Where’s the coldest spot in the universe? Not on the moon, where the temperature plunges to a mere minus 378 Fahrenheit. Not even in deepest outer space, which has an estimated background temperature of about minus 455°F. As far as scientists can tell, the lowest temperatures ever attained were recently observed right here on earth.

The record-breaking lows were among the latest feats of ultracold physics, the laboratory study of matter at temperatures so mind-bogglingly frigid that atoms and even light itself behave in highly unusual ways. Electrical resistance in some elements disappears below about minus 440°F, a phenomenon called superconductivity. At even lower temperatures, some liquefied gases become “superfluids” capable of oozing through walls solid enough to hold any other sort of liquid; they even seem to defy gravity as they creep up, over and out of their containers.

Physicists acknowledge they can never reach the coldest conceivable temperature, known as absolute zero and long ago calculated to be minus 459.67°F. To physicists, temperature is a measure of how fast atoms are moving, a reflection of their energy—and absolute zero is the point at which there is absolutely no heat energy remaining to be extracted from a substance.

{ Smithsonian mag | Continue reading }

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photo { 2007 Nerdcore Calendar | io9 }

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A Japanese arm wrestling game is being withdrawn from arcades across the country after three players broke their arms.

Arm Spirit, which is distributed by Atlus, is to be removed from 150 game emporiums as “a precaution”.

“We think that maybe some players get over-excited and twist their arms in an unnatural way,” a spokesman said.

Arm Spirit gamers advance through 10 levels, pitting their strength against a French maid, a drunken martial arts master and a Chihuahua dog before reaching the final challenge - a professional wrestler.

{ BBC | Continue reading }

Space Invaders is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was initially released in Japan in 1978.

Within the first year of its release, the game had generated revenue ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with the majority coming from teenagers and school children, who pumped millions of coins into the game at a frenzied pace. In Japan, Space Invaders caused a coin shortage until the Yen supply was quadrupled.

Space Invaders became very popular in part due to its new style of game play. Up until its release, video games were timed to a clock, and once a player’s time was up (plus possible bonus time), the game ended. With Space Invaders, the game ended only when the player had exhausted the three allotted “lives” or when the invaders landed on the bottom of the screen: a person could therefore play for as long as their skill level allowed.

{ Wikipedia }

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs
Popularized right after the release of the game, the ‘Furrer’ trick allows you to get 300 points per mystery ship every time. It has to do with the way the random number generator works - at the beginning of every board count 22 shots (whether you hit an invader or not). Wait for the mystery ship. Shoot once to hit it to earn 300 pts. Now count 14 shots. Wait again for the mystery ship. Shoot once at it for another 300 pts. Count 14 shots and repeat for the rest of the level. Once on the new level, start again at 22 and repeat to 14. This trick was invented by Eric Furrer who to this day holds the Stratford Record for non-stop Space Invaders play — 38 hours and 37 minutes and an accumulation of 1,114,000 points (111 roll overs, averaging three rolls an hour).

Mystery Ship Shot Deflection: On the fifth wave of invaders, the second mystery ship will deflect your shot with the rarely heard “deflection shot;” a shot played backwards.

{ International Arcade Museum | Continue reading }