Physics, Cosmology, Astronomy
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
Fifth Giant Planet May Have Dwelled in Our Solar System: Scientific American
Artist's impression of a planet ejected from the early solar system. Image: Southwest Research Institute Within our solar system , an extra giant planet, or possibly two, might once have accompanied Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.Hunt for Higgs Particle Enters Endgame: Scientific American
By Geoff Brumfiel of Nature magazine Bill Murray is a man with secrets. Along with a handful of other scientists based at CERN, Europe's particle-physics facility near Geneva, Switzerland, Murray is one of the few researchers with access to the latest data on the Higgs boson -- the most sought-after particle in physics. Looking at his laptop, he traces a thin black line that wiggles across a shaded area at the centre of a graph.
Neutrino Experiment Replicates Faster-Than-Light Finding: Scientific American
By Eugenie Samuel Reich of Nature magazine Physicists have replicated the finding that the subatomic particles called neutrinos seem to travel faster than light. It is a remarkable confirmation of a stunning result, yet most in the field remain sceptical that the ultimate cosmic speed limit has truly been broken.
Is Time An Illusion? From The Buddha To Brian Greene : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
As finite creatures, with death hovering just out of our sight, the true nature of time haunts all our endeavors. Tomorrow, physicist Brian Greene tackles time's illusion in his Fabric of Reality PBS series. Science, however, is just one way we ask about the reality of time. In the domains of spirituality, humans have also asked if there is more, or less, to time than ticking clocks or the march from birth to death.
GRIN
GRIN is a collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes. This collection is intended for the media, publishers, and the general public looking for high-quality photographs. Please note that downloading these image files may take some time, although searching and browsing should be relatively quick.It is time once again for the FQXi Essay Contest! Past years, we have asked you to debate the nature of time , what is ultimately possible in physics , and whether reality is ultimately digital or analog . This year we want to know:
Community
Faster Than Light By SOPHIE HEBDEN • May 22, 2012 A controversial theory in which light broke its own speed limit in the early universe joins forces with string theory and loop quantum gravity to solve cosmic mysteries. To understand how spacetime might emerge from string theory, in the early cosmos, we need to heat up the equations, and thaw the space and time dimensions. In 2004, Stephen Hawking famously conceded that black holes do not devour all information when they swallow matter—seemingly resolving the "black hole information paradox" that had perplexed physicists for decades. But some argue that the paradox remains open, and we must abandon our simple picture of spacetime to unravel it.
Community
March 21, 2012 In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour’s left orbital maneuvering system OMS pod ...
NASA Science
Description: This course tries to connect quantum computing to the wider intellectual world. We'll start out with various scientific, mathematical, or philosophical problems that predate quantum computing: for example, the measurement problem, P versus NP, the existence of secure cryptography, the Humean problem of induction, or the possibility of closed timelike curves. We'll then examine in what ways, if any, quantum computing affects how we should think about the problem. To keep things grounded, each session will end with a concrete puzzle that students will be expected to have thought about (if not solved) by the next session. The class format will strongly encourage participation, discussion, and debate.
PHYS771 Quantum Computing Since Democritus
Stellarium
Stellarium 0.11.2 is a stable version that introduces some new features and closes 47 bug and wishlist reports. A lot of work has been done on making translatable text that wasn't localized before. This includes most of the text used by the default plug-ins, landscapes, countries, script names and descriptions. The Oculars plug-in now has an optional control panel with buttons for those affected by the "missing menu" bug, but it needs to be enabled in the Oculars configuration window.
Failed Star Found In The Neighborhood: Scientific American Podcast
60-Second Space | Space NASA's WISE satellite has found a Y dwarf star, cool enough to touch, that is the hub of the seventh closest star system to us. John Matson reports August 29, 2011 | Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...The Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, will see in infrared, the light emitted by the farthest objects we can detect. Learn about Webb, its technology, and the science it will reveal.