] qubit.org provides useful information and links to all
] material in the field of quantum computing and
] information processing.

Qubit.org

] Armed with inexpensive, mass-produced gems, two startups
] are launching an assault on the De Beers cartel.
]
] Next up: the computing industry.
]
] By Joshua Davis
]
] Aron Weingarten brings the yellow diamond up to the
] stainless steel jeweler's loupe he holds against his eye.
] We are in Antwerp, Belgium, in Weingarten's marbled and
] gilded living room on the edge of the city's gem
] district, the center of the diamond universe. Nearly 80
] percent of the world's rough and polished diamonds move
] through the hands of Belgian gem traders like Weingarten,
] a dealer who wears the thick beard and black suit of the
] Hasidim.
]
] "This is very rare stone," he says, almost to himself, in
] thickly accented English. "Yellow diamonds of this color
] are very hard to find. It is probably worth 10, maybe 15
] thousand dollars."
]
] "I have two more exactly like it in my pocket," I tell
] him.
]
] He puts the diamond down and looks at me seriously for
] the first time. I place the other two stones on the
] table. They are all the same color and size. To find
] three nearly identical yellow diamonds is like flipping a
] coin 10,000 times and never seeing tails.
]
] "These are cubic zirconium?" Weingarten says without much
] hope.
]
] "No, they're real," I tell him. "But they were made by a machine
] in Florida for less than a hundred dollars."

Wired 11.09: The New Diamond Age

" LIKE ICE CREAM FROM TRITON
[1] Besides the liquid nitrogen, no special ingredients were used in this experiment. [2] The non-cryogenic ingredients were combined in a mixing bowl. [3] The nitrogen was added a cup at a time. Note the use of heavy cryo gloves—this was not an occasion for oven mitts. [4] The concoction was stirred thoroughly and continuously to keep an unbreakable crust from forming. [5] The ice cream was ready to eat when smooth and free of lumps."

Any recipe with liquid nitrogen has to be good

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

] More than a generation before Sally Ride became the first
] U.S. woman in space, some experienced female pilots
] dubbed the Mercury 13 almost beat her to the milestone.
]
] Trained in secret in a laboratory run by a NASA medical
] officer, the group's remarkable experiences are
] chronicled in a new book by Martha Ackmann, "Mercury 13:
] The Untold Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of
] Spaceflight."
]
] In 1961, the same year the first U.S. man achieved
] spaceflight, the women underwent the same series of tests
] as the Mercury 7 astronauts, according to Ackmann.
]
] But the Mercury 13 program did not win enough political
] support to continue to completion, she said, and the
] Soviet Union sent the first woman into space in 1963.
]
] Ackmann, an author, journalist and Mount Holyoke College
] professor, recently spoke with CNN during the same week
] as the anniversary of Ride's historic flight on June 18,
] 1983.

CNN.com - Women secretly trained as U.S. astronauts in 1960s - Jun. 23, 2003

] HONG KONG (Reuters) - Doctors in Hong Kong have scored a
] major breakthrough in identifying a deadly pneumonia
] virus that has killed at least 11 people and left
] hundreds ill as it races around the world.

Doctor's identify deadly virus in Hong Kong

] An Atlanta neuroscientist has wired the human brain to a
] computer. The results are fascinating and frightening.

Whoa...cybernetics!

Creative Loafing Atlanta | COVER | THE BRAIN OF THE FUTURE

Move your mouse over any element in the table to learn more about it. The Haiku field will have either a 'Y' or an 'N' to indicate if that element has a haiku associated with it. Click on the element to open a pop-up window and read the haiku.
For ease of use, a "flattened" table of all elements is below the periodic Table. You can click on an element name there to view the haiku associated with it there as well. Additionally, there is a link for browsers that do not support javascript for the pop-up window

Haiku Periodic Table

] Orbiting very close to a Sun-like star, a huge, searing
] hot planet has been discovered to be rapidly losing mass.
] It might eventually be stripped entirely of its gas
] envelope, leaving behind a liquid core of lava.

Incredible Shrinking Planet May Become Liquid Lava World

] Three primitive humans who scrambled down a volcano's
] slopes more than 325,000 years ago left their footprints
] fossilised in volcanic ash. If the ages of the trails are
] confirmed, they could be the earliest known footprints of
] our Homo ancestors

New Scientist

] The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial
] hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike
] devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate
] brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform
] the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is
] replacing.

New Scientist