08-28-2006, 07:40 PM
Quote:Complete junk.
The laws of thermodynamics have yet to bow before any macroscopic phenomena whatsoever. Not on earth, not in the stars, not as far as science can see. (Quantum effects, I don´t know enough to say, but I don´t think there either.)
And these folks have found not only the exception to the first law, but have already found a way to turn it into a useable source of energy before anyone else has even verified this completely unique scientific phenomenon?
I put the odds at about a zillion to one. The anecdotal method by which they support it should alone be enough to dissuade people from taking this seriously.
-Jester
As a scientist myself I agree with you. The way I found this story was actually via the webpage of nature magazine, where they displayed a quote about this call for physisists to think about ways to prove them wrong. Most likely their 'invention' will not really work, but this whole idea about going to the real scientific community is very interesting, and scientifically very good I think.
Lately I read the 'comments' on papers that have been published in the same journal often...this is many times very amusing. In some parts of science a lot of 'rubbish' is published, just because of the way papers are reviewed. The oldfashioned heavy discussions you see in some hollywood movies are sadly not very common in real science.