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Category Archives: General
Old-school cosmological calculations
By Tushna Commissariat
Doing away with complex calculations? (CC-BY-2.0/Boaz Arad)
The next time you need to quickly convert the redshift of some distant cosmic object to parsecs or kilometres, and find that your laptop and phone have both run out of charge (the horror!), the “Paper-and-pencil cosmological calculator” might be just the thing for you. More of a chart than a “calculator”, the new table – that is based on the ΛCDM cosmological model of the universe – has been drawn up by Sergey Pilipenko from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. And here’s the best bit – all the parameters that Pilipenko has plugged into his table are from the latest Planck results unveiled last month.
When will quantum communications blast off?
Will quantum communications be sent to the ISS? (Courtesy: NASA)
By Hamish Johnston
I think it’s safe to say that quantum communications between satellites and ground-based stations should be possible. Optical signals have already been sent 144 km through the air between ground stations at sea level. More recently, quantum communications have been achieved between an aircraft in flight and a ground station 20 km distant.
While quantum communications have been sent comparable distances via optical fibre, it’s unlikely that the fragile single photons used in such missives would survive an ocean crossing unscathed. Therefore if technologies such as quantum key distribution cryptography are to become truly practical, satellites must be involved.
Listen to the sound of the Big Bang
By James Dacey
It sounds like a Kraftwerk track, but this is in fact an audio representation of the Big Bang based on scientific measurements. The physicist John Kramer has produced the sounds using the new data from the ESA’s Planck Mission analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation.
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Honey at the asymptotic limit
By Hamish Johnston
What’s the buzz in physics this week? Forget dark matter, it’s honey – or rather the strange properties of this tasty fluid.
If you have a sweet tooth (or an interest in the Rayleigh–Plateau instability) check out this paper in Physical Review Letters.
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Should scientists speculate openly in the mainstream media about new science results?
By James Dacey
Read all about it! (Courtesy: iStockphoto/DNY59)
The first science results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) present a mixed bag for both scientists and journalists. On the one hand, they show that the machinery of this high-profile $1.5bn mission is actually working. And as my colleague Michael Banks reported earlier today, the excess of positrons, confirming previous measurements, represent an important step in the hunt for dark matter. But on the other hand, this was not a moment to break out the champagne at the celebration of new physics. In reality, it was an important step in testing the precision of the instrument, as well as a reminder that we all need to be patient while we wait for more data.
Given the scale and scope of the AMS mission, it is not surprising that the scientists involved in analysing these first results are keen to share their excitement with the general public. One way they have been doing this is by talking to the media and speculating about the significance of the findings. I find it really interesting to look at how the results have been covered in the headlines of the mainstream media. The BBC ran with “Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer zeroes in on dark matter”. Over the pond, the New York Times went for “Tantalizing New Clues Into the Mysteries of Dark Matter”, adopting the classic science-writing metaphor of a detective story. Both parties presented these early results as an exciting development in a gripping plot to uncover one of the long-standing mysteries of the cosmos.
Institute of Physics launches new blog
Jim Al Khalili joins the ranks of physicsfocus bloggers.
By Hamish Johnston
The Institute of Physics has just launched a new blog called physicsfocus that is described as “an online space for the physics community to read about and comment on issues that concern them”.
First light at the NOvA neutrino detector
Burst of particles created when a muon interacts with the NOvA Far Detector. (Courtesy: NOvA collaboration)
By Hamish Johnston
Deep in the North Woods in Minnesota the snow is starting to melt, and the giant NOvA Far Detector is coming to life. Designed to register the arrival of neutrinos that will be created 810 km away at Fermilab near Chicago, the detector has recorded its first 3D images. These are not of neutrinos, but of the trajectories of fast-moving particles that are created in a process that begins with a cosmic ray colliding with Earth’s atmosphere.
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The April 2013 issue of Physics World is now live
Physics World April 2013.
By Matin Durrani
If you’re a member of the Institute of Physics, the April 2013 issue of Physics World is now ready to view online or through our apps.
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick and – to celebrate that milestone – we have a great feature on an unusual aspect of the famous double helix: namely, how knot theory can help us to understand how and why DNA tangles up.
Elsewhere in the issue, we continue the biophysics theme by looking at the damage caused to the human brain by blows from sports injuries or by the shock waves from exploding bombs. This is not traditional physics territory by any means, but surely there is no harm in physicists bringing a fresh perspective to such matters?
Our final feature this month looks at the history of Maxwell’s demon – the tiny being originally devised by James Clerk Maxwell as a thought experiment to evade the second law of thermodynamics. But, as Philip Ball explains, some of the physicist’s contemporaries actually believed it was an intelligent being that could bridge hidden worlds and provide a scientific route to immortality of the human soul.
What is the most common problem with academic presentations?
By James Dacey
Whether you love giving them or loathe the entire experience, everyone has to deliver a presentation at some point during an academic career – be they student or professional researcher. It might be the presentation of your results to supervisors and peers. Or it might be an outreach talk to explain your research to people who have probably never heard of you or your very interesting academic niche. There is no magic formula to giving a successful presentation, but instinctively I think we all know when it’s gone well. Likewise, I think we all know when we could have spent a bit more time whipping those slides into shape, or when we perhaps should have put a bit more thought into the appropriateness of that risqué joke.
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Glass-blowing at the nanoscale
By James Dacey
(Courtesy: Alain Herzog/EPFL)
From the Romans to the studio artists of today, glass blowing is as much an art form as it is a technical discipline. In the same spirit as this creative lineage, a group of researchers in Switzerland has invented a technique for creating nano-sized capillary tubes of bespoke sizes.
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