3 ms·

Totally boring / totally overhyped. Short version: if you hit a very few atoms with an obscene amount of energy, you blow some electrons out of their proper or

by tjic 17y ago

Totally boring / totally overhyped. Short version: if you hit a very few atoms with an obscene amount of energy, you blow some electrons out of their proper orbitals...and everything returns to normal the instant you turn the laser off. The aluminum is only transparent in the deep UV, and only transparent for as long as you keeping dumping insane amounts of energy into it. Big woop. This is a typical example of scientists becoming masters of the grandiose press release to hype something trivial into an attempt to get more grant money.

kurtosis 17y ago
hear hear, sure the physorg article sucked, but the experiment itself was pretty good. I definitely wouldn't call either the experiment or the conclusions "trivial". This type of experiment and the development of bright tabletop xray sources is well worth the grant money invested. Also I think an important point is that while the pulses used to illuminate the sample have very high power they are only ~40 femtoseconds long so the total energy used is pretty small. The complaints about scientists and journalists overhyping their work to get funding, remind me of the accusations that tv networks and producers exploit sex and violence to boost ratings. The real problem here is that people like sex and violence and overhyped scientific results If you approach politicians and funding agencies with an honest balanced view as to the real motivations and likely value of proposed scientific projects, you will get kicked aside for someone who promises "star trek materials".
- joshwa 17y ago
  +1 for nihilism!
dbz 17y ago
That's not quite a fair response. A similar response could be given to something like the Bose-Einstein condensate, and I personally find it very very interesting as well as important. "Freeze something at a really cold temperature and stuff like light moves at a slower speed than a walking pace*. Give this stuff a chance =p You never know what will come of it one day!

by tjic 17y ago

kurtosis 17y ago

hear hear, sure the physorg article sucked, but the experiment itself was pretty good. I definitely wouldn't call either the experiment or the conclusions "trivial". This type of experiment and the development of bright tabletop xray sources is well worth the grant money invested. Also I think an important point is that while the pulses used to illuminate the sample have very high power they are only ~40 femtoseconds long so the total energy used is pretty small. The complaints about scientists and journalists overhyping their work to get funding, remind me of the accusations that tv networks and producers exploit sex and violence to boost ratings. The real problem here is that people like sex and violence and overhyped scientific results If you approach politicians and funding agencies with an honest balanced view as to the real motivations and likely value of proposed scientific projects, you will get kicked aside for someone who promises "star trek materials".

joshwa 17y ago
+1 for nihilism!

dbz 17y ago

That's not quite a fair response. A similar response could be given to something like the Bose-Einstein condensate, and I personally find it very very interesting as well as important. "Freeze something at a really cold temperature and stuff like light moves at a slower speed than a walking pace*. Give this stuff a chance =p You never know what will come of it one day!