Quantum mechanics is something I find absolutely fascinating. If you haven't heard of quantum mechanics, well, it's time you did!

Quantum mechanics is a theory dealing with events in the realm of physics of subatomic particles. Oh yes, you think the subatomic is imaginable eh? Reminds you of those very familiar things called electrons, protons and neutrons somewhere in the physics classes in O'Levels, doesn't it?. Well, subatomic in quantum mechanics goes wayyyyy deeper and smaller than mere electrons, protons and neutrons. Electrons are teeny weeny - only detectable by how powered expensive gear, however, quantum mechanics deals with nature at about 10,000,000th of the size of an atom. I bet you can't get an intuitive feel for something that small a size!

I certainly don't understand the least bit of mathematics involved in quantum mechanics - well, atleast not yet but I am hopeful that I can begin to get a better academic/technical idea of it in due time. I have to set aside sometime and actually spend quality time learning first.

Anyway, why am I blabbing on and on about this "quantum mechanics"? Well, it poses many revolutionary ideas that will both invalidate and enhance a lot of what you know, what you think you know and change sizeable amounts of your perceptions of reality. Seriously. For example, "M theory" : postulates that the universe - our reality - is made up of 11 dimensions. You are already AND ONLY familiar with four; that's 1. forwards/backwards, 2. sideways, 3. up/down and finally 4. time. Time is something most people are unaware of except for that sunrise and sunsets signals days and that you "age" with time. The forwards/backwards, sideways and up/down can also be imagined as points in a Cartesian vector space: x-axis, y-axis and z-axis. Add time to that cartesian vector and you get the four dimensional world we are aware of. Places and events can be described by that four dimensional specification - let me give a loose example: I am writing this sitting in a chair on the ground floor in my room in Reading,UK at time 6.54 AM, Friday 24th March 2006. Can you see begin to see how it fits in the cartesian space with time as an additional dimension? Err, if you don't get it, then rack your brain for a few more hours and if you still hadn't got it - you can simply choose to forget it and go bask in the sun for another fun day.

Quantum mechanics already has many applications and more are being discovered or invented. Quantum Computing is an offshoot that promises a whole new era of computing. By new era, I don't mean the availablity of some cool new computer with a faster CPU speed measured in Ghz or computers with enough RAM to fill the buckets and wells. A new era in this case means that the whole Von-Neumann architecture goes dead. No more single process CPUs or amped up CPUs with multiples cores and parallel processing. The quantum computer doesn't even operate on binary digits that go 0 and 1, no sir, they have a new basic unit of information called a qubit. But wait, get a load of this: a qubit can be a 0 and 1 all at the SAME TIME! Ha! I bet that got you scratching your head. 0 and 1 all at the same time? Yes! Infact, if you were to take the quantum equivalent of a byte, it can represent all the values between between 0 and 255 all at the same time - quite unlike the "contemporary" byte that holds a single value between 0 and 255. Read up on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to learn more why this is so.

There are exciting new frontiers for other computing related tasks as well. Cryptography is one of the most promising ones. The problem with the cryptographic systems of today involves the task of safely transporting keys. How do you exchange the security keys between two parties without a third party getting hold of it? How do you ensure that "secured" communication is not listened to by an undesired eavesdropper? Well, quantum mechanics offers solutions using a phenomenon called Quantum Entanglement. I won't tell you about quantum entanglement except to say it is one the sexiest facets of quantum mechanics. Sexiest I tell you!

If you are interested in numbing your brain with more quantum mechanics but can't be bothered to read up, then I recommend the following documentary program on PBS. It is available o download in small chunks of video and is quite manageable even on slower connections. The program revolves around the hunt for the Theory of Everything and presents a digestable walk through from General Relativity to quantum mechanics, String theory and M theory.
- Here's the link to the program.

If you want to do more of reading than watching the video, then here are a few interesting intro's that I had bookmarked over time.
- Feynman's Double Slit experiment (essential basics!)
- Quantum Mechanics with animations (good academic intro)
- Short introduction to quantum computation


Toodles!

ScienceMaldives was officially launched today, 1st March 2006. More info on the ScienceMaldives project is available on my previous blog post.

Check out the website and the site's discussion forum.

Introducing.... ScienceMaldives!

ScienceMaldives is one of my latest pet projects. It is a collaborative effort that saw its beginnings in January 2006 and features Muthasim and Adnan in the driving seat, in addition to myself. The work is currently still under development and is scheduled to be officially launched on 1st March.

The aim of the venture is to nurture and support the development of science and science education in the Maldives. We want it to be a resource for students in various stages of education as well as a resource for the curious non-students. We will be publishing articles, how-to's and providing/facilitating answers to specific questions that any of you may have. It is also aimed at being a means of access to material - journals, news, research papers etc from around the world. Additionally, we wish to promote research and application of science in the Maldives through increased awareness and education. Despite the name, it is not our intention to stick entirely to pure sciences and therefore we welcome the applied sciences and social sciences as well.

The ScienceMaldives wesite is mostly blank for now as we are working on the content at the moment to be readied for our official launch. The site also contains a discussion forum targetted at engaging our users in intellectual debates and as a means of obtaining answers to questions. The forum is already active with quite a few members aboard and many ongoing discussions. We hope that the site and forum would be better able to serve the needs of the Maldivian populace than similar foreign resources.

This effort is a strictly not-for-profit operation and we will be relying on the participation and content contribution by our visitors and users to achieve and maintain ScienceMaldives a reliable and rich source of information. Educators are encouraged to contribute articles as we wholeheartedly believe such deliverance of knowledge would help build a more educated and enlightened society in the Maldives. If you are interested in contributing to our efforts, please do drop me an email.

We do carry big dreams and hopes for the future of the venture. If things workout well, we intend on publishing a newsletter/journal in the Maldives. We also hope to cultivate practical forays into science by organizing and executing science fairs (which is something which the government has conveniently abandoned in favour of having more singing competitions per year ). These strictly remain long term goals for now and we are concentrating on compiling the website into a notable resource for all science lovers in the Maldives.

The ScienceMaldives site is located at http://www.sciencemaldives.com/ . Join the forum and start posting at http://www.sciencemaldives.com/forum/

I started to write a book about three months back. The project has been idle for about a month now but I've returned to it today. The book is aimed at teaching or rather introducing science to children. It is being written in Dhivehi and is targeted mainly for distribution in the islands. Yes, I did say distribution - I have no intention of making this a for-profit endeavor. I have yet to work out the details of how the distribution shall take place. However, I certainly intend on letting it loose on the internet once it's done.

The book shall begin with a prologue to science, scientific methods, analysis and critical thinking - all simplified enough to suffice in communicating the essence of these topics while maintaining comprehensibility. The book then proceeds with a number of practical investigations and experiments each tackling a different phenomena. The investigations themselves are each divided into segments: introduction, materials used, step by step method, explanation and finishes off with further thoughts and suggestions. This method of hands-on investigation followed by theory elucidation is an often adopted form of teaching science used in many books. I hope this tried and tested formula stands true for teaching science in Dhivehi.

The experiments and ideas used in the book are more or less used universally as introductory material. The experiments featured also have reflections from my childhood, when day in and day out I used to experiment with stuff. I am running the material through a few of my friends as I write it, to get their comments and input. Much appreciation goes to my buddy Muththu for the help he has been lending to the project since I started it.

There are a few reasons why I have made the choice to write a science book and that too specifically for kids in the islands. I am targeting the islands because of its neglected status in our society. The islands have been under-served, especially in the educational sector, for a reason. I want to challenge that and will, hopefully, continue to do that through further activities. I chose to write a science book not only because of my love for the scientific field, but more because of the lack of Dhivehi literature in the field. This is especially true for material available to children. While there is a yearly award offered by the President to the authors of educational material for kids, it is generally seen as a superficial game to taint the record books by increasing the count of books rather than encouraging the production of quality and diverse material. I hope my book can do a little bit of good to my intended audience and that it may aid them in rising up to a better life.

Now, I have a request from any science aficionados among you. Please send in suggestions for experiments you think will be effective in teaching or inducing deeper thought in the little fellows who may read the book. I have a request from the rest of you as well. That is, to tell me of anything from your childhood that really got your mind whirring. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!