petercandid

Hi CharonY, Well,I recently saw an old friend for the first time in many years. We had been Ph.D. students at the same time, both studying science, although in different areas. She later dropped out of graduate school, went to Harvard Law School and is now a senior lawyer for a major environmental organization. At some point, the conversation turned to why she had left graduate school. To my utter astonishment, she said it was because it made her feel stupid. After a couple of years of feeling stupid every day, she was ready to do something else.I had thought of her as one of the brightest people I knew and her subsequent career supports that view. What she said bothered me. I kept thinking about it; sometime the next day, it hit me. Science makes me feel stupid too. It's just that I've gotten used to it. So used to it, in fact, that I actively seek out new opportunities to feel stupid. I wouldn't know what to do without that feeling. Thanks

Hi foodchain, Well,Fundamental conservation laws mandate parameter-free generic mechanisms of decoherence of quantum oscillations in double-well systems. We consider two examples: tunneling of the magnetic moment in nanomagnets and tunneling between macroscopic current states in SQUIDs. In both cases the decoherence occurs via emission of phonons and photons at the oscillation frequency. We also show that in a system of identical qubits the decoherence greatly increases due to the superradiance of electromagnetic and sound waves. Our findings have important implications for building elements of quantum computers based upon nanomagnets and SQUIDs. Thanks

HI Green Xenon, Well,Most people do not realize that there are more bacterial cells in and on our bodies than there are human cells. There is a large population of bacteria that exist in all the mucus cavities, most of which are there that are a benefit to the host (you). But you can take these same bacteria and get them into an area where they do not usually belong and you may then have an infection.Usually if you have a smelly, pus & mucus discharge in the nasal cavities it is coming from one of the nasal sinuses. Sometimes a sinus can be blocked by swelling from a virus or an allergy and the normal mucus flow is backed up allowing the trapped bacteria to multiply and cause an immune reaction of pus cells to converge and try to kill the bacteria.If you are having these kinds of symptoms you should see a doctor - most primary care docs can easily look into your nasal cavity and identify the problem and prescribe the correct treatment. The last time I had a bout of sinusitis they gave me an antibiotic (to kill the bacteria) and a decongestant (to open the clogged passages). I can't tell from your description what kind of bacteria you are talking about - there are hundreds of kinds of bacteria that we all live with! To identify it would take a complete culture work up from the infected site. It is often difficult to separate the "normal" bacteria from the "infectious" bacteria, but that is what our real job is all about. Thanks