>Transhuman Mailing List
>
>The following message was posted to the Terra Libra mailing list this
>morning. Has anyone else here heard anything which backs this up?
>
>>Subject: Breakthrough as Scientists Beat Gravity
>>Sent: 9/3/96 1:03 AM
>>Received: 9/3/96 9:00 AM
>>From: Sir Jason Wade, success@wolfenet.com
>>To: terra-libra@longevb.demon.co.uk
>>
>>BREAKTHROUGH AS SCIENTISTS BEAT GRAVITY.
>>by Robert Matthews and Ian Sample
>>
>>SCIENTISTS in Finland are about to reveal details of the world's
>>first anti-gravity device. Measuring about 12in across, the device
>>is said to reduce significantly the weight of anything suspended
>>over it.
>>
>>The claim -- which has been rigorously examined by scientists, and
>>is due to appear in a physics journal next month -- could spark a
>>technological revolution. By combatting gravity, the most ubiquitous
>>force in the universe, everything from transport to power generation
>>could be transformed.
>>
>>The Sunday Telegraph has learned that Nasa, the American space
>>agency, is taking the claims seriously, and is funding research into
>>how the anti-gravity effect could be turned into a means of flight.
>>
>>The researchers at the Tampere University of Technology in Finland,
>>who discovered the effect, say it could form the heart of a new
>>power source, in which it is used to drive fluids past
>>electricity-generating turbines.
>>
>>Other uses seem limited only by the imagination: Lifts in buildings
>>could be replaced by devices built into the ground. People wanting
>>to go up would simply activate the anti-gravity device -- making
>>themselves weightless -- and with a gentle push ascend to the floor
>>they want.
>>
>>Space-travel would bitcome routine, as all the expense and danger of
>>rocket technology is geared towards combatting the Earth's
>>gravitation pull. By using the devices to raise fluids against
>>gravity, and then conventional gravity to pull them back to ear th
>>against electricity-generating turbines, the devices could also
>>revolutionise power generation.
>>
>>According to Dr Eugene Podkletnov, who led the research, the
>>discovery was accidental. It emerged during routine work on
>>so-called "superconductivity", the ability of some materials to lose
>>their electrical resistance at very low temperatures. The team was
>>carrying out tests on a rapidly spinning disc of superconducting
>>ceramic suspended in the magnetic field of three electric coils, all
>>enclosed in a low-temperature vessel called a cryostat.
>>
>>"One of my friends came in and he was smoking his pipe," Dr
>>Podkletnov said. "He put some smoke over the cryostat and we saw
>>that the smoke was going to the ceiling all the time. It was amazing
>>-- we couldn't explain it." Tests showed a small drop in th e weight
>>of objects placed over the device, as if it were shielding the
>>object from the effects of gravity - an effect deemed impossible by
>>most scientists. "We thought it might be a mistake," Dr Podkletnov
>>said, "but we have taken every precaution." Yet the bizarre effects
>>persisted. The team found that even the air pressure vertically
>>above the device dropped slightly, with the effect detectable
>>directly above the device on every floor of the laboratory. In
>>recent years, many so-called "anti-gravity" devices have been put
>>forward by both amateur and professional scientists, and all have
>>been scorned by the establishment. What makes this latest claim
>>different is that it has survived intense scrutiny by sceptical,
>>independent experts, and has been ac cepted for publication by the
>>Journal of Physics-D: Applied Physics, published by Britain's
>>Institute of Physics.
>>
>>Even so, most scientists will not feel comfortable with the idea of
>>anti-gravity until other teams repeat the experiments. Some
>>scientists suspect the anti-gravity effect is a long-sought
>>side-effect of Einstein's general theory of relativity, by which s
>>pinning objects can distort gravity. Until now it was thought the
>>effect would be far too small to measure in the laboratory. However,
>>Dr Ning Li, a senior research scientist at the University of
>>Alabama, said that the atoms inside superconductors may m agnify the
>>effect enormously. Her research is funded by Nasa's Marshall Space
>>Flight centre at Huntsville, Alabama, and Whitt Brantley, the chief
>>of Advanced Concepts Office there, said: "We're taking a look at it,
>>because if we don't, we'll never know." The Finnish team is already
>>expanding its programme, to see if it can amplify the anti-gravity
>>effect. In its latest experiments, the team has measured a two per
>>cent drop in the weight of objects suspended over the device -and
>>double that if one device is suspended over another. If the team can
>>increase the effect substantially, the commercial implications are
>>enormous.