Smorgasbord of Articles

I have not had much time of late to write up, or even read some of these articles and while I hope to catch up over my break, I do not wish to deprive you of them any longer than necessary. So here are a bunch of potentially interesting articles.

Quantum 'world record' smashed
New invisibility cloak type designed
Physics probes 'splashback' problem
Freak space rock spins dusty trail
India Mars probe makes first burn
Olympic torch in first spacewalk
Laser ripping apart spacetime to create ghosts
New Super-Black Material
Superconducting video camera seeing in living color

Source for Dark Matter and Antimatter News

I stumbled upon a link on the APS website to an archive of all their cosmology news which includes lots of articles on Dark Matter and antimatter and the beginnings of the universe. If any of that interests you, don't hesitate to check it out.


APS-Cosmology

Single Atom Switch

Summary: There's a lot of technical science in this article but the heart of the matter is scientists were able to create a simple optical switch out of just one atom.



American Physical Society

Another Disappointment in Dark Science

Summary: One possible explanation for all of this Dark Matter that should be detected but isn't, is that Dark Matter could consist of relatively small black holes created in the early days of the universe. However, lack of data from Kepler supporting this theory has crossed of another possibility on our 'What in Sagan's Name is this stuff?' list.



American Physical Society

Lightest Tripod Ever

Summary: High precision measurements require optical elements to be super-duper stable to researchers has proposed using light beams reflected off of three mirrors to suspend a fourth mirror in the air to be used in measurements. It sounds crazy until you remember that (A) the suspended mirror is only two millimeters in diameter and (B) the reason this might be possible is quantum mechanics so of course it sounds crazy.



American Physical Society

Levitons: A Kinda Sorta Particle

Summary: Physicists in France and Switzerland have seen a new type of quasiparticle they called the leviton. This particle was predicted back in 1996. The ability to make these particles on demand could lead to quantum-electronics circuits that involve sending singular electrons through these circuits. I'm not sure exactly what the practical use it, but it sounds cool.


Physics World

A Light Knot

Summary: Have you had a burning desire to trap light inside a knot? Neither have I, but it looks as if this is becoming possible. Scientists "have discovered a new family of solutions to Maxwell's equations that are knots of light that do not disperse or lose their specific topological properties as they propagate. The researchers say such knots, if made for real, could be used to trap atoms or create similar knots in plasmas or quantum fluids." It ties by brain in knots just thinking about it. While this seems really cool (and the conceptual image looks awesome) I don't think it will be incredible to me unless they tell me that this can be used to make a real life light saber.



Physics World

The Good Kind of Tangled Phone Lines

Summary: The Japanese telecom company NTT has hit a new milestone in quantum entanglement. As a reminder, quantum entanglement is locking two particles together to have the exact same properties (spin, momentum, and polarization) for the duration of their entanglement. This means that you only have to look at one particle to know the state of the other. If the particles are far apart, this becomes an incredibly efficiant way to transfer data, which is what NTT hopes to achieve. Their experiment used two protons separated by 150 kilometers of optical fiber. Not only is this special because of the distance, this is also a new medium through which the data was passed. It would not be efficient yet, but down the line, who knows.



Extreme Tech

E-Sail: The Solar Sail for your Interstellar Needs

Summary: If I haven't mentioned it before, the solar sail is my favorite method for interstellar travel in the future. I've been excited about this nearly my whole life so I tend to jump up and down with excitement when new details are released. The most recent development is in the wires that would tether the sail to the ship without over loading it.



Physics Today

Fifty Years of Observing

Summary: The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has now been observing our universe for 50 long years. This is the radio telescope most commonly used for a picture when teaching children. One of the coolest things is that it is still the biggest single-dish telescope in the world. It is a very interesting read so I encourage you to click on the picture to get to the article.

Earth's Eternal Magnetic Field

Summary: Below is a link to an article about Earth's magnetic field and its longevity. It also talks about other aspects of the Earth's innards.



Physics Today

Butterflies of Science

Summary: To be honest, I don't really understand this article but it looks really interesting. It talks about combining quantum mechanics with mathematics, electric fields in a crystal, and some thing called a Hofstadter butterfly.



Physics World

Slaying the Dragon Kings

Summary: Dragon kings: extreme events such as earthquakes and financial crashes that can occur with devastating effect in complex systems.
A weird term but a very serious one. This article details how scientists have found a way to predict and then prevent them.



Physics World
American Physical Society

Happy Aversion of NASA Boycott

Summary: Due to some old legislation that excluded citizen of China and other nations from visiting NASA facilities, six Chinese researchers were denied registration for an upcoming conference. To protest, other research teams within the states were planning on boycotting the conference. Thankfully, NASA administrator Charles Bolden, overturned this ban and said that the organizers of the conference had acting without consulting NASA HQ. Disaster Averted!


Physics World

Lava World

Summary: The data from Kepler has revealed another planet that would be brilliant inspiration of any sci-fi novel you are trying to write. This planet, Kepler 78b, is mostly rock and iron but extremely close to its host star. This, paired with the theory that it is tidally locked, means that it is reasonable to assume that that side of the planet is completely molten. With that side of the planet being between 2,000C and 2,800C, it is obviously too hot to support life. It is uncertain what the temperatures on the other side of the planet might be or how far down the molten layer goes. This planet is also an enigma because "according to current theories of planet formation, Kepler 78b could not have formed so close to its star, nor could it have moved there." As a bonus, it is also doomed to be slowly pulled closer and closer into it's star which will proceed to rip it apart.


BBC News
Nature

Dark Articles

Summary: Linked are two articles about Dark Energy talking about one of the biggest mysteries concerning this elusive stuff and the other talks a little bit about its history. As a bonus, if you read far enough down on the page, there is an article about "The Big Bang Theory" which is a great show that I am very behind on.


Fermilab Today

But Which Higgs?

Summary: So we found the Higgs Boson. Or at least a new particle that is incredibly similar to what we expected the Higgs to look like. But what is it really? While there is the very unexciting possibility that it completely fits the mold of the Standard Model version of the Higgs, there are still other possibilities and more exciting results that come as a bonus.


Symmetry Magazine

Planck Length

Summary: Below I have linked you to a beautiful article in Fermilab Today answering the question "It is said that the Planck length is the smallest length possible. Is that true? If so, why?" It's not particularly news, but if you are in any way interested in physics or quantum mechanics then i is a worthwhile read.


Fermilab Today

The Universe's Violent Youth

Summary: Scientists at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology found new evidence to support the prevalent theory of the universe having a violent stage mare than 10 billion years ago that was responsible for the initial creation of heavy elements. Using the Suzaku satellite they saw an even spread of iron between the galaxies. This means that iron was present in the intergalactic gas even before the Perseus cluster was formed; an observation which they speculate holds true for more than just this cluster. This would put the creation of these elements between 10 to 12 billion years ago, during a time of intense star formation and energetic black holes. Most of this iron was created by Type Ia supernovae that then rocketed out their material into space.

Symmetry

Nature

A Blow to Possible Dark Matter

Summary: This is sorta the opposite of the news I would like to tell you about, but it does help refine our search for the elusive particles.
Back in April, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment looked like it had captured three candidates for dark matter particles.These particles had a mass approximately nine times that of a proton. However, yesterday, scientists working on the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment made an announcement negating CDMS's results. They argued that if the particles found by CDMS were in fact dark matter particles, then the larger and more sensitive LUX experiment that they had run would have seen about 1600 of these in their first run. However, their first run came up empty. It is of course possible that there are WIMPs hiding in the data or maybe they will be seen on the second run, but until then we have hit another wall in our quest.



Symmetry
Scientific American

One Step Closer to Mars

Summary: NASA's Orion spacecraft passed it's electronics test last week at Kennedy Space Center. This spacecraft is designed to carry a four-person crew to near-Earth asteroids and eventually to Mars. The first test launch will be in the fall of next year for a brief unmanned journey up into space before falling back down into the ocean.


Popular Science
Physics World

This Week in Solar Activity

Summary: Over the summer it seemed like the sun was having an unusual lack of activity for max in its solar cycle, but it has laughed in our faces this past week with bright solar flares and so-called canyons of fire.
Check out the article and the amazing video NASA Goddard has put together with footage.


Popular Science

Space Sight

Summary: Another reason why I do not want to go into space. It changes your vision. One in five astronauts report vision changes due to the increased pressure inside your head because of microgravity altering the shape of of their eyeballs. Ick.


Popular Science

The Science of Boomerangs

Summary: Have you ever wondered what makes a boomerang return back to you after you throw it? (Or why you can't seem to throw it right?) Popular Science has a quick article on the history and science behind these amazing toys. To give you a brief taste, it's all to do with torque.

New Record for Furthest Galaxy

Summary: Your friend in another country may seem incredibly far away, but this latest discovery will put that in perspective. A new record has been set for the most distant galaxy. The Hubble Space Telescope has found the galaxy z8_GND_5296 to be about 30 billion light years away. We are seeing this galaxy as it appeared just 700 million years after the Big Bang. To determine the distance, they looked at the redshift of the galaxy. It has a redshift of 7.51 which beats the previous winner of 7.21.

BBC News
Popular Science
Physics World

Seventh System

Summary: Astronomers have discovered a seventh planet are the dwarf star KIC 11442793 which, if confirmend, would be a record for a solar system other than our own. The star is 2,500 light years away and its planets orbit much closer than in our system. All seven planets orbit closer than the Earth does from our sun. This last planet was discovered by citizen scientists on Planet Hunters, a website that lets the public sift through Kepler's data to try to identify new planets.


BBC News

Mars Meteorite

Summary: A small meteorite may hold the secret to how Mars lost is carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere to become the planet it is today.
Key points:
-The Lafayette meteorite shows signs of carbonation which suggests that water was on Mars more recently than previously thought.
-This is the first direct evidence for carbonation on Mars which connects with the Curiosity's discovery of carbonates.
-Understanding how CO2 was removed can help us reduce climate change here on earth.



BBC News

Over 1,000 Exoplanets

Summary: The tally of exoplanets has soared to 1,010 listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. Out of all these, 12 have the potential to be habitable. This listing, though, is a little less reliable because not all of these planet discoveries have been peer-reviewed. NASA only counts those that have been published in an academic journal and thus their tally is currently at 919. Not to mention there is not a solid definition of what a planet is so some could be artefacts or low-mass stars like other candidates before them.


BBC News

The Quantum Measurement of Time

Summary: Back in 1983, theorists Don Page and William Wootters devised a theory of time based on quantum entanglement.They showed how this entanglement could be used to measure change. The results, however, vary depending on how the observation is made. If the change is measured against a clock outside and entirely independent of the universe, then appears that the particles are unchanging and thus time does not exist. These anomalies go away once the clock is moved inside the universe.

Just recently, scientists in Italy have been able to perform experimental proof of this theory by creating a toy universe to observe. This experiment is a step on the way to learning more about gravity.

 

 

Medium

3D Printed Metal

Summary: I thought 3D printing with the plastic stuff was cool, but now the European Space Agency has plans to 3D print metal parts for spacecraft and even nuclear fusion projects. This is all being done by the Amaze project, a very fitting title I think. And this isn't a dream for the future, they have already been printing with this tungsten alloy. They have already printed metal jet engine parts and airplane wings 2m in size. How cool is that?! The part that makes this so successful, though, in addition to it being a good investment, is how little waste it has. Zero waste in fact. Because of the layering method of building rather than casting, Esa's Franco Ongara says, "To produce one kilo of metal, you use one kilo of metal - not 20 kilos." In addition, since you can print objects as a single piece, you have no need for welding and bolting which makes it heavier and weaker. Ultimately they aim to be able to print a satellite in one piece that would slash costs in half.


BBC News

Meteorite fragment surfaces

Summary: Remember that meteorite that crashed into Russia earlier this year? (This story) Divers have now recovered the fragments fromt he bottom of the lake and will commence studies. This is the largest fragment of the meteorite found thus far at five feet in diameter; it is within the ten biggest meteorite fragments ever found. No weight has yet been established as the rock broke into three pices when lifted from the ground and then proceeded to break the scale when it hit 570kg.


BBC News

5 Female Mathematicians of Note

Summary: The Smithsonian Blog has posted short biographies of five brilliant women mathematicians that everyone should know.

1. Hypatia (ca. 350 or 370 - 415 or 416)
One of the first female mathematicians. Last known member of the Library of Alexandria. Followed her father, Theon, to study math and astronomy.

2. Sophie Germain (1776 - 1831)
Taught herself Latin and Greek to learn math and Geometry. First woman to win a prize from the French Academy of Sciences for her work on a theory of elasticity.

3. Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)
Worked with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine which is considered one of the first computers. She wrote the world's first computer program.

4. Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850 - 1891)
Moved to Germany to be more involved in the sciences and was privately tutored. Received a doctorate for writing on partial differential equations, Abelian integrals, and Saturn's rings. First woman (in the region around Stockholm) to receive full professorship.

5. Emmy Noather (1882 - 1935)
Developed many mathematical foundations used in Einstein's general theory of relativity. Received a PhD for a dissertation on a branch of abstract algebra.

Additional video:
Ada Lovelace

Underwater Wi-fi

Summary: Although I cannot think of the last time I was scuba-diving and had a burning desire to check my email, I am excited for the prospect of underwater internet. The intended purpose is not for watching "Finding Nemo" with the fish, but for detecting tsunamis. While normal wi-fi using radios waves, due to the limited range and stability in water, sound waves will be used instead. This technology has been in use before but it was cumbersome to share data between research teams. The University of Buffalo team is hoping that this will create a shared standard so that anyone with a computer or smartphone could be instantly alerted when a tsunami is approaching.


BBC News

Texture Screens

Summary: Touchscreens are cool and all but everything you touch feels like glass. Until now. Disney researchers have discovered a way to trick the brain into "feeling" different textures. It involves sending tiny vibrations through the display to create a sensation of feeling ridges and shallow bumps. As a bonus, they believe that this algorithm should be simple to add to existing touchscreens.
Our skin detects textures from the stretching of our skin so the vibrations form the surface artificially stretch the skin to simulate the texture. The bigger the feature, the bigger the vibrations.
I can't wait to see this being used in museums and zoos all over the world.



BBC News

Scott Carpenter passes away at 88

Summary: Scott Carpenter, Mercury 7 astronaut, has recently passed away at the age of 88.
He was a part of NASA's first group of astronauts and was the second American to orbit the earth in Aurora 7. His death leaves John Glenn as the last surviving member of the Mercury team.
One of the cool things about him was that after his capsule landed 288 miles off target, the Navy found him floating in the Caribbean, laying on his life-raft with his feet propped up like he was on vacation. When not exploring space, he joined the Navy's SeaLab II program and spent 30 days under the ocean and continued to be invested in oceanography up to his death.



BBC News

Nobel Prize for Higgs discovery

Summary: By now you have probably heard that the Nobel Prize was awarded to Doctors Higgs and Englert for the correct prediction of the existence of a particle to explain mass. While the two of them will split the prize money, it is painfully obvious that this would have been impossible to confirm without the help from thousands of other scientists who will get nothing. Aside, from of course the pride and recognition within the science community which is nothing to scoff at.
I think one of the most adorable things is that Professor Higgs didn't know he had won until a woman congratulated him on the street. He was also very humble when acknowledging not only the experimentalists who proved it, but the other theorists who had reached the conclusion at the same time as him and helped to make it better.



BBC News
New York Times 1 (about the Nobel Prize)
New York Times 2 (Opinion piece on the Nobel prize only going to two theorists)

The Visual Art of Music

Summary: One of my favourite things to see around the internet, are visual representations of invisible things. They tend to be creative and make great desktop backgrounds and this new article is no exception.
German photographer Martin Klimas has decided to photograph the music he loves. To do this, he poured multicoloured paint over his speakers (protected of course) and cranked the volume up. The paint leaps into the air due to the sound vibrations and spectacular pictures are revealed.


Smithsonian Mag

I Charge Thee with the Power of Zeus

Summary: Have you every been stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a lightning storm, and running out of charge on your phone wishing you could call a friend for help? Probably not, but in case that happens, you may be able to charge your phone with the lightning. The University of Southampton and Nokia collaborated on a proof-of-concept experiment to charge a phone with lightning. Using a transformer, the team shot a recreated lightning bolt of 200,000 volts across a 30cm air gap. Surprisingly, the circuitry of the phone actually stabilized the noisy signal and allowed the phone battery to charge. While this is not a feasible way of charging your phone at home, scientists think it could be useful for a communal charging area somewhere remote like a village in India.



BBC News

Outer Space Plastics

Summary: Cassini probe has detected propylene on Saturn's moon Titan. NASA says that this is the first definitive detection of this plastic ingredient somewhere other than Earth. Because of this, we also know that many other interesting chemicals have formed. Other than the cool idea of plastic on Titan, I cannot figure out what the application of this knowledge will be.



BBC News

Petrified Animals

Summary: An Alkaline African Lake has been turning animals into stone. There's some very interesting science behind this, but I will just leave you with one of my favourite images. Click the picture to head to the article.

Mapping Exoplanetary Clouds

Summary: If you thought meteorologists on Earth had it hard, check out what these NASA scientists have decided to tackle. They have recently mapped the clouds of the planet Kepler-7b almost 1,000 light years away. By using low-res images from Spitzer and Kepler they were able to compile a map of sorts. It was determined that the clear-reflective signature seen on parts of the images would be clouds. One of the interesting finds is that this planet seems to have a very stable climate with very little change over time.
This marks the beginning of a new era of exoplanetary study. No longer are we simply finding them and adding them to our list with a few details such as size, mass, and distance from their sun. We are now beginning to understand the planet itself.



BBC News

New Solar Findings

Summary: Scientists have recently found out that the solar conveyor belt churns things up much more quickly than previously thought. The flow also only extends half as deep as predicted. This may be able to explain why this year's solar cycle, thought to be one of the most active maxima, was actually incredibly dull compared to previous cycles.



SPACE.com

Mars update

Summary: Curiosity has found signs that Mars used to have a large amount of drinkable water in its past. In fact, there were at least two wet stages and sufficient water for microbial life to have formed. Curiosity has also found calcium sulfate veins which are an indicator of water movement along with more coarse pebbles to large to be moved by wind, but just the right size to be moved by a flowing river.

What Curiosity has not found, though, is evidence of methane. Previous measurements from Earth or from satellites had indication that Curiosity would find 10 parts per billion or more of the gas. The existing theory for the methane seen from telescopes was that it was produced by small methane-producing mugs that could potentially live underground. But this theory is loosing its base foundation.  As with all science, more measurements must be drawn before a definite conclusion can be reached.

But what's next for the future of Mars exploration? It could be a robotic snake. The idea is that a little snake companion would accompany its big sister vehicle and provide assistance. Whether this is gathering samples from tight spaces or providing an anchor for the vehicle to pull itself out a position it got stuck in. It has the potential to be a quick solution to any number of little issues.



Live Science (drinkable water)
Science Mag (lack of methane)
BBC News (lack of methane)
Live Science (Snake robot)

Frog Photobomb

Summary: A recent launch picture was photobombed by a flying frog, silhouetted against the explosion that lifts the rocket. A very beautiful and funny picture,, it was also recently commented on in the latest episode of "Mock the Week."



National Geographic

Falcon Launch

Summary: Space X's new Falcon 9 rocket launched this Sunday. It is carrying Canada's Cassiope research satellite, designed to study the sun's interaction with the Earth's atmosphere. This is also the first time it has launched at Vandenburg in California instead of at Cape Canaveral.



BBC News


Unrelated: Brian Cox is beginning a new documentary series called Science Britannica that is spectacular thus far.

3D printing in Space

Summary: Ever on the quest to make space travel more cost efficient while increasing our in orbit capabilities, NASA has decided to bestow a 3D printer upon the astronauts aboard the ISS. This will help provide faster custom solutions instead of having to resort to crazy gaffe tape and plastic bag solutions.

I personally, am very exited. Not only is this very time efficient, watching a 3D printer do its thing is very entertaining. 

BBC News

Smallest Shadow

Summary: Scientists have been able to photograph the shadow of an atom! There are some science-y implications that could follow this, but basically it is just super cool.




National Geographic

The Women Who Mapped the Universe

Summary: Pickering's Harem is what they were know collectively as; only a few are remembered individually. These are the women that helped to catalog the universe and organized all the astrophotography done at the Harvard observatory in the early days. Pickering used his human computers for largely clerical duties: reducing the photographs, comparing the stars to other already classified stars, or cataloging the pictures themselves. Despite this they did perform the important work that helped the universe be classified.

One of the few individuals to be remembered is Annie Jump Cannon. She is responsible for the system of classifying stars that the International Astronomical Union still uses today. However, she did not actually get any recognition as the system was dubbed the Harvard system of spectral classification.




Smithsonian

Anti Neutrinos and new flavors

Summary: Neutrinos are particles that tend to switch identities (flavors) and an underground particle detector in China is helping to provide more information on these weird particles. They do this by creating mikllions of quadrillions of electron antineutrinos. That's right, finally another article that relates to antimatter! The Daya Bay neutrino oscillation data has helped researchers to pin down the probability of of the electron neutrino occupying each possible mass state.

The studying of neutrino oscillations may also provide new clues to the great mystery of the matter-antimatter unbalance in our universe.

All of these findings and more will be presented this week at NuFact2013 in Bejing.



Live Science

Extreme science jobs

Summary: This feature present 7 extreme science jobs from saturation diver to astronaut to crocodile physiologist. It is a very short but interesting read that demonstrates the wide variety of jobs available within the larger science label.




Live Science

Area 51 secret documents

Summary: For those of you who like mysteries, the CIA has released documents that reveal some of the history of the research base. It began being used in 1955 to test new planes and train pilots. Unsurprisingly, the document only talks about events that happened prior to 1974.

Are you excited to read what has been hidden from us?


Live Science

10 new black holes

Summary: NASA's NuSTAR X-ray telescope has successfully discovered 10 super massive black holes. NuSTAR has been designed to hunt for these huge black holes in hopes of better understanding how common they are and what this means for our understanding of how the universe was formed.


Live Science

Saddle Shaped Universe

Summary: Based on data, it is possible that the universe may be saddle shaped instead of flat. On the other hand, it could be a statistical error. We should know for sure next year with data expected to be gathered from the Planck team.


Live Science

Cosmic Caterpillar

Summary: Hubble has yet another incredible space image for us. It is a cloud of gas that looks like a caterpillar. Unlike the small creatures we are used to on earth, this celestial caterpillar is 6 trillion miles long. It is actually a cloud of gas collapsing and may give birth to a star. But the important part is how beautiful it is.



Smithsonian Mag

The Art in Explosions

Summary: Some times scientists get so caught up in the beauty of the numbers that we can forget to see the beauty in the nature all around us. Martin Klimas, a German photographer, has recently been photographing exploding roses. He begins by freezing them in liquid nitrogen and then he shoots them with a gun to make it shatter them into as many pieces as possible while taking pictures.




Smithsonian Mag

Magic fingers

Summary: I'll confess I have no clue how this one works but the concept is cool. Essentially, Disney Imagineers have come up with a way to transmit sound from person to person by simply touching their ear. I am shaky on the practical applications here but it sounds interesting nonetheless.



BBC
NewScientist

Imperio!

Summary: Scientists have created a basic form of mind control to play a video game. Of course, this wasn't the sole intent of the technology. It is simply a good way to prove that it works. Scientist One can see the screen and knows when the space bar should be hit. Scientist One's brain signal is transmitted to a second Scientist who actually hits the space bar from another room.
While this is incredibly simplistic, the scientists call it a 'proof of concept' that can pave the way for more exciting mind-control.
While legitimate mind-control and human puppeteering is not what they have in mind, their intended goals are equally cool. They have imagined that this technology could be used similar to Spock to share ideas almost instantaneously. This may also be helpful when communicating with scientists who speak a different language than you.
This is not expected to become reality for at least another 40 years, but until then we can only wait and hope.


What would you do if you could mind-meld with someone else?


BBC

Voyager 1 is officially outside the Solar System!

Summary: JPL announced that Voyager 1 is officially beyond the furthest extent of particles from the sun. They have also released a sound clip of what interstellar space sounds like and some preliminary analysis.

sound clip

BBC News

Moon Mission

Summary: NASA will be launching a new Moon mission this Saturday. It's primary objective is to investigate the moon dust. However, what I find most interesting however, they will also be testing laser communications that could be used later for further missions.

UPDATE: Launch was successful.

BBC

What haven't the Romans done for us?

Summary: Proving once again that the Romans were geniuses, scientists have deduced that they knew the secrets of nanotechnology. The Lycurgus Cup appears jade green when lit from in front but glows a red color when lit from behind and had been puzzling historians for years. It was recently discovered that this phenomenon is due to tiny flecks of metal, like the Romans were using nanotechnology to allow different colors shine at different times. It may have even changed color depending on what liquid was inside the cup. Pretty cool use for the technology.


Smithsonian

Magnetic Flips

Summary: While interning at the Planetarium this summer, a lot of people had asked about what will will happen when the magnetic poles of the sun flip in a few months. The mainstream media, we found, had been once again stirring things up like it would be huge. This would be true if we were talking about Earth's magnetic field reversing, but not so much with the sun. As stated in the article, it is a very regular occurrence, about once every 11 years. It will be a gradual change with the magnetic field slowly fading to zero and then reversing directions. Any impact this has on Earth would be as a result of the shifting heliosphere. It may temporarily disrupt telecommunications while at the same time shielding the satellites from harmful cosmic rays. All in all, nothing to worry about.



Smithsonian Mag

Bicycle powered elevator

Summary: Yup, you read that right. A guy is building himself a tree house and got tired of climbing the stairs so many times. So what does any rational person do? He engineered himself a bicycle lift. He pedals the bike, thus lifting himself and the bike up to the porch. Very risky, but very cool.


io9

New Lego scientist

Summary: I don't know if you are into Lego, but they have released a new figurine. It is a female scientist complete with flasks! This is not only breaking grounds for female scientists in the public eye, it also differs from the previous Lego scientists that were basically stereotypes.




Smithsonian Mag

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Also, you will be seeing more science news stories more frequently on the blog because I need to find at least 4 STEM related articles each week for my physics lab so they will be put on here. What does this mean for the blog? More content, wider range of article, and more diverse sources. If you know of any good sources, don't hesitate to let me know!

Height difference

Summary: It has been found that the average height of men has increased from 5'5" to 5'10" since 1870. This serves as an indicator, though not a fault-proof indicator, that on average, health has improved. One interesting note is that there was a significant increase during WWII and the Great Depression. There unfortunately is not similar data for women because there was not enough historical data.

BBC News



Article:

• Timothy J. Hatton

How have Europeans grown so tall?Oxf. Econ. Pap. first published online September 1, 2013 doi:10.1093/oep/gpt030

Are we all Martians?

Summary: According to new research by Prof Steven Benner, Mars may have been a better place for life to begin. He suggests that minerals containing boron and molybdenum are vital is creating life-forming molecules. It had been previously thoughts that an early Earth was unsuitable for these elements, due to an insufficient amount of oxygen. However, Mars would have had enough oxygen for the element to form.


BBC News:

Latin lessons for Astonomers

Summary: Because sometimes scientists enjoy making things more confusing, images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) are now going to be captioned in Latin. This is in addition to the already 10 different languages available to read the captions in. I find this particularly fitting as the planet is named for the Roman god of war and many of the sites on the planet already have Latin names.
Does this give anyone extra motivation to try to learn Latin in their spare time?


BBC News:

Evidence of new element

Summary: Researchers have found evidence of a new, super-heavy element. Although it will need to be triple checked by other professionals, it seems pretty cool that we have another element to add to the periodic table.

phys.org

Spitzer’s Tenth Birthday Slideshow

In honor of Spitzer’s tenth year of searching for Dark Matter, BBC Future has compiled a short collection of some of it’s most brilliant images. If you enjoy astrophotography or are looking for a new desktop wallpaper, check out the pictures.

BBC Future

Teddy Bear jump

Summary: Remember that record breaking jump from near space that Mr. Baumgartner did back in October? His height record was just broken by a teddy bear.
The bear was lifted into space by a high altitude balloon flown by Dave Akerman. Inside the bear was a Raspberry Pi computer. A very basic computer, it is often used for people designing their own mini experiments. The computer took images as the balloon and the bear ascended high above the earth. It then switched to video in order to capture the jump from the basket and the subsequent plummet to the surface.


BBC News

Retirement for Kepler

Summary: Kepler, once on a valiant mission to search for exoplanets, has now lost another wheel: one too many to continue its mission. At least three of the four wheels must be functional for it to maintain its pointing long enough to collect valid data. The vote is now up to spend NASA's money on maintaining the broken Kepler and using it to observe other astronomical events or to put the money to a future astrophysics mission. Keep in mind that Kepler has already fulfilled it minimum mission objections and there is still plenty if data to sort through.

BBC News

Rare Decay Confirmed at LHC

I unfortunately do not have time to writing a summary right now and I wanted to give this to you guys before I forgot completely. Trust me that it is very interesting.


Also remember that the Persied meteor shower is August 7th-11th so keep your eyes to the sky. They originate in the North East but they are very bright so you should be able to see them across the sky.


BBC News

One Scoop of Neutrino Flavor Please

Summary: Scientists have discovered that neutrinos can change their flavor. "Experiments have now established that one particular type, known as the muon "flavour", can flip to the electron type during flight." This has a huge bearing on the mystery of the anti-matter/matter unbalance. It could potentially hint that neutrinos and their anti-neutrino partners display CP-violation (a type of asymmetry).


BBC News

Neptune's New Moon

Summary: US astronomer Mark Showalter has used pictures from Hubble to spot a new icy moon of Neptune. It was too tiny for Voyager to have picked up but with Hubble's higher resolution he was able to track the white blur across many years of images. It is Neptune's smallest moon measuring only 20 km (12 miles) across and completing one revolution around Neptune every 23 hours.


BBC News

Music app

Summary: Not strictly science, but something you would appreciate. Fuelled by the ever present challenge of trying to sync a song on two or more laptops/mp3 players at the same time, college students in the UK have created an app that solves this for you. The app allows users to tap into a virtual network that will start the song on all connected devices at the same time. Allowing you and your friends to have an awesome dance party.

The app becomes available in August of this year. 

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23321032

Voyager update

Summary: Voyager appears to be right on the edge of our solar system, the outer layer of the onion if you wish. It has almost reached the extent of the particles thrown outward by the sun.


BBC News

High Flying Internet

Summary: Google will soon be launching Project Loon, a fleet of high altitude balloons that could provide Internet to people in hard to reach areas. The huge balloons are incredibly thin (.3in) and will fly in the Earth's Stratosphere (double the height at which planes fly). The balloons are predicted to stay afloat for 100 days before landing and being picked up. The balloons will be carefully programmed and monitored to keep them in the correct area of sky by manoeuvring them up and down to catch the right air currents. The project will be tested first in New Zealand before progressing to more remote areas.

BBC News

UPDATE
Recently, some of these test flights have been mistaken for UFOs. Check out the articles below.
Live Science
Wired

New evidence for water

Summary: NASA's Opportunity rover has just discovered clay on Mars. This leads further credence to Mars having water in its past. The significance here is that clay usually forms in water of a neutral pH, thus safe to drink.



BBC News

Rivers of Mars

Summary: Scientists have confirmed that there was water in Mars's past. This conclusion is based on rocks found in Peace Vallis. Upon examining the rocks they found three things that pointed to signs of water.
1) The rocks were smooth like pebbles here on Earth found in river beds that had been worn by the water. It was previously thought that this could have been wind erosion but the size of some rocks and the distinctive domino-like placement of the rocks points to water.
2) The rocks found are many different colors due to different chemical make ups so scientists know that these rocks were moved from their original locations. Something a river would do.
3) Using Curiosity's Chemcam, they were able to detect feldspar in the pebbles, a common mineral on Earth that weathers quickly in the presence of water.
Based on this, scientists estimate that the water flow would be about walking pace and the water depth to be anywhere between ankle-height and waist-height.



BBC News

Clouds could reveal black hole details

Summary: A cloud of gas (called G2) that was discovered in 2011 is due to pass by the center of our galaxy where is it speculated that a cluster of black holes resides. Scientists have never been able to definitively prove that these black holes exist but are hopeful that when the cloud passes in September it could give us the proof. "The idea is that as the cloud speeds past these small black holes - some slightly more massive than our Sun but just a few tens of km across - gas will spiral around them faster and faster, heating up to millions of degrees and emitting X-ray light." Telescopes could then see these emitted rays and know for sure that the black holes exist. This indirect method of detection has been compared to watching the swirls in the water as a giant bathtub drains though thousands of little drains.



BBC News

Tiny Film

Summary: Scientists have created the world's smallest movie. Using only atoms as pixels, they have created a short story about a boy and his toy. Though this seems trivial, it demonstrates the control scientists have over individual atoms in a creative way.


BBC News

28 neutrinos spotted!

Summary: Scientists working on the IceCube experiment have successfully identified 28 neutrinos of, what looks to be, cosmic origin. These have energies far greater than is possible at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
As predicted in the 1950s when neutrinos were first discovered, this could lead to a new way of studying the night sky using particles rather than wavelengths.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22540352

Dark Matter article

This month's (May) Discover magazine has a fantastic article on the history of Dark Matter, what we know know, and what is planned in the future. It's a great read for anyone who is interested.

Intelligent paper

Summary: US scientists have developed smart paper. This paper, embedded with RFID (radio frequency identification), could be used to track important documents such as bank notes or used for faster scanning of concert tickets.
Maybe this is getting us one step closer to physic paper.



BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22369628

Star Friendly Lamps

Summary: For those of us who love to look at the stars in the night sky, we often are disappointed by the limited amount of starts we can see due to the light pollution cause by city lights. Researchers have now realized what I would have thought to be blindingly obvious, conventional streetlamps need to be altered. If you look at a typical street lamp you will notice that, not only does it not light some of the street below it leaving dark spots on the road, it also lights up the sky around it. Until we get hovercrafts, this is pointless. Researchers have now realized that they can instead use LED lights to build streetlamps. Using some Aluminum, the light rays can be focused to shine entirely on the street with minimal light polluting our beautiful night sky. These researchers do not have a prototype yet so we will be waiting a while for these better street lamps, but some progress is better than no progress.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22292129

2 New Earths?

Summary: NASA scientists have found two new planets within the habitable zone of a star. These two planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, are the most earth-like so far. Though they are too far away to study closer with our current telescope technology, in the future we may be able to determine if these planets do indeed contain flowing water.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22200476

Curiosity and other updates

Summary: Curiosity has discovered that most of Mars's atmosphere has since departed into space. Scientists discovered this by looking at the chemical of argon. Argon reacts with very little so the only way the lighter isotopes will have given way to a majority of the heavier isotopes is by escaping into outer space. The article does not comment on what this means when trying to determine whether or not Mars ever had flowing water other than to say that scientists are still split.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22063337


Summary: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) in the sky has made some observations that may give additional evidence to dark matter. Stay tuned.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22016504


Summary: The LHC is being upgraded so that is can find new particles. Not too much info at this moment.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21941666

Physics and Literature

Summary: Although physics and literature are not often mixed, there are places where these topics overlap. One physicist at CERN, JJ Gomez, has been overlapping these two interests.
He has previously written a story on his experience working at CERN and a book concerning the issues of potential energy sources. He is considering writing a new book focusing on nuclear energy. Right now, however, he is working on a book aimed at young adults. He hopes to introduce physics topics without all the complex facts. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with. Since he is a fan of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, I have high hopes for his book.

His previous works:
Book of short stories: La agonía de las libélulas (Agony of the dragonflies)
Materia Extraña
El ecologista nuclear (The Nuclear Environmentalist, now published in English)



CERN Courier: http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/52360

The end of Herschel's telescope

Summary: ESA's Herschel telescope, best known for its stunning images of nebulae like the Pillars of Creation, is set to take its last images later this month. this is a planned shut down. Due to the scientific instruments to take its images, the telescope needed to be constantly cooled to almost absolute zero temperatures. However, there is only so much coolant that can be flown with a satellite. The liquid is due to run out this month as expected.
Scientists are rushing to try and fit in as many observations as they can before the telescope ceases to function and they send it into orbit around the sun.
The images will be archived somewhere that they can be easily accessed.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21668712

Another puzzle piece in the Standard Model

Summary: Scientists have now detected D-mesons (a very small and elusive particle) oscillating between matter and antimatter. Weird, but super cool. This was predicted to occur since the other mesons have already been proven to exhibit this weird behavior. Furthermore, this evidence crosses the "five-sigma" level of statistical certainty that is needed to declare it an actual discovery.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21594357

Smartphone fired into space for test

Summary: UK scientists have fired a smartphone into space to prove once and for all if you can be heard screaming in space. One smartphone will play a sound clip of a scream while another phone will record during that time to see if a noise registers.

The mission will also test two new propelling methods. The Warp drive, an water and alcohol based system, and plasma based system. Not many details are known about these but I expect it to be released in due time.

BBC News

Inside of Mars

Summary: The Curiosity rover has successfully drilled a sample of Mars rock which it will analyze in the near future. For details on the chosen sample, click the link below.



NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20130220b.html

Smallest planet found

Summary: Scientists have set the record again for smallest exoplanet found.
I don't understand the exact process but they found it using sound waves generated by the planet.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21471908

Vulcan moon

Summary: Recently discovered moons of Pluto are currently undergoing the naming process. There has been a public vote that will be taken into account when the official name is chosen. The current leader in the poll is Vulcan, the name of Spock's home planet in the popular "Star Trek" series. The vote for this name is being lead by William Shatner who played Captain Kirk in the same show.
Personally, I am keeping my fingers crossed and am very hopeful that it will be chosen.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21526436

Cosmic ray origin confirmed

Summary: The Fermi telescope has confirmed that cosmic rays originate from the star explosions known as supernovae. They actually get accelerated toward Earth not by the explosion itself, but rather by the shock wave created after the explosion. (That's the part that looks beautiful in images!)
Scientists determined this by looking at characteristic particle decays. They know that pions decay into gamma rays which then travel toward Earth. Studying the gamma rays are ideal since they are not affected by magnetic fields and thus will point directly back to their source after being detected by Fermi.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21421449

Wonders of Life

If any of you are interested in cool science programs, BBC just began a new series called "Wonders of Life" hosted by Prof. Brian Cox. Even if you are not a biology person, I encourage you to check it out since the host is a particle physicist at CERN. Because of this he continues to sneak in astronomy and physics.

You can find the first three episodes on the BBC iPlayer website.

LHC Shut down

Summary: The LHC has begun its two year shut down for repairs. But don't panic! They still have plenty of data to sort through.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21421460
CERN Courier: http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/52361

Asteroid fly-by

Summary: An asteroid is predicted to pass extremely close to Earth. It will actually pass inside our geosynchronous orbit. There a very slim chance that it will cause any harm, though personally I am worried about our satellites.
This is not related to the meteor that landed in Russia today, though it is a curious coincidence.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21442863

Meteor crash in Russia

Super quick summary: A large meteor plummeted to the ground in Russia. From what I heard it did not kill anyone though it injured 950 people due to shock waves. Many people described it as a flare of light that was light staring into headlights.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

Mass of a black hole

Summary: I should have posted this before but I was trying to come up with a good way to explain this. Instead I will attempt an explanation and you can leave a comment with any questions you have.
Scientists are now using the principles of centripetal motion to calculate the mass of a black hole. Though its not stated in the article the basic equations are F=(Gm1m2)/r^2=(mv^2)/r
I'm assuming that these will be used to find the mass.




BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21259221

Moon base plans

Summary: Architects are working on an inflatable moon base to be assembled on the surface. A space ship will bring the inflatable structure up to the surface where it will be assembled with robots. Then, using the lunar surface, the robots will create a shell using a 3D printer. (Not sure how that will get up there, but that's besides the point.) Im excited to see how these plans progress in the future.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21293258

Medieval Gamma Ray bursts

Summary: This article discusses recent finds that indicate that there may have been a gamma-ray burst in the 8th century. It would've been visible during the day, but would not have had an effect on everyday life. This is in contrast to scientists predicting massive everyday disturbances  if another were to occur in our times.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21082617

DNA x4?

Summary: Scientists at Cambridge have discovered a quadruple strand of DNA within the human body. This could be linked to cancer and allow medical professionals to fight cancer more effectively. 



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21091066

Closing in on Dark Matter

Too exciting not to share before I write a summary though one will be coming.



** Dark matter hints 'to be chased' **
The team behind the Fermi telescope opens a call for changes to how it works - in a bid that could see hints of the mysterious "dark matter" confirmed.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21043381 >


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.


-Jennifer

Upcoming Science news

Hank Green made a wonderful video outlining exciting space events in this upcoming year including new launches, rare eclipses, and comets. Check it out!

http://youtu.be/AfQdi07LNF8


(100 posts!)

New experiments planned for Fermilab

Summary: This upcoming spring Fermilab will begin building new facilities for a Muon Campus. Not much is know yet, but they hope to utilize muons to be extremely sensitive probes for physics that the Standard Model can't explain. (Yea!)


Fermilab: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/archive/archive_2013/today13-01-11.html


As always, if you ever have a question on one of the articles or space in general, let me know.

Largest Spiral galaxy

Summary: Astronomers have found the largest spiral galaxy quite by accident. It is big enough to contain five of our galaxy. NGC 6872 also had a collision with another galaxy in its history which can shine light on what happens in a galaxy collision.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20981994

Space X update

Summary: Space X expects to be able to ferry astronauts to the ISS by 2015.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20964826

New light to be shed on Dark Energy

Summary: Astronomers have spotted the most distant supernova yet and hope that it may be able to give more clues about Dark Energy.

Bonus fact: Supernovas are usually named for composers. This one is named for jazz musician Charles Mingus.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20968199
Berkeley Lab: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2013/01/09/scp0401-farthest-yet/

17 billion Earth sized planets

Summary: Kepler scientists have announced 461 new planet candidates, bringing the satellites' total haul to 2,740. Based on this updated data, astronomers estimate that for every six stars that astronomers find, at least one will have a earth-sized planet in a close orbit. This brings the potential for earth-sized planets up to about 17 billion in our galaxy.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20942440