Article 2H1GW Physics Week in Review: March 25, 2017

Physics Week in Review: March 25, 2017

by
JenLucPiquant
from on (#2H1GW)

6a00d8341c9c1053ef01bb09872116970d-800wiAmong this week's physics highlights: five new subatomic particles turn up at the LHC, solving the mystery of why drops splash, and whether quantum mechanics can help psychologists understand humor.

My latest short news story for New Scientist: Math explains how pedestrians avoid bumping into one another. "We may now have a universal law to describe how pedestrians behave in the wild."

Researchers discover five new sub-atomic particles that could help to explain how atoms are held together.

Scientists are debating what type of cosmic quarry produced the universe's supply of gold: For decades, researchers believed that violent supernovas forged gold and other heavy elements. But many now argue for a different cosmic quarry.

Oddball star could be home to long-sought superheavy elements.

Can Dark Energy Kill Galaxies? The surprising importance of a dark-energy selection effect.

Quantum computing could speed up certain algorithms for solving the famous traveling salesman problem.

We May Have Solved the Mystery of Why Drops Splash: "the new theory will have applications to a wide range of related flows where microscopic layers of air appear."

Atomic clocks make best measurement yet of relativity of time. tl;dr: Einstein still right.

New theoretical work predicts conditions under which sea ice will clog a narrow channel to create bridge across it.

Research reveals inner workings of liquid crystals. "New research led by Juan de Pablo, the Liew Family Professor at the Institute for Molecular Engineering, uncovers previously unknown features that develop from the interface between air and certain widely studied liquid crystals."

Implants by Design: Mimicking Tissue with a New Class of Materials.

Maybe Humor can be modeled using the strangest aspects of quantum mechanics. The cognitive processes involved in humor bear a striking relationship to quantum phenomena. So can quantum mechanics help psychologists understand the nature of humor? Related: Two quantum physicists walk in and out of a bar ... The physics of humor is a thing now. Also: The Journal of Jocular Physics: The 'Mad Magazine' of Niels Bohr's Institute, written by and for physicists.

Yes, Iron Fist can totally break his fall with a pole. Physics says so. Wired's Rhett Allain can prove it.

Easter Egg Establishes Mass Effect's Spacefaring Story Started with SpaceX.

The Greatest Scientific Breakthrough of Our Time Is This Drip-Free Wine Bottle.

Two U.S. detectors will soon be joined by an instrument in Italy that could help solve the mystery of where gravitational waves originate.

It's very likely we don't understand probabilities: commentary from the Washington Post's Joel Achenbach.

6a00d8341c9c1053ef01b8d26e4fe5970c-320wiMaps to the Stars: Beautiful astronomical drawings from the 19th century. "itienne Li(C)opold Trouvelot was a French artist and astronomer who produced some 7,000 illustrations based on his astronomical observations during his lifetime."

Bohemian Reality: Searching for a Quantum Connection to Consciousness. Is there are sweet spot where artificial intelligence systems could have the maximum amount of consciousness while retaining powerful quantum properties?

New science reveals why cities become more creative and efficient as they grow.

Real data used to create fictional flight over Mars.

The many-tentacled galaxy that could drive a physics revolution.

Rosetta spacecraft saw cliffs collapse on Comet 67P, which is constantly reshaping.

Why a NASA spacecraft could bounce, crunch or sink on icy Europa. Landing on Jupiter's moon in search of alien life won't be easy.

Computer code developed to model atomic bombs is explaining the origin of supermassive black holes.

A sock gets stuck in your vacuum cleaner and the motor starts to whine. Does it use more or less power in this case?

Trust Me, Living on the Moon Will Be Hell, says Gizmodo's Ryan Mandelbaum.

Mars rover spots clouds shaped by gravity waves.

A huge black hole is rocketing out of a galaxy at 7 million kph.

Does dark matter exist, or is gravity wrong? The answer lies billions of years in the past.

What's the Point of Going to Space if You Don't Make Booze? "Astronauts making space booze will have to grow their own raw material, which will probably be less dependent on what they prefer to drink and more a matter of how easy the plant is to grow-and how many plants they need to harvest to get enough surplus to turn into booze."

A little less ET, a little more astrophysics, if you please. The role of science is to rule out the boring and tedious before we embrace the extraordinary, like alien signals or "megastructures."

The Journey of NASA's Smartest Satellite Finally Comes to an End. This satellite mission was supposed to last just one year. It lasted 17.

The Story of Science Faction, the Company That Brought Lasers to Rock and Roll.

Yves Myer Nets Top Mathematics Award for development of a wavelet theory with applications ranging from watching movies to detecting gravitational waves.

If Math Wrote Letters: "Dear Congress: Hello! ... I don't believe we've met."

Meet Hernin Quintana Godoy, the scientist who made Chile central to international astronomy.

Watch Photographer Peter Hurley explain How to Understand the Inverse Square Law as applied to Photo Lighting:

So it turns out Shaq doesn't actually believe the Earth is flat. "The first part of the theory is that I'm joking, you idiots." It was the joke that launched a bunch of explainers, like this one--How to Prove to Yourself (or Shaq) the Earth Is Round--as well as some curmudgeonly defiance: The Earth is round. It's your problem if you believe it isn't. Related: Listen as Carl Sagan Explains How Ancient Greeks, Using Reason and Math, Figured Out Earth Isn't Flat, Over 2,000 Years Ago. Also: The Flat Earth Fiasco: how a 19th century scientific wager about whether the Earth was flat ended in disaster for Alfred Russell Wallace (even though technically, he won the wager).

How Two French Astronomers Nearly Lost Their Lives Revolutionizing the World with the Invention of the Meter. Related: The Lindlund ruler measures inches, centimeters, pixels and picas so you can use it in physical and digital worlds.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the fairest rectangle of them all? "the so-called 'golden ratio' is an irrational number whose physical manifestation is prevalent in nature and has been employed by artists, architects and designers for its aesthetic allure."

Quantum Harmonies: Modern Physics and Music.

Physicists Find That as Clocks Get More Precise, Time Gets More Fuzzy.

Oleo sponge invented at Argonne National Laboratory can sop up oil in a spill. Oil can even be wrung out of the sponge and reclaimed.

The Crazy Way Scientists Launch Rockets From Balloons. One company, Zero2Infinity, is working on a method of launching rockets today using rockoons.

This Visualization of Quantum Physics is worth ~15 minutes of your time.

This Kaleidoscopic Visualization Maps Earth's Mysterious Magnetic Anomalies.

Most Americans like science - and are willing to pay for it. Once people know how little the U.S. spends on science, they support more funding Related: The Most Important Science To Fund Is The Hardest To Explain.

Obama's science diaspora prepares for a fight against the attacks on science emanating from the new White House.

Science march on Washington, billed as historic, plagued by organizational turmoil.

Good Science Is Usually Good Business. When it comes to global business expansion, why not inject some science into the art of the deal?

DIY of the Week: How to make Leonardo da Vinci's self-supporting bridge.

March 18, 1965: The First Spacewalker Cheated Death And Crash-Landed In a Forest Full of Wolves.

6a00d8341c9c1053ef01b7c8e3f1fe970b-320wiMach diamonds or shock diamonds can often be seen in the exhaust of rocket engines. Here they're shown in high-speed video of a bottle rocket's launch. [Image: P. Peterson and P. Taylor]

The diving bell ushered in a new age of exploration-and burst many ear drums in the process.

This photographer [Derek Van Althuis] created phoenix wings by light painting with real fire.

Artists are using a revolutionary process to construct the world's largest stained glass window.

Often synonymous with international espionage, secret writing had a heyday in science demonstrations.

Chuck Berry is gone, but his music is still flying through the cosmos. The Voyager spacecraft are bringing "Johnny B. Goode" into deep space.

3D-printed bacteria could make bespoke graphene-like materials.

80-year-old space cadet Valentina Tereshkova tells Roger Highfield why she wants to go to the Red Planet.

Chess Cubed puzzle - the pieces form a cube, the box becomes the board. Help make it happen.

A Woman Realizes the Perils of Dating a Time Traveler in This Funny Scifi Short.

Watch a 1953 nuclear blast test disintegrate a house in high resolution. Footage may or may not contain a flying toilet.

What happens if you fall past the event horizon? Physicists are more interested in what happens to your information.

Ariel Waldman explains Why Neutrinos Are FREAKING AMAZING.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on the transcendence of the universe, adapted in jazz for kids based on "Saint James Infirmary."

Nick Cave Narrates Animated Film about the Cat Piano, 18th Century Musical Instrument Used to Treat Mental Illness.

WANT! You Won't Know if Schridinger's Cat Is Alive or Dead Until You Use These Mugs. Related: The Famous Schrodinger's Cat Thought Experiment Gets Brought to Life in an Off-Kilter Animation:

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