(Loren Zemlicka/Moment/Getty Images)While in our everyday lives measuring time is simply a matter of counting the seconds between the past and the present, things work quite differently in the quantum world. At microscopic scales, events don’t follow a predictable order, and the “now” often blurs with the “before,” rendering conventional stopwatches useless in certain...
Credit: DepositphotosQuantum physics is already a puzzle in itself — and now, researchers have taken that quite literally. A team of mathematicians from the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a quantum version of the Rubik’s Cube, featuring infinite possible configurations and strange new moves that make the challenge even more complex.The Classic Cube...
The new enriched rods being installed in the reactorUS Department of EnergyA U.S. nuclear reactor has taken a major technological step forward by adopting a more advanced type of fuel. Southern Nuclear inserted four Lead Test Assemblies (LTAs) into the Vogtle Unit 2 reactor in Waynesboro, Georgia. These assemblies use uranium enriched above 5%...
Researchers most often use lasers to heat things up, but they can also cool certain elements by precisely targeting a tiny area.Maxwell LabsAlthough people usually associate lasers with heating — quickly, precisely, and from a distance — researchers can also use them to cool things down under certain conditions.That function might be key to...
Credit: University of Innsbruck/Harald RitschQuantum physics has long required extreme precision and ultra-cold temperatures to observe its most mind-bending phenomena. But a breakthrough from researchers in Innsbruck, Austria, challenges that assumption—revealing that quantum states can persist even in warmer, less controlled environments.In a new study published in Science Advances, a team from the University...
Credit: PixabayA newly discovered state of matter has emerged within a previously identified exotic phase in a magnetic compound.In 2016, physicists Weiguo Yin, Christopher Roth, and Alexei Tsvelik from Brookhaven National Laboratory identified a unique "half-fire, half-ice" spin-state phase in Sr₃CuIrO₆, a compound of strontium, copper, iridium, and oxygen. Now, they have uncovered its...
Credit: PixabayResearchers harness tiny voltage from Earth's rotation, revealing a potential new energy source.The foundation for this research dates back to 2016 when Princeton astrophysicist Christopher Chyba and JPL planetary scientist Kevin Hand initially argued that such energy generation was impossible. However, as they revisited their own conclusions, they began to question the assumptions...
Model of a quantum tornado in momentum space. (think-design/Jochen Thamm)Physicists in Germany have demonstrated that electron inertia can create "tornadoes" inside a quantum semimetal, revealing a new layer of complexity in electron motion.Electrons rarely stay still, and their movements can take unexpected forms. In tantalum arsenide, a quantum material, researchers found that electrons form vortices—not...
Credit: PixabayScientists have once again created a synthetic diamond even tougher than natural ones, using a novel approach to diamond formation.By subjecting graphite—a super-hard material in its own right—to extreme pressure and heating it to 1,800 K (1,527 °C or 2,780 °F), the researchers produced a diamond with a hexagonal lattice structure instead of...
An illustration of the structure of an atom. (KTSDesign/SciencePhotoLibrary/Getty Images)An experiment involving the collision of specialized lead atoms with high-speed particles has revealed an astonishing finding.Rather than the expected perfect spherical shape, the core of the isotope known as lead-208 (208Pb) appears unexpectedly flattened.The Surprising Results of the Experiment on Lead-208This discovery indicates that atomic...
