Measuring decoherence in real time
Quantum particles such as electrons can be in a superposition of two or more quantum states. This means that an electron can, for instance, be in two places at the same time. However, classical object...
Overlooking female innovation in science
Hamilton came to her conclusions after studying the writings of female scientists over the past two and a half thousand years, and reading descriptions of women scientists by others. She analysed the ...
Asteroid threat over estimated
A collision with a Near-Earth asteroid is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Near-Earth asteroids are usually piles of rock from the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt whose orbit ...
‘Naked’ black holes seen
Black holes are usually detected by the effects of their vast gravitational field on the orbits of nearby astronomical objects such as stars. Naked black holes have no such material near them making i...
Physicist queries test-ban evidence to US Senate
Since the US stopped testing in 1992 it has relied on the “stockpile Stewardship” programme to maintain the reliability and safety of its nuclear weapons. But a number of misconceptions we...
Adaptive-optics to cover the sky
Adaptive-optic telescopes differ from normal telescopes by using a thin flexible primary mirror that can easily be deformed. A bright guide star near the observing area acts as a “beacon” ...
NAUTILUS detects cosmic rays
NAUTILUS was designed to observe the gravitational waves produced by collisions between objects such as black holes or neutron stars. According to the Frascati’s group calculations, signals from...
Solitons formed in Bose–Einstein condensate
Bose–Einstein condensates are trapped atoms that are cooled to low temperatures and occupy the same quantum state. They are ideal for studying and manipulating quantum effects such as solitons a...
Read article: Nuclear physics with lasers
Nuclear physics with lasers
About 20 years ago Toshi Tajima and John Dawson, then at the University of California at Los Angeles, suggested that laser-produced plasmas could be used to accelerate particles to high energies. The ...
CERN-Gran Sasso neutrino experiment is approved
Italy is paying over half of the cost of the SwFr 71million experiment, with voluntary contributions from Belgium, France, Germany and Spain covering the rest. The experiment will start taking data in...
