I just get all giddy when I read about cool stuff like this:
quote:A particle accelerator is being used to reveal the long-lost writings of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, work hidden for centuries after a Christian monk wrote over it in the Middle Ages. Highly focused X-rays produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, California were used last week to begin deciphering the parts of the 174-page text that have not yet been revealed. The X-rays cause iron in the hidden ink to glow.
Oh, that is sooooo cool. And, we've got three to four years to come up with some really cool speculative fiction based on the pages that have yet to be revealed.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
They already know the cool part. Basically, Archie had more or less invented calculus. If that idiot Roman soldier had followed orders and captured him alive rather than gutting him, who knows what might have resulted?
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
quote:A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- can't remember who said that -
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Arthur C. Clarke (it's known as "Clarke's Law").
Posted by apeiron (Member # 2565) on :
Isn't it just so cool? Just goes to show, even the most impractical hard science (like particle smashing) can result in applicable technology.
EDIT: Some spelling errors are too grievous to ignore. (However, if I've just misspelled the word grievous...I'll just have to give up.)
[This message has been edited by apeiron (edited May 26, 2005).]