Worst science reporting ever?

[Sisyphus]

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24234/

 

Check out this article about an "artificial black hole." Except it isn't a black hole, it's a material that is almost perfectly black within a certain spectrum of microwaves. But wait! It "bends space!" But wait! No, it doesn't, just "as far as light is concerned," whatever that means. How sensational!

 

And it's in Technology Review, which is published by MIT.

[Mr Skeptic]

Aren't those just analogies?

[Sisyphus]

Aren't those just analogies?

 

But:

 

Step forward Qiang Cheng and Tie Jun Cui at the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, who have used metamaterials to create the world's first artificial black hole in their lab. [b']Yep, a real black hole.[/b]

[SH3RL0CK]

Could it be a translation error? Probably they meant a blackbody http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbody

black body is an idealized object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation that falls on it. No electromagnetic radiation passes through it and none is reflected.

 

Though even this isn't a true blackbody as it only works in a very narrow range of frequencies.

[Sisyphus]

No, "black hole" is definitely what is intended. Read the article.

[bascule]

Wonder how long until people start worrying that these "black holes" might destroy the earth

[swansont]

A blackbody is a perfect absorber, but also a perfect radiator — it emits a true blackbody spectrum, by definition. So they meant black hole, in the sense that it eats up everything. Public relations run amok.

[Sisyphus]

A blackbody is a perfect absorber, but also a perfect radiator — it emits a true blackbody spectrum, by definition. So they meant black hole, in the sense that it eats up everything. Public relations run amok.

 

It eats up everything in a certain frequency range, but it says "In case you're wondering, the energy absorbed by the black hole is emitted as heat." Surely that means blackbody radiation?

[bascule]

It eats up everything in a certain frequency range, but it says "In case you're wondering, the energy absorbed by the black hole is emitted as heat." Surely that means blackbody radiation?

 

Black holes emit Hawking radiation, duh!

[swansont]

It eats up everything in a certain frequency range, but it says "In case you're wondering, the energy absorbed by the black hole is emitted as heat." Surely that means blackbody radiation?

 

Right. That's why this is PR run amok. This is the Vizzini effect — they keep using the term, but don't really know what it means.

[John Cuthber]

"But wait! It "bends space!" "

So do I.

[bascule]

"But wait! It "bends space!" "

So do I.

 

Yo momma so fat photons can't escape her local gravitational field

[John Cuthber]

That's not fair!

It's only the slow ones that can't escape.

[Sisyphus]

You don't bend space, nor does your momma. It's clear from the article that this is a new feature, meaning they've invented mass. Unless you're calling them liars?

[bascule]

Holy crap, they just invented John Galt's limitless free energy coil from Ayn Rand's classic work Atlas Shrugged!

 

Now all they need to do to turn it into electricity is to attach it to an electric motor... whose shaft is tied to an electric generator! Then it will make electricity! BRILLIANT!