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Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, announced today that they have for the first time used a beam of titanium to make a known superheavy element, livermorium — element 116. After upgrading the lab’s equipment, the team plans to use similar techniques to try to produce element 120. The heaviest element that has been made so far is oganesson, element 118, which was first synthesized in 2002.

Physicists at the University of Stuttgart, led by Professor Sebastian Loth, have developed a groundbreaking quantum microscope that can record the movement of electrons at the atomic level with incredibly high spatial and temporal resolution. This new method could significantly advance the way scientists develop materials. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature Physics. “With our new method, we can see things that no one has ever seen before,” says Prof. Loth, the Managing Director of the Institute for Functional Matter and Quantum Technologies at the University of Stuttgart. “This allows us to answer questions about electron movements...

A patented experimental propellantless propulsion drive is finally ready to go to space, according to its inventor, a veteran NASA scientist with decades of expertise in electrostatics. [Multiple Videos at Site] Dr. Charles Buhler, the technology’s creator, says the propulsion system may represent a working version of Quantized Inertia, a theory first proposed by University of Plymouth professor Mike McCulloch. The proposition has been subjected to criticism from mainstream scientists in the past because it seemingly violates Newton’s third law of motion. The controversial technology, which The Debrief covered in April, is privately owned by Exodus Propulsion Technologies and is...

The galaxy PJ0116-24, located 10 billion light-years away from Earth, appears to exhibit characteristics that contradict the standard view that galaxy mergers are required to produce such intense luminosity.The groundbreaking findings, which are detailed in a newly published paper in Nature Astronomy, seem to point to the occurrence of rapid star formation in HyLIRGs, revealing that it can occur through internal processes. The discovery presents new challenges to existing notions held by astronomers about how such formations occur...In the past, it was believed that the intense luminosity produced by HyLIRGs was exclusively the result of mergers between galaxies, which result...

JWST deep field vs hubble This region of space, viewed first iconically by Hubble and later by JWST, shows an animation that switches between the two. Both images still have fundamental limitations, as they were acquired from within our inner Solar System, where the presence of zodiacal light influences the noise floor of our instruments, and cannot easily be removed.Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christina Williams (NSF’s NOIRLab), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Michael Maseda (UW-Madison); Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI); Animation: E. Siegel ======================================================================================= KEY TAKEAWAYS: * The darkest night skies, both from Earth as well as from interplanetary space, aren’t completely...

While the “Epoch of Reionization” sounds like the title of a sci-fi novel destined for a Hugo award, this very real era of the universe featured the first light from the very first stars. Before this epoch, the universe was nothing more than a dark void filled with a fog of primordial hydrogen gas—and then, suddenly, there was light. For decades, scientists have searched for a source of radiation powerful enough to have cleared away this fog and introduced light into the universe. Now, an international team of scientists have analyzed the first faintest galaxies ...

Electron neutrinos have been experimentally observed for the first time during recent experiments by physicists at CERN, which produced proton-proton collisions at the facility’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Neutrinos are neutral subatomic particles possessing almost no mass. First detected in 1956, they possess 1/2 integral spin like all fermions and rarely react with normal matter except through the weak force. Neutrinos come in three different varieties, associated with electrons, muons, and tau particles. Due to their sparring interactions with matter, all three types of neutrinos are regarded as being among the most elusive particles in the universe. Despite this, physicists...

The jet of this extreme object is changing direction creating an S-shape in the sky. ================================================================== One of the most iconic views of Circinus X-1. New research has revealed intriguing new details about this system. Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S. Heinz, et al.; Optical: DSS Radio image of the S-shaped precessing jet launched by the neutron star in Circinus X-1. Image Credit: Fraser Cowie ================================================================== Astronomers have spotted a neutron star whose jet is changing direction for the first time. Likened to a garden sprinkler, the jet is coming from the phenomenal object Circinus X-1, one of the brightest...

Facile preparation of peptide glass at room temperature using standard lab equipment. Credit: Tel Aviv University ============================================================================== Tel Aviv University researchers have created a unique glass that is both an effective adhesive and highly transparent. This spontaneously forming glass could significantly influence multiple high-tech industries. Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have created a new type of glass with unique and even contradictory properties, such as being a strong adhesive (sticky) and incredibly transparent at the same time. The glass, which forms spontaneously when comes in contact with water at room temperature, could bring about a revolution in an array...

It’s not even truly part of our galaxy, but a newly discovered black hole in Omega Centauri with a mass at least 20,000 times the Sun is closer than Sagittarius A*. The remnant galactic nucleus known as Omega Centauri has a black hole at its heart, revealed by fast-moving stars in the box at its heart. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle (MPIA) =============================================================================== The largest of the star clusters that surround the Milky Way, Omega Centauri, has a black hole at the core with a mass 20,000-50,000 times that of the Sun, new evidence reveals. At 18,000 light...

(ESO/M. Kornmesser) Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have provided astronomers with unprecedented new insights into the early universe, thanks to detailed imagery of the quasar PJ308–21 recently obtained by NASA’s premier space observatory. The new imagery reveals the appearance of this celestial object as it would have looked when the universe was less than a billion years old, offering a detailed view of the quasar’s spectrum and host galaxy. Obtained with Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, the new imagery of quasar PJ308–21 reveals its spectrum with an uncertainty of less than 1% per pixel despite the object’s incredible...

A Hamiltonian cycle. © The University of Bristol =================================================================== A team of physicists has created a maze that they claim is the most difficult, using a pattern from the game of chess to make the structure. To the untrained eye, the maze looks like the most complicated snowflake. But to the puzzle-lovers among us, it probably looks like a challenge. The maze is constructed from a Hamiltonian cycle, a graph cycle that visits each node on the graph just once. The same pattern of movement is on display in the “Knight’s tour” in chess, by which the chess piece can...

The ATLAS and CMS collaborations are using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to search for exotic-looking collisions that could indicate new physics. Credit: S Sioni/CMS-PHO-EVENTS-2021-004-2/M Rayner ============================================================================ Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how new particles are detected in LHC experiments. By training AI to recognize and differentiate between typical and atypical jets, researchers can identify potential new physics hidden within particle collisions. Recent advancements were highlighted at a physics conference, showing the progress and potential of these AI applications. One of the primary goals of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments is to look for signs of new particles, which could explain...

In its first year, the Biden administration launched a fast-track Scientific Integrity Task Force, intended to “lift up the voices of Federal scientists of many perspectives and backgrounds” and put scientific integrity “paramount in Federal governance for years to come.” The task force took a “whole-of-government” approach to ensuring the scientific integrity of federally funded research and included representatives from the 21 federal agencies that maintain scientific-research programs. For those with a high pain threshold, the final report may be seen here. Prominent among the move’s critics have been the Council on Governmental Relations (a consortium of research universities) and...

Recent high school graduate Suborno Isaac Bari, 12, plans to start studying math and physics at New York University in the fall, but he's already got his ambitious sights set on beginning a doctoral program. "I hope to graduate college at 14 in spring 2026," said Suborno, who recently became the youngest graduate from his Long Island high school.

One of the surprising discoveries of the Webb telescope involves an early population of compact red galaxies at redshift above 7, a time when the Universe was 20 times younger than it is today. The galaxies are redder than expected from their cosmological redshift, indicating additional reddening by a layer of dust. Some of these galaxies contain as much mass in evolved stars as our own Milky Way galaxy. Nevertheless, they are a hundred times smaller in radius, of an order of a few hundred light years. These compact galaxies manifest an increase by a factor of a million in...

Using the Subaru Telescope and Gemini North telescope, an international team of astronomers including Kavli IPMU (WPI) has found the earliest pair of quasars, monsters shining with intense radiation powered by actively feeding super massive black holes. Figure 1: Twin super massive black holes, HSC J121503.42−014858.7 (C1) and HSC J121503.55−014859.3 (C2), discovered by the Subaru Telescope in the Universe 12.9 billion light-years away. Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) https://www.ipmu.jp/en/20240618-TwinQuasars Using the Subaru Telescope and Gemini North telescope, both located on Maunakea in Hawai`i, an international team of...

FTA: "The model developed by the team could help scientists better understand the 11-year solar cycle and improve the forecasting of space weather, which can disrupt GPS and communication satellites as well as dazzle night sky watchers with auroras."

A state-of-the-art new gravitational wave detector could mark the beginning of a new era in astrophysics with the development of the Einstein Telescope. The telescope, currently still in the planning stages, will employ advanced laser technology to measure gravitational waves and help scientists peer even more deeply at phenomena associated with some of the universe’s greatest secrets. Construction could begin in Europe, and the project could revolutionize our understanding of cosmic events, including the collisions of neutron stars and black holes. The Einstein Telescope will build on the 2015 discovery of gravitational waves and observations in 2017 produced by the...

Theory has become practice as new work from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering taps diamond defects’ remarkable ability to concentrate optical energy. Researchers have developed atomic antennas using germanium vacancy centers in diamonds, achieving a million-fold optical energy enhancement. This advancement allows the study of fundamental physics and opens new research avenues. The collaboration between theoretical and experimental teams was essential to this breakthrough. Atomic Antennas: Harnessing Light for Powerful Signals Similar to how a radio antenna captures a broadcast from the air and concentrates the energy into music, individual atoms can collect and concentrate the...