News: Scientists Can Levitate Mice In Lab!

[Destructavator]

http://www.livescience.com/animals/090909-mouse-levitation.html

This is interesting, it talks about simulating gravity, using it on living animals without ill effects.

Imagine what technology this could lead to in 80 years or so in the setting of UFO: AI.

[Imposeren]

They just don't know that Earth belongs to mice

[Destructavator]

They just don't know that Earth belongs to mice

That's actually a good point - I've been amazed a number of times in the past at human arrogance - making decisions for other creatures on this planet, herding, imprisoning, and performing experiments on other creatures, etc., then turning around and thinking that humans are the "superior" life on the planet...

Most creatures on Earth fight and kill only to defend themselves or their offspring.  Humans kill each other over stupid s*** in our crazy heads, anything from a disagreement in religion to an alleged debt of $20.  (I've seen in the local news where I live plenty of cases where neighbors murder each other over even five dollars in cash, or some other petty amount...)  Heck, I've seen many cases where children murder their siblings or friends over who won a video game!

...And yet we still consider ourselves the "higher" and "more advanced and intelligent" form of life here...   

[Riker]

...And yet we still consider ourselves the "higher" and "more advanced and intelligent" form of life here...   

And from the biological point of view we are (after all, no other species managed to even control fire), but as I look at some people I have this strange feeling that our civilisation reached a certain point where we're going backwards to the point where we started.

As of for killing because of disagreement in religion history can tell us some funny stuff, for example in late Middle Ages the Order of the Teutonic Knights (who were supposed to deliver christianity by swords) attacked countries that were christianised years before, and before battles both sides were praying for victory to the very same God.

[Imposeren]

Offtopiced offtopic? (=

[Hertzila]

They just don't know that Earth belongs to mice

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

But anyway, can someone tell me if this discovery means that we will be able to build artificial gravity fitted spaceships some day? Only thing that article seemed to talk about was levitation and it is not as useful as artificial gravity (IMO at least).

Offtopic: Maybe we humans are suffering from the same thing some animals suffer when there are too much of them.

[Imposeren]

if this discovery means that we will be able to build artificial gravity fitted spaceships some day?

Yes I think it can be used. They use magnetic fields to "levitate" water in bodies. In fact they just push all the water in way opposite to Earth gravity.

It's said that mice's health wasn't affected in any way, but that doesn't mean the same for human. I think that this method can affect human blood, that thrombs may appear etc.

[criusmac]

I'm not so sure myself because of how tall we are. The magnetic field would have to be a lot stronger on one part of our bodies compared to the rest, and that unevenness would probably cause problems. Magnetic Fields drop in power very quickly, I don't remember the exact formula, but it was like 1/4 their strength when you doubled their distance. Also, if you are using electromagnets, the amount of power you'd need would mean we'd have to either get a lot of power from an outside source, or store enormous amounts of energy. If you are using natural magnets, well, I don't know how you'd make magnets that powerful.

The other forms of alternative gravity we use in spaceships are much better than this currently (in my opinion). We use spinning to cause artificial gravity. This doesn't use much power to maintain the spinning once you've started it, and the gravity is not as uneven on our bodies. Depending on where you are, the gravity is different though, but that's the same thing with the magnets, right?

[Destructavator]

I'd imagine that with humans the fields could be varied in strength in different areas to match different parts of the body, rather than one uniform field that would cause such issues - maybe not today, but in the future down the road.  Then again, that's just my un-educated thoughts on the matter, I'm not a science major.

[odie]

OMG, making this post alone takes me quite a while to load> lol

Okie, back to topic:
WHEEEEEEEEE! Destructavator! Where on earth did u get that news? I din even know of such a news till i saw ur link! Are u subscribing to some science tech news?

Haha, what a pleasant surprise to be back here to be informed that mankind is a step closer to artificial levitation!

I can so imagine 50 years down the road, where cars are levitating, and trains are off the ground - this would result in frictionless movement, saving much energy!

[Hertzila]

Technically, trains are already off the ground and have been for some time. Just not much, 10-20 cm being my uneducated guess.

Also car levitation would require signifigant constructions to build all the magnets to roads, so it is not really economical or wise. Edit: Of course with these we could reduce some of the friction.

[odie]

Technically, trains are already off the ground and have been for some time. Just not much, 10-20 cm being my uneducated guess.

Also car levitation would require signifigant constructions to build all the magnets to roads, so it is not really economical or wise. Edit: Of course with these we could reduce some of the friction.

This is real....
The trains article is here:
Maglev

And its not 10-20cm! Its more of mm.... LOL. Its okie.... i was very much into this earlier b4... so i guess i was exposed. Having jap frds help, since they were the ones who pioneered this....