Pina Coladas, Dusty Basements, And Signals from Stars

Okay, I said not so much of the space stuff, but I got a tiny murmur of excitement with news that a mysterious signal has been heard from a star
Cue eyes rolling heavenwards , mutterings of: 'Not that old chestnut, again...'
'Lets pray it's not the microwave this time', etc
Okay, this time, the intrepid astronomers are determinedly downplaying the signal , saying that it is probably interference from an overhead satellite
But !
I'm interested because
A) they are so keen to dismiss it, and B)
They're checking again today
and C)
 Professor Abel Mendez has a Pina Colada waiting for a positive result...

In Other News...

They recently found some old nasa computers in a basement in Pittsburgh.
As you do

NASA

The engineer concerned obviously thought they were worthwhile mementos
Nasa were underwhelmed
The only other connection which I know with Pittsburgh is that George Romero* made his first zombie film there (in which the undead were infected by some weird virus from space)...

George. A. Romeros first 'zombie' film 1968

Last week, I posted a piece entitled 'Retro-Causality, Foreshadowing and Entanglement' - which was essentially about the weirdness of quantum science
Within days of my post , there was news of an experiment involving entanglement by China, and the transporting of information to space.
I suddenly felt vindicated.
' ...Foreshadowing, and Entanglement'
I rest my case.

I find the world of quantum to be fascinating, but challenging- this link is for an excellent piece by Dr James Wootton, a scientist who wants to simplify quantum principles, without 'dumbing down ' .
I'm very pleased that there is such a thing as ' Quantum Error Correction ' .


Meanwhile, back in space...

I recently heard that there is renewed interest in ' Tabbys' star - remember the colossal mega- structure in space that almost certainly isn't ?
Turns out the dimming is happening again, albeit less dramatically.
Some twelve observatories have been taking measurements- whatever it is, it's not a regular thing...

...and on that vague and unscientific note, I shall take my leave...

Have a good week !

G


* I learned of the passing of director George A Romero the day after publishing this post. R.I.P. - and thanks for virtually creating the whole zombie film genre
G. 17 . 07. 17.