Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep

Drudge | 12-28-07 | Alexis Madrigal

[null and void]

Your understanding is complete.

There are no true free lunches.

From a purely engineering standpoint, transmuting lead to gold is possible. It’s those damm guys in the front office who want to make a profit that are the trouble!

From a physicist’s standpoint energy harvesting isn’t perpetual motion, but from an engineering standpoint it’s ‘close enough’...

[wastedyears]

My body as well as mind are extremely tired. If there’s something to alleviate it even temporarily, that would be a great help to me.

[JZelle]

[null and void]

What the Hell?

[Truth29]

And you can pay for your implants with the extra job you can hold...

[Cicero]

Yeah, and Dr. Timothy Leary advises his patients to “Tune in, turn on, drop out.”

Unfortunately, all those acid heads are still suffering from burned out brains. I know a few of them.

[null and void]

I have a cousin who is one.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Exactly! Now you’re getting it... :)

[Fzob]

but from an engineering standpoint it’s ‘close enough’...

I don't know.

For this engineer it not even close.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Was under the impression that zero point energy was the lowest energy level (hence 'zero point'). Energy is freed up for use when the energy is taken from a higher state to a lower state. Since zero point energy is already at the lowest state (since pure vacuum at absolute zero is supposed to have zero point [or vacuum] energy) extracting the energy for use is still a big question.

At least the NASA article on zero point energy read that way.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

For the reactor part: what you're looking for is called fusion and fission. Hydrogen and other elements smaller than gold (or the target element) can be fused to make that element. Fission can turn heavier elements into the target element. Tricky, and probably takes huge amounts of energy (fusion takes more energy after a while than fusion produces; same with fission, so depends on what your target is), but theoretically there isn't physical laws stopping such materials transition.

As for zero point energy, you could have current physics on your side. But--if you're one of those freepers who poo-poo 'free energy' machines to an almost violent extent--would also point out that four centuries ago the idea that particles could exist in two states simultaneously would probably have been similarly poo-pooed. Hopefully they do find out how to tap into zero point energy. An extremely long shot, but many people would have uses for having no electric bill.

[mc5cents]

You sound like that auto mechanic that explained my large bill by saying he had to replace a fluctuating framish in the vulture clevis and replace my muffler bearings.

[null and void]

For this engineer it not even close.

Lasting until the entire universe freezes over isn't even close enough to perpetual?

Rough crowd!

[null and void]

A ‘perfect’ vacuum is still a sea of virtual particles. Electron-positron pairs are generated by quantum energy fluctuations. As they last a nothingth of a second before recombining the average power available is zero.

BUT, if one could build a plate to gather up electrons ‘close enough’ to a plate to gather up positrons, they could be forced to go through a circuit and do useful work before they could recombine.

[null and void]

Thank you!

I think...

[metmom]

NO sleep? No thanks.