could have revolutionary applications for quantum computing and transcend the restraints of traditional circuitry that’s too blunt to wire reliably for qubits on a nano-scale. The semi- and super-conductors of solid state electronics do not corral energy in orderly or predictable ways for such a delicate set-up but if the circuit could be a virtual one comprised not of wire but of a particle with switching properties, quantum computations (see previously) could quickly become very robust. More from Popular Mechanics at the link above.
Thursday, 28 November 2024
cp 1919 (12. 037)
Discovered by post-graduate astrophysics student Jocelyn Bell Burnell using the Interplanetary Scintillation Array of Cambridge Observatory on this day in 1967 whilst searching for radio signals in space, because of its precise regularity, it was dismissed by colleagues as terrestrial interference initially,but combing through reams of data, Bell Burnell correctly pinpointed its origins to celestial coordinates of nineteen′ nineteen′′ right ascension, twenty-one° declination, coming from the constellation Vulpecula—for which it was given the designation LGM-1, little green men, supposing it might be an alien beacon of some kind. The discoverer, however, correctly posited that the source was a rapidly rotating neutron star. Fellow researchers received a Nobel prize in 1974 for their work in radioastronomy but Bell Burnell’s contributions were overlooked (for her part, she maintained that she did not believe that the committee should be in the business of honouring research assistants), and the novel class of star is now recognised as a pulsar, emitting beams of radiation from its poles and have proven to be an indispensable lighthouse in the cosmos for detection and triangulation, a throughline for detecting the first exoplanents and the phenomena of gravitational waves among others. In 1979, for their debut studio album, Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division adapted a ridgeline plot of the stars’s radio emissions’ pulses for the cover art.
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
8x8 (11. 908)
jianmen underground neutrino observatory: a tour of JUNO, the massive Chinese lab built to study the elusive particle—Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
xoxo: Cabel Sasser’s talk on rediscovering a forgotten artist—more here from the presenter, see also

post on own site, syndicate elsewhere: more on the POSSE technique for retaining control of one’s work—see previously
first draft: the Balloon Boy Hoax of 2009 illustrates the problems of for-profit journalism—see also
saturday night soirรฉes: the house parties of Charles Babbage (previously) boasted an impressive guest list, including Faraday, the Darwins, Dickens and more
central casting: recalculating the Kevin Bacon Game with eigenvectors to reveal the most well connected film is Pulp Fiction—via Quantum of Sollazzo
monsters and madonnas: the eerie, erotic photography of William Mortensen—labelled the “Antichrist of Hollywood” in the 1930s for his horror film inspired compositions
strong thermal emission velocity enhancement: the rare atmospheric phenomenon called Steve (which science made a backronym) that sometimes accompanies geostorms
Sunday, 11 August 2024
7x7 (11. 758)
pop quiz: extended CVs of classic game show hosts
pass the mayo: condiment’s dynamic nature could help solve containment challenges for nuclear fusion
wingnut: a South Berkley salvage store turned museum—via Nag on the Lake’s always excellent Sunday Links
cocรณnonรณs: a Bogota-based fusion band—possibly named after the ill-fated Tiki drink shared with Geordi La Forge and Christy Henshaw on their first date
bias towards coherence: Trump’s latest on rally attendance and his greatest hits
the type specimen of humanity: the designated permanent reference for Homo sapiens is Carl Linnaeus
magick show: Richard Metzger’s latest occult project
synchronoptica
one year ago: cutting archived content for the sake of SEO (with synchronoptica), a racist brawl in Alabama plus multi-hyphenates
seven years ago: reproductive awareness
eight years ago: ant wars, Martian landscapes, disproportionate and xenophobic calls for burqa bans, a floating home in Canada plus Facebook and clickbait
nine years ago: Liberia and the US
ten years ago: a party at Neuseenland plus the geopolitics of terrorism
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
8x8 (11. 712)
veepstakes: Sherwin-Williams paint colour or potential running-mate for Kamala Harris
prince rupert’s cube: Platonic solids will fit through an identically shaped one, thanks to the ponderings of a seventeenth century Rheinland monarch—see previously

bareback: the bleaching, normalising of a rather vulgar terms used in wide contexts
news cycle: breaking stories happening faster than area man can generate uninformed opinions
orrery: a look at the Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium, the world’s oldest and smallest functioning astronomical theatre created by a weaver turned star-gazer and purchased by the king—via ibฤซdem
she’s just not sufficiently grateful: all the ways the GOP is melting down over the changed presidential race
synchronoptica
one year ago: another MST3K classic (with synchronoptica), a virtual diving-bell, assorted links worth revisiting plus a banger from The Cars
seven years ago: mushroom season, poorly drawn cats plus boustrophedic writing
nine years ago: more on author Karl May plus comic book heroes
eleven years ago: a haircut for Greece plus ceremonial government roles
fourteen years ago: more bad banks plus Oktoberfest and other attractions
Monday, 15 July 2024
9x9 (11. 694)
fungal magic: an update on the mushroom documentary narrated by Bjรถrk
always lands on its feet: the myriad ways animals negotiate the laws of physics—see also
meisje met de parel: decoding Vermeer’s true colours—see previously—via Miss Cellania
i’m your heat pump: a seductive slow jam seems to educate the public on the thermal energy transmission system
eno: the generative documentary on the self-described non-musician that changes with each viewing
legal daisy spacing: a purported 1985 manual for terraforming a planet that presents a warped bureaucracy and sterile landscaping
nolle prosequi: federal judge overseeing illegal retention of classified documents trial against Trump dismissed the indictment over the improper appointment of the prosecution’s special counsel—see previously here and here
reimann hypothesis: new insights about the distribution of prime numbers—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
krรคuterbuch: Johannes Hartlieb’s fifteenth century treasury of herbs
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), Netscape plus the Rosetta Stone
seven years ago: dark matter, more on the election integrity commission plus the bicentennial of Frankenstein
nine years ago: thalassocracies, plutographies plus more links to enjoy
eleven years ago: a slightly NSFW Soviet adult literacy reader
twelve years ago: the German banking system plus the Oberammergau Passion Plays
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
9x9 (11. 636)
who is this imposter: AI ruins classic, static reaction memes with animation
๐ฅ: the bygone baguette boxes of French Polynesia—via Messy Nessy Chic

crystal lake: the preponderance of 1980s horror movies set at summer camp
ball & chain: Nag on the Lake shares a special memory from Festival Express, the touring show of Monterey Pop, when the musicians came to Toronto
message in a bottle: the dozen times humans have tried to communicate with extra-terrestrial intelligences—see previously here, here and here
encarta: the short, happy reign of the multimedia CD-ROM as part of Fast Company’s 1994 Week—via Slashdot
casa bonita: a 1974 amusement park restaurant reopens under new management and with a monumental wait-list
surgeon general’s warning: US top doctor urges health notices for social media
synchronoptica
one year ago: an AI’s take on emoji (plus synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting, a human computer plus Adsense (2003)
five years ago: Sweden’s alcohol monopoly, the UK Carbon Brief plus more links to enjoy
six years ago: a Banksy gallery opens, first issue magazine covers, the War of 1812, a space slingshot, more links worth the revisit plus Trump and Merkel
seven years ago: the US withdrawal from the Paris Treaty plus even more links
nine years ago: tobacco introduced to the Old World, more links, Hocus Pocus plus the nobiliary particle
Saturday, 4 May 2024
8x8 (11. 539)
an elegant weapon for a more civilised age: the physics and power demands of a lightsaber
defective fleet of fly sky-wreckage: nothing good has the acronym MRSA (Material Review Segregation Area)

wopr: US urges China and Russia to pledge that AI will never have command and control of nuclear weapons
poultice: an orangutan observed self-medicating a wound in the wild with a paste made of plants with healing properties
serenity amid disaster: a short animation from Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, “The Flying Sailor,” examines the wonder and fragility of existence
peak wtf: gun-mounted flashlights popular with American police officers
oh, the asthma guy: a conversion with that one friend who’s never seen Star Wars
Monday, 18 March 2024
insatiable birdie (11. 433)
Via Miss Cellania, we not only learn the rather elegant physics and chemistry behind those sippy bird toys but also that researchers have given it an upgrade as a device to generate energy.
Sometimes mislabeled as a perpetual motion machine, the thirsty mechanism is a heat engine, two evacuated glass bulbs linked by a tube pivot on a crosspiece and turns the temperature gradient along the body into a pressure difference that translates to the mechanism. Water evaporates from the head (usually adorned with something absorbent like felt) and lowers the temperature and pressure and causes some of the vapour in the chamber to condense (usually ether, alcohol or chloroform) and the liquid is forced up the neck, causing it to tip forward. The ambient air temperature warms the bottom bulb and causes the cycle to repeat. The toy, originally called a Pulshammer was a German invention improved by Benjamin Franklin, after seeing one in action around 1768 and illustrates the principles of capillary action, wet-bulb temperature, heat of condensation as well as several laws of thermodynamics and idea gases and with the latest modifications also demonstrates the triboelectric effect (static electricity), harnessing it to power small appliances and seems overall like a pretty good educational apparatus, provoking thought while charging. Who knew? More technical details and a video demonstration of the prototype at the link above.one year ago: assorted links to revisit, Yugoslavian fashion plus climbing Everest (1923)
two years ago: more links to enjoy, two probes passing in the night, more shibboleths plus Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an appeal to the people of Russia
three years ago: RIP Yaphet Kotto, more links worth the revisit, Motown on tour (1965), mourning rings, fear of covering up plus the fashions of Birgitta Bjerke
four years ago: an iconic photograph from the battlefield (1942)
five years ago: Transit Driver Appreciation Day
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
8x8 (11. 416)
studio nue: the meticulous and immersive sci-fi illustrations of Naoyuki Kato
landsat lens: virtual rewinding maps created with historic satellite imagery

hag horror: Poseidon’s Underworld explores the genre with 1971’s Blood and Lace
แนs (t → ♾️) = 0: researchers find algorithms that only quantum computers can solve—via Damn Interesting—see previously
all these worlds are yours, except europa: NASA reveals the plaque its probe will carry to Jupiter’s icy moon later this year
rednaxela: unusual toponyms, including the named terrace in Hong Kong believed to be Alexander transcribed right-to-left, as was the practise in the past
fantomah: outsider comic book artist Fletcher Hanks
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, domino theory (1947) plus more words with no English equivalent
two years ago: more links to enjoy, World Day Against Cyber Censorship plus Mamma Mia (1975)
three years ago: the cosmography of William Fairfield Warren (1915), artist Caterina van Hemessen, St Maximilian of Tebessa, occultist Austin Osman Spare, listening to maps, more isogloss maps plus a celebration of veteran memes
four years ago: St Serafina plus COVID travel bans take effect
five years ago: resurrection plants
Sunday, 3 March 2024
penrose tiles (11. 398)
Given the potential, inevitably of quantum computing to break even the hardest encryption and pose an existential threat to the digital framework of privacy and security that we’ve become accustomed to, a possible reprieve in the form of aperiodic tiling is welcome news. Rather than focus on the symmetrical and repeating approaches to tiling a surface, polymath and Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and others began to study inflation and deflation of imperfect coverage in the 1970s, and anticipating the models of quantum computing, physical qubits and the superimposed virtual states, the never-repeating mosaics are not in themselves a place to hide information but a check-digit redundancy to ensure calculations stay on course. Given the nature of quantum mechanics—measuring the in-between state, neither zero or one and both, will cause the value to collapse, making the circuitry a rather delicate and unreliable thing and could lead to a more robust and internally consistent way for encoding and encryption as we know it. More at the links above.