Thursday 16 June 2016

Trilobites: New ‘Extinct’ Meteorite Hints at Violent Cosmic Collision

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The discovery in a Swedish limestone quarry is unlike any meteorite ever before found on Earth.
via New York Times

New type of meteorite linked to ancient asteroid collision

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An ancient space rock discovered in a Swedish quarry is a type of meteorite never before found on Earth, and likely a remnant of a massive asteroid collision 470 million years ago that sent debris raining to Earth.
via Science Daily
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LHCP2016: latest results from the LHC experiments

The Large Hadron Collider Physics 2016 conference held this week in Lund, Sweden, sets the scene for the high-energy physics summer conferences and presents new physics results on data collected in 2015 at the LHC (Image: Clara Nellist/LHCP/CERN)

The LHCP2016 conference (Large Hadron Collider Physics 2016), held this week in Lund, Sweden, sets the scene for the high-energy physics summer conferences. This is an opportunity for high-energy physicists to look at the latest results of the LHC experiments, from Standard Model physics, research on the Higgs boson and heavy-ion physics to Supersymmetry and other Beyond Standard Model investigations.

The timing of the LHCP meeting is too early to have new physics results from the latest, 2016, data. However, performance analyses of the detectors from the start of the 2016 run are shown at this week’s conference. Although the LHC is operating at the same energy as in 2015, the machine has been tuned to increase the number of collisions at each crossing of proton bunches. In 2015, 15 to 20 collisions occurred at each bunch crossing at the centre of the ATLAS and CMS detectors, whereas 25 to 30 collisions occur now at each crossing. Re-establishing a good detector and trigger performance in these conditions, with tuned and improved detectors, is always an important task at the start of each year's data-taking, to prepare for physics results. The big experiments, ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb, are presenting 2016 performance results.

LHCP this year also provides an excellent chance to take stock of the results from 2015 data-taking, as a number of new results released since the winter conferences are available for the conference. This includes results from the proton–proton collisions in 2015, but also from the lead–lead data-taking at the end of the year.

The LHCb collaboration are presenting, for instance, new results about tetraquarks and pentaquarks, the new class of particles discovered last year. The proton–proton run results also include the previously released analyses from CMS and ATLAS showing a slight excess in events with two photons with diphoton mass close to 750 GeV. Both experiments have submitted, this week, the final 2015 data results to peer-reviewed journals. The two experiments are now collecting a much bigger sample at the LHC, which should, in time, give an answer to whether the slight excess observed in 2015 points to a new observation or a statistical fluctuation. Among the results from lead-lead collisions at the new record energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair, the ALICE collaboration are presenting a new analyse on the suppression of particle production at high transverse momentum.

The next big event for LHC physics results is planned for early August in Chicago, at the ICHEP 2016 conference.

Read news from ATLAS and CMS for more information on the results presented in LHCP2016.

 

via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/06/lhcp2016-latest-results-lhc-experiments

CaSSIS sends first image of Mars

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The Mars Camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured its first images of the Red Planet this week. The pictures are a part of the mission’s preparations for arriving at its destination in October. CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) was launched with the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in March and has already traveled just under half of its nearly 500 million km journey.
via Science Daily
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CERN and INFN encourage new Italian business network

CERN's ninth Business Incubation Centre (BIC) agreement, with the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) was signed by Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN, and Fernando Ferroni, President of the INFN. (Image: Maximilien Brice/CERN)

Today, CERN signed its ninth Business Incubation Centre (BIC) agreement, with the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). The agreement was signed by Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN, and Fernando Ferroni, the President of the INFN.

Together, CERN and INFN will support the dissemination of technologies originating from high energy physics research, and maximise their benefits for society. The agreement will bring together innovators from academia, business and technology.

CERN and INFN will jointly set up a network of Italian BICs called the “Research to Innovation” (R2I) Network, composed of local offices in already established Italian BICs. INFN will act as the coordinator of the Italian BICs, who will have access not only to CERN’s expertise, but also to the international BIC network set up by CERN.

“Creativity and innovation flourish when people come together and share ideas,” says Dr. Speranza Falciano, the Vice President of INFN. 

CERN’s international BIC network plays a key role in supporting the creation and development of spin-offs of CERN and INFN technologies. The network assists entrepreneurs and small high-tech businesses in taking innovative technologies from technical concept to market reality using CERN technology or expertise. Entrepreneurs joining BICs receive initial funding and preferential access to CERN intellectual property, as well as forty hours of support from CERN scientists or engineers.

Italy is the ninth country to participate in CERN’s BIC Network scheme. France, Finland and Spain joined in 2015, and the other countries participating are Austria, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. “The R2I Network will give direct access to CERN and INFN technologies and expertise to Italian entrepreneurs and actors of innovation,” said Giovanni Anelli, Head of the Knowledge Transfer Group at CERN.

The R2I-Network will support the development and exploitation of innovative ideas, including know-how, in technical fields broadly related to CERN’s activities in high energy physics. The technology domains where CERN has demonstrated itself as an international centre of excellence range from detectors, vacuum technology, and cryogenics to magnets and superconductors.

CERN’s international network of BICs currently supports twelve incubates based on CERN technologies. The startups have applications in domains as diverse as biotechnology, the oil & gas industry and material science.

 


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/06/cern-and-infn-encourage-new-italian-business-network

Northern Lights above Lofoten

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The Aurora Borealis or northern lights are familiar visitors to night skies above the village of Reine in the Lofoten Islands, Norway, planet Earth. In this scene, captured from a mountaintop camp site, the auroral curtains do seem to create an eerie tension with the coastal lights though. A modern perspective on the world at night, the stunning image was chosen as the over all winner in The World at Night's 2016 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest. Selections were made from over 900 entries highlighting the beauty of the night sky and its battle with light pollution.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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ExoMars sets sights on the Red Planet

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ExoMars captured its first images of Mars this week as part of its preparations for arriving at the Red Planet in October.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars/ExoMars_sets_sights_on_the_Red_Planet