links for 2009-05-26

"The $3.5 billion site is known as the National Ignition Facility, or NIF. For more than half a century, physicists have dreamed of creating tiny stars that would inaugurate an era of bold science and cheap energy, and NIF is meant to kindle that blaze.

In theory, the facilityâs 192 lasers â made of nearly 60 miles of mirrors and fiber optics, crystals and light amplifiers â will fire as one to pulverize a fleck of hydrogen fuel smaller than a match head. Compressed and heated to temperatures hotter than those of the core of a star, the hydrogen atoms will fuse into helium, releasing bursts of thermonuclear energy."

"So, what makes a good lab? Well, ideally, every lab would have students collect some data and build a model from that. "

"I thought resistance was futile, but it turns out resistance is Omega."

"OK, you're an alien hunter, how many alien heads do you have up on the wall of your den?"

"Starting next month, the prizes will be awarded every year on the two solstices and the two equinoxes. So, we will announce the winner of the science prize on June 21, the arts and literature prize on September 22, the politics prize on December 21, and the philosophy prize on March 20, 2010."