Quantum Suicide and Immortality, Schrödinger's Cat and the Weird World of Quantum Mechanics

This is a very long article but I promise that it's worth the read if you find Physics fascinating.

How Quantum Suicide Works
by Josh Clark

Introduction to How Quantum Suicide Works
A man sits down before a gun, which is pointed at his head. This is no ordinary gun; i­t's rigged to a machine that measures the spin of a quantum particle. Each time the trigger is pulled, the spin of the quantum particle -- or quark -- is measured. Depending on the measurement, the gun will either fire, or it won't. If the quantum particle is measured as spinning in a clockwise motion, the gun will fire. If the quark is spinning counterclockwise, the gun won't go off. There'll only be a click.

Nervously, the man takes a breath and pulls the trigger. The gun clicks. He pulls the trigger again. Click. And again: click. The man will continue to pull the trigger again and again with the same result: The gun won't fire. Although it's functioning properly and loaded with bullets, no matter how many times he pulls the trigger, the gun will never fire. He'll continue this process for eternity, becoming immortal.

Go back in time to the beginning of the experiment. The man pulls the trigger for the very first time, and the quark is now measured as spinning clockwise. The gun fires. The man is dead.

But, wait. The man already pulled the trigger the first time -- and an infinite amount of times following that -- and we already know the gun didn't fire. How can the man be dead? The man is unaware, but he's both alive and dead. Each time he pulls the trigger, the universe is split in two. It will continue to split, again and again, each time the trigger is pulled.­

This thought experiment is called quantum suicide. It was first posed by then-Princeton University theorist Max Tegmark in 1997 (now on faculty at MIT). A thought experiment is an experiment that takes place only in the mind. The quantum level is the smallest level of matter we've detected so far in the universe. Matter at this level is infinitesimal, and it's virtually impossible for scientists to research it in a practical manner using traditional methods of scientific inquiry.­

Dark Future of the Sun

Our Sun has served Earth well for almost five billion years. It's bathed us with heat and energy. But like humans, our home star is mortal. In five billion years, it will stop nurturing its planetary offspring.

The Sun

Taken by Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope on January 12, 2007, this image of the Sun reveals the filamentary nature of the plasma connecting regions of different magnetic polarity.

The aging star will bloat out beyond the orbit of our planet incinerating all living things--including humans if we're still around.

Life-cycle of the Sun

Hate E-mails with Richard Dawkins

Thought this one was really funny! lol

Total Eclipse

Once they were dreaded and thought to be dragons eating the sun!

RAWR!

But modern science has dispelled mythology and we now look forward to total Solar Eclipses as one of the most spectacular phenomena in the heavens.

How a total solar eclipse occurs.

Explore the complex movements of Earth, Moon and Sun that produce these unusual events and hear details why we may be the only intelligent beings in the known Universe to witness eclipses like we see on Earth. Man-made eclipses also figure into the science in the form of instruments called “coronagraphs.” They blot out the sun and reveal its corona, uncovering secrets which, while enlightening, also warn of a disaster that could make our advanced technology crash and burn.

Finally, travel into deep space, where the tiny eclipses caused by planets circling distant stars is now beginning to reveal hundreds more stars where “exoplanets” exist… perhaps even those in habitable zones like the Earth.

Asteroid Attack

What are the latest discoveries in the deadly world of asteroids? Will a Japanese spacecraft become the first to bring an asteroid sample back home?

253 Mathilde, an asteroid measuring about 50 kilometres (30 mi) across. Photograph taken in 1997 by the NEAR Shoemaker probe.

What would happen to America's east coast if the impact that helped form Chesapeake Bay 35 million years ago struck today? And why did President Obama choose an asteroid as the destination for the next manned mission into space? Learning about these huge space rocks isn't just about science, it's about survival.