Physics in the News

Friday, September 26, 2014

New molecule found in space connotes life origins

The vibrant, starry stream of the Milky Way frames radio telescopes of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array - known as the ALMA Observatory - in Chile’s Atacama Desert. (Credit: Y. Beletsky/ESO)
The vibrant, starry stream of the Milky Way frames radio telescopes of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array – known as the ALMA Observatory – in Chile’s Atacama Desert. (Credit: Y. Beletsky/ESO)
via cornell

Black holes declared non-existent again.

Two international teams of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes in Australia and Chile have discovered the first examples of isolated stellar-mass black holes adrift among the stars in our galaxy. (Credit: NASA/ESA, D. Bennett)
via backreaction

First Quantum Logic Operation For An Integrated Photonic Chip

The first teleportation of a photon inside a photonic chip illustrates both the potential for quantum computation and the significant challenges that lay ahead.
The first teleportation of a photon inside a photonic chip illustrates both the potential for quantum computation and the significant challenges that lay ahead.
via technologyreview

Cold Atom Laboratory Chills Atoms to New Lows

rtist's concept of an atom chip for use by NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) aboard the International Space Station. CAL will use lasers to cool atoms to ultracold temperatures. (Credit: NASA)
rtist’s concept of an atom chip for use by NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) aboard the International Space Station. CAL will use lasers to cool atoms to ultracold temperatures. (Credit: NASA)
via jpl

A dramatic recent “discovery” in physics is looking rather dodgy

 A paper just released by the team behind Planck, a European space telescope, casts serious doubt on the BICEP-2 result. (Credit: D. Simonds)
A paper just released by the team behind Planck, a European space telescope, casts serious doubt on the BICEP-2 result. (Credit: D. Simonds)
via economist

Craig Nelson claims that the atomic era is in its twilight years

"The atomic age is an incredible epoch, filled with people we think we know already—from Marie Curie and Albert Einstein to Ronald Reagan and the plant workers of Fukushima—but they all turn out to be a lot more complicated and interesting than any of us could’ve imagined," says Nelson.(Credit: Helvio Faria)
“The atomic age is an incredible epoch, filled with people we think we know already—from Marie Curie and Albert Einstein to Ronald Reagan and the plant workers of Fukushima—but they all turn out to be a lot more complicated and interesting than any of us could’ve imagined,” says Nelson. (Credit: Helvio Faria)
via scitation