Science News

"scientists have discovered something peculiar about the CMB. A new measurement technique has revealed hints of a twist in the light - something that could be a sign of a violation of parity symmetry, hinting at physics outside the Standard Model". https://www.sciencealert.com/a-twist-in-the-background-radiation-of-the-universe-hints-at-new-physics

China has 'successfully' activated its own version of a Tokamak fusion reactor China successfully activates nuclear-powered ‘artificial sun’ (msn.com) China has been collaborating with ITER on such developments. It will be interesting to see if they have implemented any new solutions or technologies to the problem.

The way in which they did this was by placing a Gadolinium atom inside a Buckyball. youtube link deleted

Here's a really interesting video on the MOSAIC expedition, which was the largest expedition to the Arctic of all time. It is an casual interview with the co-coordinator of the expedition, Dr. Matthew Shupe and overall it is really informative and engaging. Just thought I would share the link here in case anyone is interested: Link removed as there was no follow-up discussion.

Scientists from the University of Queensland claim to have found a possible mechanism for time travel. Laypeople-level account: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2020/09/young-physicist-squares-numbers’-time-travel The paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/aba4bc/pdf The abstract: The paper is highly mathematical, and I haven't found the time to take a more detailed look at this topic. I've just learnt about it. It seems that the key idea is to find plausible trajectories in phase-space for particles in the background geometry. That wasn't very informative. Sorry I can't say anything else significant right now. …

You may or may not have heard about the "Wall of Fire" discovered by V2. The basics are, interstellar winds disrupted by the heliosphere form a thick blanket of plasma between us and the Oort cloud. Here's a short summary, with some additional sources listed therein: https://futurism.com/the-byte/solar-system-blanketed-giant-wall-fire/ Here's something to ponder regarding this subject. How is it that comets from the Oort cloud remain frozen after having passed through this barrier and into the heliosphere?

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-greenhouse-gas-emissions-global.html

Interesting noises are coming from the LHCb 'beauty' experiment. Analysis of angular data in decay B+→K*+μ+μ- reveal a 'tension' between the data and predictions of bare Standard Model. It seems that the results appear at the level of corrections via virtual particles. https://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/Welcome.html (My emphasis.)

A team of scientists has a new idea for how to save migrating blue whales from dangerous collisions with ships: shut up and listen. https://www.tectalk.co/scientists-suggest-teaching-ships-to-speak-whale-language/

Here is an extract from an excellent modern data source about symtoms of Covid 19 in the long term that may be of interest. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54296223

https://www.livescience.com/aliens-spot-earth-exoplanets.html

Our skeptic hero, James Randi, has died, age 92. RIP https://web.randi.org/home/james-randi-has-died

...and all I can think of is more efficient drivers for my flashlights: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/physics-first-room-temperature-superconductor-discovery?utm_source=Reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=r_science&fbclid=IwAR23F2iSASF7zy780H3PI3qVwNNM7ejoF7uWRmAza4j6FeASxnbNf7CDLJI

Superconductors, through which an electric current can pass without loss, have long been seen as offering great potential in such applications as transmission of electric power. The downside is that superconduction was initially found only at temperatures close to absolute zero. Years of experiment have led to demonstrations at substantially higher temperatures, but still well below room temperature - one of the goals of the research. Now the good news: reported in this Nature article, researchers have achieved superconduction in a carbonaceous sulphur hydride system at a temperature of 15o C. And the bad news: this occurs at pressures between 140 to 275 gigapas…

I would hate to be sitting on a bank watching this tide roll in https://www.msn.com/en-ca/weather/topstories/astronomers-capture-death-by-spaghettification-as-black-hole-shreds-a-star/ar-BB1a1COG?ocid=msedgntp One caveat ... "The idea of a black hole 'sucking in' a nearby star sounds like science fiction." and it is. BHs don't 'suck', they just gravitate.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/2020-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-awarded-for-crispr-to-charpentier-and-doudna-20201007/

I found this article. I don't know what it is worth. https://www.insidewalessport.co.uk/an-earlier-universe-existed-before-the-big-bang-and-can-be-observed-today/ Here is the reason and the deduction from this explanation: What is behind this singularity would then be that the much sought-after antimatter. So this thread has a strong potential to go into speculation... Sir Roger Penrose has recently published his theory of ‘Hawking Points’ (a crucial element in the discovery of a pre-exiting universe) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society CREDIT: APA Picturedesk Gmbh/Shutterstock/APA Picturedesk Gmbh/Shutterstock Sir Roger Penrose: T…

Breaking news: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/penrose-genzel-and-ghez-win-2020-nobel-prize-for-physics Much focus on gravitation lately. Will this be the era of gravity? Would Hawking have won the Nobel Prize had he been living today?

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-predict-how-long-humans-can-survive-radiation-on-the-moon

Can read more of the article here: https://astronomy.com/news/2020/09/rodents-in-space-keeping-bone-and-muscle-strong-on-the-iss Really happy about this as it will make moving between different levels of gravity easier and make living in lower gravity long term much more viable.

Apparently Dark Matter is 'darker' than previously thought. It seems that the gravitational lensing produced by Dark Matter distributions in certain galaxy clusters is up to 10x greater than expected from galactic rotations and orbits ( motions ). Indcating that not only are we in the 'dark' as to its make-up, but also distributions and/or properties. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/weather/topstories/astronomers-discover-a-surprise-twist-in-the-mystery-of-dark-matter/ar-BB18Wylr?ocid=msedgntp

https://scitechdaily.com/black-hole-plasma-conditions-created-on-earth-laser-briefly-uses-1000-times-the-electric-consumption-of-the-entire-globe/

Maybe not all that revealing, as it looks very much like the caustics of clusters and superclusters of galaxies, and these are supposed to have clustered around DM, but beautiful to look at nonetheless. https://sciencesprings.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/from-harvard-smithsonian-center-for-astrophysics-scientists-zoom-in-on-dark-matter-revealing-the-invisible-skeleton-of-the-universe/ The possibility of detecting radiation from collisions seems the most interesting claim:

Seems a massive ( record breaking 142 Ms ) Black Hole was created from the collision of a 66 Ms and 85 Ms BHs. https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/discovery-of-record-breaking-black-hole-collision-surprises-astronomers ( amazing what you find when you go check tomorrow's weather ) Published today from researchers at UBC. ( that's close to Mordred's stomping grounds ) edit I guess now muruep00 knows how supermassive BHs grow in galactic centers, without the need for negative energy, or time transformations.

A novel application of standard membrane technology similar to that used in sealed system hot water tanks to stabilise the oxygen supply from a concentrator in places where the electricity supply is unreliable. This is of particular use in developing countries where many many pneumonia sufferers are at risk and often children. Pneumonia (often called 'the old man's friend') is apparently the biggest cause of death in under 5's in the world. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-53918830