Sweet-potato waffles with blueberry syrup

 

By Mayo Clinic Staff Dietitian's tip: A hint of spices and a blanket of juicy berries make these waffles a breakfast treat. Leftovers can be frozen and popped into the toaster. The syrup will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to a week. Serves 6   Ingredients   For the syrup: 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries 2 tablespoons water if using fresh berries 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 tablespoon dark honey 1 tablespoon light molasses Pinch of ground cloves 1/3 cup peeled and diced sweet potato, or 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree 3/4 cup all-purpose (plain) flour 1/4 cup whole-wheat (whole-meal) flour 1/4 cup cornmeal, preferably stone-ground 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 1 cup plain soy milk (soya milk) 2 tablespoons light molasses 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 egg white Directions To make the syrup, in a saucepan, combine the blueberries, water (if using), lemon juice and zest, honey, 1 tablespoon molasses, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the berries burst and the juices are slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Frozen berries may take slightly longer to thicken. Set aside and keep warm. If using sweet potatoes, bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes, return to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until very tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and puree in a food processor or mash with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside. If using pumpkin puree, reserve. In a small bowl, sift together the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a large bowl, whisk together the soy milk, sweet potato puree, olive oil and 2 tablespoons molasses. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Make sure that the mixing bowl and beaters are spotlessly clean and free of fat. Even a small amount of fat, such as egg yolk or oil, can prevent the egg whites from whipping properly. Once whipped, gently whisk 1/3 of the egg white into the batter to lighten it. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the remaining egg white into the batter, mixing just until incorporated. Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 225 F. Preheat a waffle iron. Spoon or ladle about 1/2 cup batter into the waffle iron, depending on the size of the iron. Spread evenly and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the batter thickens, thin with a little soy milk. Transfer the waffle to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 6 waffles. Serve topped with the syrup.   Nutritional analysis per serving Serving size :1 waffle with about 1/3 cup syrup Total carbohydrate 39 g Dietary fiber 3 g Sodium 352 mg Saturated fat 1 g Total fat 6 g Trans fat 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg Protein 5 g Monounsaturated fat 4 g Calories 230 Sugars 10 g   http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/sweetpotato-waffles-with-blueberry-syrup/rcp-20049624

Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant

 

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.

Called the Veil Nebula, the debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth, and resides about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.

This view is a mosaic of six Hubble pictures of a small area roughly two light-years across, covering only a tiny fraction of the nebula’s vast structure.

This close-up look unveils wisps of gas, which are all that remain of what was once a star 20 times more massive than our sun. The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is plowing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light. The nebula lies along the edge of a large bubble of low-density gas that was blown into space by the dying star prior to its self-detonation.

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team

Last Updated: Sept. 24, 2015

Editor: Sarah Loff

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/veil-nebula-supernova-remnant

Scientists break distance record for quantum teleportation

 

Scientists at NIST have teleported quantum information over a distance of more than 100 km, four times farther than the previous record (Credit: Shutterstock) A new record distance has been set for the quantum teleportation of information over optical fibers. Researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) claim to have transmitted the quantum information carried in light particles over 100 km (62 miles), four times farther thanpreviously achieved. Breakthroughs in quantum physics continue to accelerate, having already shown the practical potential of quantum cryptography and increasingly making progress toward powerful, everyday, quantum computers. This new record set by NIST adds to this momentum by providing the ability to transmit quantum state information much farther than previously thought practicable. According to the researchers, this capability was only possible through the advancement of NIST’s own bespoke single-photon detectors made in its laboratory in Colorado. Utilizing superconducting nanowires created from molybdenum silicide, these detectors are so sensitive that they can record the arrival of more than 80 percent of the photons transmitted, even after traveling more than 100 km – unboosted – down an optical fiber. "Only about 1 percent of photons make it all the way through 100 km of fiber," said NIST’s Marty Stevens. "We never could have done this experiment without these new detectors, which can measure this incredibly weak signal." In this particular experiment, the scientists used quantum states to indicate precisely when in an arrangement of time slots a single photon arrived. In this way, the information stored as a qubit (a quantum bit) was encoded as a sort of "timestamp". To do this, a single photon was emitted which then had two pathways to travel down. One was a short length and the other considerably longer. The path the photon traveled was completely random, however, and each path determined the time – "early" or "late" – at which the photon appeared. Because the state of the photons is entirely random, they could be in either of the two time states. If, as a result of the travel times, the photon is "in phase" where the superposition of states is the same, then the peaks of the waves will align and the signal will carry through. If, on the other hand, they are out of phase, then the peaks will align with the troughs of the wave, and they will effectively cancel each other out. The first step in the teleportation process is to generate a photon in a superposition of all possible states. It is then fired into a crystal splitter where the photon is cleaved into two entangled photons (which NIST dub "helper" and "output" photons). A second photon (randomly encoded with a "late" or "early" timestamp) is generated simultaneously and fired into a beam splitter exactly as the "helper" photon arrives. Two detectors at this point determine if the helper photon and the input photon are in or out of phase. Because the helper photon is entangled with the output photon, when the output photon reaches the end of its long journey down the optical fiber, it should arrive at the detector end mirroring the state of its entangled twin. In this way, the superposition of the entangled pair – in phase/out of phase can be determined to verify that the states have remained intact and the data of that state has been effectively transmitted. Prior to this research, a great deal of quantum information was lost in the fiber transmission medium, meaning that data transfer speeds and achievable distances were both low. Previous attempts to solve this problem sought the answer in such things as exceptionally complex quantum memory systems that could briefly store, and then re-transmit, quantum data without upsetting the finely-strung quantum spin states. The new teleportation method may, say the researchers, obviate the need for such storage systems by providing the long-sought ability to add a type of repeater/amplifier system into an optical network that would emulate those already used in current light communications systems. They also believe that this may one day help build a type of "quantum Internet" where vast numbers of these devices periodically resend data in order to almost infinitely extend such a network. The results of this research were recently published in the journal Optica. Source: NIST   http://www.gizmag.com/scientists-break-distance-record-for-quantum-teleportation/39525