Physics Week in Review: May 20, 2017

Could dark matter be a self-annihilating WIMP? Might a newly discovered "cold spot" be evidence for a multiverse? And could Scrooge McDuck really swim in a pool of gold coins? These and other nifty stories are among this week's physics highlights.

I wrote a thing for Ars Technica this week. Atomic clocks and solid walls: New tools in the search for dark matter. As searches come up empty, some--like Perimeter Institute's Asimina Arvanitaki-- are thinking of new ways to look for dark matter.

The One Scale that Rules Them All: I also reviewed Geoffrey West's fascinating new book, Scale, for Physics World.

Cosmic rays suggest dark matter is a self-annihilating WIMP.

Can The Q-Collar Help Preserve Brain Function In Football Players? Bonus: I covered the prototype Q Collar last June for Gizmodo.

LIGO could detect gravitational waves' permanent space-time warp.

Santa Fe Institute postdocs wrap up second 72 Hours of Science marathon with paper exploring world records. "If you think about records as extreme behavior, something pushing the boundary for a process, that allows you to think about records across lots of different domains. The question then is, for all of these different records, how do you start to put those into meaningful categories? The hope is that those records can tell you something about ultimate limits," says SFI Omidyar Fellow Chris Kempes. Related: I wrote about the last time SFI postdocs did this challenge last year for Gizmodo, when the postdocs "gleaned some useful insights into how fads, technology, and new words spread rapidly throughout the population-even faster than a deadly virus."

Can Quantum Mechanics Save the Cosmic Multiverse? A surprising connection between cosmology and quantum mechanics could unveil the secrets of space and time. [Subscription required]

A Physicist Weighs In On Whether Scrooge McDuck Could Actually Swim in a Pool of Gold Coins -- "after he was done laughing." Per Jim Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes and other wonderful books: "The question really isn't whether someone could swim in a mass of gold. They could not. It's more a matter of how badly they'll be injured in the attempt."

A grand new theory of life's evolution on Earth. The history of life as a series of energy breakthroughs.

Sound over silicon: Computing's wave of the future. Phonon-based computing could change the world as we know it.

Reality check: The experiments that are resurrecting a long-derided alternative interpretation of quantum theory. Related: The Bizarre Quantum Test That Could Keep Your Data Secure: putting Bell tests to work.

New experiment uses ancient stars to test the strangeness of quantum mechanics. Let Dianna Cowern, a.k.a. The Physics Girl, explain:

What Happened Before the Big Bang? (We don't actually know.) New Cool Worlds video featuring Sean Carroll.

The Odds Of Your Unlikely Existence Were Not Infinitely Small. "One of the most self-evident facts of all, that we exist, has tremendous implications for the Universe. Especially if you're a Bayesian."

The Physics of Drones. Drones provide an excellent opportunity to look at some physics.

The Science Behind Dyson's New Hot+Cold Link Air Purifier.

The folks at Nerdist Melt Heads and Recreate the Acid Blood Scene in Alien with Science.

Here's The Science Behind The Fidget Spinner Craze.

SESAME project opens in Jordan: Meet the scientist behind one of the biggest science projects in the Middle East. Related: Scientists from enemy nations create a beacon for peace in the Middle East. "Science is arguably the most international human endeavor." Also: Science Diplomacy Is More Vital Than Ever: Partnering across borders means faster discovery and a safer world.

The Facts and Nothing But the Facts: At a recent workshop on blind analysis, researchers discussed how to keep their expectations out of their results.

Bored as hell crammed into 17A? How to calculate how fast a plane is flying--while you're on it.

Physicists wonder if a newly found "cold spot" supports the theory of multiple universes.

Naked Singularity Might Evade Cosmic Censor: "Physicists demonstrate the possibility of a "naked" singularity in curved space."

"Lava Lamp Effect" May Explain Earth's Magnetic Field's Chaotic Flip-Flops.

Excellent long read about an American hero. The Most Important Scientist You've Never Heard Of. "For 60 years, American drivers unknowingly poisoned themselves by pumping leaded gasoline into their tanks. Here is the lifelong saga of Clair Patterson-a scientist who helped build the atomic bomb and discovered the true age of the Earth-and how he took on a billion-dollar industry to save humanity from itself."

Physicist: Russia using nuclear weapons to trigger tsunamis 'would be completely stupid.'

An Expansive Pavilion of Architectural Elements Constructed from Wire Mesh by Italian Artist Edoardo Tresoldi. Per Colossal: "Lit from both above and below, the suspended wire domes, columns, and arches have a translucent ghost-like appearance, referencing classical architectural with Tresoldi's modern aesthetic." [Image:Roberto Conte, courtesy of the artist]

Tabby's star is dimming again, and astronomers are excited.

Percents and Sensibility: What did early 19th-century literary characters live on? The financial markets of Jane Austen's time were not sophisticated. But they were robust.

What do you get when you cross a lotus and a lizard? Self-cleaning, self-drying surfaces, maybe.

Ladybird's transparent shell reveals how it folds its wings.

Fractal Fashion: Dress design based on the microscopy image of an organic compound's crystals wins Chinese fashion competition.

Drops of a liquid can often join a pool gradually through a process known as the coalescence cascade.

"Algae can provide a source of protein, fuel cars, and replace petroleum-based plastics."

Cheap diamond-based sensors make it possible to diagnose heart disease and brain conditions w/ magnetic fields.

Drone Swarms Avoid Crashing With 'Safety Bubbles.'

Hopping parrotlets could teach robots how to fly, and help us learn about dinosaurs too.

A Largeness of Contemplation: Bertrand Russell on Intuition, the Intellect, and the Nature of Time.

Jalopnik's Jason Torchinsky Demanded Answers From The Bosses At Pixar About How The World Of Cars Works.

How to talk to your kids about, you know, Quantum Computing. "Wait--you guys put complex numbers in your ontologies? Ewww!"

German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer on the essential difference between how art and science reveal the world. "[Science] is like the innumerable showering drops of the waterfall, which, constantly changing, never rest for an instant; [art] is like the rainbow, quietly resting on this raging torrent."

Charles Babbage left a computer program in Turin in 1840. Here it is. Related: Translate between Charles Babbage's computing jargon and modern terminology

Total Failure (new NPR series): When the Space Shuttle Didn't Come Home. "Our job was to keep the crew safe, and they weren't safe. That's an immediate failure. Now you're just asking, 'In what way did we fail?'"

Chasing Venus: When the World Came Together to Measure the Heavens.

Harnessing Serendipity: "Innovation is critical to sustained economic growth-and mathematics can help us understand how it works."

The Joy of Slightly Fishy Proofs. "What do we want from a proof? I say it depends on the spirit in the room."

Art and Math and Science--Oh My! "Technology-inspired technology gives us incremental improvements. Art-inspired technology gives us brand new ideas"

Ink, science, story-telling: "Nothing is stationary, said Heraclitus - a truth that never budged."

"Many of the stories we tell about ancient roots of science have more to do with modern concerns than historical reality."

House Science Committee members sent a letter to Trump insisting he stop relying on fake news.

If Donald Trump Were Actually a Battery: pointed satire from The New Yorker's Alan Burdick. "Harvesting kinetic energy from Trump could be difficult, given his limited interest in moving."

Caltech lets confirmed sexual harasser/astronomy professor back onto campus after a two year "time-out."

What is quantum entanglement? Part 4: relativity and entanglement.

How You Can Help Australian Scientists Look For Exploding Stars.

Two Exoplanets Are Whipping Up a Pretty Protoplanetary Gas Spiral.

Flat-Pack Life Support: NASA's Inflatable Hydroponic Space Greenhouse.

The First Cassini to Explore Saturn was a Person. Space probe preparing to crash into ringed planet was named for an astronomical pioneer.

Is There a Link between Music and Math? Nadine Gaab, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Jennifer Zuk, a doctoral student at Harvard University, answer.

Math Champion Wins with Answer about Pecking Chicks. Per Steven Strogatz on Twitter: "100 chicks in a circle. Each randomly pecks the one to its left or right. What's the expected # of unpecked chicks?"

"Created with ultra high-definition 3D printing technology, [an exhibit of] a series of "death masks," called Vespers, explores the complex boundaries between life and death."

The Mind-Boggling Illusions of Kokichi Sugihara. "The mathematician and illusion artist has created dozens of perplexing illusions that often involve three-dimensional objects viewed from specific perspectives."

Nas and The Avett Brothers pay homage to the original electrical recording equipment: the lathe.

The Slow Mo Guys and the Blue Man Group Created Slow Motion Art Using Bowling Balls.

Trippy fractal of classical architecture set to classical music. "Depths of Antiquity is Julius Horsthuis' hypnotic slow-motion dive into fractals generated from images of churches, castles and other imposing edifices of yesteryear."

A Time-Travel Experiment Works All Too Well in Scifi Short The Constant: