Free Republic

Researchers at Germany’s TU Dortmund University report that they have developed an ultra-robust time crystal. Their study, published in Nature Physics, offers new insights into the potential applications and the physics governing time crystals, and offers a new method for keeping them stable. Time crystals represent a new phase of matter, first theorized in 2012 by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek. Unlike traditional crystals, which exhibit repeating patterns in space, time crystals display patterns that repeat in time. This means their atomic structures undergo periodic motion even without external energy, defying the traditional laws of thermodynamics that govern equilibrium in most...

The black hole is enormous, with a radius of roughly 9 billion miles... The concept of a black hole goes back to the 18th century, when the English astronomer-clergyman John Michell calculated that a sufficiently large star couldn't shine because light wouldn’t move fast enough to “lift off” and escape the star’s gravity. But Michell’s conjecture outran the physics of its time, which didn’t understand light, gravity or stars well enough to support it. The foundations for the modern understanding of black holes weren’t laid until the early 20th century, building on James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism and Albert...

Twenty-nine nuclear scientists have signed a letter to US President Barack Obama praising the Iranian nuclear deal, the New York Times reports Saturday night, calling it “innovative” and “stringent.” Signatories include Richard L. Garwin, a longtime Washington advisor on nuclear issues and arms who helped design the first hydrogen bomb; Siegfried S. Hecker, who directed the Los Alamos nuclear testing and development program from 1986-1997; and Rush D. Holt, a physicist and former member of Congress who now leads the American Association for the Advancement of Science. …