Physics in the News

Wednesday July 30, 2014

Mystery of the ‘Cheshire Cat’ of quantum physics solved: Scientists manage to separate a particle from its spin

Scientists have observed for the first time a weird quantum phenomenon known as the 'Cheshire Cat' effect (illustration shown). The 'cat' in question was a subatomic neutron particle, and the ghostly 'grin' the particle’s magnetic moment, which describes the strength of its coupling to an external magnetic field. (Credit: Vienna U) — Scientists have observed for the first time a weird quantum phenomenon known as the ‘Cheshire Cat’ effect (illustration shown). The ‘cat’ in question was a subatomic neutron particle, and the ghostly ‘grin’ the particle’s magnetic moment, which describes the strength of its coupling to an external magnetic field. (Credit: Vienna U)

via livescience

Astronomers puzzle over new breed of massive stars

Illustration of Wolf-Rayet star R136a1, the most massive star known. (Credit: Wikipedia)

Can you touch your nose?

(Credit: IFL)

via backreaction

Why Russia was studying space lizard sex In the first place

NASA is studying the effects of radiation on sperm. Freeze-dried mouse sperm are spending one, 12, and 24 months on the ISS before being used to fertilize mouse eggs back home. (Credit: Wei Ming/Shutterstock)

101 geysers identified on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus

This graphic shows a 3-D model of 98 geysers whose source locations and tilts were found in a Cassini imaging survey of Enceladus' south polar terrain by the method of triangulation. While some jets are strongly tilted, it is clear the jets on average lie in four distinct "planes" that are normal to the surface at their source location. (Credit: NASA) — This graphic shows a 3-D model of 98 geysers whose source locations and tilts were found in a Cassini imaging survey of Enceladus’ south polar terrain by the method of triangulation. While some jets are strongly tilted, it is clear the jets on average lie in four distinct “planes” that are normal to the surface at their source location. (Credit: NASA)

via nasa

Electrical storm’ of thoughts deep within a zebrafish’s brain as 80,000 neurons fire off (VIDEO)

Exoskeleton gives super strength, latest facial recognition software beats the human eye

Man-made ‘breathing’ leaf is an oxygen factory for space travel

This man-made leaf could help us breathe in space. (Credit: Julian Melchiorri/Dezeen/MINI)

via cnet

Vintage NASA Probe Out of Gas, But Still Alive, Private Team Says

An artist's depiction of NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 spacecraft as it flies through space. The volunteer ISEE-3 Reboot Project, which hoped to move the probe closer to Earth, now says the spacecraft is out of gas. (Credit: NASA) — An artist’s depiction of NASA’s International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 spacecraft as it flies through space. The volunteer ISEE-3 Reboot Project, which hoped to move the probe closer to Earth, now says the spacecraft is out of gas. (Credit: NASA)

Physics in the News

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

First glimpse of Higgs Bosons at work revealed

his 2011 image provide by CERN, shows a real CMS proton-proton collision in which 4 high energy electrons (green lines and red towers) are observed in a 2011 event. The event shows characteristics expected from the decay of a Higgs boson but is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. To cheers and standing ovations, scientists at the world's biggest atom smasher claimed the discovery of a new subatomic particle Wednesday July 4, 2012, calling it "consistent" with the long-sought Higgs boson popularly known as the "God particle" that helps explain what gives all matter in the universe size and shape. (Credit: AP Photo/CERN) — CMS proton-proton collision in which 4 high energy electrons (green lines and red towers) are observed in a 2011 event. The event shows characteristics expected from the decay of a Higgs boson but is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. (Credit: AP Photo/CERN)

Drone fly-by at Seattle’s Space Needle (VIDEO)

Opportunity Rover’s record-breaking Mars drive, mapped

NASA reports that the Mars Rover has clocked up 25.01 miles of driving on the Red Planet—setting a record for the longest distance a vehicle has driven outside Earth. (Credit: NASA)

New correction to speed of light could explain SN1987 neutrino burst

A time sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images, taken in the 15 years from 1994 to 2009, showing the collision of the expanding supernova remnant with a ring of dense material ejected by the progenitor star 20,000 years before the supernova — A time sequence of SN 1987A, taken in the 15 years from 1994 to 2009, showing the collision of the expanding supernova remnant with a ring of dense material ejected by the progenitor star 20,000 years before the supernova.

via physicsworld

A robot that grows

Scientists in Italy are working on creating robots that mimic the properties of plant roots, including the capacity for growth. (Credit: Euronews)

The Moon could be littered with fossils from Earth

Diatoms. Images a and b are raw diatoms; c and d are fossilized, and e and f are fossilized diatoms that were frozen but not shot. (Credit: Mark Burchell et al., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society) — Images a and b are raw diatoms; c and d are fossilized, and e and f are fossilized diatoms that were frozen but not shot.
(Credit: Mark Burchell et al., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society)

Best time to see 2014 meteor showers? Right about … now!

Look up, sky watchers! NASA cameras caught this streak over the New Mexico skies on Sunday, as the Perseid meteor shower heats up. (Credit: NASA)

Teleportation is closer than you think

Recent advances in theoretical physics are making Star Trek style transporters a reality. (Credit: Paramount/Everett Collection)

via mysteriousuniverse

Physics in the News

Friday, July 25, 2014

Lust in space: Russians lose control of gecko sex satellite

Progress is busily working to re-establish a connection with the operating system — currently on autopilot — before all hope is lost. (Credit: Tim Vickers )

Hot Jupiter measurements throw water on planet formation theory

The exoplanet 209458b, a gas giant, is located 150 light-years from Earth. Dry atmospheres of three exoplanets challenge ideas of how planets form. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Mysterious black holes may be exploding into ‘white holes’

A new scientific theory suggests that when black holes reach the end of their lifespan, they explode into “white holes” and release all of their matter into space. (Credit: Reuters / NASA)

via rt

CERN accelerators come alive for LHC restart

Powering up: CERN's Antiproton Decelerator will be running next week (Credit: CERN/Maximilien Brice) — Powering up: CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator will be running next week (Credit: CERN/Maximilien Brice)

via physicsworld

Breakthrough laser experiment reveals liquid-like motion of atoms in an ultra-cold cluster

he experiment was undertaken at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in the Artemis laser facility using an advanced femtosecond laser system to resolve rotations of complexes. The picture shows a section of the laser system used during the experiments. (Credit: Gediminas Galinis, University of Leicester.) — The experiment was undertaken at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in the Artemis laser facility using an advanced femtosecond laser system to resolve rotations of complexes. The picture shows a section of the laser system used during the experiments. (Credit: Gediminas Galinis, University of Leicester.)

The first supercomputer simulations of ‘spin–orbit’ forces between neutrons and protons in an atomic nucleus

Figure 1: Nucleons (protons and neutrons) are made up of quarks (colored spheres) and have an orientation called spin (indicated by up and down arrows). The spin–orbit force is the interaction between two orbiting nucleons, resulting in a potential well (center) that holds them together. (Credit: Keiko Murano, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science)

Watch the Falcon 9 rocket booster descend into the ocean for its “soft” landing(VIDEO)

via extremetech

NASA says it’s too poor to fly

Space Launch System's planned variant vehicle configurations. (Credit: NASA) — Space Launch System’s planned variant vehicle configurations. The agency’s current funding plan for SLS may be $US400 million short of what the program needs to launch by 2017 (Credit: NASA)

via theregister

Physics in the News

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Scientists set new record by discovering the two most distant stars ever found in the milky way

: Density, temperature, and CII projections along the y-axis at a scale of 1 pc, for three different metallicities. (Credit: University of Göttingen)

Optical fibres from thin air

An “air waveguide” has been used to enhance light signals collected from distant sources. A single waveguide could be used to send out a laser and collect a signal. (Credit: Howard Milchberg)

via theengineer

Hubble traces the halo of a galaxy more accurately than ever before

This image shows the stunning elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. Recently, astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to probe the outskirts of this galaxy to learn more about its dim halo of stars. (Credit: ESA/Hubble)/NASA/Digitized Sky Survey/MPG/ESO

Proton spin mystery gains a new clue

Physicists long assumed a proton’s spin came from its three constituent quarks. New measurements suggest particles called gluons make a significant contribution (Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory)

via scientificamerican

‘Transformer’ pulsar is more than meets the eye

These artist's renderings show one model of pulsar J1023 before (top) and after (bottom) its radio beacon (green) vanished. Normally, the pulsar's wind staves off the companion's gas stream. When the stream surges, an accretion disk forms and gamma-ray particle jets (magenta) obscure the radio beam. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center — These artist’s renderings show one model of pulsar J1023 before (top) and after (bottom) its radio beacon (green) vanished. Normally, the pulsar’s wind staves off the companion’s gas stream. When the stream surges, an accretion disk forms and gamma-ray particle jets (magenta) obscure the radio beam.
(Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

Massive neutrinos and new standard cosmological model: No concordance yet

The research group demonstrates that adding such massive neutrinos to the standard model does not really explain all datasets. Credit: The Milky Way, NASA. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-07-massive-neutrinos-standard-cosmological-concordance.html#jCp — The research group demonstrates that adding such massive neutrinos to the standard model does not really explain all datasets. (Credit: The Milky Way, NASA.)

What is gravity really (VIDEO)?

via nasa

Advanced dark matter experiment coming to SNOL

The Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search is an international, multimillion dollar dark matter experiment currently based in Minnesota with plans to progress the project by building a more sensitive detector at SNOLAB. — The Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search is an international, multimillion dollar dark matter experiment currently based in Minnesota with plans to progress the project by building a more sensitive detector at SNOLAB. (Credit: SNOLAB)

Update: Einstein is still full of surprises

What is the view of time that Albert Einstein presents to us in special relativity? Einstein tells us that there is no separate ‘time’ or ‘space.’ ‘Time’ and ‘space’ cannot be separated; they are a united whole.

via davidreneke

Physics in the News

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Researchers reveal why giant black hole’s ‘galactic fireworks’ were a flop(VIDEO)

Physicist George Ellis knocks physicists for knocking philosophy, falsification, and free will

"You cannot do physics or cosmology without an assumed philosophical basis," says George Ellis. (Credit: David Monniaux) — “You cannot do physics or cosmology without an assumed philosophical basis,” says George Ellis. (Credit: David Monniaux)

via scientificamerican

Boosting the force of empty space

Two atoms exchanging a virtual photon. Empty space around them is not as empty as one might think. (Credit: Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna)

Beyond energy, matter, time and space

New particles may yet be discovered, and even new laws. But it is almost taken for granted that everything from physics to biology, including the mind, ultimately comes down to four fundamental concepts: matter and energy interacting in an arena of space and time. (Credit: Carl Wiens)

‘Quantum Bounce’ theory claims black holes explode

Kepler's Supernova Remnant "On October 9, 1604, sky watchers -- including astronomer Johannes Kepler, spotted a "new star" in the western sky, rivaling the brilliance of nearby planets. "Kepler's supernova" was the last exploding supernova seen in our Milky Way galaxy. (Credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair) — Kepler’s Supernova Remnant “On October 9, 1604, sky watchers — including astronomer Johannes Kepler, spotted a “new star” in the western sky, rivaling the brilliance of nearby planets. “Kepler’s supernova” was the last exploding supernova seen in our Milky Way galaxy. (Credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair)

We only use 10% of our brains? That’s a myth

A Diffusion Spectrum MRI (DSI) of the human brain obtained with the MGH-UCLA Human ?Connectom? Scanner. The fiber tracks are color-coded by direction: red=left-right, green =anterior-posterior, blue=through brain stem. (Credit: National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and National Institutes of Health) — A Diffusion Spectrum MRI (DSI) of the human brain obtained with the MGH-UCLA Human ‘Connectom’ Scanner. The fiber tracks are color-coded by direction: red=left-right, green=anterior-posterior, blue=through brain stem. (Credit: National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and National Institutes of Health)

via theatlantic