In a process called electroencephalogram (EEG), brain activity is measured by strapping electrodes to the scalp. The electrodes record weak electrical waves produced from different parts of the brain and the results plotted on a graph. The algorithm that is widely used to study different states of consciousness (e.g., being asleep or awake) can also […]
The researchers constructed a mathematical representation of the irregularly spaced near Earth asteroid Castalia for their calculations. They assumed it would be made of solid rock, a pair of solid rocks separated by rubble, or a 50% porous agglomeration of large boulders. To simulate a collision they imagined a 8m diameter basalt sphere travelling at […]
Astronomers involved with the project hope to use a lightweight multi-segment design similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, which cost only about 20 per cent of what it would cost to build a traditional telescope of the same size. The HET board has agreed to make available the detailed plans for its telescope […]
Neutrinos come in three types – electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos – and only interact very weakly with matter, which makes them extremely difficult to detect. Neutrino detectors have to be built underground to isolate them from cosmic rays. Even then natural radioactivity from the detector itself can mimic a neutrino interaction, so […]
In 1992 seven postgraduate students started their PhDs in the high-energy physics group at Imperial College, London. Six years later, three of them now work in international finance in the City of London. Although neither the research councils nor the financial sector keep records of how many physicists enter the City, it is clear that […]
Recognising blood cells presents a big challenge for automated counting systems. As blood flows through veins, the cells are deformed in the direction of blood flow. Blood also contains a lot of other ‘junk’ material such as proteins. Computers find it difficult to recognise the cells once they have been deformed against this background ‘junk’ […]
The known universe consists almost entirely of matter. However, it is thought that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created during the big bang. One possibility is that this antimatter now forms galaxies that lie beyond those detected from Earth. The AMS will try to detect minute quantities of antimatter in cosmic rays that […]
At the beginning of this century, before the advent of quantum mechanics, who could have foreseen molecular biology? And in the 1940s, before the discovery of DNA and the development of computers, who could have predicted the Human Genome Project and all of its staggering implications? The scientific exploration of the future is not a […]
Is it possible to really understand asymptotic freedom, superstrings and other jargon from particle physics without knowing any relevant mathematics whatsoever? John Gribbin certainly thinks so. In a series of books that began with In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat, Gribbin has tried to explain the mysteries of the sub-atomic world to non-experts. Now he has […]
Sometime early in the next century the miniaturization of conventional electronic devices will grind to a halt. The inexorable progress that has seen the number of transistors on a single silicon chip increase by a factor of 16 000 over the past 24 years cannot continue indefinitely. A combination of reasons – cost, technology and […]
