by Tracy Northup from Nature 521, 295–296 (21 May 2015) doi:10.1038/521295a Experiments on a trapped calcium ion have again exposed the strange nature of quantum phenomena, and could pave the […]
The slow death of red galaxies
by Andrea Cattaneo from Nature 521, 164–165 (14 May 2015) doi:10.1038/521164a For most galaxies, the shutdown of star formation was a slow process that took 4 billion years. An analysis […]
Many flavours of supernova
from Nature 520, 411 (23 April 2015) doi:10.1038/520411d Exploding stars grouped in one family because of their similarities actually form two distinct groups. This may have important cosmic implications because […]
Physics paper sets record with more than 5,000 authors
by Davide Castelvecchi from Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2015.17567 Detector teams at the Large Hadron Collider collaborated for a more precise estimate of the size of the Higgs boson. A physics paper with […]
Proton smasher spots rare particle decays
by Daria Zieminska from Nature (2015) doi:10.1038/nature14520 The extremely rare decays of particles known as neutral B mesons have been observed at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The result may be […]
Inge Lehmann
by Bruce A. Bolt from Physics Today, 1994 Inge Lehmann died in Copenhagen on 21 February 1993, three months short of age 105. Born in 0sterbro, Denmark, Lehmann graduated in […]
Neutrinos from a galaxy far away
Nature 520, 266 (16 April 2015) doi:10.1038/520266b Two of the most energetic neutrinos detected by a telescope in the Antarctic may have come from the cores of distant galaxies. Neutrinos […]
Earth Day 2015
Hubble’s hits and beyond
from Hubble’s legacy by Mario Livio In-flight servicing has prolonged the space telescope’s life, paving the way for future missions. 1990 The Hubble Space Telescope is launched on the space […]
Atomic doughnuts from single photons
by James K. Thompson from Nature 519, 420–422 (26 March 2015), doi:10.1038/519420b Analysis of the interaction between a photon and an ensemble of some 3,000 atoms trapped between two mirrors […]
Mathematical computing in theoretical studies
by B Lautrup from CERN Courier Volume 12, Number 3, March 1972 (pdf) Theoretical physicists mostly use the computer facilities for numerical evaluation of theories in order to compare theory […]
Time as a dimension
The word dimension has a very specific technical meaning in mathematics and physics. It’s basically a number needed to specify something. For example the surface of a sheet of paper […]
Happy New Year
Business culture and dishonesty in the banking industry
by Alain Cohn, Ernst Fehr, Michel André Maréchal from Nature 516, 86–89 (04 December 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13977 Trust in others’ honesty is a key component of the long-term performance of firms, […]