General purpose thread where Kitty advises posters on whatever they ask

[LotC]

Well holy sheep turds, just the thread I was looking for upon returning from my long hiatus.

My question: What do I do if I am certain that I have, through rather unorthodox methods, discovered something that would greatly advance a largely unknown yet long researched area of science without having any contacts in the research community? Think average Joe stumbles upon something groundbreaking. Empirical, testable, etc etc etc. Don't think free energy, ToE, or any such thing that's been done to death by every kook this side of the Mississippi. There are Real Scientists (tm) working in this field that would be delighted at making the advancement themselves, knowing that the paper getting published in a top tier journal would be trivially easy.

I'll save the question about selling movie rights to someone more qualified.

[Krill]

Get a degree, a masters and a Ph.D then talk about it.

[LotC]

Get a degree, a masters and a Ph.D then talk about it.

But why?

[Jon Miller]

Some have done it, like Freeman Dyson... but he was working on his PhD and they just decided they would hire him without one.

I think theoretically you can publish without a PhD. I know that in DNP meetings we have quacks come, because if you are a member of APS and are in good standing/etc, and submit a talk, they will let you talk. No matter how crazy you are.

If you appear sane, perhaps a few of the scientists who come will listen, and not just laugh.

That is how it is in physics, don't know about other fields.

JM

[TCO]

People publish all the time without Ph.D's. However, most who fail are either cranks with crazy ideas. Or just lack a common sense ability to follow editorial direction on the format of a paper (and proofreading quality and the like).

I think Lot would fall in both classes.

[Traianvs]

Have you heard of the gerontologist Aubrey De Grey yet? If the answer is yes, what do you think of his views on aging and his myriad collection of remedies against human degeneration?

He's caused quite a stir here and there, but I'm not sure if he's well truly known around the world (and poly).

[LotC]

People publish all the time without Ph.D's. However, most who fail are either cranks with crazy ideas. Or just lack a common sense ability to follow editorial direction on the format of a paper (and proofreading quality and the like).

I think Lot would fall in both classes.

Maybe on the last count. Not a crank and it's not exactly an idea. I don't have a miracle discovery that's going to bring down the established order or explain the origin of the universe because those physicists just don't get it. It's something overlooked is how I'd put it. Research has been done in this field but no published papers on my thesis. If there were, it would be common knowledge. It's kind of like that woman who discovered a new class of astronomical object by looking at Galaxy Zoo. Just an ordinary lady that made an extraordinary discovery that very well could have slipped through the cracks.

I did write good essays in high school, which I know is absolutely meaningless. Fortunately I can learn by example. Thanks to my friend the Interweb I can at least do a half decent job I'm sure. If I do write a paper or two and they get shot down in flames I'll post them here.

[Elok]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility

Wiki says it was just completed and they've started testing. What's your money on, KH? Will it work or not?

[KrazyHorse]

No opinion, other than to say that fusion power's always been long on promise and short on delivery.

[DanS]

Would there be any negative atmospheric consequences of an 8GW laser fired from Earth to GEO? As I understand, chemical rocket launches have a negative impact on the ozone layer and wonder if there are any similar problems with high-power lasers.

[KrazyHorse]

No idea. But a laser beam is likely far less damaging than a rocket launch because rockets spread their exhaust over a wide area. A laser beam is pretty narrow. I could easily imagine (depending on the frequency) that it might ionize/mess with chemical structure of some parts of the atmosphere. You should note, however, that the more it does so the more loss in power it would undergo along its path. Whoever wanted to do something like that would likely avoid absorption peaks of the atmosphere. I don't know what the characteristic frequencies of different parts of the atmosphere are, but looking it up the biggest absorption peak for ozone is in the ultraviolet (of course; this is why it's important) in the O3 -> O2 + O reaction. Wikipedia gives the effective wavelengths for this reaction in the 240 - 310 nm range. Blue light is ~400nm, red light ~700nm

[The Mad Monk]

Chemtrails: stupid, or just crazy?

[Dinner]

Both?

[DanS]

Thanks, KH. The proposal was for an ablative rocket stage powered by laser, so I guess the dispersion would be similar to the chemical rockets. Of course, there are other perhaps more benign types of propellants that you could use in conjunction with a laser.

[Krill]

Why not just use a hydrogen/oxygen rocket? Or are solid fuel rockets more versatile/powerful?