Monday, March 18, 2013

Phys.Org Newsletter Week 11

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 11:

Physics duo discover 13 new solutions to Newtonian three-body orbit problem
(Phys.org) �Physicists Milovan �uvakov and V. Dmitra�inovi? of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade in Serbia have discovered using computer simulations, 13 new solutions to the three-body problem�predicting patterns that describe how three bodies will orbit around each other in space in a repeating pattern. The two describe how they came up with their solutions using computer simulations in their paper published in Physical Review Letters.

Now confident: CERN physicists say new particle is Higgs boson (Update 3)
Physicists said Thursday they are now confident they have discovered a crucial subatomic particle known as a Higgs boson�a major discovery that will go a long ways toward helping them explain why the universe is the way it is.

The closest star system found in a century
(Phys.org) �A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun, according to a paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The duo is the closest star system discovered since 1916. The discovery was made by Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and a researcher in Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds.

Feynman's double-slit experiment brought to life
(Phys.org) �The precise methodology of Richard Feynman's famous double-slit thought-experiment � a cornerstone of quantum mechanics that showed how electrons behave as both a particle and a wave � has been followed in full for the very first time.

Solar wind energy source discovered
Using data from an aging NASA spacecraft, researchers have found signs of an energy source in the solar wind that has caught the attention of fusion researchers. NASA will be able to test the theory later this decade when it sends a new probe into the sun for a closer look.

3Qs: The 3-D printing of tomorrow
Ahmed Busnaina, the William Lincoln Smith Professor and director of the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing at Northeastern, has developed a method called directed assembly that he calls the 3-D printing of tomorrow. It is faster, cheaper, and more versatile than traditional 3-D printing, and he said it could enable a wave of innovation not currently feasible. Here, Busnaina was asked to describe this process and its potential impact in areas such as health, electronics, and the environment.

Breaking the final barrier: Room-temperature electrically powered nanolasers
(Phys.org) �A breakthrough in nanolaser technology has been made by Arizona State University researchers.

Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system, astronomers show
A team of astronomers, including Quinn Konopacky of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet beyond our Solar System.

Quantum teleportation performed with light from a quantum dot embedded in an LED
(Phys.org) �In a new study, physicists have teleported photonic qubits made of pairs of entangled photons that are generated by an LED containing an embedded quantum dot. The novel set-up has advantages compared to the conventional method of generating entangled photons using a laser, and could lead to a simplified technique for implementing quantum teleportation in quantum information applications.

Graphene researchers create 'superheated' water that can corrode diamonds
A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) led by Professor Loh Kian Ping, Head of the Department of Chemistry at the NUS Faculty of Science, has successfully altered the properties of water, making it corrosive enough to etch diamonds. This was achieved by attaching a layer of graphene on diamond and heated to high temperatures. Water molecules trapped between them become highly corrosive, as opposed to normal water.

Curiosity rover finds conditions once suited for ancient life on Mars
(Phys.org) �An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Astronomers conduct first remote reconnaissance of another solar system
Researchers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars. Using a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640, the scientists collected the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of this system's four red exoplanets, which orbit a star 128 light years away from Earth. A detailed description of the planets�showing how drastically different they are from the known worlds in the universe�was accepted Friday for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

ALMA finds 'monster' starburst galaxies in the early universe
Some of the brightest galaxies in the universe � infant galaxies that churned out tens of thousands of stars each year at the dawn of the universe � evolved much sooner and in greater numbers than previously thought, according to new measurements obtained by University of Arizona astronomers.

Astrobiologists claim meteorite carried space algae
(Phys.org) �A fireball that appeared over the Sri Lankan province of Polonnaruwa on December 29, 2012 was a meteorite containing algae fossils, according to a paper published in the Journal of Cosmology. A team of researchers, led by Jamie Wallis of Cardiff University, believes that these fossils provide evidence of cometary panspermia, the hypothesis that life originated in outer space and comets brought it to Earth.

Ancient Chinese coin found on Kenyan island by Field Museum expedition
A joint expedition of scientists led by Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum and Sloan R. Williams of the University of Illinois at Chicago has unearthed a 600-year-old Chinese coin on the Kenyan island of Manda that shows trade existed between China and east Africa decades before European explorers set sail and changed the map of the world.

Definitely, maybe: Evidence grows for positive ID of Higgs�boson
Physicists say they are now almost certain that the curious "Higgs-like particle" revealed last year at CERN is a Higgs boson.

Drug treatment corrects autism symptoms in mouse model
Autism results from abnormal cell communication. Testing a new theory, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used a newly discovered function of an old drug to restore cell communications in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the devastating disorder.

Could global warming change tornado season, too?
With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But tornadoes have them stumped.

NASA and partners to send test solar sail craft into space next year
(Phys.org) �NASA has announced a project with space company L'Garde Inc. to send a test craft into space sometime next year powered only by a solar sail. The craft, called Sunjammer, after the short story by Arthur C. Clarke about yacht races in space that relied on the solar wind to carry them along, will be much larger than any other tested in space before.

Building a better battery
A new battery technology provides double the energy storage at lower cost than the batteries that are used in handheld electronics, electric vehicles, aerospace and defence.


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