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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (28506)	2/21/1999 6:26:00 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire	Respond to of 70976

OT Cynicism alert Very often, when researchers say that a technology (like Bose-Einstein condensate) could eventually lead to better faster computers and telecommunications, it's at the prompting of reporters who need to explain why their readers and editors should care about an apparently esoteric technology. Very often, the scientists are pursuing knowledge for its own sake. John Q. Public has trouble understanding that (especially when tax dollars are involved), but can understand faster computers and better displays. My own knowledge of Bose-Einstein condensates is very limited. They have extremely weird properties (like slowing light down), so you can use them to look at the behavior of matter under strange circumstances. That, in turn, helps you figure out how matter works under more normal circumstances, and therefore helps you understand the universe better. Any improvement in the understanding of light is likely to help telecommunications, so the story wasn't wrong, just superficial. The person who first actually made a Bose-Einstein condensate will probably win a Nobel prize in the near future (if he hasn't already, I'm not sure), and the light-slowing behavior probably has theoretical implications that will win Nobels for a few other people. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a Bose-Einstein display. Katherine