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Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking experiments with entangled particles. The physicists Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments that proved the profoundly strange quantum nature of reality. Their experiments collectively established the existence of a bizarre quantum phenomenon known as entanglement, where two widely separated particles appear to share information despite having no conceivable way of communicating. Entanglement lay at the heart of a fiery clash in the 1930s between physics titans Albert Einstein on the one hand...

An international team of chemists has set a new world record for tying the world’s smallest knot, which they say consists of only 54 atoms. Remarkably, researchers involved with the achievement say it happened by accident, and are unable to account for how it occurred. Chemists Zhiwen Li, Jingjing Zhang, Gao Li with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, and research colleague Richard J. Puddephatt with the University of Western Ontario, Canada, were attempting an entirely different process in the lab when the record breaking discovery was made. Their achievement is described in a study that...

When Isaac Newton inscribed onto parchment his now-famed laws of motion in 1687, he could have only hoped we'd be discussing them three centuries later. Writing in Latin, Newton outlined three universal principles describing how the motion of objects is governed in our Universe, which have been translated, transcribed, discussed and debated at length. But according to a philosopher of language and mathematics, we might have been interpreting Newton's precise wording of his first law of motion slightly wrong all along. Virginia Tech philosopher Daniel Hoek wanted to "set the record straight" after discovering what he describes as a "clumsy...

Whirlpool Galaxy, photographed by the Webb Space Telescope. Photo: NASA ESA Webb / A Adamo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Introduction by Asia Times Science Editor Jonathan Tennenbaum In September Eric Lerner created a sensation with his Asia Times article, “Saying goodbye to the Big Bang,” arguing that the Big Bang theory is contradicted by an overwhelming mass of astronomical evidence accumulated over decades, including recent data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Eric Lerner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The data forced even a pair of hitherto staunch advocates of the Big Bang, the well-known astrophysicists Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, to admit that something must be...

The Orion: A molecular cloud shows cosmic filamentary structures where stars are being born. Image: ESA / Herschel / Ph. André, D Polychroni, A. Roy, V Könyves, N Schneider for the Gould Belt survey Key Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the first part of this series, we saw that electromagnetic processes in plasmas – electrically conducting gases – could, over trillions of years, produce the giant filaments that we see today as the largest structures in the universe. This happened without a Big Bang, without dark energy or dark matter, based on processes that we observe here on Earth in the laboratory...

Looking down the barrel of the First Light Fusion’s “Big Friendly Gun” – a two-stage gas gun that's used to generate fusion reactions by the impact of a high-velocity projectile on a specially-designed target. Photo: First Light Fusion In my discussion (published starting here) with Paul Methven, head of Britain’s STEP program to build a first electricity-producing fusion power plant, Methven stressed that the program is open to more than one technological option. While STEP is betting mainly on the spherical tokamak, it is supporting the formation of a “fusion cluster” that will include private fusion companies pursuing entirely different...

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the unbarred spiral galaxy NGC 5033, located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs). The galaxy is similar in size to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, at just over 100,000 light-years across. (Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the center of this image is a monster young star 200,000 times brighter than our Sun that is blasting powerful ultraviolet radiation and hurricane-like stellar winds, carving out a fantasy landscape of ridges, cavities, and mountains of gas and dust. (NASA, ESA, and STScI)...

The James Webb Space Telescope peered 13.4 billion years into the past and found a black hole-sized conundrum. The oldest supermassive black hole astronomers have ever seen is gorging messily on the heart of its host galaxy, which may ultimately doom the black hole along with its prey. In the process, this ancient black hole — or at least as it looked 13.4 billion years ago — may offer important clues about how the universe’s first supermassive black holes formed and grew. University of Cambridge astrophysicist Roberto Maiolino and his colleagues recently used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) instruments...

Today, supermassive black holes and their host galaxies tell a specific story in terms of mass. But JWST reveals a different story early on. primordial black holes The overdense regions that the Universe was born with grow and grow over time, but are limited in their growth by both the initial small sizes of the overdensities and also by the presence of radiation that's still energetic, which prevents structure from growing any faster. It takes tens-to-hundreds of millions of years to form the first stars; clumps of matter exist long before that, however, and some may directly collapse to form...

How One Line in the Oldest Math Text Hinted at Hidden Universes | 31:11Veritasium | 14.3M subscribers | 3,229,898 views | October 21, 2023

This holographic concept could explain a mystery about black holes, but the math may not represent reality.As theoretical physics delves deeper into the fundamental nature of reality, we’re left to grapple with the questions it leaves us. For example, some physicists claim that our universe is merely an illusion, a product of quantum machinations happening in a lower-dimensional setting—in other words, a hologram. Black Holes May Be Evidence The trouble began with those bothersome boogeymen of the cosmos, black holes. On the surface (and careful readers will be rewarded later with the realization that this is a pun), black holes...

Tiny cosmic particles can have serious impacts on Earth, causing election votes to be miscounted, planes to free-fall and computers to reboot, scientists say.These cosmic particles can hit electronic devices on Earth, which can cause components to burn out and cause malfunctions. Cosmic particles come from cosmic rays from outside our solar system. They crash into the Earth's atmosphere creating a range of particles, including protons, electrons, X-rays and gamma-rays that can penetrate aircraft.These cosmic particles constantly hit Earth, and can cause bits of information in electronics to change.

In our Universe, all stable atomic nuclei have protons in them; there's no stable "neutronium" at all. But what's the reason why? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In theory, any type of baryon, or entity made of three quarks, can bind together to any other type of baryon. However, while protons-and-neutrons can bind together to form stable bound states (like atomic nuclei), neutrons-and-neutrons and protons-and-protons do not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KEY TAKEAWAYS Here in our Universe, all atomic nuclei, stable and unstable, are made up of protons and neutrons, with light nuclei often having equal amounts of both and heavier nuclei having more neutrons than protons....

If you live in and around Gulkana, Alaska and recently saw some eerie lights in the sky—don’t worry; they were all part of a science experiment. Earlier this week, researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and several other US institutions created artificial auroras by sending radio pulses into the Earth’s ionosphere using HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) transmitters on the ground. The frequencies of these transmissions were between 2.8 and 10 megahertz. >>> If you noticed a faint red or green splotch in the sky above Alaska between November 4 and November 8, chances are good that...

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has improved its detection of cosmic events by overcoming quantum noise through advanced “squeezing” technology. This breakthrough will increase its detection rate by 60 percent and pave the way for advancements in quantum technology and physics. Researchers using LIGO achieved a landmark in quantum squeezing. In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, made history when it made the first direct detection of gravitational waves, or ripples in space and time, produced by a pair of colliding black holes. Since then, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded LIGO and its sister detector in...

This image shows the orientation of the magnetic field in the distant 9io9 galaxy, seen here when the Universe was only 20% of its current age — the furthest ever detection of a galaxy’s magnetic field. Dust grains within 9io9 are somewhat aligned with the galaxy’s magnetic field, and due to this, they emit polarized light, meaning that light waves oscillate along a preferred direction rather than randomly. ALMA detected this polarization signal, from which astronomers could work out the orientation of the magnetic field, shown here as curved lines overlaid on the ALMA image. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/J. Geach et...

In this week's science news, I talk about a new candidate for a cosmic string, the mysterious shrinking of planet Mercury, a nuclear clock, the first quantum engine, a simulator for human diseases, whether we can find new physics with spinning black holes, AI that wants to help find aliens, how to compute with photons, and of course, the telephone will ring.Could this be the first evidence for string theory? | 18:21Sabine Hossenfelder | 1.03M subscribers | 310,893 views | October 10, 2023

In the European Physical Journal Plus, Rafelski and two colleagues mathematically demonstrated that the existence of CUDOs (compact ultra dense objects) do not have dark matter, but are filled with unknown classes of chemical elements beyond the periodic table that are much denser than osmium.

Explanation: This dance is to the death. As these two large galaxies duel, a cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust currently stretches over 75,000 light-years and joins them. The bridge itself is strong evidence that these two immense star systems have passed close to each other and experienced violent tides induced by mutual gravity. As further evidence, the face-on spiral galaxy on the right, also known as NGC 3808A, exhibits many young blue star clusters produced in a burst of star formation. The twisted edge-on spiral on the left (NGC 3808B) seems to be wrapped in the material bridging...

Dreams of a world powered by antigravity got quashed by a particle physics today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It turns out that Einstein was right yet again. A recent experiment just proved that antigravity doesn’t exist and we probably won’t ever get to use antimatter to levitate or build a perpetual motion machine or power warp drives (sorry, Star Trek). Antimatter itself is very real. Made of particles that mostly behave like regular matter, but their electrical charges are reversed, an anti-proton looks just like a proton but has a negative charge, while an anti-electron (or positron) looks and moves just like an...