Social Lasing model: Can it explain the sweeping power of recent social movements?

A laser is a device that emits a beam of coherent light through an optical amplification process. Components of a typical laser:

1. Gain medium
2. Laser pumping energy 
3. High reflector 
4. Output coupler 
5. Laser beam

Optical amplification occurs via the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation from excited atoms or another medium. The principle is increasingly applied to explain social changes from color revolutions to such democratically structured protest actions, such as Brexit. The potential combination of information technology and social media to induce social instability is immensely relevant. 

The social laser

We live in the information age. Online Echo Chambers (social resonator) can amplify social mood and intentions to produce coherent information waves of high amplitudes (i.e., huge motivational energy). In real lasers, the optical resonator is an arrangement of mirrors that forms a standing wave cavity resonator for light waves. The Internet-based posting of news and communications works as a multiplier mirror. In this, the mass-media plays the role of laser’s resonator, the optical cavity. The stimulated amplification of coherent social actions can be either destructive or inspire better decision-making. The bandwagon effect in human behavior explains the increasing probability of personal reaction as the power of the excitatory field increases. The homogeneous character of social actions (coherence) and the short time needed for their generation and relaxation can be described by social laser theory. Social energy might be understood as a form of motivation. 

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Picture credit: Tatoute / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

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The book, "The Power of Joy" is your guide to self betterment

Success is never arbitrary. Our continuously changing world challenges our determination every day. Achievement requires adherence to goals, and the ability to take risks and overcome mistakes. Self-betterment is the ticket not only to a better job but to be successful at it. Changing the mind/brain is like conquering a mountain. Sudden shifts in attitude, behavior, and disposition are challenging and often painful. There is safety in slow, persistent progress. When you trust in the long-term results of your work, you can find balance and satisfaction.

Trying to avoid change is our shared human fallacy. We tend to face difficulties only when a crisis hits and the change cannot be put off. We often solve our problems when we are literally close to disaster. Becoming proactive in your approach to life transforms you from a passive to an active and purposeful participant.   

Finding and accomplishing a purpose-driven life is the highest achievement, and it is possible for everyone. "The Power of Joy" introduces techniques for self-betterment. These methods can be practiced by anyone, at any age, and from any cultural, religious, or social background. When you change, you change the world. 

My straightforward handbook, The Power of Joy, gives you the tools and advice you need to become the best version of yourself. 

                                                            
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Are quantum processes relevant in photosynthesis?

What is "quantum biology"? It is the study of quantum effects in complex biological systems. These studies have a history stretching back to the early years of quantum mechanics. During photosynthesis, light-harvesting occurs on time scales of tens of microseconds. The couplings between the constituents and interaction with the bath will govern the dynamics of the system. 

Photosynthetic pigments are held up by a protein scaffold. When interacting with light, the pigments do not act as independent units because the transition energies and oscillator strength are distributed within the scaffold. The resulting collective excitations are called "excitons." Coherence is a certain degree of spatial delocalization of the excitations in the system. Excited superpositions evolve in time as damped oscillations with a frequency corresponding to the constituent states' energy difference. It is widely accepted in science that the dephasing of any interexciton (the shared exitation of complexes) coherences results in sub–100-fs (femtosecond) decay times at room temperature. Energy transfer within the complex is impossible during such a short time. The reaction center of the photosystem shows similarly fast electronic decoherence rates.

The incoherent relaxation between exciton states forms energy transport with downhill in energy. Since these exciton states are partially localized, this relaxation corresponds to hopping between different regions of the complex. The variable site energies direct the energy flow, automatically providing a definite directionality for the transport.

The inhomogeneous charge distribution in the light-harvesting protein complex leads to varying site energies of the pigments. The effect directs the excitation energy toward the reaction center. Suppressed correlations in site energy fluctuations lead to an efficient dissipation of the excess energy of excitons. The absence of long-lived interexciton coherence on relevant time scales makes quantum occurrences impossible. 

In conclusion, photosynthesis occurs on the fastest possible time scales. The dephasing of coherences in biological conditions is too instantaneous to contribute significantly to the light-harvesting function. Are quantum processes relevant in photosynthesis? Quantum coherence in photosynthetic light-harvesting is unlikely. 

Read the whole article: Quantum biology revisited

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Sex differences in human lifespan are also true in other mammals

In human populations, women live longer than men. Nevertheless, the rate of aging is the same in both sexes. Demographic data from 101 mammalian species shows that the female’s median lifespan is, on average, 18.6% longer than that of males of the same species. However, the difference is very variable across species, meaning other factors need to be considered to explain this variability. In humans, the female advantage is, on average, 7.8%. For example, nine out of 10 people who live to be 110 years old are female. 

Females have two X chromosomes, while males have an X and a Y. The theory is that the extra X in women has a protective effect against harmful mutations and holds true in other species. Nevertheless, the cause for females' long life is probably an interaction between environmental conditions and sex-specific genetic variations. For example, males devote more resources towards specific functions (such as mating, fighting) than females. 

After all, there is hope for men; the risks of dying are not increasing more in males than females as they get older. There are no sex differences in aging rates. Although male mortality is always higher, the difference is due to local environmental conditions and sex-specific reproductive costs. Therefore, the rate of dying evens out for the genders as they age.

Read the whole article in PNAS:

Sex differences in adult lifespan and aging rates of mortality across wild mammals

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Understanding the Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance

Adopted from: Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance by Tomas Pueyo

The coronavirus is new. We know very very little about it. We have to learn to stop hand-shaking and give hugs. We must open doors with our elbow. We must wash our hands after touching a doorknob. We must disinfect tables before sitting down. Masks can help to avoid infecting other people when we are sick and reduces the likelihood that we get infected. All of these are pretty cheap ways to reduce the transmission rate. The less this virus propagates, the fewer measures we’ll need in the future to contain it.

Strong coronavirus measures today should only last a few weeks, there shouldn’t be a big peak of infections afterward, and it can all be done for a reasonable cost to society, saving millions of lives along the way. If we don’t take these measures, tens of millions will be infected, many will die, along with anybody else that requires intensive care, because the healthcare system will have collapsed.

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Humanity's grand challenge: hope during the Coronavirus epidemics

What can we learn from Italy and China about the Coronavirus?

Young people (under 30) have much, much lower mortality rates than older individuals.

What can older folks do to improve their chances of recovery? A good diet and social distance is a good start but what is we had a treatment would be a game-changer!  GAMECHANGER Therapy? Hydroxychloroquine & Azithromycin as a COVID-19 treatment... (an antimalarial & an antibiotic). See the chart below, which displays this combo's *stunning* results. Here’s the original article.

Source: Gautret et al., 2020.

Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID‐19: results of an open‐label non‐randomized clinical trial. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents – In Press 17 March 2020 – 

DOI : 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105949

Image, Coronavirus under microscope (NIAID-RML)

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Is the cosmos infinite or discrete?

Is the cosmos infinite or discrete? Currently, physics cannot decide this question. Establishing a solution to this question has ramifications for our understanding of the cosmos, theoretical physics, pure mathematics, and even programming. 

The answer is related to dimensionality. In mathematics, the number of dimensions reflects the number of independent characteristics you can adjust. In quantum mechanics, every possible position of the electron defines a different state space, but holographic spaces, such as black holes, have a limited description.

Is the cosmos infinite or discrete? Separating a compact space from the universe by an information blocking horizon gives rise to a wave function, i.e., the particles. Compact dimensions define the wave function's discrete frequencies. Insulation of the wave function frees the particle from gravity, which permits entanglement. The waves can form fluid-like behavior, such as interference and entanglement. For example, interference occurs as ripples combine on the surface of a pond.

The universe is in constant change. Interaction switches the rates of oscillations of the compact dimensions, but it also changes the volume of space (Figure 1). The universe acts like a giant clock, with the compact dimensions forming its small hand. Gravity is the big hand, which indicates our distance from the poles (white and black holes); we are located at about halfway between the poles (Figure 2). The answer to the question in the title is both discrete and infinite! When viewed within gravity regions, the universe is discrete, but it expands into infinity within white holes (the cosmic voids). 

Figure 2. Compact dimensions are separated from the space top; interaction changes the volume of space around entangled particles. Interaction changes the shape of space and forms the smooth topology of gravity. 

Figure 2. The horizontal lines indicate the compact dimensions. Energy levels are increasing, but frequencies are decreasing from the top toward the bottom. Interaction changes the gravity (S shape) between the poles of the universe (black holes and white holes). 

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