Could it be that human existence depends on gravitational waves? Some key elements in our biological makeup may come from astrophysical events that occur because gravitational waves exist, a research team headed by John R. Ellis of Kings College London suggests.
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 4:56 p.m. ET on March 28, 2024. NASA
Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is “To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.” Its core values are “safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion.” NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.
A study from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) which combines laboratory chemistry with astrophysics, has shown for the first time that grains of dust formed by carbon and hydrogen in a highly disordered state, known as HAC, can take part in the formation of fullerenes, carbon molecules which are of key importance for the development of life in the universe, and with potential applications in nanotechnology. The results are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
A new telescope called the “Condor Array Telescope” may open up a new world of the very-low-brightness universe for astrophysicists. Four new papers, published back to back in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) this month, present the first scientific findings based on observations acquired by Condor. The project is a collaborative led by scientists in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).
According to lead researchers Kenneth M. Lanzetta, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Stefan Gromoll of Stony Brook, and Michael M. Shara, Ph.D., Curator in the Department of Astrophysics at the AMNH, Condor is now in full operation. The new “array telescope” uses computers to combine light from several smaller telescopes into the equivalent of one larger telescope and is able to detect and study astronomical features that are too faint to be seen with conventional telescopes.
In the first paper, Lanzetta and colleagues used Condor to study extremely faint “stellar streams” surrounding the nearby galaxy NGC 5,907, a well-known spiral galaxy located some 50 million light years from Earth.
Mode-locked lasers are advanced lasers that produce very short pulses of light, with durations ranging from femtoseconds to picoseconds. These lasers are widely used to study ultrafast and nonlinear optical phenomena, but they have also proved useful for various technological applications.
Researchers at California Institute of Technology have recently been exploring the potential of mode-locked lasers as platforms to study topological phenomena. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, outlines the potential of these lasers for studying and realizing new non-Hermitian topological physics, with various potential applications.
“The idea of utilizing topological robustness and topological protection for photonic devices has attracted substantial attention in the past decade, yet whether such behaviors can provide substantial practical benefits remains unclear,” Alireza Marandi, lead author of the paper, told Phys.org.
In March 2024, the CMS collaboration announced the observation of two photons creating two tau leptons in proton–proton collisions. It is the first time that this process has been seen in proton–proton collisions, which was made possible by using the precise tracking capabilities of the CMS detector. It is also the most precise measurement of the tau’s anomalous magnetic moment and offers a new way to constrain the existence of new physics.
Swiss physicists have achieved a groundbreaking breakthrough in lightning control using laser beams, which could lead to advanced lightning protection systems for critical infrastructure such as airports and rocket launch sites, Science reports.
The study, led by scientists at the École Polytechnique and the University of Geneva, successfully demonstrated the ability to steer lightning using high-powered lasers. This expensive breakthrough could offer enhanced protection against lightning strikes, which can cause significant damage and pose risks to human safety.
In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble and Georges Lemaitre made a startling discovery that forever changed our perception of the Universe. Upon observing galaxies beyond the Milky Way and measuring their spectra, they determined that the Universe was expanding. By the 1990s, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists took the deepest images of the Universe to date and made another startling discovery: the rate of expansion is speeding up! This parameter, denoted by Lambda, is integral to the accepted model of cosmology, known as the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model.
Since then, attempts to measure distances have produced a discrepancy known as the “Hubble Tension.” While it was hoped that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would resolve this “crisis in cosmology,” its observations have only deepened the mystery. This has led to several proposed resolutions, including the idea that there was an “Early Dark Energy” shortly after the Big Bang. In a recent paper, an international team of astrophysicists proposed a new solution based on an alternate theory of gravity that states that our galaxy is in the center of an “under-density.”
A century ago, Emmy Noether published a theorem that would change mathematics and physics. Here’s an all-ages guided tour through this groundbreaking idea.
New research from Australian scientists shows strong evidence even mid-life stable stars like our sun have engulfed entire planets.
