Scientists disclose Santa's work secrets

By Seth Borenstein Washington Bureau

Employing Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, Santa can zip around the world warping
time and space and turning Rudolph's nose a blurry blue.
Scientists calculate the jolly old elf may be aided by computer-generated trip-planners,
antennas to read children's brain waves and nanotechnology that can make toys from cookies
or dirt......
For the past several years, a handful of holiday-hearted physicists, engineers and
biologists have theorized as to just how Kris Kringle performs his yearly Christmas miracle
while obeying the laws of physics.
Larry Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at N.C. State
University, came up with the most detailed answer to an engineering challenge "that seems
almost impossible."
The key to Santa's travel is what Silverberg calls "a relativity cloud," in which Santa
learned how to bend time, space and light - essentially making clocks run more slowly for
him than for the rest of us.
Walking through a child's house may take Santa several minutes, "but to us it would seem
like a wink of the eye," Silverberg said.
Arnold Pompos, a physics researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, six years
ago came up with a slightly different version. He has Santa traveling at 99.9999999 percent
of the speed of light, delivering all his presents in about 500 seconds. The rest of the
night he can feast on cookies and milk.
At that speed, Santa would leave a trail of light across the dark sky, and Rudolph's nose
would change from red to blue in a phenomenon called the Doppler shift.
To help Santa get to places more efficiently, mathematicians have come up with possible
routings to tens of thousands of cities. In September, Danish computer scientist Keld
Helsgaun came up with one that's considered the most efficient to date, allowing Santa to
visit more than 1.9 million locations worldwide while traveling just slightly more than 4.67
million miles.
Silverberg said Santa may be able to figure out what toys children want by using underground
antennas that read children's brain waves, like superevolved EKGs.
And instead of carrying bags loaded with presents, Santa could use nanotechnology, a field
of molecule-sized engineering, to turn dirt and debris into toys, Silverberg said.
It all may sound fantastic, Silverberg said, but "we know this kind of stuff is possible."