DrMLHarris

DrMLHarris, 3 days ago to science

A survey of more than 3000 physical science researchers in over 100 countries reveals a sharp split in attitudes towards the use of AI in peer review, with 35% saying it will be harmful, 29% saying it will be beneficial, and 36% predicting it will have no impact.

https://physicsworld.com/a/researchers-split-on-merits-and-pitfalls-of-ai-in-peer-review-iop-publishing-survey-finds/

#science

DrMLHarris, 18 days ago to physics

The usual approach to detecting dark matter is to search for particles with a specific range of masses. The hope is that even if we see nothing, we'll at least know more about what dark matter is not.

Physicists at Fermilab have now released the first data from a different type of detector, one that looks for dark matter over a much wider range at lower sensitivity.

Result: still no dark matter, but a larger swathe of parameter space ruled out.

https://physicsworld.com/a/bread-experiment-tracks-dark-photons-to-new-levels/

#physics #science

DrMLHarris, 23 days ago to science

Oil and water don't mix, right? Wrong! (Well, sometimes.)

Researchers in France have recently shown that when a polymeric oil is added to water, a thin layer of oil absorbs onto the surface of the water droplets. This stabilizes the droplets and causes a weak attraction between them that makes the mixture long-term stable without the need for a surfactant such as soap.

https://physicsworld.com/a/mixing-water-and-oil-no-surfactants-needed/

#science

DrMLHarris, 1 month ago to science

Since 1972, we've added 27 leap seconds to the calendar to account for discrepancies between time as measured by Earth’s rotation and time measured by an atomic clock.

Recently, the Earth's rotation has been speeding up, raising the prospect that we might instead need to subtract leap seconds.

This would hugely disrupt computer systems, but new research suggests it might not be necessary for three years.

Here's the uncomfortable reason why: https://physicsworld.com/a/climate-change-will-affect-how-time-is-corrected-using-negative-leap-seconds/

#science #physics

DrMLHarris, 5 months ago to physics

When you send a physics journalist with an undergraduate minor in medieval studies (me!) to an fluid dynamics conference, a blog post about bird flight and Eilmer, the flying monk of 11th-century Malmesbury Abbey, is the only possible result.

https://physicsworld.com/a/through-turbulent-skies-how-fluid-dynamics-experts-are-uncovering-the-secrets-of-bird-flight/

#physics #science

DrMLHarris, 5 months ago to science

An organic material in a metastable phase behaves a little like a room-temperature #superconductor when excited with laser light. Though this behaviour fades almost as quickly as the laser pulse that induces it, the team behind the discovery say that with the right light source, it might be possible to keep the material in its superconducting-like state continuously.

https://physicsworld.com/a/terahertz-laser-induces-room-temperature-superconducting-phase-in-a-fullerene-compound/

#science #physics

DrMLHarris, 6 months ago to physics

“It is quite surprising that magnetic levitation develops in such as relatively simple system,” says Rasmus Bjørk of TU-Denmark, who co-led a team that explained how a spinning magnet can make another nearby magnet levitate.

https://physicsworld.com/a/new-type-of-magnetic-levitation-makes-its-debut/

#physics #science

DrMLHarris, 7 months ago to physics

Come work with me! Physics World is looking for a features editor on a 12-month fixed-term contract basis (maternity cover). You'll need the right to work in the UK & ideally you'd be based within occasional travelling distance of Bristol. Friendly team, flexible working, endless #physics jokes, what's not to love?

https://www.ioppublishingcareers.org/vacancy/features-editor-physics-world-maternity-cover-540187.html

DrMLHarris, 7 months ago to chemistry

If you're curious about how the #chemistry #NobelPrize committee could have decided the winners this morning even though their decision was leaked two hours earlier, a past #physics committee member, Lars Brink, spilled the beans to us a couple of years ago. https://physicsworld.com/a/inside-the-nobels-lars-brink-reveals-how-the-worlds-top-physics-prize-is-awarded/

DrMLHarris, 7 months ago to physics

The Nobel Prize for Physics in 2023 has gone to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter". Here's our story on their prize-winning work, which will be updated throughout the day with more info. https://physicsworld.com/a/pierre-agostini-ferenc-krausz-and-anne-lhuillier-win-2023-nobel-prize-for-physics/

#physics #Nobel

DrMLHarris, 7 months ago to random

The Nobel Prize for Physics in 2023 has gone to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter". More soon...

DrMLHarris, 8 months ago to physics

The super-heavy oxygen isotope oxygen-28 packs a whopping 20 neutrons into its nucleus alongside the normal 8 protons. These numbers were supposed to make the nucleus "doubly magic", meaning it should have been unusually stable against radioactive decay.

But when scientists in Japan recently made oxygen-28 in the lab for the first time, that's not what they saw.

https://physicsworld.com/a/newly-observed-oxygen-28-nucleus-fails-double-magic-test/

#physics #science

DrMLHarris, 8 months ago to physics

The space sector has a reputation for being "a bit of a dinosaur" on LGBTQIA+ issues. Space Pride aims to change that.

“We are all made of stardust,” says founder Franco Labia, quoting the Space Pride slogan. “We are all human and we should welcome and accept everyone.”

https://physicsworld.com/a/how-space-pride-is-campaigning-for-change-in-the-space-sector/

#physics #space #pride #lgbt

DrMLHarris, 9 months ago to physics

The early history of laser cooling is a tale of three Nobel Prizes, a lot of hard work and a soupcon of serendipity. https://physicsworld.com/a/cold-how-physicists-learned-to-manipulate-and-move-particles-with-laser-cooling/

As a former atomic physicist myself, it's been a real honour to edit @orzelc's three-part history of this field. Part 1 is available now, go read it! #physics #science

DrMLHarris, 9 months ago to physics

Have scientists in Korea discovered the first room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor? And is Betteridge's Law of headlines always true? 😉

I'm with the last guy I quoted in my story: it would be a sensational breakthrough, but right now, without confirmation, it's merely sensational.

https://physicsworld.com/a/have-scientists-in-korea-discovered-the-first-room-temperature-ambient-pressure-superconductor/

#physics #superconductivity

DrMLHarris, 9 months ago to Astronomy

A rapidly rotating white dwarf star that contains two opposing hemispheres – one covered by hydrogen and the other by helium – has astronomers scratching their heads over how it got that way.

The answer probably involves magnetic fields, but then again, pretty much every weird thing in #astronomy probably involves magnetic fields.

https://physicsworld.com/a/two-faced-white-dwarf-star-leaves-astronomers-puzzled/

DrMLHarris, 11 months ago to science

What's next for particle #physics after the Large Hadron Collider at #CERN? A conference in London earlier this week debated several possibilities for the so-called Future Circular Collider (we're sure they'll come up with a better name eventually).

https://physicsworld.com/a/cern-physicists-meet-in-london-to-plot-future-collider-plans/

#science

DrMLHarris, 11 months ago to science

Like alcohol, #cannabis can render users unfit to drive for several hours, long after their last dance with Mary Jane is but a hazy, munchie-filled memory. So, is there a Breathalyzer for cannabis? Not yet – but scientists are still trying.

https://physicsworld.com/a/cannabis-breath-test-research-goes-up-in-smoke/

#physics #chemistry