Understanding how molecules behave on the quantum level can help develop new drugs or improve the synthesis of chemical products. However, the underlying mathematics behind quantum chemistry are exceedingly complex. Density-functional theory simplifies the mathematics surrounding the behaviour of electrons in a molecule. Instead of having to calculate the position and motion of every electron […]
In the deal NASA gains Russia’s research time during the first four to five years of the space station’s construction, the rights to store experiments onboard a Russian-built module and the help of Russian cosmonauts with any experiments. The deal is worth potentially an additional 5000 hours of cosmonaut time to US researchers. The US […]
Planetary physicists hope to use atmospheric data from Titan to provide clues to the behaviour of our own atmosphere. The difficulty with studying Earth’s atmosphere is that it is affected by extra variables such as the biosphere, geological activity and large quantities of water on the surface, which can make it difficult to study some […]
The technique is based on characteristics of individual photons that are generated randomly between the sender and the receiver. Although researchers have already transmitted quantum encryption keys through optical fibres, atmospheric turbulence had disrupted similar attempts in the open air. William Buttler and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US succeeded by carrying […]
The DFG has been experimenting with different ways of digitizing postgraduate dissertations for some time. These documents are usually one of the hardest sets of scientific information to access because copies are held only at national libraries or at the awarding institution, and students tend to only publish 3 or 4 copies. This new program […]
With a collision energy of 189 GeV, LEP is currently the world’s highest energy electron-positron collider. It was originally due to be shut down at the end of this year, but physicists working at the facility successfully lobbied to have its life extended and its energy increased to 200 GeV. The extension is to be […]
These latest results, according to Barker et al., indicate “high confidence” that the network being set up to monitor the CTBT can indeed verify small nuclear explosions. Concerns over the effectiveness of the monitoring network have made it extremely difficult for supporters of the treaty to have it ratified by the US congress. Only two […]
Sensenbrenner has long campaigned against ITER, an international collaboration between fusion labs in Europe, Japan, Russia and the US. He claims that ITER has soaked up valuable funds that could be used for cheaper, more effective fusion programmes, and called last week’s extension “irresponsible.” He argues that the original goal set by the project – […]
Quasar jets are streams of plasma that travel at near the speed of light from supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies. The jets appear at radio wavelengths, but can also be detected in the optical, X-ray and gamma-ray regions of the spectrum. The difficulty for astronomers has been distinguishing between electrons and positrons […]
Bohr had escaped from German-occupied Denmark in September 1943 and crossed the Atlantic to work with British and American physicists on the Manhattan atomic-bomb project at Los Alamos. However, he returned to Copenhagen in August 1945, partly on the advice of his close contact, Sir John Anderson, who was chancellor of the exchequer and political […]
