• New cell-therapy technique may obviate stem-cell research

    Updated: 2012-01-31 19:00:09
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Little Ice Age may have been triggered by volcanic eruptions News Picks home New cell-therapy technique may obviate stem-cell research By Physics Today on January 31, 2012 2:00 PM No Comments No TrackBacks BBC Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have succeeded in converting mouse skin cells into neural precursor cells , which can develop into three types of brain cell . The group's findings which have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may be important for certain medical therapies , such as bone marrow transplants . Until now such transplants have relied on stem cells , which can

  • Short Items

    Updated: 2012-01-31 17:10:59
    A few short items: No Higgs news on the LHC front, but on the BSM front today’s CERN talk Update on Searches for New Physics in CMS provides more evidence against the various exotic scenarios heavily advertised over the last … Continue reading →

  • Little Ice Age may have been triggered by volcanic eruptions

    Updated: 2012-01-31 16:39:18
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Quantum physics may lead to secure cloud computing News Picks home New cell-therapy technique may obviate stem-cell research Little Ice Age may have been triggered by volcanic eruptions By Physics Today on January 31, 2012 11:39 AM No Comments No TrackBacks Daily Mail A study by the University of Colorado has found that four massive tropical volcanic eruptions between AD 1275 and 1300 may be responsible for the Little Ice Age that cooled Earth for hundreds of years , writes Rob Waugh for the Daily Mail Gifford Miller and colleagues , whose paper was published in Geophysical Research Letters used computer climate modeling to simulate

  • Fermilab sounds debut in “Alternative Energy”

    Updated: 2012-01-31 15:33:37
    Most Fermilab personnel have learned to ignore the ubiquitous booms, hums, growls and crackles of Fermilab machinery. But composer Mason Bates places these sounds center stage in his new piece "Alternative Energy."

  • Quantum mechanics and stochastic processes: Revised paper posted

    Updated: 2012-01-31 11:04:51
    After having fixed the definition of the extended Itō integral, I have posted a revised version of my paper on arXiv (see here). The idea has been described here. A full account of this story is given here. The interesting aspect from a physical standpoint is the space that is fluctuating both for a Wiener [...]

  • Quantum physics may lead to secure cloud computing

    Updated: 2012-01-30 19:14:07
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Via synthetic shield , artist explores human desire for invulnerability News Picks home Quantum physics may lead to secure cloud computing By Physics Today on January 30, 2012 2:14 PM No Comments No TrackBacks Gizmag With the rising popularity of cloud computing the sharing of resources , software , and information over the internet security is a growing concern . To preserve privacy while users interact with remote computing centers , researchers in Austria have combined quantum computing with quantum cryptography in a process called blind quantum computation . According to Stefanie Barz and colleagues , whose paper was published

  • 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Clouds | DISCOVER Magazine

    Updated: 2012-01-30 17:35:00
    .

  • Via synthetic shield, artist explores human desire for invulnerability

    Updated: 2012-01-30 16:02:13
    , Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Are nanomaterials safe News Picks home Via synthetic shield , artist explores human desire for invulnerability By Physics Today on January 30, 2012 11:02 AM No Comments No TrackBacks New Scientist Jalila Essaïdi a bioartist in the Netherlands , recently worked with an international team to blend spider silk with human skin to try to produce a bulletproof material . The project , called 2.6g 329m s involved a Utah State University team , which genetically engineered goats to produce spider-silk proteins in their milk . Researchers in South Korea and Germany spun the proteins and wove them into a fabric , which was then wedged between

  • Viewpoint: Seeing Stellar Explosions with Shallow Water

    Updated: 2012-01-30 15:00:00
    Observation of shallow water motion provides a remarkably good way to simulate the shock wave instabilities that occur in exploding stars. Published Mon Jan 30, 2012

  • Are nanomaterials safe?

    Updated: 2012-01-27 20:55:12
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar ISS safety plans not sufficient News Picks home Are nanomaterials safe By Physics Today on January 27, 2012 3:55 PM No Comments No TrackBacks Science Nanotechnology research requires more oversight regarding human and environmental safety , says a new report from the US National Research Council NRC Although the National Nanotechnology Initiative NNI studies the safety of nanomaterials , the NRC has found gaps in its guidelines . For example , little research has been done on the effects of human ingestion of nanoparticles or on the safety of complex nanomaterials made up of mixtures of different elements . Potentially the most

  • Evading Piau’s paradox

    Updated: 2012-01-27 20:42:03
    Disclaimer: This post is somewhat technical. Recently, I posted a paper on arXiv (see here) claiming that quantum mechanics is the square root of a Wiener process. In order to get my results I have to consider some exotic Itō integrals that Didier Piau showed not existent (see here and here). In my argument I [...]

  • ISS safety plans not sufficient

    Updated: 2012-01-27 20:23:56
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Chair of innovative-camera company discusses technology , licensing News Picks home Are nanomaterials safe ISS safety plans not sufficient By Physics Today on January 27, 2012 3:23 PM No Comments No TrackBacks Florida Today NASA isn't adequately prepared to evacuate the International Space Station ISS in an emergency , says a new report from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel ASAP The report recommends that the agency improve its emergency drills and consider alternative lifeboat options for ISS . There is a greater than 30 chance that a crew might have to abandon ISS between now and 2020, the planned end of ISS operations , as a

  • Chair of innovative-camera company discusses technology, licensing

    Updated: 2012-01-27 19:10:59
    Macworld: A California company called Lytro has developed a revolutionary new camera that allows users to focus an image after it’s been shot. Lytro uses a microlens array to capture four-dimensional light-field information. With software and processing, that information can be used to improve the image later. In a Q&A with Lytro’s executive chair Charles Chi, Tim Moynihan asks him about the light-field technology, best types of sensors, and licensing possibilities with camera and camera-phone manufacturers.

  • Powerful x-ray laser creates solid-density plasma

    Updated: 2012-01-27 16:17:45
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Flooding as a result of climate change predicted for UK News Picks home Chair of innovative-camera company discusses technology , licensing Powerful x-ray laser creates solid-density plasma By Physics Today on January 27, 2012 11:17 AM No Comments No TrackBacks Science Daily Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s SLAC accelerator laboratory used rapid-fire laser pulses to flash-heat a tiny piece of aluminum foil to about 2 million C . The experiments used SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source , which is a billion times brighter than any other x-ray source , to both create and probe the sample . Making extremely hot , dense matter is

  • Everytime a Belle Rings, A Hadron Gets Its Wings

    Updated: 2012-01-27 15:21:13
    Fun post for everyone today. In response to last week’s post on describing KEK Laboratory’s discovery of additional exotic hadrons, I got an absolutely terrific question from a QD reader: Surprisingly, the answer to “How does an electron-positron collider produce quarks if neither particle contains any?” all begins with the inconspicuous photon. No Firefox, I [...]

  • Focus: Graphene Arrays Could Be Perfect Absorbers

    Updated: 2012-01-27 15:00:00
    A sheet of tiny structures, such as nanoscale graphene disks, can absorb all incident light of a specific wavelength coming from any direction, theory suggests. Published Fri Jan 27, 2012

  • Flooding as a result of climate change predicted for UK

    Updated: 2012-01-26 20:02:23
    Nature: According to a study released yesterday by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, severe flooding will be the most urgent problem the country could face as a result of climate change. The study examines 100 potential consequences of climate change for the UK in a number of different climate scenarios, drawing on climate projection models made in 2009. Flooding currently costs the UK around £1.3 billion (US$2.04 billion) per year; the study predicts that by the 2080s, it could cause £2.1 billion to £12 billion worth of damages each year.

  • Researchers hide 3D object with "plasmonic cloak"

    Updated: 2012-01-26 19:03:34
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar India's former top space scientist accused of corruption News Picks home Flooding as a result of climate change predicted for UK Researchers hide 3D object with plasmonic cloak By Physics Today on January 26, 2012 2:03 PM No Comments No TrackBacks Daily Mail Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have succeeded in cloaking a three-dimensional object . According to their results published today in the New Journal of Physics the group used plasmonic metamaterials to hide an 18-cm cylindrical tube illuminated by microwave radiation . Plasmonic metamaterials scatter light rays differently from the way more common materials do .

  • Fermilab plans for a future of discovery

    Updated: 2012-01-26 16:58:36
    The only laboratory in the United States dedicated entirely to particle physics recently released its plan for the next two decades.

  • India's former top space scientist accused of corruption

    Updated: 2012-01-26 16:04:16
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar No plutonium reactor at Sellafield News Picks home Researchers hide 3D object with plasmonic cloak India's former top space scientist accused of corruption By Physics Today on January 26, 2012 11:04 AM No Comments No TrackBacks Financial Times Madhavan Nair , former head of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO has been banned from government employment because of allegations that he was involved in the underpriced leasing of space spectrum to the private sector , write James Fontanella-Khan and James Lamont for the Financial Times Nair , who supervised 25 space missions during his tenure from 2003 to 2009, earned international

  • Synopsis: Floating Gates

    Updated: 2012-01-26 15:00:00
    Semiconductor quantum dots connected by floating metallic gates point the way to a scalable quantum computer. Published Thu Jan 26, 2012

  • Synopsis: One Photon Good, Two Better

    Updated: 2012-01-26 15:00:00
    ,

  • Synopsis: Tipping the Balance

    Updated: 2012-01-26 15:00:00
    The breaking of charge-parity symmetry at lower temperatures than expected in the initial stages of the big bang could explain the abundance of matter over antimatter in the universe. Published Thu Jan 26, 2012

  • No plutonium reactor at Sellafield

    Updated: 2012-01-25 20:44:48
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar US climate scientists gain legal support News Picks home No plutonium reactor at Sellafield By Physics Today on January 25, 2012 3:44 PM No Comments No TrackBacks Guardian General Electric GE Hitachi's plan to build a sodium-cooled , plutonium-burning fast reactor at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site has been rejected by the UK government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority NDA Known as PRISM Power Reactor Innovative Small Module the new design was intended to convert the 82-ton plutonium stockpile at the site into power . The NDA concluded that PRISM's technology is neither mature nor commercially proven . There are also

  • US climate scientists gain legal support

    Updated: 2012-01-25 18:24:47
    Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar China's scientific progress hampered by cultural bias , says researcher News Picks home No plutonium reactor at Sellafield US climate scientists gain legal support By Physics Today on January 25, 2012 1:24 PM No Comments No TrackBacks New York Times As climate scientists increasingly find themselves under attack and facing litigation for their stance on human-induced global warming , a nonprofit group and monetary fund have been set up to help them fight their legal battles . Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility PEER offers aid and advice to government whistleblowers and scientists working on environmental issues .

  • China's scientific progress hampered by cultural bias, says researcher

    Updated: 2012-01-25 16:56:09
    , Physics Today News Picks A blog of hand-picked science news from the staff of Physics Today Home Print edition Advertising Buyers Guide Jobs Events calendar Magnetic soap could help complicated cleanups News Picks home China's scientific progress hampered by cultural bias , says researcher By Physics Today on January 25, 2012 11:56 AM No Comments No TrackBacks Nature Although China is second only to the US in number of scientific papers produced , the quality of its research needs to improve , writes Peng Gong of Tsinghua University in China and the University of California , Berkeley . In his Nature opinion piece , Gong maintains that the problem is due in part to Chinese culture , which has been heavily influenced by the philosophies of Confucius and Zhuangzi who encouraged isolation

  • Quantum mechanics and the square root of Brownian motion

    Updated: 2012-01-25 10:22:19
    There is a very good reason why I was silent in the past days. The reason is that I was involved in one of the most difficult article to write down since I do research (and are more than twenty years now!).  This paper arose during a very successful collaboration with two colleagues of mine: [...]

  • Magnetic soap could help complicated cleanups

    Updated: 2012-01-24 20:45:25
    BBC: In the future oil spills and waste water could be cleaned up by combining the properties of magnetism and soap. Julian Eastoe of the University of Bristol and colleagues added iron atoms to soap molecules and found that the atoms clumped together into nanoparticles that responded to a magnetic field. The soap and any materials it picks up, can then be removed from water by applying a magnetic field.

  • An Introduction to Group Therapy for Particle Physics

    Updated: 2012-01-24 15:54:55
    The latest CERN Courier book review section is out here. Besides a long review of Frank Close’s The Infinity Puzzle, there are some short reviews, including one for Stephen Heywood’s Symmetries and Conservation Laws in Particle Physics: An Introduction to … Continue reading →

  • Scientists finish installation of 80-ton ‘particle thermometer’ at ALICE detector

    Updated: 2012-01-24 14:50:24
    Scientists on the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider just completed the installation of a crucial component for tracking high-energy particle jets. Without it, physicists would be lacking crucial tools to select which events out of billions to store and analyze.

  • The hunt for the graviton

    Updated: 2012-01-23 20:13:52
    TweetFor the past 50 years, the Standard Model of particle physics has given us a complete mathematical description of the particles and forces that shape our world.  It predicts with so much accuracy the microscopic properties of particles and the macroscopic ones of stars and galaxies that many physicists feel that it is the ultimate [...]

  • Viewpoint: Spin-Sensitive Optics

    Updated: 2012-01-23 15:00:00
    Advances in a magneto-optical technique will allow researchers to better understand how to control spins in a metal with short optical pulses. Published Mon Jan 23, 2012

  • Viewpoint: Fermion Pairing in Flatland

    Updated: 2012-01-23 15:00:00
    Cold-atom experiments tread into the land of two-dimensional superconductivity. Published Mon Jan 23, 2012

  • Nonsense about tension

    Updated: 2012-01-22 20:37:00
    Strings have tension, theorists say. Particles are vibrating strings, they say. But tension is a macroscopic quantity, like temperature. So is vibration. What is the meaning of a macroscopic tension in the case of strings? None. "Vibrating strings" makes as much sense as "flying toothbrushes".

  • Cutting-edge accelerator design gets results 60 years later

    Updated: 2012-01-20 17:33:32
    Daresbury’s high-intensity proton accelerator, called EMMA, gains its technological edge through an accelerator concept nearly abandoned a half century ago.

  • That’s Right, Count Them: 4 Quarks

    Updated: 2012-01-20 16:33:52
    Hi All, Exciting news came out the Japanese physics lab KEK (@KEK_jp, @KEK_en) last week about some pretty exotic combinations of quarks and anti-quarks. And yes, “exotic” is the new “tantalizing.” At any rate, I generally like assuming that people do not know much about hadrons so here is a quick explanation of what they [...]

  • Focus: Landmarks–Millikan Measures the Electron’s Charge

    Updated: 2012-01-20 15:00:00
    The Millikan oil drop experiment, published in final form in 1913, demonstrated that charge comes in discrete chunks and was a bridge between classical electromagnetism and modern quantum physics. Published Fri Jan 20, 2012

  • Synopsis: Slipping By

    Updated: 2012-01-19 15:00:00
    Simulations reveal both solid- and liquidlike frictional properties in molecularly thin lubricants. Published Thu Jan 19, 2012

  • Synopsis: Now Boarding All Rows

    Updated: 2012-01-19 15:00:00
    Using a simplified airplane seating arrangement, theorists have found that boarding time is less dependent on the number of passengers than one might expect. Published Thu Jan 19, 2012

  • Synopsis: Gravity Finds a New Partner

    Updated: 2012-01-19 15:00:00
    A well-known model for studying magnetic phase transitions may provide a path to developing a quantum theory of gravity. Published Thu Jan 19, 2012

  • Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory

    Updated: 2012-01-17 23:18:57
    The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook is having a workshop this week on Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory. I was hoping to find time to go out there and hear some of the talks, but … Continue reading →

  • Viewpoint: Seeing the “Quantum” in Quantum Zero-Point Fluctuations

    Updated: 2012-01-17 15:00:00
    A technique from ion spectroscopy reveals the quantum nature of a mechanical system at low temperature. Published Tue Jan 17, 2012

  • Viewpoint: Spins Jump Another Threshold

    Updated: 2012-01-17 15:00:00
    New theoretical tools could take spintronic lasers to the next phase of their evolution. Published Tue Jan 17, 2012

  • Decoding cosmological data could shed light on neutrinos, modified gravity

    Updated: 2012-01-17 13:10:01
    (PhysOrg.com) -- Today’s most powerful telescopes collect huge amounts of data from the most distant locations of the universe – yet much of the information is simply discarded because it involves small length scales that are difficult to model. In an effort to waste less data from cosmological surveys, a team of scientists has developed a new technique that allows researchers to use otherwise unusable data by "clipping" some of the highest density peaks, which present the greatest challenge to models. This data could provide a way to address some unsolved problems in physics, including estimating the neutrino mass and investigating theories of modified gravity.

  • Compton scattering: A Classical approach

    Updated: 2012-01-15 00:07:40
    TweetWe have shown throughout "The Imagineer’s Chronicles" and its companion book "The Reality of the Fourth *Spatial* Dimension" there would be many theoretical advantages to assuming space is composed of four *spatial* dimensions instead of four dimensional space-time. One is that it would allow one to merge the observations associated with quantum or photonic properties [...]

  • Focus: Particles Sorted by Entropy

    Updated: 2012-01-13 15:00:00
    A proposed device improves on past designs and would sort small particles from large ones to a purity of over 99 percent, without any moving parts. Published Fri Jan 13, 2012

  • Calling young scientists: Google teams up with CERN and Fermilab for 2012 science fair

    Updated: 2012-01-12 16:17:34
    Submissions opened today for Google’s second annual science fair. Last year’s winner earned a trip to CERN laboratory in Europe, among other things. This year not one, but two particle physics institutions will contribute to the fair. Engineer Steve Myers, director of accelerators and technology at CERN, and physicist Young-Kee Kim, deputy director of Fermilab, will each participate on the final judging panel. The grand prize winner will receive a trip to visit both labs.

  • Synopsis: New Recipe for Optics-Friendly Silicon

    Updated: 2012-01-12 15:00:00
    An algorithm for simulating animal evolution has been adapted to predict a silicon-based material fit for optoelectronics applications. Published Thu Jan 12, 2012

  • Synopsis: Lowered Resistance Under Pressure

    Updated: 2012-01-12 15:00:00
    Researchers have observed a new phase transition as the geophysically important mineral FeO becomes metallic when compressed in a diamond anvil cell. Published Thu Jan 12, 2012

  • Synopsis: The More the Merrier…and Heavier

    Updated: 2012-01-12 15:00:00
    Experimentalists make considerable progress towards sustained production of superheavy elements. Published Thu Jan 12, 2012

  • Synopsis: Out of Bounds

    Updated: 2012-01-12 15:00:00
    Liquids that approach an often-quoted lower limit for viscosity are deemed “perfect,” but now this lower limit is itself being questioned. Published Thu Jan 12, 2012

  • Belle experiment makes exotic discovery

    Updated: 2012-01-11 10:29:50
    The Belle Experiment at KEK laboratory in Japan has discovered two unexpected new types of hadrons.

  • Clearest picture yet of dark matter points the way to better understanding of dark energy

    Updated: 2012-01-10 19:38:23
    Two teams of physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have independently made the largest direct measurements of the invisible scaffolding of the universe, building maps of dark matter using new methods that, in turn, will remove key hurdles for understanding dark energy with ground-based telescopes.

  • This Week’s Rumor

    Updated: 2012-01-10 15:56:10
    The start of the LHC 2012 physics run is still a while off, scheduled for around the beginning of April, with beam energy likely raised a bit, to 8 TeV total in the center of mass. So, it’s going to … Continue reading →

  • Top 100 Stories of 2011: #1: Faster than the Speed of Light | DISCOVER Magazine

    Updated: 2012-01-09 19:20:00
    :

  • Emerging Trends

    Updated: 2012-01-09 18:37:18
    Most of the lectures from this year’s Jerusalem Winter School in Theoretical Physics are now available online. David Gross was the main organizer, and the choice of topics reflects his point of view on what is interesting these days in … Continue reading →

  • Top 100 Stories of 2011: #17: Quantum Weirdness Enters the Larger World | DISCOVER Magazine


    Updated: 2012-01-09 18:10:00
    :

  • Viewpoint: Rydberg Atoms Jump in Bunches

    Updated: 2012-01-09 15:00:00
    Theorists uncover a new way that interactions between highly excited atoms can affect the way they radiate. Published Mon Jan 09, 2012

  • Viewpoint: The Twins of Turbulence Research

    Updated: 2012-01-09 15:00:00
    Two new experiments on fluid turbulence have attained conditions needed to establish asymptotic scalings for turbulent transports of heat and angular momentum. Published Mon Jan 09, 2012

  • Nothingness in science: Lisi’s case

    Updated: 2012-01-07 22:01:16
    People working in science are well aware that severe criteria are generally used to scrutinize their work, work that must appear on reputable journals where a review by peers decides the goodness or the rejection. This is generally the start of a procedure that can last several years and that should end up with the [...]

  • Focus: Millikan’s Experiment Takes the Next Step

    Updated: 2012-01-06 15:00:00
    A new technique measures each unit of charge that accumulates on a submerged plastic bead, unprecedented resolution for a liquid-solid interface and an experiment that may benefit a variety of commercial devices and processes. Published Fri Jan 06, 2012

  • J-PARC completes first successful test run after earthquake

    Updated: 2012-01-05 16:32:24
    Ten months after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan, the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) completed the first full test run for their system.

  • Synopsis: Earth’s Magnetic Field Aids Study of Cosmic-Ray Puzzle

    Updated: 2012-01-05 15:00:00
    Published Thu Jan 05, 2012

  • Synopsis: Quantum Pairs Walking

    Updated: 2012-01-05 15:00:00
    Published Thu Jan 05, 2012

  • Synopsis: Quantum Search for Elusive Numbers

    Updated: 2012-01-05 15:00:00
    An adiabatic quantum algorithm can calculate properties about graphs that cannot be efficiently computed on a classical computer. Published Thu Jan 05, 2012

  • Schwarz's history of string theory

    Updated: 2012-01-05 06:21:00
    : Physics Without Ideology Bite by Bite The search for a theory of everything : satire about bad candidates and gentle fun about good candidates , such as the strand-spaghetti . model 5 January 2012 Schwarz's history of string theory Have a look at http : arxiv.org abs 1201.0981 where John Schwarz tells about The Early History of String Theory and Supersymmetry Read is as if you never had read anything on the topic before . . Try The results is astonishing . Schwarz tells how string theory arose from a wrong description of the strong interaction and mesons and baryons . He tells how it arose from playing with the mathematics of the strong interactions . Then he tells how he and others generalized it to a framework for the description of all interaction and particles . He never says why

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