New Studies Suggest the Speed of Light is Variable : science. Mar 25, 2013 03:26 PM EDT Thus far, textbook descriptions of the speed of light assume that the light is traveling in a vacuum.
Space, however, is not a vacuum. According to the Alpha Galileo Foundation, two new studies slotted for publication in the European Physical Journal D demonstrate that the speed of light is actually variable. The authors of the studies include March Urban of the University of Paris-Sud, along with Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. Sanchez-Soto from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany.
A major part of the discussion in both studies is the nature of a vacuum, which on a quantum level is not, as most believe, empty. First, Urban and his team propose that there are in fact a limited number of particle pairs including electron-positron or quark-antiquark pairs within a vacuum. In their study, Leuchs and Sanchez-Soto found that variations in the speed of light can reveal the number of charged elementary particles in any given space. Human Brain Has Built in 'Web Browser' to Handle Sensory Overload, Says Research.
<br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy We accumulate so many memories that it's a wonder our brains don't clog, strangling us on the trivia of our daily lives.
How do we recall the memories that are important to us without flooding our brains with the details of every insignificant event? How do we separate the memories we need from the mountains of garbage? According to ongoing research, we separate the wheat from the chaff by shutting down some memories, at least temporarily, to allow that one chosen treasure to resurface. New research into "retrieval-induced forgetting," an awkward phrase that is easily forgotten, is reshaping much of what we have known about how memories are organized and retrieved. In laymen's language, the research suggests the healthy human brain comes equipped with something like a super-smart Web browser. The research is based chiefly on word association. Storm and a colleague, Tara A. Physics on a plane: Helium crystals grown in zero gravity. A group of physicists from Japan have taken to the skies to grow crystals in zero gravity.
Presenting their results December 13 in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics, they've overcome the limitations of the laboratory to examine the peculiar dynamics of helium crystals on a much larger scale than can be achieved with ordinary materials. Their results could help researchers reveal the fundamental physics behind the development of crystals, whilst also unveiling phenomena that are usually hidden by gravity. The helium crystals were grown using high pressures, extremely low temperatures (0.6K/-272°C) and by splashing them with a superfluid -- a state of quantum matter which behaves like a fluid but has zero viscosity, meaning it has complete resistance to stress. Superfluids can also flow through extremely tiny gaps without any friction. The crystal grew under a process known as Ostwald ripening.
Video: Search through over 10 million science, health, medical journal full text articles and books. Answers in Genesis - Creation, Evolution, Christian Apologetics. ScienceInsider: Breaking news and analysis from the world of science policy. A proposal by the Obama administration to close a historic marine research laboratory near Beaufort, North Carolina, is drawing pushback from the scientific community and local members of Congress.
Although the administration frames it as a tough choice in a time of fiscal restraint, critics argue that the proposed closure of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lab would endanger crucial marine research. Founded more than 100 years ago, the NOAA laboratory on Pivers Island near Beaufort conducts research into a variety of marine science subjects, including fish stocks, ecosystem function, and the health of aquatic creatures. Its work has helped scientists improve how they forecast harmful algal blooms, and it set in place the first study of invasive lionfish in the South Atlantic, those familiar with the lab say. And it is the only NOAA lab between Miami, Florida, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The closure is far from set in stone.