The Condensate

I've been mildly interested in string theory for almost 11 months now. (I lose count it's been so long, whew)

The idea that there might be one unifying theory about how the universe operates, from the very smallest particles, to the very largest bodies, is enticing.

The Bose-Einstein Condensates are objects at the atomic level which act as though they were governed by some sort of string theory. (when cooled to very nearly absolute zero temperatures or 200 nanokelvin, I just love saying that)



One of the beautiful things about this, and string theory in general, is that a scientific halfwit, like myself, can understand about 10% of any given explanation. Since it typically only requires about 9.33% of a my understanding a topic to get really excited about it, I'm hooked! Not only is it a complicated theory in the mathematical sense, but it is a visually breathtaking paradigm as well. Since there is no way of finding or viewing these super-super-super-small objects, possibly into the foreseeable future, many artists have been consulted to interpret how the mathematics might translate into a visual reality. This could have over-arching consequences on our taste in visual arts, music, design, etc.

And, it should be noted that I've been involved in some design charettes where the whiteboard looked about the same in the end.