Reflections with an Erection

I am not reliable

2011-05-19T15:56:00.000-05:00

Hello my fellow bloggers. I am heading out to travel once again. It has been a lot lately, I know.

This time I'm gone for two weeks. While I'll have internet access, it isn't going to be a great time for blogging.

Anyway, today enjoy some more pictures:

Happy Wednesday!

2011-05-18T07:25:00.000-05:00

Got nothing but pictures today

Nature you is scary!

2011-05-17T08:55:00.000-05:00

Fungus Turns Ants into Zombies, Then Eats Their Brains

by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 05. 9.11
Travel & Nature

The daily life of a hardworking carpenter ant must be pretty repetitive, what with the constant marching and relentless leaf-cutting -- unless they run across a fungus which has the power to turn them into mindless, bumbling 'zombies', in which case, things can get interesting. Researchers from Penn State studying ants in Thailand have stumbled upon one of the spookiest parasitic phenomena ever recorded: a fungus that doesn't just kill its insect host -- it invades their minds and forces them to do its bidding.

This strange new fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is a nasty parasite indeed, transforming its host ant's typical 'go-with-the-flow' attitude into one that's a bit less orderly. Infected ants have been observed deviating from their peers in line, seeming to lose direction as the growing fungus seizes control of their basic motor ability.

Once the fungus has reached the ant's head, it causes the insect to clamp-down on the underside of a leaf which locks in place as its jaw becomes dislocated -- subjecting the ant to a painful, self-inflicted death.

A few days later, the fungus forms a spore-rich structure from the dead ant's brain where it awaits its next unsuspecting victim.

David Hughes, one of the Penn State University researchers involved in the study, explains the phenomena to News.com:

The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts. Firstly by using the ant as a walking food source, and secondly by damaging muscle and the ant's central nervous system, resulting in zombie walking and the death bite, which place the ant in the cool damp understorey.

Together these provide the perfect environment for fungal growth and reproduction.

Recently, a similar parasite was found to be infecting several ant species in Brazil, but until now the physical process behind the phenomena had yet to be fully understood.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/05/fungus-turns-ants-into-zombies-and-eats-their-brains.php

Japanese Prank: Young Women/Old Men

2011-05-16T06:09:00.000-05:00

I love Japan. They love to fuck with foreigners and when they do, they do it well.

Enjoy:

The Return

2011-05-14T05:56:00.000-05:00

My first post back will be marked by discussing an unusual medical condition that requires a copious amount of female masturbation to treat. This is the only suitable return story I could find.

The court ruled in her favor and now she can masturbate at work
BRAZIL, May 11, 2011.- A woman aged 36 was enabled by the justice to masturbate in her workplace because she has a strange disease.
This is the story of Ana Catarina Bezerra Silvares, an employee of an accounting firm, a divorced mother of three who lives in the village Vila Velha, Espírito Santo.
The woman suffers from a rare condition known as “compulsion orgasmic”, caused by a chemical alteration in the brain region of the cortex, which leads her to masturbate several times a day to relieve the deep anguish that it causes.
Under this circumstance, Bezerra started legal proceedings with the company where she works that eventually won and that enables to masturbate for 15 minutes every two hours, besides using the computer to see erotic images that stimulate her desire.
The Brazilian newspaper North Regiao reported that the woman confessed, “There was a day I had to masturbate 47 times”, adding: “I began to suppose that this could not be normal, and decided to seek help.”
Currently, Bezerra follows a treatment that includes a potent cocktail of sedatives which gets her to “only” masturbate 18 times a day.

http://m24digital.com/en/2011/05/11/the-court-ruled-in-her-favor-and-now-she-can-masturbate-at-work/

Miss me?

2011-05-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

Hey folks.

As you might have noticed my posts have been a little thin lately. I am dedicated to finishing up studying for all my finals next week and I'm having to fit that in between work. It sucks.

Anyway, thanks for the support. I'm glad I'm still getting hits and sporadic comments. I will definitely be back to normal by next week Thursday!

Enjoy these random pics.

STD Awareness

2011-05-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

They really know how to get your attention

Taking a Dump

2011-05-02T05:56:00.000-05:00

As every other person in the world has noted, Osama bin Laden is dead.

I felt like I shouldn't be the only one not to mention it.

Anyway, this comic perfectly explains my pooping habits:

I'm back!

2011-05-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

I missed you guys!

New Record!

2011-04-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

This is the longest streak I have ever went without posting. I've been feeling the end of the year crunch. I had two tests, a scholarship deadline, and an internship interview all this week. And today I am leaving for a civil engineering conference in my state until Saturday night.

So I think I have a few decent excuses to suck at posting. Sunday I wil be back and at it!

Thanks for all the support even though I haven't been too active.

Happy Monday

2011-04-25T06:06:00.001-05:00

I am going to be so fucking busy this week. So I apologize for the lack of posts/support in the near future.

But it is only temporary, I promise.

Also enjoy this random crap I found on the internet:

SpaceX aims to put man on Mars in 10-20 years

2011-04-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

The private Space Imdustry is taking off... Hopefully to Mars.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-spacex-aims-mars-years.html

SpaceX aims to put man on Mars in 10-20 years

"We'll probably put a first man in space in about three years," Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal Saturday. "We're going all the way to Mars, I think... best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years."
SpaceX is one of the two leading private space companies in the United States and has won $75 million from the US space agency NASA to help its pursuit of developing a spacecraft to replace the space shuttle.
The California-based company last year completed its first successful test of an unmanned space capsule into orbit and back.
"Our goal is to facilitate the transfer of people and cargo to other planets, and then it will be up to people if they want to go," said Musk, who also runs the Tesla company which develops electric cars.
The US space shuttle program is winding down later this year with final flights of Endeavour set for next week and Atlantis in June, ending an era of American spaceflight that began with the first space shuttle mission in 1981.
When the shuttle program ends, the United States hopes private industry will be able to fill the gap by creating the next generation of spacecraft to transport astronauts into space.
"A future where humanity is out there exploring stars is an incredibly exciting future, and inspiring, and that's what we're trying to help make happen," Musk added in the interview.
Earlier this month SpaceX unveiled what Musk has called the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, which will have its first demonstration flight at the end of 2012.
The launcher is designed to lift into orbit satellites or spacecraft weighing more than 53 metric tons, or 117,000 pounds -- more than twice the capacity of the Space Shuttle or Delta IV Heavy launcher.
SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, is one of two private companies that NASA has contracted to transport cargo to the International Space Station.
Musk, a South African who made his fortune in the Internet, created SpaceX in 2002.
(c) 2011 AFP

Infographic of the Day

2011-04-22T09:27:00.001-05:00

Today we have an infographic about information. Not as big as I'd like but you know how that goes

Be Wary of the Powerful

2011-04-21T12:23:00.001-05:00

When you sue a giant multinational corporation for anti-competitive actions such as forcing end users to purchase their equipment to receive normally free software bug fixes, you have got to be ready for them to come after you from every angle. In jail, it is a little difficult to continue your lawsuit without a settlement out of court.

This is one of those fascinating stories that involve government acting quickly to apprehend a heinous criminal before wondering later, "Er, why exactly was it so urgent to arrest this guy?"

Cisco accused of orchestrating engineer's arrest
The arrest of Peter Alfred-Adekeye was retaliation for a lawsuit, his company claimed
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
April 20, 2011 09:37 PM ET
Sponsored by:

Cisco Systems orchestrated the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye last year in order to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive said on Wednesday.
Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging that Alfred-Adekeye hacked into Cisco's computers and stole copyrighted software.
In May 2010, Alfred-Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant. He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine if convicted. The arrest came to light only this week after local Vancouver press reported it.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.
Cisco Systems orchestrated the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye last year in order to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive said on Wednesday.
Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging that Alfred-Adekeye hacked into Cisco's computers and stole copyrighted software.
In May 2010, Alfred-Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant. He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine if convicted. The arrest came to light only this week after local Vancouver press reported it.
After 28 days, he was released on bail, but he has not been able to leave Canada since then, said Deka Yussuf, an executive vice president of Multiven in charge of marketing and public relations. Multiven is based in Redwood City, California, but Alfred-Adekeye lives in Zurich, she said.

The case has been stalled for the past 10 months because the U.S. Attorney's office has not been able to present the evidence required to extradite Alfred-Adekeye, Yussuf said. Alfred-Adekeye's lawyers believe the U.S. officials may have misled Canadian authorities about the need to arrest and extradite him, and they initiated hearings that are going on now in Vancouver to investigate this possibility, she said.
After the arrest last May, Cisco and Multiven settled the civil case in July. But Cisco is behind the entire criminal case, according to Yussuf.
"We believe this is Cisco's retaliation to the landmark antitrust lawsuit that Multiven brought against Cisco," Yussuf said. "It is our belief that Cisco has engineered this entire criminal arrest and litigation against Adekeye to force Multiven to settle."
Before the arrest, Multiven's case had been near to going before a jury, Yussuf said.
Cisco dismissed Multiven's accusation in a written statement.
"This is an absurd claim from Multiven. This case is a matter between US and Canadian governmental authorities. We understand that the genesis of the extradition request was an arrest warrant issued by a U.S. judge, which was based on a criminal complaint returned by a Secret Service Special Agent," Cisco said.
Alfred-Adekeye was unexpectedly arrested while giving a deposition to Cisco's lawyers at Vancouver's Wedgewood Hotel.
Multiven's suit alleged that Cisco forced owners of its equipment to buy Cisco SMARTnet service contracts in order to get software updates and bug fixes. That locks out independent companies such as Multiven, the suit said.
"We alleged that Cisco is harming consumers and the marketplace and competitors like Multiven ... by forcing their customers to purchase SMARTnet agreements with (Cisco) to obtain the critical software bug fixes, which should be made available to any customer who has purchased any software," Yussuf said.
Multiven's concerns echoed those expressed by some customers, who have complained that Cisco should fix its own bugs free of charge just as other companies such as Apple and Microsoft do. Some users have said the problem becomes complicated with second-hand and refurbished hardware. Cisco service contracts can't be transferred from one user to another, so buyers of used gear typically have to send the product in for inspection by Cisco before they can purchase a new contract, which can be an expensive process. Also, there may not be SMARTnet contracts available for discontinued products.
There is a large market for used Cisco equipment, fed by both buyers who can't afford new gear and those who need a router or switch model that is currently unavailable new, according to Brad Reese, research manager at BradReese.Com, which sells refurbished networking gear and services. He estimates the worldwide secondary market for networking gear at $2 billion, with 90 percent of sales being Cisco equipment.
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
All contents copyright 1995-2011 Network World, Inc. http://www.networkworld.com

Midget Pimp and Great Facebook Friends

2011-04-19T20:42:00.000-05:00

I have only two pictures for you today. I explained them as well as I could in the title :D

Crepe by Radiobread

2011-04-19T06:38:00.000-05:00

Remember this classic?

Ahh! No time!

2011-04-18T06:15:00.001-05:00

Today is going to be a long busy day today.

Forgive me for posting nothing but pictures

Costco to Sell Home Solar Panel Kits

2011-04-17T07:58:00.000-05:00

I love advances in technology as much as everyone, but sometimes its just the application of technology that makes all the difference. The selling of easy to install relatively low cost solar panels is going to make all the difference in terms of energy production that might make the most hard headed anti-environmental douchebag consider a pair of these.

Costco to Sell Home Solar Panel Kits
Next time you're at your neighborhood Costco, you might consider picking up a home solar energy kit along with your three month supply of toilet paper. The big box store, a favorite of many small business owners and big families, will soon sell solar panels from Eugene, Oregon-based Grape Solar.

Costco will offer 880W, 2300W, 3680W or 5060W ready-to-install kits. A purchase will set you back from between $3,600 to around $18,000, but you will be eligible for tax rebates, depending on where you live. Plus you can feel good about creating your own energy at a time when we need every bit of demand to go down for dirty fuel.

The Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) reported that solar power in the US was set to double in 2010. SEIA estimated that nearly 1 gigwatt would be installed in all residential, commerical, and utility-scale systems.

From Grape Solar's press release:

In order to make this tremendous undertaking possible, and bring such a complex product to consumers, Grape Solar has established a network of 5000+ installers across the country to provide local customer support. "At first I was concerned that Grape Solar was undercutting us by taking such a direct approach to the end user, but with the increased customer awareness and the steady stream of referrals, our business has been booming," says Ray Baxter, General Manager of Arizona Power-save, an Arizona-area installer.

The Home Solar Power kits are grid-tied systems that include Grape Solar panels, inverters, and racking systems that are ready to install onto a home or other roofed structure. This easy to install kit is designed with the potential for future expansion in mind. The consumer is able to start small, and generate a portion of their own power consumption, or upgrade and make the power company pay them by generating additional power that is sold back onto the utility grid. Users can create larger systems by linking more of the easily connected kits to one another.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/costco-solar.php

Political Views Reflected in Brain Structure?

2011-04-15T05:47:00.000-05:00

This is another interesting study I found. The main difference between liberals and conservatives may be brain structure. This is interesting for a number of reasons but mostly because of the inability for one side to convince the other. This confirms a lot I thought about politics. It isn't about debate or finding the best solutions - it is about whose team is winning.

Political views are reflected in brain structure
April 7th, 2011 in Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
We all know that people at opposite ends of the political spectrum often really can't see eye to eye. Now, a new report published online on April 7th in Current Biology reveals that those differences in political orientation are tied to differences in the very structures of our brains.

Individuals who call themselves liberal tend to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes, while those who call themselves conservative have larger amygdalas. Based on what is known about the functions of those two brain regions, the structural differences are consistent with reports showing a greater ability of liberals to cope with conflicting information and a greater ability of conservatives to recognize a threat, the researchers say.

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

Kanai said his study was prompted by reports from others showing greater anterior cingulate cortex response to conflicting information among liberals. "That was the first neuroscientific evidence for biological differences between liberals and conservatives," he explained.
There had also been many prior psychological reports showing that conservatives are more sensitive to threat or anxiety in the face of uncertainty, while liberals tend to be more open to new experiences. Kanai's team suspected that such fundamental differences in personality might show up in the brain.

And, indeed, that's exactly what they found. Kanai says they can't yet say for sure which came first. It's possible that brain structure isn't set in early life, but rather can be shaped over time by our experiences. And, of course, some people have been known to change their views over the course of a lifetime.

It's also true that our political persuasions can fall into many more categories than liberal and conservative. "In principle, our research method can be applied to find brain structure differences in political dimensions other than the simplistic left- versus right-wingers," Kanai said. Perhaps differences in the brain explain why some people really have no interest in politics at all or why some people line up for Macs while others stick with their PCs. All of these tendencies may be related in interesting ways to the peculiarities of our personalities and in turn to the way our brains are put together.

Still, Kanai cautioned against taking the findings too far, citing many uncertainties about how the correlations they see come about.

"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said. "More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."
Provided by Cell Press
"Political views are reflected in brain structure." April 7th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-political-views-brain.html

Alcohol helps the brain remember

2011-04-14T06:27:00.001-05:00

This new study goes against everything I've learned in my years of drinking...but who am I to argue with science?

Alcohol helps the brain remember, says new study
April 12th, 2011 in Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Drinking alcohol primes certain areas of our brain to learn and remember better, says a new study from the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin.

The common view that drinking is bad for learning and memory isn't wrong, says neurobiologist Hitoshi Morikawa, but it highlights only one side of what ethanol consumption does to the brain.
"Usually, when we talk about learning and memory, we're talking about conscious memory," says Morikawa, whose results were published last month in The Journal of Neuroscience. "Alcohol diminishes our ability to hold on to pieces of information like your colleague's name, or the definition of a word, or where you parked your car this morning. But our subconscious is learning and remembering too, and alcohol may actually increase our capacity to learn, or 'conditionability,' at that level."

Morikawa's study, which found that repeated ethanol exposure enhances synaptic plasticity in a key area in the brain, is further evidence toward an emerging consensus in the neuroscience community that drug and alcohol addiction is fundamentally a learning and memory disorder. When we drink alcohol (or shoot up heroin, or snort cocaine, or take methamphetamines), our subconscious is learning to consume more. But it doesn't stop there. We become more receptive to forming subsconscious memories and habits with respect to food, music, even people and social situations.

In an important sense, says Morikawa, alcoholics aren't addicted to the experience of pleasure or relief they get from drinking alcohol. They're addicted to the constellation of environmental, behavioral and physiological cues that are reinforced when alcohol triggers the release of dopamine in the brain.

"People commonly think of dopamine as a happy transmitter, or a pleasure transmitter, but more accurately it's a learning transmitter," says Morikawa. "It strengthens those synapses that are active when dopamine is released."

Alcohol, in this model, is the enabler. It hijacks the dopaminergic system, and it tells our brain that what we're doing at that moment is rewarding (and thus worth repeating).

Among the things we learn is that drinking alcohol is rewarding. We also learn that going to the bar, chatting with friends, eating certain foods and listening to certain kinds of music are rewarding. The more often we do these things while drinking, and the more dopamine that gets released, the more "potentiated" the various synapses become and the more we crave the set of experiences and associations that orbit around the alcohol use.

Morikawa's long-term hope is that by understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of addiction better, he can develop anti-addiction drugs that would weaken, rather than strengthen, the key synapses. And if he can do that, he would be able to erase the subconscious memory of addiction.

"We're talking about de-wiring things," says Morikawa. "It's kind of scary because it has the potential to be a mind controlling substance. Our goal, though, is to reverse the mind controlling aspects of addictive drugs."
Provided by University of Texas at Austin
"Alcohol helps the brain remember, says new study." April 12th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-alcohol-brain.html

Who said MMOs are useless?

2011-04-12T20:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't played much World of Warcraft, but I was a big EverQuest player back in the day.

I haven't found the experience as useful as this kid.

Open Source Biology

2011-04-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

I came across this article yesterday about the benefits of data sharing in the biomedical community. The problem with the way drug/medical research happens today is that the profit motive makes companies adverse to sharing data in which they hope to profit on. This happens to slow the innovation of medical technology.

Open Source Biology Deserves a Shot

Gene sequencing has gotten incredibly fast and cheap, and researchers around the world are pouring huge volumes of genomic data onto their private servers, in the hope they will sift through it all to make groundbreaking discoveries. Should so much genomic data be so closely guarded, or should it be poured into a free and open database that all scientists share?

The idea sounds utopian in a high-risk, high-reward industry that protects intellectual property like Fort Knox. But no one disagrees that today’s approach to drug development takes too long, costs too much, and is too unpredictable.

Stephen Friend thinks shared data would change all of that—and allow researchers to see patterns they wouldn’t otherwise see, and make insights that would never emerge any other way. So he did something two years ago that most people would consider quixotic: He quit his high-powered job as a senior vice president of cancer research at Merck to go on a mission to disrupt biology.[...]

[Continue Here]

Could You Pass Harvard's Entrance Exam From 1869?

2011-04-11T07:53:00.000-05:00

The New York Times recently covered an interesting piece of the history of old distinguished universities. It was a pretty interesting article that you can find here: Remembering When College Was a Buyer’s Bazaar

The real reason I was interested is that they dug up an old entrance exam from Harvard in 1869.

The curriculum is wildly different of course with requirements in knowing Latin and Greek, but could you pass the same stuff that we need to know today?

Anyway, check out the PDF here.

Government Shutdown Averted

2011-04-09T07:08:00.000-05:00

At least we avoided the economic problems that come with a government shutdown. Now, we have to see what was sacrificed to the ideologues to prevent utter stupidity from ruining our country.

Behind the scenes of the White House budget battle

(CNN) -- In a town where politicians like to keep score, the White House isn't boasting about victory.
Republicans and Democrats reached a budget deal late Friday night, averting the possibility of a partial government shutdown.
After the deal was reached, a top Obama advisor told reporters that it was a good night for the country. The American people won, a senior administration official said.
The White House was feeling optimistic that it was on the verge of a deal Thursday night.
When House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, left the Oval Office meeting, "there was an agreement on range and composition," said another official.
But by 3 or 4 a.m. Friday, the officials described a breakdown.
The discussion at the staff level on the Hill no longer reflected the framework of the Oval office discussions, they said.

[Continued]

Newer Better Hologram Technology

2011-04-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

I don't know how the Japanese are already continuing doing such kick ass breakthroughs with their country in shambles, but apparently they are!

Plasmons Create Beautiful Full-Color Holograms
By Lisa Grossman Email Author
April 7, 2011 |
3:06 pm |
Categories: Physics

By harnessing the power of tiny waves dancing in an electron sea, Japanese physicists have developed a novel way to project holograms that don’t change color when you move your head.

“In a conventional hologram, if you change the angle, the color changes,” said optical physicist Satoshi Kawata of Osaka University in Japan. “Our hologram shows natural color at any angle you observe.”

The researchers’ machine takes advantage of how beams of light trigger waves of activity in free electrons, unattached to any atom, arrayed on a metal surface.

Called surface plasmons, these waves could be used to blast cancer cells and build ultra-fast computer processors. They also show up in medieval stained glass windows, where plasmons on flecks of gold suspended in the glass make the window change color as the sun sets.

Plasmons always emit colored light, Kawata says, but it’s usually only visible within a few nanometers of the metal’s surface. But if the light bounces off a ridged surface, it can project far enough from the metal to be seen by the naked eye. In a paper published April 8 in Science, Kawata and colleagues describe how they used surface plasmons to reconstruct a faithful, full-color holograph.

First, the researchers used red, green and blue-colored lasers to etch a record of the way light scattered off an object (an apple, for instance) onto a thin sheet of light-sensitive material called a photoresist, and attached it to a plate of glass.

Atop the photoresist they laid a corrugated layer of silver, with a layer of silicon dioxide on top of that. Silicon dioxide helps guide the holograph’s light waves in the right direction, the researchers say. The entire assemblage was 230 nanometers thick.

A halogen lamp shining on the back of the plate excites different plasmons depending on the angle of the incoming light, Kawata explained. Each plasmon emits a specific wavelength, or color, of light.

“So even if you’re given white light, only one color is chosen by the plasmon,” he said.

The plasmon-emitted light reconstructs the hologram as a virtual image hovering above the plate.

Kawata admits the device is far from ready for real-world applications; he’s mostly interested in the physics.

“No one has thought to use plasmons for display applications, so it was fun for me,” he said. “I just wanted to demonstrate that this could be done. But I hope people would be interested in thinking seriously to use this technology for larger scale 3-D virtual display,” like for TV or movies.

Other researchers are skeptical that the device will make it to the big screen. The image is static and very small, only about two centimeters across at present.

“These issues would lower the chances that the technology would have commercial future,” said physicist Nasser Peyghambarian of the University of Arizona, whose group built a 3-D holograph that can be updated in real time.

This is not the first device to produce 3-D, colored holographs under white light, notes Michael Bove of MIT’s Media Lab, whose research group also debuted an updatable 3-D holographic video earlier this year.

“That said, the physics behind this approach is very interesting,” he said. “The technique looks as if it could offer some advantages in light efficiency and view angle for mass-produced holograms, provided they can figure out how to mass-produce their holograms cheaply.”

For now, then, plasmonic holograms don’t look as if they’ll change the world — but they certainly are pretty.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/plasmonic-holograph/