A few scientific articles that made the popular press this weekend also piqued our interest here at CatSynth. They both involve electromagnetic phenomenon – which in our daily world is most commonly observed as light.
So here's a story about light and cats, or rather a cat engineered to glow in the dark:
South Korean scientists have cloned cats that glow red when exposed to ultraviolet rays, an achievement that could help develop cures for human genetic diseases, the Science and Technology Ministry said.
Three Turkish Angora cats were born in January and February through cloning with a gene that produces a red fluorescent protein that makes them glow in dark.
You can read the whole article here. It is quite interesting, though we at CatSynth are not so sure about genetically modified cat concept.
We now move from glow-in-the-dark cats to the field of quantum computing, in which quantum states of electrons are used to store computational values (much like semiconductors are used in conventional computers). From the folks at ZDNet Australia:
Researchers from the University of Queensland have taken a significant step in the quest to build a quantum computer, creating a light-based quantum circuit capable of basic calculations and moving quantum computing closer to a becoming a reality.
Theoretically, quantum computers leave even today's most powerful conventional supercomputers in the dust. It has also been long known that hypothetical large scale quantum computers could find the prime roots of large composite numbers, allowing them to “crack” modern data encryption.
This additional computing power is a result of the quantum bits, or “qubits”, upon which quantum computing is based. Qubits are special bits that use the quantum properties of subatomic particles to make calculations. Quantum computers take advantage of a special quantum property called “superposition”, allowing one quantum computer bit to act as many.
Pretty hard core, but those interested are encouraged to read the full article, and maybe a bit more about quantum computing.
Cats of course have a famous history in quantum physics as well…
Maybe later on we will see cats with rainbow colour?
After reading this article, I can't help but wonder how long it will be until the cats strength is genetic engineered into humans
could it be that this will come no matter what the laws of the land are?
after all every country is looking for stronger soldiers!
could be this becomes the next logical step in mans evolution.
Or maybe we could make people glow in the dark so they wouldn't get run over by cars at night!!! James