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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for week 41:
Time reversal: A simple particle could reveal new physics
(PhysOrg.com) -- A simple atomic nucleus could reveal properties associated with the mysterious phenomenon known as time reversal and lead to an explanation for one of the greatest mysteries of physics: the imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe.
Giant kraken lair discovered
Long before whales, the oceans of Earth were roamed by a very different kind of air-breathing leviathan. Snaggle-toothed ichthyosaurs larger than school buses swam at the top of the Triassic Period ocean food chain, or so it seemed before Mount Holyoke College paleontologist Mark McMenamin took a look at some of their remains in Nevada. Now he thinks there was an even larger and more cunning sea monster that preyed on ichthyosaurs: a kraken of such mythological proportions it would have sent Captain Nemo running for dry land. McMenamin will be presenting the results of his work on Monday, 10 October at the Annual Meeting of The Geological Society of America in Minneapolis.
Golden touch makes low-temperature graphene production a reality
(PhysOrg.com) -- A method which more than halves the temperature at which high-quality graphene can be produced has been pioneered by researchers.
Light speed
The recent news of neutrinos moving faster than light might have got everyone thinking about warp drive and all that, but really there is no need to imagine something that can move faster than 300,000 kilometres a second. Indeed, the whole idea is illogical.
Robot biologist solves complex problem from scratch
First it was chess. Then it was Jeopardy. Now computers are at it again, but this time they are trying to automate the scientific process itself.
The strange rubbing boulders of the Atacama
A geologist's sharp eyes and upset stomach has led to the discovery, and almost too-close encounter, with an otherworldly geological process operating in a remote corner of northern Chile's Atacama Desert.
Possible trigger for volcanic 'super-eruptions' found
The "super-eruption" of a major volcanic system occurs about every 100,000 years and is considered one of the most catastrophic natural events on Earth, yet scientists have long been unsure about what triggers these violent explosions.
From blue whales to earthworms, a common mechanism gives shape to living beings
Why don't our arms grow from the middle of our bodies? The question isn't as trivial as it appears. Vertebrae, limbs, ribs, tailbone ... in only two days, all these elements take their place in the embryo, in the right spot and with the precision of a Swiss watch. Intrigued by the extraordinary reliability of this mechanism, biologists have long wondered how it works. Now, researchers at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and the University of Geneva (Unige) have solved the mystery. Their discovery will be published October 13, 2011 in the journal Science.
'Ghostwriting' the Torah? New algorithm distinguishes contributors to the Old Testament with high accuracy
In both Jewish and Christian traditions, Moses is considered the author of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Scholars have furnished evidence that multiple writers had a hand in composing the text of the Torah. Other books of the Hebrew Bible and of the New Testament are also thought to be composites. However, delineating these multiple sources has been a laborious task.
New form of superhard carbon observed
Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and takes on a wide variety of forms, called allotropes, including diamond and graphite. Scientists at Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory are part of a team that has discovered a new form of carbon, which is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses that were previously observed only in diamond. This breakthrough discovery will be published in Physical Review Letters.
96 percent of vertebrates -- including humans -- descended from ancestor with sixth sense
(PhysOrg.com) -- People experience the world through five senses but sharks, paddlefishes and certain other aquatic vertebrates have a sixth sense: They can detect weak electrical fields in the water and use this information to detect prey, communicate and orient themselves.
Clear link between solar activity and winter weather revealed
Scientists have demonstrated a clear link between the 11-year sun cycle and winter weather over the northern hemisphere for the first time.
Progress in quantum computing, qubit by qubit
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers and physicists at Harvard have managed to capture light in tiny diamond pillars embedded in silver, releasing a stream of single photons at a controllable rate.
Japanese scientist unveils 'thinking' robot
Robots that learn from experience and can solve novel problems -- just like humans -- sound like science fiction.
Why Einstein was wrong about being wrong
If you want to get your mind around the research that won three astronomers the Nobel Prize in physics last week, it helps to think of the universe as a lump of dough - raisin-bread dough, to be precise - mixed, kneaded and ready to rise. Hold that thought.
Evidence of domestication of dogs during Paleolithic period found
(PhysOrg.com) -- Paleontologists working in the Czech Republic have unearthed what appears to be evidence of the domestication of dogs, from a period much earlier than has been previously thought. In a paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the team, comprised of Mietje Germonpréa, Martina Lázničková-Galetováb and Mikhail V. Sablinc, from Belgium, the Czech Republic and Russia respectively, say that they’ve found the remains of three dogs from the Paleolithic period, one of which had been buried with a large bone in its mouth.
Erasing history? Temporal cloaks adjust light's throttle to hide an event in time
Researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., have demonstrated for the first time that it's possible to cloak a singular event in time, creating what has been described as a "history editor." In a feat of Einstein-inspired physics, Moti Fridman and his colleagues sent a beam of light traveling down an optical fiber and through a pair of so-called "time lenses." Between these two lenses, the researchers were able to briefly create a small bubble, or gap, in the flow of light. During that fleetingly brief moment, lasting only the tiniest fraction of a second, the gap functioned like a temporal hole, concealing the fact that a brief burst of light ever occurred.
Researchers reconstruct genome of the Black Death
led by researchers at McMaster University and the University of Tubingen in Germany -- has sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death, one of the most devastating epidemics in human history.
'Smart DC' cuts electricity costs by using direct current electricity (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- As the use of computers and mobile electronics continues to rise, so does the energy wasted by the devices’ AC/DC adaptors when converting AC from wall sockets to DC for the devices. The London-based company Moixa Technology estimates that more than 1 trillion kwh of global energy is currently wasted every year due to inefficient inverters and AC/DC adaptors. Moixa’s solution is a Smart DC network that uses electricity from window- and wall-based solar panels or off-peak grid electricity stored in batteries to power low-power devices and lights at any time. By minimizing the need for AC/DC conversion, the company predicts that the Smart DC system could decrease users’ overall electricity costs by up to 30%.
Experimental mathematics: Computing power leads to insights
In his 1989 book "The Emperor's New Mind", Roger Penrose commented on the limitations on human knowledge with a striking example: He conjectured that we would most likely never know whether a string of 10 consecutive 7s appears in the digital expansion of the number pi. Just 8 years later, Yasumasa Kanada used a computer to find exactly that string, starting at the 22869046249th digit of pi. Penrose was certainly not alone in his inability to foresee the tremendous power that computers would soon possess. Many mathematical phenomena that not so long ago seemed shrouded and unknowable, can now be brought into the light, with tremendous precision.
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