Physics in the News

Monday, August 11, 2014

Physicists create water tractor beam

Dr Horst Punzmann (left) and Professor Michael Shats test their wave-generated tractor beam. (Credit: Stuart Hay)
Dr Horst Punzmann (left) and Professor Michael Shats test their wave-generated tractor beam. (Credit: Stuart Hay)
via anu

Amazing HD footage of ‘Flying Saucer’

via sky

The craziest NASA mission ever proposed

In this concept image, the robotic vehicle deploys an inflatable bag to envelop a free-flying small asteroid before redirecting it to a distant retrograde lunar orbit. (Credit: NASA)
In this concept image, the robotic vehicle deploys an inflatable bag to envelop a free-flying small asteroid before redirecting it to a distant retrograde lunar orbit. (Credit: NASA)
via sciencenews

Scientists unravel mystery of universe’s existence

Researchers from Three Perimeter Institute have a new idea, and have claimed that what is perceived as the big bang, could be the three-dimensional 'mirage' of a collapsing star in a universe profoundly different than our own. (Credit: NASA, ANI)
Researchers from Three Perimeter Institute have a new idea, and have claimed that what is perceived as the big bang, could be the three-dimensional ‘mirage’ of a collapsing star in a universe profoundly different than our own. (Credit: NASA, ANI)
via aninews

Crowd-funded ISEE-3 reboot mission to begin Sunday after lunar flyby

The International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) will have the closest view of the moon at 11:16 a.m. PDT. Members of the rebooted mission partnered with Google to create a website, where they will host a video hangout beginning at 10:30 a.m. PDT. (Credit: ISEE3, NASA)
The International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) will have the closest view of the moon at 11:16 a.m. PDT. Members of the rebooted mission partnered with Google to create a website, where they will host a video hangout beginning at 10:30 a.m. PDT. (Credit: ISEE3, NASA)
via arstechnica

The black hole at the beginning of time –“We may have emerged from a black hole in a higher-dimensional universe”

our known universe could be the three-dimensional “wrapping” around a four-dimensional black hole’s event horizon. In this scenario, our universe burst into being when a star in a four-dimensional universe collapsed into a black hole. (Credit: Perimeter Institute)
our known universe could be the three-dimensional “wrapping” around a four-dimensional black hole’s event horizon. In this scenario, our universe burst into being when a star in a four-dimensional universe collapsed into a black hole. (Credit: Perimeter Institute)
via dailygalaxy

Bendable sound waves can skirt objects and trap particles

Scientists have developed a method to bend sound waves as they travel through open air, and can even create an acoustic “bottle” that can trap and hold tiny particles. (Credit: Xiang Zhang Group)
Scientists have developed a method to bend sound waves as they travel through open air, and can even create an acoustic “bottle” that can trap and hold tiny particles. (Credit: Xiang Zhang Group)
via spectrum

Researchers propose new architecture for quantum computing based on microscopic defects in diamonds

At the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), experiments with nitrogen atoms in diamonds are already being carried out. (Credit: TU Wien)
At the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), experiments with nitrogen atoms in diamonds are already being carried out. (Credit: TU Wien)
via redorbit

Physics in the News

Sunday, August 10, 2014

IBM cracks open a new era of computing with brain-like chip: 4096 cores, 1 million neurons, 5.4 billion transistors

IBM's new TrueNorth chip. (Credit: IBM)
IBM’s new TrueNorth chip. (Credit: IBM)
via extremetech

NASA’s “Impossible” engine actually worked

While the separate tests confirm such an engine might be possible, they could be wrong. Still, the mere thought of something that was once considering impossible is now possible should get a lot of people excited. (Credit: NASA)
While the separate tests confirm such an engine might be possible, they could be wrong. Still, the mere thought of something that was once considering impossible is now possible should get a lot of people excited. (Credit: NASA)
via technobuffalo

Disney conquers physics, uses 3D printing to create impossible spinning tops

via techcrunch

What if the big bang was a 4D black hole instead?

We could be living in the 3D event horizon of a 4D black hole (Credit: Wikipedia)
We could be living in the 3D event horizon of a 4D black hole (Credit: Wikipedia)
via forbes

Watch NASA’s new saucer fly to near space in this awesome video

via boingboing

Spot perseid meteors before ‘Supermoon’ rises this weekend

A particularly large bright Moon will interfere with viewing the Perseid meteor shower this year. (Credit: Starry Night)
A particularly large bright Moon will interfere with viewing the Perseid meteor shower this year.
(Credit: Starry Night)
via space

NASA postpones US spacewalks from space station over battery issue

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson on a spacewalk outside International Space Station on April 22, 2014. (Credit: NASA)
NASA astronaut Steve Swanson on a spacewalk outside International Space Station on April 22, 2014. (Credit: NASA)
via space

Can we call Pluto and Charon a ‘binary planet’ yet?

 This gif of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it raced toward Pluto in July 2014. (Credit: NASA)
This gif of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it raced toward Pluto in July 2014. (Credit: NASA)
via discovery

Status Of The Higgs Challenge

via science2.0

Physics in the News

Friday, August 8, 2014

The Black Hole at the birth of the Universe(VIDEO)

via perimeterinstitute

Everyone hates NASA’s asteroid capture program

 A concept image of the Orion spacecraft docking with the robotic asteroid redirect vehicle. (Credit: NASA)
A concept image of the Orion spacecraft docking with the robotic asteroid redirect vehicle. (Credit: NASA)
via popsci

How do you feed a hungry quasar? With a ‘super boost,’ scientists say

This graphic shows the center of a newly formed star cluster (stars are in yellow), within which the seed black hole gets its super boost of gas (shown in blue). (Credit: Natarajan, Alexander, Yale)
This graphic shows the center of a newly formed star cluster (stars are in yellow), within which the seed black hole gets its super boost of gas (shown in blue).
via yale

Diamonds are a quantum computer’s best friend

A team of researchers from TU Wien (Vienna) the National Institute for Informatics (Tokyo) and NTT Basic Research Labs in Japan has now proposed a new architecture for quantum computing, based on microscopic defects in diamond. (Credit: TU Wien (Vienna) and Japan. (National Institute of Informatics and NTT Basic Research Labs)
A team of researchers from TU Wien (Vienna) the National Institute for Informatics (Tokyo) and NTT Basic Research Labs in Japan has now proposed a new architecture for quantum computing, based on microscopic defects in diamond. (Credit: TU Wien (Vienna) and Japan. (National Institute of Informatics and NTT Basic Research Labs)
via sciencenewsline

Artificial retina: Physicists develop an interface to the optical nerve

Graphene electronics can be prepared on flexible substrates. Only the gold metal leads are visible in the transparent graphene sensor. (Credit: Natalia Hutanu / TUM)
Graphene electronics can be prepared on flexible substrates. Only the gold metal leads are visible in the transparent graphene sensor. (Credit: Natalia Hutanu / TUM)
via rdmag

Rebuilding part of the Large Hadron Collider – with Legos(VIDEO)

via washington

Hunt for dark matter takes physicists deep below earth’s surface, where WIMPS can’t hide(VIDEO)

via phys

Colliding galaxies left a stream of gas 2.6 million light years long

The bridge of gas (shown in green) stretches from the large galaxy at the bottom left to the group of galaxies at the top. A third nearby galaxy to the right also has a shorter stream of gas attached to it. (Credit: Rhys Taylor / Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey / The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration.)
via motherboard

Japanese paper cuts make graphene extra stretchy

Three dark field-transmission electron microscopy images of bilayer graphene are overlaid with colors to show diffraction angles. The lines are soliton boundaries. (Credit: Muller lab)
Three dark field-transmission electron microscopy images of bilayer graphene are overlaid with colors to show diffraction angles. The lines are soliton boundaries. (Credit: Muller lab)
via newscientist

Physicists use lasers to collect weak signals

 Professor Howard Milchberg.  University physicists working in the Intense Laser Matter Interactions group have made two breakthroughs in recent months: One allows them to send high-powered lasers through atmosphere, and another uses this technology to collect weak signals from a distance. (Credit: Samantha Medney/For The Diamondback)

Professor Howard Milchberg. University physicists working in the Intense Laser Matter Interactions group have made two breakthroughs in recent months: One allows them to send high-powered lasers through atmosphere, and another uses this technology to collect weak signals from a distance. (Credit: Samantha Medney/For The Diamondback)
via diamondbackonline

Physics in the News

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Shipyard workers test out robot suits in South Korea

Chu says worker feedback from the trial has been mostly positive. Testers were pleased that the exoskeleton let them lift heavy objects repeatedly without strain, but everyone also wanted it to move faster and be able to cope with heavier loads. (Credit: Daewoo)
via cnet

An NMR Chip The Size of a Seed

Harvard electrical engineering and applied physics professor Donhee Ham and his colleagues have drastically shrunk the size of the electronics even further, fitting the RF receiver, transmitter and other components on a tiny seed-sized chip. (Credit: Dongwan Ha/Harvard SEAS)
Harvard electrical engineering and applied physics professor Donhee Ham and his colleagues have drastically shrunk the size of the electronics even further, fitting the RF receiver, transmitter and other components on a tiny seed-sized chip. (Credit: Dongwan Ha/Harvard SEAS)
via ieee

The never-ending conundrums of classical physics

The incorrect “equal transit time” explanation for lift. (Credit: )
The incorrect “equal transit time” explanation for lift. (Credit: )

via  archtechnia

Is cosmic radiation the dawn of new physics or statistical slip-up?

The Milky Way is bit of a barrier between us the extra-galactic universe. (Credit: NASA, CC BY)
The Milky Way is bit of a barrier between us the extra-galactic universe. (Credit: NASA, CC BY)

via theconversation

Full NASA Cannae Drive and EMdrive Test paper shows that there is anomolous thrust and the null test article criticism is wrong

nasatestemdrive4
via nextbigfuture

Inmarsat warns over delays from failed rocket launch

Inmarsat used its satellite network to name search areas for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight
Inmarsat used its satellite network to name search areas for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight

via telegraph

Jupiter’s volcanic moon spews “curtains of fire”

Footage from the Venus Express orbiter confirmed sightings of hot spots on the surface of the planet, in accordance with volcanoes still simmering. (Credit: NASA)
Footage from the Venus Express orbiter confirmed sightings of hot spots on the surface of the planet, in accordance with volcanoes still simmering. (Credit: NASA)
via slashgear

Physicists introduce another quantum animal: The Quantum Pigeon

At the present moment another measurement is performed which is influenced both by what happened earlier and what happened later. (Credit: Jeff Tollaksen)
At the present moment another measurement is performed which is influenced both by what happened earlier and what happened later. (Credit: Jeff Tollaksen)
via phys

Radio telescope pinpoints Pluto for spacecraft buddy

The cold surface of Pluto and its largest moon Charon as seen with ALMA on July 15, 2014. (Credit: /AUI/NSF)
The cold surface of Pluto and its largest moon Charon as seen with ALMA on July 15, 2014. (Credit: /AUI/NSF)
via discovery

Social trails go off the beaten path: quantum lines of desire happen in physics also

 Kater Murch (right), assistant professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, and junior Chris Munley work with the equipment that can map a quantum device's trajectory between two points in quantum state space, a feat until recently considered impossible. (Credit: Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photos)

Kater Murch (right), assistant professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, and junior Chris Munley work with the equipment that can map a quantum device’s trajectory between two points in quantum state space, a feat until recently considered impossible. (Credit: Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photos)

via sciencecodex

Planting imperfections at specific spots within diamond lattice could advance quantum computing

This is a schematic of the process to localize NV centers in 3-D. The researchers blasted carbon ions through holes to create vacancies and heated the diamond to make the vacancies mobile within the crystal. NV centers could form in the nitrogen-doped layer below where the holes were placed. (Credit: F.J. Heremans and D. Awschalom/U. Chicago and K. Ohno/UCSB)
This is a schematic of the process to localize NV centers in 3-D. The researchers blasted carbon ions through holes to create vacancies and heated the diamond to make the vacancies mobile within the crystal. NV centers could form in the nitrogen-doped layer below where the holes were placed. (Credit: F.J. Heremans and D. Awschalom/U. Chicago and K. Ohno/UCSB)

via phys

Physics in the News

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Despite extensive analysis, Fermi bubbles defy explanation

This artist's representation shows the Fermi bubbles towering above and below the galaxy. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. (Credit: NASA)
This artist’s representation shows the Fermi bubbles towering above and below the galaxy. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. (Credit: NASA)
via phys.org

NASA ‘to make oxygen on Mars early next decade’

Space agency officials unveiled seven instruments they plan to put on a Martian rover that would launch in 2020, including two devices aimed at bigger Mars missions in the future. (Credit: NASA)
Space agency officials unveiled seven instruments they plan to put on a Martian rover that would launch in 2020, including two devices aimed at bigger Mars missions in the future. (Credit: NASA)
via news.com

On-chip topological light: First measurements of transmission and delay

Light enters a two-dimensional ring-resonator array from the lower left and exits at the lower right.  Light that follows the edge of the array (blue) does not suffer energy loss and exits after a consistent amount of delay. Light travels into the interior of the array (green) suffers energy loss. (Credit: Sean Kelley/JQI)
Light enters a two-dimensional ring-resonator array from the lower left and exits at the lower right. Light that follows the edge of the array (blue) does not suffer energy loss and exits after a consistent amount of delay. Light travels into the interior of the array (green) suffers energy loss. (Credit: Sean Kelley/JQI)
via esciencenews

Particle fever makes me feel like a physicist

via gizmodo

Final flight of European space vehicle to Space Station goes out with a ‘Big Bang’

ESA's Haptics-1 body-mounted astronaut joystick will be used to investigate telerobotics for space aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: European Space Agency)
ESA’s Haptics-1 body-mounted astronaut joystick will be used to investigate telerobotics for space aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: European Space Agency)
via phys.org

World Wide Web day today: Celebrate the web browser invention and surf

CERN’s website was the first to be hosted on the World Wide Web, at info.cern.ch. It was a simple page that contained a lot of links, which was essentially what the WWW was for at that time. It was dedicated to the Internet itself, describing the basic features of the web, accessing documents and setting up servers. (Credit: Beth A. Balen)
CERN’s website was the first to be hosted on the World Wide Web, at info.cern.ch. It was a simple page that contained a lot of links, which was essentially what the WWW was for at that time. It was dedicated to the Internet itself, describing the basic features of the web, accessing documents and setting up servers. (Credit: Beth A. Balen)
via guardianlv 

One Small Step for Your Dead Pet

Celestis has expanded their services to include animals, called Celestis Pets. And now you can even send your family pet in Armstrong’s and Aldrin’s footsteps by launching them to the moon. (Credit: Celestis Pets)
Celestis has expanded their services to include animals, called Celestis Pets. And now you can even send your family pet in Armstrong’s and Aldrin’s footsteps by launching them to the moon. (Credit: Celestis Pets)
via discovery