Natural World

Life abides

Natural World, posts interesting only to me
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office plant in bloom

In a shocking development that has to be symbolic of something, the horribly ugly chosen because it’s hardy and can handle neglect office plant located next to my desk has actually flowered, which is the first time I’ve ever seen one of them do that. You don’t expect this from this sort of plant, which as well could’ve been plastic for all anybody cared, but there it is, spreading a lavender sort of scent reminiscent of the better sort of public conviences. Doesn’t do my headache any good.

Did remind me of a short story in one of thos Gardner Dozois Year’s Best Science Fiction bricks, about a team of biologists specialising in finding thought to be extinct plant species and such in office gardens and such. Nothing else remains from that story, but that stuck with me.

Crowpoek

Natural World, posts interesting only to me
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jackdaws snacking on kroepoek

A somewhat blurry picture of us feeding the jackdaws at the hospital. They’re snacking on kroepoek, an Indonesian shrimp based crisp like snack, de riguer when you’re getting a Indo-Chinese takeaway, popular with crows as well as people so it seems.

And yes, that means S. is still in hospital, after three unsuccesful attempts to get back home earlier in the year. It’s still unknown when she can try again, but she’s waiting to undergo yet another operation, to cure yet another problem caused by interactions between the various medications she’s on. I’ll spare y’all the details, but it’s a long story full of medical mistakes and accidents that are more the product of the whole medical process as a whole than the fault of any one individual. It’s all getting her down, as you can imagine, so if you want to cheer her up a bit…

“N@C60 is quite a sexy, interesting, promising molecule”

Natural World, Science
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But in terms of holding onto quantum entanglement it’s beaten hollow by the humble Robin, according to Wired:

an European Robin from Wikipedia

European robins may maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems, say physicists investigating how birds may use quantum effects to “see” Earth’s magnetic field.

Quantum entanglement is a state where electrons are spatially separated, but able to affect one another. It’s been proposed that birds’ eyes contain entanglement-based compasses.

Conclusive proof doesn’t yet exist, but multiple lines of evidence suggest it. Findings like this one underscore just how sophisticated those compasses may be.

[…]

To put this in perspective, Benjamin introduced an exotic molecule called N@C60, a geometric cage of carbon with a nitrogen atom inside. This molecule is one of the best-known laboratory systems for maintaining entanglement. “The cage acts to shield the atom, which is storing the information, from the rest of the world,” Benjamin said. “It’s considered to be quite a sexy, interesting, promising molecule.”

But at room temperature, even N@C60 only holds entanglement for 80 microseconds, or four-fifths of what birds appear to be doing.

Very interesting, but watch out for the New Scientist effect, where the desire to showcase counterintuitive, sexy research comes into conflict with doing science right.