[photo of John] AnalogScience Fiction & Fact Magazine
"The Alternate View" columns
of John G. Cramer
Subject Index
"The Alternate View" columns of John G. Cramer are short (~2,000 word) essays about cutting-edge science. They are aimed at readers (and writers) of "hard" science fiction, as exemplified by the SF stories of Analog, but are about real science, usually physics or astronomy. These columns are published bimonthly in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine.
This index is current to the May 2007 issue of Analog
© John G. Cramer, 1984-2007; All rights reserved.
No part of these columns may be reproduced in any form
without prior explicit permission of the author.

Menu of Subjects


  • Group 1 -- Cutting Edge Science
  • Group 2 -- Quantum Mechanics
  • Group 3 -- Neutrinos
  • Group 4 -- Cosmology and Astrophysics
  • Group 5 -- Gravity and General Relativity
  • Group 6 -- Wormholes
  • Group 7 -- Mega-Projects
  • Group 8 -- Space Drives
  • Group 9 -- Evolution and Catastrophe
  • Group 10 - Communications and Virtual Reality
  • Group 11 - Flashes in the Pan - Things That Didn't Work
  • Group 12 - Science Policy 
  • Science Fiction Novels by John G. Cramer
  • John G. Cramer's Home Page
  • Go to chronological index of Alternate View columns. 
    		•

    [Each underlined column title is a link to that column; click on the title to go there.]
    Group 1 - Cutting Edge Science
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    The Other 40 Dimensions Klein-Kaluza compactification 04/85 AltVw06
    Light in Reverse Gear I Optical reversal with a 4-Wave mixer  06/85 AltVw07
    Light in Reverse Gear II Advanced radiation 08/85 AltVw08
    Antimatter in a Trap Penning ion trapping 12/85 AltVw10
    Super Atoms and Super Fields Positrons from Z>173 atoms 13/86 AltVw17
    Warm Superconductors Ceramic BaYCuO superconductors 10/87 AltVw22
    Report on NanoCon 1 NanoCon I - The 1st Nanotechnology Conference 10/89 AltVw35
    Harnessing the Butterfly 
    - The Steering of Chaos    		 Using chaos for control 03/92 AltVw51
    Bose-Einstein Condensation: 
    A New Form of Matter    		 Thousands of atoms in the same quantum state 03/96 AltVw77
    The "Real World" and The Standard Model Effect on the universe of varying force strengths and quark masses 05/96 AltVw78
    Burn Up the Nuclear Waste Particle accelerators for waste "burnup" 07/96 AltVw79
    The Atom Laser A laser that emits coherent atoms instead of coherent light 07/97 AltVw85
    Planet of the Geezers Telomeres and the reversal of human aging 02/98 AltVw88
    What We Don't Understand The major unsolved problems of contemporary physics. 07-08/99 AltVw96
    A Century of Physics Highlights of the Centennial Meeting of the American Physical Society 10/99 AltVw97
    Our Millimeter-Size Universe Superstring theory suggests that gravity is weak because its extra-dimensional loops are a millimeter in diameter. 12/99 AltVw98
    "Interaction-Free" Quantum 
    Measurements and Imaging    		 Quantum measurements that can produce an image of an object without the interaction of a single photon. 09/00 AltVw101
    The "Rare Earth" Hypothesis A new book argues that complex life must be very rare in our galaxy. 11/00 AltVw102
    Decoding the Ribosome Nature's nanotechnology "assembler", the ribosome, has been decoded and its structure revealed. 05/01 AltVw106
    Carbon Nanotubes, A Miracle Material Carbon nanotubes can be conductors or semiconductors, super-strong materials, and could make possible a "skyhook". 12/01 AltVw109
    Quantum Computing, 5 Qubits and Counting Quantum computing has made a step forward, with a 5 qubit computer that factors 15 into primes.  What's next? 06/02 AltVw112
    Quark Stars Discovery of ultra-dense stars that are thought to be made of quark matter. 11/02 AltVw114
    A Stroll Through the Lyman Alpha Forest The forest of absorption Lyman-a spectral lines seen in the light from quasars maps the hydrogen "lanes" of the universe and testifies that quasars are very distant objects. 03/03 AltVw116
    A Mission to the Earth's Core A new "modest proposal" to send an instrument package to the core of the Earth by melting through the crust with molten iron.. 12/03 AltVw120

    Dark-Energy Stars vs. Black Holes

    		 Do black holes exist?  A new theory suggests that they do not, and suggests instead that collapsing supernovas create "dark energy stars". 10/05 AltVw129
    The Big Rip at the End of Time Some new cosmological models suggest that the universe will expand at an ever increasing rate until ti tears itself apart, producing a "Big Rip" that tears apart stars, planets, atom, and particles, until nothing is left in a dark empty lonely universe. 03/05 AltVw126
    Back in Time Through Other Dimensions A new variation of string theory in non-compartified dimensions provides a mechanism for creating timelike loops and suggests that such loops may exist in nature. 10/06 AltVw134
    EPR Communication: Signals from the Future? An Innsbruck PhD thesis suggests a way in which one might use quantum nonlocality for communication, which would make possible superluminal and retro-causal signaling. 12/06 AltVw135
    Extrasolar Planets and Occult Astronomy A new star-shade system may enable the Hubble Space Telescope and its successors to discover earth-like extra-solar planets and even detect the presence of life on them. 03/07 AltVw136
    Group 2 - Quantum Mechanics
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Other Universes II Everett-Wheeler interpretation of QM 11/84 AltVw03
    The Quantum Handshake The Transactional Interpretation of QM 11/86 AltVw16
    Watching The Quantum Jump Exciting single atoms in a trap 05/88 AltVw26
    Paradoxes and FTL Communication The Calcutta QM Paradox  09/88 AltVw28
    Einsteins' Spooks & Bell's Theorem The EPR paradox & nonlocality 01/90 AltVw37
    Quantum Time Travel Time tricks with quantum mechanics 04/91 AltVw45
    Quantum Telephones to Other Universes, to Times Past Non-linear quantum mechanics and communication 10/91 AltVw48
    The Quantum Physics of Teleportation Transporting a complete quantum state 12/93 AltVw62
    Tunneling through the Lightspeed Barrier Quantum tunneling and transit time 12/95 AltVw75
    Bose-Einstein Condensation: A New Form of Matter Thousands of atoms in the same quantum state 03/96 AltVw77
    Space Drives, Phased Arrays, and Interferometry Amplitude and intensity interferometry 01/97 AltVw82
    The Atom Laser A laser that emits coherent atoms instead of coherent light 07/97 AltVw85
    The Quantum Eraser Erasing quantum interference retroactively 06/98 AltVw90
    "Interaction-Free" Quantum 
    Measurements and Imaging    		 Quantum measurements that can "see in the dark", producing an image of an object without the interaction of a single photon. 06/00 AltVw101
    Faster-than-Light Laser Pulses? Superluminal laser pulses with negative velocities that get there before they start. 03/01 AltVw105
    Supernova in a Bose-Einstein Bottle Repulsion is changed to attraction in a Bose-Einstein condensate, with amazing and mysterious results. 10/01 AltVw108
    Quantum Computing, 5 Qubits and Counting Quantum computing has made a step forward, with a 5 qubit computer that factors 15 into primes.  What's next? 06/02 AltVw112
    A Farewell to Copenhagen? The Afshar Experiment brings Bohr's Principle of Complementarity into question by showing that in a quantum two-slit measurement, interference fringes are present even when the slit through which a photon passes is determined. 12/04 AltVw125
    EPR Communication: Signals from the Future? An Innsbruck PhD thesis suggests a way in which one might use quantum nonlocality for communication, which would make possible superluminal and retro-causal signaling. 12/06 AltVw135
    Group 3 - Neutrinos
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Neutrinos and WIMPs The Solar Neutrino Problem 05/86 AltVw13
    Heavy Neutrinos: Who Ordered That? Reports of a 17 kilovolt neutrino 12/91 AltVw49
    Neutrino Physics: Curiouser and Curiouser SAGE neutrino detector results 09/92 AltVw54
    Neutrinos, Ripples, and Time Loops Tachyonic neutrinos, cosmic string effects 02/93 AltVw57
    Massive Neutrinos The Japanese Super-Kamiokande detector discovers that mu-neutrinos have mass. 01/99 AltVw93
    Physics Goes Underground Plans for a new low-background physics laboratory 1.5 miles below the surface of the Earth. 09/02 AltVw113
    Neutrino Results from SNO, KamLAND, and WMAP New neutrino results indicate that neutrinos have mass, show neutrino oscillations, and set limits on how large the neutrino mass can be. 07-8/04 AltVw123
    Group 4 - Cosmology and Astrophysics
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Antimatter in the Universe The possibility of antimatter galaxies 08/79 Analog-1
    Other Universes I GUTs cosmology  09/84 AltVw02
    In The Fullness of Time The universe in the far future 10/85 AltVw09
    Children of the Swan Cygnus X-3 cosmic ray particles 03/86 AltVw12
    SN1987A - Supernova Astrophysics Grows Up Supernovae, neutrinos, and gravitational collapse 12/87 AltVw23
    Supernova Duds and Toothpaste Neutrinos and fluorine nucleosynthesis 02/89 AltVw31
    The Mouse that Boomed Fast object seen with radio-astronomy 08/89 AltVw34
    Cosmic Voids and Great Walls The large-scale structure of the universe 08/91 AltVw47
    Searching for MACHOs (massive compact halo objects) The gravitational lensing of brown dwarfs 05/94 AltVw65
    Stretch Marks on the Universe - Quantized Redshift Puzzle of clustered galactic red-shifts 11/94 AltVw68
    GRS1915+105: The Fastest Fireball in the Galaxy A quasar-like object in our galaxy 04/95 AltVw71
    "Texas" in Munich, Part 1: The Constants of the Universe Closing in on the universe's parameters 08/95 AltVw73
    "Texas" in Munich, Part 2: Gamma Ray Bursts The gamma ray burst puzzle 10/95 AltVw74
    Ultra-Energetic Cosmic Rays and Gamma Ray Bursts Correlation between cosmic rays and gamma bursts? 01/96 AltVw76
    Using DNA to Search for WIMPs Breaking DNA strands to detect weakly interacting particles 09/98 AltVw91
    `The Music of the (Neutron) Spheres Audio-modulated X-rays and neutron star masses 11/98 AltVw92
    Before the Big Bang Pre-Big-Bang cosmology from superstring theory 03/99 AltVw94
    Our Runaway Universe and Einstein's Cosmological Constant The discovery that the universe is accelerating in its expansion and that the vacuum has energy 05/99 AltVw95
    Our Millimeter-Size Universe Superstring theory suggests that gravity is weak because its extra-dimensional loops are a millimeter in diameter. 12/99 AltVw98
    BOOMERanG and the Sound of the Big Bang Measurements of small angle fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background pin down the Big Bang 01/01 AltVw104
    Quark Stars Discovery of ultra-dense stars that are thought to be made of quark matter. 11/02 AltVw114
    The New Recycling Universe A new alternative to Big Bang cosmology in which the universe recycles between claps of  extradimensional "branes". 01/03 AltVw115
    A Stroll Thriough the Lyman Alpha Forest The forest of absorption Lyman-a spectral lines seen in the light from quasars maps the hydrogen "lanes" of the universe and testifies that quasars are very distant objects. 03/03 AltVw116
    Watch the Skies:  The LSST Project Plans for a new telescope that watches the skies for fast-changing astronoomical phenomena. 07/03 AltVw118
    The Universe as seen by WMAP A new study of the small-angle structure of the cosmic microwave background nails down the parameters of the universe. 10/03 AltVw119
    The Sound of the Big Bang - Reloaded WMAP data is used to synthesize the "sound of the Big Bang" in the early universe, producing a sound file that can be played on an mp3 player. 05/04 AltVw122
    The Big Rip at the End of Time Some new cosmological models suggest that the universe will expand at an ever increasing rate until ti tears itself apart, producing a "Big Rip" that tears apart stars, planets, atom, and particles, until nothing is left in a dark empty lonely universe. 03/05 AltVw126

    The Universe of Choice

    		 String theory now seems to be predicting a vast "landscape" of possible universes with differing cosmological constants and physical laws.  Which one is ours and why? 03/06 AltVw131

    The Universe as a Watermelon

    		 An analysis of WMAP data indicates that the initial Big Bang may not have been spherical, but instead was slightly elongated along one axis, giving the early universe a "watermelon" shape. 05/07 AltVw137
    Group 5 - Gravity and General Relativity
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Antigravity I: Negative Mass The gravitation of negative mass 07/86 AltVw14
    Artificial Gravity: Which way is Up? Centrifugal gravity on space stations 02/87 AltVw18
    Spiral Galaxies and Antigravity Beams Gravity waves from cosmic strings 01/88 AltVw24
    The Rainbows of Gravity Einstein's ring and gravitational lensing 11/88 AltVw29
    Falling through to Pelucidar Shadow matter and gravitation 04/89 AltVw32
    The Twin Paradox Revisited Special relativity and time dilation 03/90 AltVw38
    Centrifugal Forces and Black Holes Light-like orbits near a black hole 11/92 AltVw55
    The Force of the Tide Gravitational tidal forces 01/94 AltVw63
    The Alcubierre Warp Drive A warp-drive s olution to Einstein's equations 11/96 AltVw81
    Antigravity Sightings  Woodward's Mach's Principle space drive 03/97 AltVw83
    The Krasnikov Tube: A Subway to the Stars A solution to Einstein's equations in the form of a time-shortcut tube 09/97 AltVw86
    Gravity Waves and LIGO The NSF's new gravity wave detectors 04/98 AltVw89
    The Micro-Warp Drive An improvement on the Alcubierre Drive that makes the warp-bubble large on the inside and microscopic on the outside 02/00 AltVw99
    General Relativity without 
    Black Holes    		 The Yilmaz variant of General Relativity, which predicts that black holes do not exist. 04/00 AltVw100
    The CERN LHC: A Black Hole Factory? Theoretical predictions that the newest high energy accelerator, currently under construction at the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, may  be a copious source of small and fast-evaporating black holes. 05/03 AltVw117
    Outlawing” Wormholes and Warp Drives Which solutions of general relativity (e.g., wormholes and warp drives) can be dismissed as violating physical principles and which should be taken seriously.  A new quantum approach suggests a way of answering this question. 05/05 AltVw127

    Dark-Energy Stars vs. Black Holes

    		 Do black holes exist?  A new theory suggests that they do not, and suggests instead that collapsing supernovas create "dark energy stars". 10/05 AltVw129

    The Universe of Choice

    		 String theory now seems to be predicting a vast "landscape" of possible universes with differing cosmological constants and physical laws.  Which one is ours and why? 03/06 AltVw131
    Hawking’s Retreat Stephen Hawking's retreat from his view that information is destroyed in the formation of a black hole. 05/06 AltVw132
    Back in Time Through Other Dimensions A new variation of string theory in non-compartified dimensions provides a mechanism for creating timelike loops and suggests that such loops may exist in nature. 10/06 AltVw134
    Group 6 - Wormholes
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Wormholes and Time Machines General relativity and FTL travel 06/89 AltVw33
    Wormholes II: Getting There in No Time Wormholes as starships 05/90 AltVw39
    Natural Wormholes: Squeezing the Vacuum Negative mass from squeezed vacuum 07/92 AltVw53
    NASA Goes FTL - Part 1: Wormhole Physics JPL relativity/quantum workshop report 1 13/94 AltVw69
    New Improved Wormholes Making wormholes without negative mass 11/00 AltVw103
    Outlawing” Wormholes and Warp Drives Which solutions of general relativity (e.g., wormholes and warp drives) can be dismissed as violating physical principles and which should be taken seriously.  A new quantum approach suggests a way of answering this question. 05/05 AltVw127
    Group 7 - Mega-Projects
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    The Coming of the SSC The Superconducting Supercollider Project 03/88 AltVw25
    Mega-Projects & -Problems; The Hubble in Trouble NASA'a problems with the HST 02/91 AltVw44
    RHIC: Big Bangs in the Lab Heavy-ion collider project at Brookhaven 06/91 AltVw46
    CERN and the LHC The large hadronic collider project 05/92 AltVw52
    DUMAND: Neutrinos from Beneath the Ocean Large underwater neutrino detector 06/93 AltVw59
    Beauty and the B-Factory B mesons and matter: proposed accelerator to make B-mesons 09/94 AltVw67
    CERN in Transition The new 33 TeV lead beams 06/95 AltVw72
    The Decline and Fall of the SSC The killing of the DOE's Superconducting Super Collider Project  05/97 AltVw84
    Gravity Waves and LIGO The NSF's new gravity wave detector 04/98 AltVw89
    The Next Big Accelerator The "next linear collider" is being proposed by US, German, and Japanese groups as the next step in particle physics. 02/02 AltVw110
    The CERN LHC: A Black Hole Factory? Theoretical predictions that the newest high energy accelerator, currently under construction at the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, may  be a copious source of small and fast-evaporating black holes. 05/03 AltVw117
    Watch the Skies:  The LSST Project Plans for a new telescope that watches the skies for fast-changing astronoomical phenomena. 07/03 AltVw118
    The Universe as seen by WMAP A new study of the small-angle structure of the cosmic microwave background nails down the parameters of the universe. 10/03 AltVw119
    A Mission to the Earth's Core A new "modest proposal" to send an instrument package to the core of the Earth by melting through the crust with molten iron.. 12/03 AltVw120
    Solving the RHIC Puzzle Interferometry data from Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) appears to be in conflict with other results from the collisions.  A new approach explains why. 07-8/05 AltVw128
    Extrasolar Planets and Occult Astronomy A new star-shade system may enable the Hubble Space Telescope and its successors to discover earth-like extra-solar planets and even detect the presence of life on them. 03/07 AltVw136
    Group 8 - Space Drives
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    The Dark Side of the Force of Gravity The Dark Matter Problem 02/85 AltVw05
    Strings and Things Cosmic strings 04/87 AltVw19
    Laser Propulsion and the Four P's Laser-sustained propulsion 08/87 AltVw21
    FTL Photons The Casimir Effect and the speed of light 13/90 AltVw43
    Nuke Your Way to the Stars Continuously detonating nuclear rocket 13/92 AltVw56
    The Tachyon Drive: Vex=¥and Eex= 0. Using tachyons as reaction fuel 10/93 AltVw61
    NASA Goes FTL - Part 2: Cracks in Nature's FTL Armor JPL relativity/quantum workshop report 2 02/95 AltVw70
    The Alcubierre Warp Drive A warp-drive solution to Einstein's equations 11/96 AltVw81
    Space Drives, Phased Arrays, and Interferometry  Amplitude and intensity interferometry 01/97 AltVw82
    Antigravity Sightings  Woodward's Mach's Principle space drive 03/97 AltVw83
    The Krasnikov Tube: A Subway to the Stars A solution to Einstein's equations in the form of a time-shortcut tube 09/97 AltVw86
    The Micro-Warp Drive An improvement on the Alcubierre Drive that makes the warp-bubble large on the inside and microscopic on the outside. 02/00 AltVw99
    Outlawing” Wormholes and Warp Drives Which solutions of general relativity (e.g., wormholes and warp drives) can be dismissed as violating physical principles and which should be taken seriously.  A new quantum approach suggests a way of answering this question. 05/05 AltVw127
    Group 9 - Evolution and Catastrophe
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    The Pump of Evolution The Fermi Paradox and catastrophes 01/86 AltVw11
    Dinosaur Breath Cretaceous air trapped in amber 07/88 AltVw27
    Killer Asteroids and You Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids 01/92 AltVw50
    The "Rare Earth" Hypothesis A new book by an astronomer and a geophysicist argues that complex life must be very rare in our galaxy and our universe.  We may be alone. 09/00 AltVw102
    Group 10 - Communications and Virtual Reality
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    Telepresence: Reach Out and Grab Someone Robotics and telepresence 07/90 AltVw40
    A Visit to Virtual Seattle Virtual reality  11/90 AltVw42
    The Bandwidth Revolution: Internet and WorldWideWeb The coming of the Web 03/94 AltVw64
    News from CyberSpace: Virtual Reality and HyperText Report on two conferences 07/94 AltVw66
    EPR Communication: Signals from the Future? An Innsbruck PhD thesis suggests a way in which one might use quantum nonlocality for communication, which would make possible superluminal and retro-causal signaling. 12/06 AltVw135
    Group 11 - Flashes in the Pan - Things That Didn't Work
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    New Phenomena Magnetic monopoles, "anomalons", free quarks? 02/83 Analog-3
    Again Monopoles Magnetic monopole detection at Stanford (?) 09/83 Analog-4
    When Proton Meets Monopole Monopole catalysis and proton decay 07/84 AltVw01
    Antigravity II: A Fifth Force? Hypercharge and hyperforce 09/86 AltVw15
    Recent Results Review of past AV columns 06/87 AltVw20
    Cold Fusion, Pro-fusion, and Con-fusion Pons & Fleischman and cold fusion? 12/89 AltVw36
    The Rise and Fall of Gyro-Gravity Spin-modification of gravity? 09/90 AltVw41
    Inside the Quark Preons and quark sub-structure 09/96 AltVw80
    Breaking the Standard Model Evidence from DESY for a new particle: the leptoquark 11/97 AltVw87
    Introducing the Pentaquark Evidence from several experiments suggests that "pentaqurks", baryons consisting of four quarks and one anti-quark, may form some of the particles observed in high energy experiments. (Note: later work suggests that pentaquarks may not exist.) 03/04 AltVw121
    Group 12 - Science Policy
    The Alternate View
    Column Title    		 Subject of Column Analog
    Issue    		 Column
    Code
    The Territoriality of Space Exploration Guest Editorial: Should the USA have claimed the Moon as territory? 11/81 Analog-2
    The Alternate Who???? 1st Alternate View column - Introduction of the author 07/84 AltVw00
    The Retarding of Science AARSE - American Association for the Retardation of Science and Engineering (satire) 13/84 AltVw04
    Dyson on Space Freeman Dyson's views on the space program  13/88 AltVw30
    Science and SF in Japan Report on a trip to Japan 04/93 AltVw58
    Science Policy: The Parable of the King and the Grain The politics of scientific decisions 08/93 AltVw60
    CERN in Transition The new 33 TeV lead beams 06/95 AltVw72
    2001, Then and Now How and why the year 2001 as depicted in the Stanley Kubrick film differs from the the reality of the year 2001? 07/01 AltVw107
    A Mission to the Earth's Core A new "modest proposal" to send an instrument package to the core of the Earth by melting through the crust with molten iron.. 12/03 AltVw120
    Note 1: Month "13" in the issue list above indicates the Mid-December issue of Analog.
    Note 2: The "Alternate" of the column title refers to the fact that they appear in alternate issues of Analog, originally alternating with columns by the late G. Harry Stine and more recently with columns by Jeffery D. Kooistra .
    Note 3: Recent columns may not be provided with links because they have not yet appeared in Analog, which holds first serial rights for their publication. 
    [Home]
    To Cramer's
    Home Page.    		 [Analog]
    To chronological
    index of columns.    		 [Analog]
    Exit to Analog
    Home Page.    		 [Mailbox]
    Send mail
    to Cramer.
    This index was created by John G. Cramer 7/16/96 and last revised 01/07/2007.
    It now has an access count of: free web counter
    free web counter