News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
A chunk of a SpaceX rocket that blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission will crash into the Moon in March, experts say. The rocket was deployed in 2015 to put into orbit a NASA satellite called the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). Since then, the second … Read more
Scientific American January 2022 Measuring the time it takes particles to travel between two points may be the best test yet for Bohmian mechanics A deceptively simple experiment that involves making precise measurements of the time it takes for a particle to go from point A to point B could cause a breakthrough in quantum … Read more
A mysterious particle thought to have existed briefly just after the Big Bang has now been detected for the first time in the ‘primordial soup’. Specifically, in a medium called the quark-gluon plasma, generated in the Large Hadron Collider by colliding lead ions. There, amid the trillions of particles produced by these collisions, physicists managed … Read more
Western Australia, which has remained largely covid-free, has cancelled its border reopening due to omicron fears, but there may be little to gain by holding out longer Health 21 January 2022 By Alice Klein Women wearing face masks in Perth, Australia Matt Jelonek/Getty Images Western Australia, which has mostly dodged the coronavirus by sealing itself … Read more
Being in space causes the human body to destroy about 50% more red blood cells, leading to a potentially dangerous condition known as anemia. The effects persist even after astronauts return to Earth, according to a new study. The study, led by researchers at the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, … Read more
Scientists are warning of an emerging ‘epidemic‘ of myopia or near-sightedness, having observed sharp increases in the adult onset of myopia among late baby boomers. Based on data collected from 107,442 participants in the extensive Biobank program in the UK, people born in the late 1960s are 10 percent more likely to be near-sighted than … Read more
Editor’s Note (1/18/22): On January 15 the eruption of a volcano near Tonga triggered a far-ranging tsunami. This story about detecting tsunamis created by earthquakes is being republished in light of this event. Buoys operate as today’s state-of-the-art tsunami-detection system. Seismic data can tell officials that an underwater earthquake has occurred, but strategically placed floating … Read more
Most quantum computers are based on superconductors or trapped ions, but an alternative approach using ordinary atoms may have advantages Technology 18 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins Quantum computers use the properties of quantum physics to perform calculations ArtemisDiana/Shutterstock A quantum computer that uses ordinary atoms to perform calculations could be a rival to more … Read more
What are space and time? Where do they come from? Physicists have treated them as fundamental properties of the universe, but scientists are finding intriguing evidence that they could just be expressions of something even more fundamental. Author Adam Becker, in our cover story takes us on a romp through this mind-bending research that could potentially … Read more
With the rapid spread of Omicron, many countries are rethinking their COVID mask advice for the community. Respirators have been mandatory in public places in Austria for a year. Now, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests respirators be considered for greater protection, for instance, on public transport or in enclosed crowded … Read more