Tuesday 31 October 2017

Lens trick doubles odds for quantum interaction

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It's not easy to bounce a single particle of light off a single atom that is less than a billionth of a meter wide. However, researchers have shown they can double the odds of success, an innovation that might be useful in quantum computing and metrology.
via Science Daily

Opening the Van der Waals' sandwich

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Eighty years after the theoretical prediction of the force required to overcome the van der Waals' bonding between layers in a crystal, engineering researchers have measured it directly.
via Science Daily

Medical-like tools for NASA to study samples of the solar system

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A diagnostic tool, similar in theory to those used by the medical profession to noninvasively image internal organs, bones, soft tissue, and blood vessels, could be equally effective at 'triaging' extraterrestrial rocks and other samples before they are shipped to Earth for further analysis.
via Science Daily
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Graphene enables high-speed electronics on flexible materials

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A flexible detector for terahertz frequencies (1,000 gigahertz) has been developed using graphene transistors on plastic substrates. It is the first of its kind, and can extend the use of terahertz technology to applications that will require flexible electronics, such as wireless sensor networks and wearable technology.
via Science Daily

'Monster' planet discovery challenges formation theory

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A giant planet, which should not exist according to planet formation theory, has been discovered around a distant star.
via Science Daily
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EU project to standardize graphene measurements

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Graphenea is participating in a EU project to enable standardized electrical measurements for future graphene-based electronics. The focus of the project “Grace” is on the development of novel electrical characterization methodologies. Grace brings together graphene producers, metrologists, equipment manufacturers and standardization experts from four countries in a consortium driven to develop industrial-scale graphene characterization tools.

Having started with a kick-off meeting in Torino (Italy) in July 2017, the project will run until July 2020. The consortium consists of Instituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM), Centro Español de Metrología (CEM), NPL Management Limited (NPL), Das-Nano S.L., Graphenea, ISC International Standards Consulting GmbH & Co. KG (ISC), The University of Manchester (UoM) and VDE Verband der Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik e.V (VDE).

Grace is part of EMPIR, the main programme for European research on metrology, which currently coordinates more than 20 metrology projects across disciplines such as air quality, 3D stacked integrated circuits, biomethane, single-electron devices, etc. The project already resulted in a published comparison of existing experimental methods for electrical characterization of graphene. The objectives of project Grace include:

  • Development of an accurate and traceable approach for the electrical characterization of graphene for both contact and non-contact electrical measurements, with traceability to SI units.
  • Development of a high-throughput approach for the electrical characterization of graphene and its validation with established techniques.
  • Dissemination of the methodologies established in this project in the form of Good Practice Guides (GPGs) and input to documentary standards.
  • Contribution to the standards development work of the technical committees of IEC/TC113 and CENELEC WS SGRM

As such, this project is on the forefront of graphene standardization, which has been a top priority for graphene technology development continuously over the past years, and is one of the primary goals of the Graphene Flagship project.


via Graphenea

Minor merger kicks supermassive black hole into high gear

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Astronomers are studying the galaxy M77, which is famous for its super-active nucleus that releases enormous energy. The unprecedented deep image of the galaxy reveals evidence of a hidden minor merger billions of years ago. The discovery gives crucial evidence for the minor merger origin of active galactic nuclei.
via Science Daily
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Happy Dark Matter Day

A simulation of the large-scale structure of the Universe that shows density filaments in blue and places of galaxy formation in yellow. (Image: Zarija Lukic/Berkeley Lab)

This 31 October might be the spookiest Halloween yet. Scientists at CERN are celebrating the hidden sectors of our Universe as part of the international celebration of Dark Matter Day. Dark matter warps distant starlight and enables galaxies to rotate at unfathomable speeds, yet is completely invisible to traditional detectors. In fact, scientists only know that dark matter exists because of its massive gravitational pull on ordinary matter. To catch this stealthy stuff, scientists must become a little more creative with how they search for it.

Today, CERN scientists will be showcasing the tools and techniques they are using to uncover the true nature of dark matter. At 15.00 CET, researchers from the CAST experiment will explain, during a Facebook Live session, how the Sun could radiate these invisible particles. Later this evening, scientists will explore how and why they are looking for dark matter, during a public event in CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation, webcast live from 20.00 CET.

Can’t make it to the CERN events? There are numerous organisations around the world hosting activities to celebrate Dark Matter Day and plenty of ways to engage with the hunt from home. Check out this TED-Ed animation, which explains how the LHC could create dark matter, or find out when the  Phantom of the Universe show is being screened at a planetarium near you.

As you celebrate and explore unexplainable mysteries during your Halloween celebrations, remember, don’t be afraid of the dark!


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/happy-dark-matter-day

Monday 30 October 2017

Mystery of raging black hole beams penetrated

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They are nature's very own Death Star beams - ultra-powerful jets of energy that shoot out from the vicinity of black holes like deadly rays from the Star Wars super-weapon.
via Science Daily
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Jupiter's X-ray auroras pulse independently

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Jupiter's intense northern and southern lights pulse independently of each other according to new research.
via Science Daily
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Surprisingly erratic X-ray auroras discovered at Jupiter

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ESA and NASA space telescopes have revealed that, unlike Earth’s polar lights, the intense auroras seen at Jupiter’s poles unexpectedly behave independently of one another. 


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Surprisingly_erratic_X-ray_auroras_discovered_at_Jupiter

LHC reaches 2017 targets ahead of schedule

Xenon in the SPS: First tests for a photon factory

The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), pictured during a recent technical stop. (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

Accelerator operators can perform amazing acrobatics with particle beams, most recently in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), CERN’s second-largest accelerator. For the first time, they have successfully injected a beam of partially ionised xenon particles into the SPS and accelerated it. Before they were injected into the SPS, these atoms were stripped of 39 of their 54 electrons.

During the first test, which took place in September, the beam was injected into the SPS ring and circulated for about one second. Now, the beam has been accelerated for the first time, reaching an energy of 81.6 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) per nucleon.

What makes this performance so remarkable is that these beams of partially ionised xenon atoms are extremely fragile and have a very short lifespan. If an atom loses just one of its 15 electrons, it changes orbit and is lost. “The SPS vacuum is not quite as high as that of the LHC. The residual gas molecules present in the vacuum chamber disturb the beam, which explains why it is lost quite quickly,” says Reyes Alemany, who is responsible for the SPS tests. “But keeping the beam going for one cycle in the SPS is already a very promising result!”

So why are accelerator physicists experimenting with these atoms? It’s to test a novel idea: a high-intensity source of gamma rays (photons with energies in the megaelectronvolt (MeV) range). This gamma factory, as it is known, would generate photons of up to 400 MeV in energy and at intensities comparable to those of synchrotrons or X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). XFELs produce high-intensity beams of X-rays – that is, photons of an energy of less than about 100 kiloelectronvolts (keV).

“A source of that kind would pave the way for studies never done before in fundamental physics, in the fields of quantum electrodynamics or dark matter research,” explains Witold Krasny, a CNRS physicist and CERN associate who founded the project and leads the work group. “It also opens the door for industrial and medical applications.” It could even serve as a test bench for a future neutrino factory or muon collider.

The principle is to accelerate partially ionised atoms and then excite them using a laser. As they return to their stable state, the atoms release high-energy photons.

The team took advantage of the presence of xenon in the accelerator complex to carry out this first test without disrupting the other ongoing physics programmes. Next year, during the LHC heavy-ion run, the team will repeat the experiment using ionised lead atoms, which will be stripped of all but one or two electrons. Those beams will be much more stable; having fewer electrons means that the atoms are less at risk of losing them. In addition, their electrons are only found in the “K” shell, the closest to the nucleus, and therefore have a stronger link to the nucleus than in the xenon atoms. The heavy-ion beams could be accelerated first in the SPS and then in the LHC.

The gamma factory project is part of the Physics Beyond Colliders study, which was launched in 2016 with the goal of investigating all possible non-collider experiments, particularly those that could be done using CERN’s accelerator complex. Hundreds of scientists are expected to attend the annual Physics Beyond Colliders conference at CERN at the end of November.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/xenon-sps-first-tests-photon-factory

From the web to a start-up near you

Webcast: How does collaboration shape innovation?

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN (Image: Jean-Claude Gadmer/CERN)

Today,‪ IdeaSquare at CERN is hosting The Other Side of Innovation – a workshop to discover how collaboration across disciplines and rapid prototyping is shaping innovation.

Join us via webcast from 13:00 CEST.

Professor of technology and innovation at ETH Zürich, Stefano Brusoni, will give a talk on the divergent process of innovation, while Bruno Herbelin, deputy director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics at EPFL, will showcase how virtual reality can be used by researchers.

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN, which aims to bring together people from many fields, to generate new ideas and work on conceptual prototypes related to detector research in an open, collaborative environment.

It brings together CERN personnel, visiting students, and external project collaborators from the domains of research, technology development and education. It also contributes to CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group, helping them to shape and innovate new product ideas into socially and globally relevant activities.

 

For more information, visit the event page.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/webcast-how-does-collaboration-shape-innovation

Meet the DUNEs

Inside one of the protoDUNE detectors, currently under construction at CERN (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

A new duo is living in CERN’s test beam area. On the outside, they look like a pair of Rubik’s Cubes that rubbed a magic lamp and transformed into castle turrets. But on the inside, they’ve got the glamour of a disco ball.

These 12m x 12m x 12m boxes are two prototypes for the massive detectors of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE, an international experiment hosted by Fermilab in the United States, will live deep underground and trap neutrinos: tiny fundamental particles that rarely interact with matter.

“Learning more about neutrinos could help us better understand how the early Universe evolved and why the world is made of matter and not antimatter,” said Stefania Bordoni, a CERN researcher working on neutrino detector development.

These DUNE prototypes are testing two variations of a detection technique first developed by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia. Each cube is a chilled thermos that will hold approximately 800 tonnes of liquid argon. When a neutrino bumps into an atom of argon, it will release a flash of light and a cascade of electrons, which will glide through the electrically charged chamber to detectors lining the walls.

Inside their reinforced walls sits a liquid-tight metallic balloon, which can expand and contract to accommodate the changing volume of the argon as it cools from a gas to a liquid.

Even though theses cubes are huge, they are mere miniature models of the final detectors, which will be 20 times larger and together hold a total of 72 000 tonnes of liquid argon.

In the coming months, these prototypes will be cooled down so that their testing can begin using a dedicated beam line at CERN’s SPS accelerator complex.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/meet-dunes

Xenon in the SPS: First tests for a photon factory

The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), pictured during a recent technical stop. (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

Accelerator operators can perform amazing acrobatics with particle beams, most recently in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), CERN’s second-largest accelerator. For the first time, they have successfully injected a beam of partially ionised xenon particles into the SPS and accelerated it. Before they were injected into the SPS, these atoms were stripped of 39 of their 54 electrons.

During the first test, which took place in September, the beam was injected into the SPS ring and circulated for about one second. Now, the beam has been accelerated for the first time, reaching an energy of 81.6 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) per nucleon.

What makes this performance so remarkable is that these beams of partially ionised xenon atoms are extremely fragile and have a very short lifespan. If an atom loses just one of its 15 electrons, it changes orbit and is lost. “The SPS vacuum is not quite as high as that of the LHC. The residual gas molecules present in the vacuum chamber disturb the beam, which explains why it is lost quite quickly,” says Reyes Alemany, who is responsible for the SPS tests. “But keeping the beam going for one cycle in the SPS is already a very promising result!”

So why are accelerator physicists experimenting with these atoms? It’s to test a novel idea: a high-intensity source of gamma rays (photons with energies in the megaelectronvolt (MeV) range). This gamma factory, as it is known, would generate photons of up to 400 MeV in energy and at intensities comparable to those of synchrotrons or X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). XFELs produce high-intensity beams of X-rays – that is, photons of an energy of less than about 100 kiloelectronvolts (keV).

“A source of that kind would pave the way for studies never done before in fundamental physics, in the fields of quantum electrodynamics or dark matter research,” explains Witold Krasny, a CNRS physicist and CERN associate who founded the project and leads the work group. “It also opens the door for industrial and medical applications.” It could even serve as a test bench for a future neutrino factory or muon collider.

The principle is to accelerate partially ionised atoms and then excite them using a laser. As they return to their stable state, the atoms release high-energy photons.

The team took advantage of the presence of xenon in the accelerator complex to carry out this first test without disrupting the other ongoing physics programmes. Next year, during the LHC heavy-ion run, the team will repeat the experiment using ionised lead atoms, which will be stripped of all but one or two electrons. Those beams will be much more stable; having fewer electrons means that the atoms are less at risk of losing them. In addition, their electrons are only found in the “K” shell, the closest to the nucleus, and therefore have a stronger link to the nucleus than in the xenon atoms. The heavy-ion beams could be accelerated first in the SPS and then in the LHC.

The gamma factory project is part of the Physics Beyond Colliders study, which was launched in 2016 with the goal of investigating all possible non-collider experiments, particularly those that could be done using CERN’s accelerator complex. Hundreds of scientists are expected to attend the annual Physics Beyond Colliders conference at CERN at the end of November.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2017/10/xenon-sps-first-tests-photon-factory

From the web to a start-up near you

Webcast: How does collaboration shape innovation?

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN (Image: Jean-Claude Gadmer/CERN)

Today,‪ IdeaSquare at CERN is hosting The Other Side of Innovation – a workshop to discover how collaboration across disciplines and rapid prototyping is shaping innovation.

Join us via webcast from 13:00 CEST.

Professor of technology and innovation at ETH Zürich, Stefano Brusoni, will give a talk on the divergent process of innovation, while Bruno Herbelin, deputy director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics at EPFL, will showcase how virtual reality can be used by researchers.

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN, which aims to bring together people from many fields, to generate new ideas and work on conceptual prototypes related to detector research in an open, collaborative environment.

It brings together CERN personnel, visiting students, and external project collaborators from the domains of research, technology development and education. It also contributes to CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group, helping them to shape and innovate new product ideas into socially and globally relevant activities.

 

For more information, visit the event page.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2017/10/webcast-how-does-collaboration-shape-innovation

Meet the DUNEs

Inside one of the protoDUNE detectors, currently under construction at CERN (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

A new duo is living in CERN’s test beam area. On the outside, they look like a pair of Rubik’s Cubes that rubbed a magic lamp and transformed into castle turrets. But on the inside, they’ve got the glamour of a disco ball.

These 12m x 12m x 12m boxes are two prototypes for the massive detectors of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE, an international experiment hosted by Fermilab in the United States, will live deep underground and trap neutrinos: tiny fundamental particles that rarely interact with matter.

“Learning more about neutrinos could help us better understand how the early Universe evolved and why the world is made of matter and not antimatter,” said Stefania Bordoni, a CERN researcher working on neutrino detector development.

These DUNE prototypes are testing two variations of a detection technique first developed by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia. Each cube is a chilled thermos that will hold approximately 800 tonnes of liquid argon. When a neutrino bumps into an atom of argon, it will release a flash of light and a cascade of electrons, which will glide through the electrically charged chamber to detectors lining the walls.

Inside their reinforced walls sits a liquid-tight metallic balloon, which can expand and contract to accommodate the changing volume of the argon as it cools from a gas to a liquid.

Even though theses cubes are huge, they are mere miniature models of the final detectors, which will be 20 times larger and together hold a total of 72 000 tonnes of liquid argon.

In the coming months, these prototypes will be cooled down so that their testing can begin using a dedicated beam line at CERN’s SPS accelerator complex.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2017/10/meet-dunes

Saturday 28 October 2017

Trilobites: Astronomers Race to Study a Mystery Object From Outside Our Solar System

more »
The object, faster than known asteroids or comets, was first spotted by a telescope in Hawaii, and is leaving just as quickly as it arrived.
via New York Times

Friday 27 October 2017

A light in the dark: NASA sounding rocket probes the dark regions of space

more »
Spread out over unfathomable distances, this cold, diffuse gas between galaxies -- called the intergalactic medium, or IGM for short -- hardly emits any light, making it difficult to study.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Pope Says Astronauts See Earth ‘From the Eyes of God’

more »
Pope Francis spoke with crew members aboard the International Space Station about the view of the planet from space.
via New York Times

James Webb Space Telescope's laser-focused sight

more »
About 1 million miles away from the nearest eye surgeon, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be able to perfect its own vision while in orbit.
via Science Daily
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Deep-depletion: A new concept for MOSFETs

more »
Diamond is largely recognized as the ideal material in wide bandgap development, but realizing its full potential in field-effect transistors has been challenging. Researchers incorporate a new approach by using the deep-depletion regime of bulk-boron-doped diamond MOSFETs.
via Science Daily

Xenon in the SPS: First tests for a photon factory

The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), pictured during a recent technical stop. (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

Accelerator operators can perform amazing acrobatics with particle beams, most recently in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), CERN’s second-largest accelerator. For the first time, they have successfully injected a beam of partially ionised xenon particles into the SPS and accelerated it. Before they were injected into the SPS, these atoms were stripped of 39 of their 54 electrons.

During the first test, which took place in September, the beam was injected into the SPS ring and circulated for about one second. Now, the beam has been accelerated for the first time, reaching an energy of 81.6 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) per nucleon.

What makes this performance so remarkable is that these beams of partially ionised xenon atoms are extremely fragile and have a very short lifespan. If an atom loses just one of its 15 electrons, it changes orbit and is lost. “The SPS vacuum is not quite as high as that of the LHC. The residual gas molecules present in the vacuum chamber disturb the beam, which explains why it is lost quite quickly,” says Reyes Alemany, who is responsible for the SPS tests. “But keeping the beam going for one cycle in the SPS is already a very promising result!”

So why are accelerator physicists experimenting with these atoms? It’s to test a novel idea: a high-intensity source of gamma rays (photons with energies in the megaelectronvolt (MeV) range). This gamma factory, as it is known, would generate photons of up to 400 MeV in energy and at intensities comparable to those of synchrotrons or X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). XFELs produce high-intensity beams of X-rays – that is, photons of an energy of less than about 100 kiloelectronvolts (keV).

“A source of that kind would pave the way for studies never done before in fundamental physics, in the fields of quantum electrodynamics or dark matter research,” explains Witold Krasny, a CNRS physicist and CERN associate who founded the project and leads the work group. “It also opens the door for industrial and medical applications.” It could even serve as a test bench for a future neutrino factory or muon collider.

The principle is to accelerate partially ionised atoms and then excite them using a laser. As they return to their stable state, the atoms release high-energy photons.

The team took advantage of the presence of xenon in the accelerator complex to carry out this first test without disrupting the other ongoing physics programmes. Next year, during the LHC heavy-ion run, the team will repeat the experiment using ionised lead atoms, which will be stripped of all but one or two electrons. Those beams will be much more stable; having fewer electrons means that the atoms are less at risk of losing them. In addition, their electrons are only found in the “K” shell, the closest to the nucleus, and therefore have a stronger link to the nucleus than in the xenon atoms. The heavy-ion beams could be accelerated first in the SPS and then in the LHC.

The gamma factory project is part of the Physics Beyond Colliders study, which was launched in 2016 with the goal of investigating all possible non-collider experiments, particularly those that could be done using CERN’s accelerator complex. Hundreds of scientists are expected to attend the annual Physics Beyond Colliders conference at CERN at the end of November.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/xenon-sps-first-tests-photon-factory

Small asteroid or comet 'visits' from beyond the solar system

more »
A small, recently discovered asteroid -- or perhaps a comet -- appears to have originated from outside the solar system, coming from somewhere else in our galaxy. If so, it would be the first "interstellar object" to be observed and confirmed by astronomers.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Long-debated mystery of what formed Martian landscapes: New answers

more »
Scientists have discovered a process that could explain the long-debated mystery of how land features on Mars are formed in the absence of significant amounts of water.
via Science Daily
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Winters on Mars are shaping the Red Planet's landscape

more »
Winter temperatures on the Red Planet sublimate carbon dioxide from a gas to a solid. These solid carbon dioxide blocks are then thought responsible for making gullies and furrows on Mars' landscape, based on innovative lab experiments.
via Science Daily
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Thursday 26 October 2017

Scientists detect comets outside our solar system

more »
Scientists, working closely with amateur astronomers, have spotted the dusty tails of six exocomets -- comets outside our solar system -- orbiting a faint star 800 light years from Earth.
via Science Daily
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Envisioning a new engineering field: Understanding atomic-scale patterns

more »
The phenomenon that forms interference patterns on television displays when a camera focuses on a pattern like a person wearing stripes has inspired a new way to conceptualize electronic devices. Researchers are showing how the atomic-scale version of this phenomenon may hold the secrets to help advance electronics design to the limits of size and speed.
via Science Daily

Astronomers discover sunscreen snow falling on hot exoplanet

more »
Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to find a blistering-hot giant planet outside our solar system where the atmosphere 'snows' titanium dioxide -- the active ingredient in sunscreen. These observations are the first detections of this 'snow-out' process, called a 'cold trap,' on an exoplanet. The research provides insight into the complexity of weather and atmospheric composition on exoplanets, and may someday be useful for gauging the habitability of Earth-size planets.
via Science Daily
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Hubble Observes Exoplanet that Snows Sunscreen


Nighttime Titanium Oxide Snow Leaves Dayside Cloud-Free and Cooler

Travelers to the nightside of exoplanet Kepler-13Ab should pack an umbrella because they will be pelted with precipitation. But it's not the kind of watery precipitation that falls on Earth. On this alien world, the precipitation is in the form of sunscreen.

Ironically, the sunscreen (titanium oxide) is not needed on this side of the planet because it never receives any sunlight. But bottling up some sunlight protection is a good idea if travelers plan on visiting the sizzling hot, permanent dayside, which always faces its star. Visitors won't find any desperately needed sunscreen on this part of the planet.

Astronomers didn't detect the titanium oxide directly. They used Hubble to find that the atmospheric temperature grows increasingly colder with altitude on Kepler-13Ab, which was contrary to what they had expected. If titanium oxide were in the daytime atmosphere, it would absorb light and heat the upper atmosphere. Instead, high winds carry the titanium oxide around to the permanently dark side of the planet where it condenses to form clouds and precipitation. The planet's crushing gravity pulls all the titanium oxide so far down it can't be recycled back into the upper atmosphere on the daytime side.

The Hubble observations represent the first time astronomers have detected this precipitation process, called a "cold trap," on an exoplanet.

Kepler-13Ab is one of the hottest known planets, with a dayside temperature of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Kepler-13 system resides 1,730 light-years from Earth.


via Hubble - News feed
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-36

Wobbling galaxies: New evidence for dark matter makes it even more exotic

more »
Astronomers have discovered that the brightest galaxies within galaxy clusters 'wobble' relative to the cluster's center of mass. This unexpected result is inconsistent with predictions made by the current standard model of dark matter. With further analysis it may provide insights into the nature of dark matter, perhaps even indicating that new physics is at work.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

From the web to a start-up near you

Review: ‘Bill Nye: Science Guy,’ a Portrait of a Fighter for Facts

more »
This revealing documentary follows Mr. Nye as he crusades on behalf of space exploration and against creationists and climate-change deniers.
via New York Times

Rosetta finds comet plume powered from below

more »

Last year, a fountain of dust was spotted streaming from Rosetta’s comet, prompting the question: how was it powered? Scientists now suggest the outburst was driven from inside the comet, perhaps released from ancient gas vents or pockets of hidden ice.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_finds_comet_plume_powered_from_below

Paul Weitz, Astronaut on Skylab and Challenger, Dies at 85

more »
Captain Weitz commanded the shuttle Challenger on its maiden voyage, and after it later exploded, he was among NASA officials who examined why.
via New York Times

Wednesday 25 October 2017

Physicists have breakthrough on brittle smart phone screens

more »
New 'potato stamp' technique combining silver and graphene may create cheaper, more flexible and eco-friendly screens.
via Science Daily

Fireworks in space

more »
Some of the most exciting things that we've seen from looking at gene expression in space is that we really see an explosion, like fireworks taking off, as soon as the human body gets into space.
via Science Daily
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Highly stable perovskite solar cells developed

more »
Researchers have developed highly stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs), using edged-selectively fluorine (F) functionalized graphene nano-platelets (EFGnPs). The breakthrough is especially significant since the cells are made out of fluorine, a low-cost alternative to gold.
via Science Daily

Galactic secrets revealed

more »
Countless galaxies vie for attention in this monster image of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster, some appearing only as pinpricks of light while others dominate the foreground. One of these is the lenticular galaxy NGC 1316. The turbulent past of this much-studied galaxy has left it with a delicate structure of loops, arcs and rings that astronomers have now imaged in greater detail than ever before with the VLT Survey Telescope.
via Science Daily
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Rapid cellphone charging getting closer to reality

more »
The ability to charge cellphones in seconds is one step closer after researchers used nanotechnology to significantly improve energy-storage devices known as supercapacitors.
via Science Daily

First graphene ISO standard published

more »

The world's first ISO (International Organisation for Standardization) graphene standard has been published. The standard will provide consistency across the emerging world-wide graphene industry and accelerate the 2D material's commercial exploitation.

The new international standard, led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), defines the terminology used to describe the many different forms of graphene and related 2D materials, supporting companies in the testing and validation of the 'wonder material'. The standard can be accessed online free of charge. Graphenea is proud that our CVD graphene obeys the definition put forward by the new standard for “graphene”, “monolayer graphene”, and “single-layer graphene”.

Graphenea is working closely with NPL on this project as well as other graphene standardization projects.


via Graphenea

Webcast: How does collaboration shape innovation?

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN (Image: Jean-Claude Gadmer/CERN)

Today,‪ IdeaSquare at CERN is hosting The Other Side of Innovation – a workshop to discover how collaboration across disciplines and rapid prototyping is shaping innovation.

Join us via webcast from 13:00 CEST.

Professor of technology and innovation at ETH Zürich, Stefano Brusoni, will give a talk on the divergent process of innovation, while Bruno Herbelin, deputy director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics at EPFL, will showcase how virtual reality can be used by researchers.

IdeaSquare is an innovation hub at CERN, which aims to bring together people from many fields, to generate new ideas and work on conceptual prototypes related to detector research in an open, collaborative environment.

It brings together CERN personnel, visiting students, and external project collaborators from the domains of research, technology development and education. It also contributes to CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group, helping them to shape and innovate new product ideas into socially and globally relevant activities.

 

For more information, visit the event page.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/webcast-how-does-collaboration-shape-innovation

Tuesday 24 October 2017

A quantum spin liquid

more »
Researchers report creating a metal oxide with a honeycomb lattice that scientists have sought to advance quantum computing research.
via Science Daily

Spots on supergiant star drive spirals in stellar wind

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Astronomers have recently discovered that spots on the surface of a supergiant star are driving huge spiral structures in its stellar wind.
via Science Daily
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Monday 23 October 2017

Taming 'wild' electrons in graphene

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Graphene -- a one-atom-thick layer of carbon -- is a better conductor than copper and is very promising for electronic devices, but with one catch: Electrons that move through it can't be stopped. Until now, that is. Scientists have learned how to tame the unruly electrons in graphene, paving the way for the ultra-fast transport of electrons with low loss of energy in novel systems.
via Science Daily

Meet the DUNEs

Inside one of the protoDUNE detectors, currently under construction at CERN (Image: Max Brice/CERN)

A new duo is living in CERN’s test beam area. On the outside, they look like a pair of Rubik’s Cubes that rubbed a magic lamp and transformed into castle turrets. But on the inside, they’ve got the glamour of a disco ball.

These 12m x 12m x 12m boxes are two prototypes for the massive detectors of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE, an international experiment hosted by Fermilab in the United States, will live deep underground and trap neutrinos: tiny fundamental particles that rarely interact with matter.

“Learning more about neutrinos could help us better understand how the early Universe evolved and why the world is made of matter and not antimatter,” said Stefania Bordoni, a CERN researcher working on neutrino detector development.

These DUNE prototypes are testing two variations of a detection technique first developed by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia. Each cube is a chilled thermos that will hold approximately 800 of liquid argon. When a neutrino bumps into an atom of argon, it will release a flash of light and a cascade of electrons, which will glide through the electrically charged chamber to detectors lining the walls.

Inside their reinforced walls sits a liquid-tight metallic balloon, which can expand and contract to accommodate the changing volume of the argon as it cools from a gas to a liquid.

Even though theses cubes are huge, they are mere miniature models of the final detectors, which will be 20 times larger and hold a total of 72 000 tonnes of liquid argon.

In the coming months, these prototypes will be cooled down so that their testing can begin using a dedicated beam line at CERN’s SPS accelerator complex.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/10/meet-dunes

Sunday 22 October 2017

Valley polarization for electronic and optoelectronic technologies clarified

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Many of today's technologies, such as, solid-state lighting, transistors in computer chips, and batteries in cell phones rely simply on the charge of the electron and how it moves through the material. In certain materials, such as the monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), electrons can be selectively placed into a chosen electronic valley using optical excitation.
via Science Daily

Friday 20 October 2017

Two-dimensional materials gets a new theory for control of properties

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Desirable properties including increased electrical conductivity, improved mechanical properties, or magnetism for memory storage or information processing may be possible because of a theoretical method to control grain boundaries in two-dimensional materials, according to materials scientists.
via Science Daily

ATLAS and CMS join forces to tackle top-quark asymmetry

A solar flare recorded from Spain in 1886

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Satellites have detected powerful solar flares in the last two months, but this phenomenon has been recorded for over a century. On Sept. 10, 1886, at the age of just 17, a young amateur astronomer using a modest telescope observed from Madrid one of these sudden flashes in a sunspot.
via Science Daily
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NASA's MAVEN mission finds Mars has a twisted magnetic tail

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Mars has an invisible magnetic 'tail' that is twisted by interaction with the solar wind, according to new research using data from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft.
via Science Daily
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New NASA study improves search for habitable worlds

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New NASA research is helping to refine our understanding of candidate planets beyond our solar system that might support life.
via Science Daily
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Thursday 19 October 2017

Extreme light trapping

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Physicists have built a nanostructure whose crystal lattice bends light as it enters the material and directs it in a path parallel to the surface, known as "parallel to interface refraction."
via Science Daily

Liquid metal discovery ushers in new wave of chemistry and electronics

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Researchers use liquid metal to create atom-thick 2-D never before seen in nature. The research could transform how we do chemistry and could also be applied to enhance data storage and make faster electronics.
via Science Daily

Noxious ice cloud on Saturn's moon Titan

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Researchers with NASA's Cassini mission found evidence of a toxic hybrid ice in a wispy cloud high above the south pole of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
via Science Daily
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A more precise measurement for antimatter than for matter

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Space greens beat the blues

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Where people will go in the cosmos, plants will go, say researchers in a new report. Plants may also play a key role in maintaining the psychological well-being of space crews. The next frontier of space plant experimentation is to examine the psychological impact of plant life on astronauts.
via Science Daily
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