Nuclear treaty review starts in New York
The New York conference is intended to specify a timetable for all the main nuclear powers – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – to abandon their nuclear weapon stockpiles. Delegate...
Quantum heat flow in the lab
Quantized electrical conductance was confirmed in experiments with very narrow conducting wires in the late 1980s. The electrons move through the wire along quantum channels, each of which contributes...
Carbon-60 and the ultimate switch
Most materials only become superconducting when they are cooled to low temperatures. In this state the electrons inside the material overcome their natural repulsion and travel through the material in...
The universe is flat – official
All the matter and radiation in the universe was created by the big bang. The radiation stopped interacting with the matter about 300,000 years later – when the universe had cooled down enough f...
Read article: The universe is flat – official
UK plans to sell off defence research agency
There has been speculation over the long term future of DERA and its 11 500 employees – 9 000 of whom are research scientists – since 1998 when the government’s strategic defence rev...
Calling all cosmophysicists
Fundamental physics is a new activity for ESA, although it has ambitious plans to launch LISA, a set of three spacecraft that would detect gravitational waves. It is also considering proposals to test...
Hubble prepares for the next ten years
Recently a “second decade” working group looked at the future of the billion-dollar telescope, which is funded by NASA and the European Space Agency. After ten years in orbit, what more ca...
Read article: Hubble prepares for the next ten years
Boost for particle physics in Canada
“This renewal of funding will permit TRIUMF to become a world leader in particle physics research,” said Arthur Carty, President of National Research Council. “It will also retain an...
The physics of a spinning coin
Moffatt became interested in the problem while looking for Christmas presents for his grandchildren. “I came across the toy in a mail order catalogue and thought it sounded interesting,” h...
Read article: The physics of a spinning coin
Hubble sees mystery object
There are four possible explanations for the object: a highly obscured galaxy, an old elliptical galaxy at redshift 3 or 4, a galaxy at redshift 12, or an intergalactic carbon star. However, there are...
Read article: Hubble sees mystery object
