The hunt begins for a proposed ninth planet (not Pluto), physicists are now tying quantum knots in superfluids, and the largest prime number yet identified has 22 million digits. Sure, much of the Northeast is buried in snowdrifts this weekend, but all in all, this was a great week for physics and related research.
Me at Gizmodo:
Physicists Successfully Tie the Very First Quantum Knots. "Theoretical physicists have been predicting that it should be possible for knots to form in quantum fields for decades, but nobody could figure out how to accomplish this feat experimentally. Now an international team has managed to do just that, tying knots in a superfluid for the very first time by manipulating magnetic fields. Led by David Hall, a physicist at Amherst College, and Mikko Möttönen of Aalto University in Finland, the group describes their groundbreaking achievement in a new paper in Nature Physics." [Image credit: David Hall/Amherst College]
Sorry, Spiderman: Geckos Are the Largest Animals That Can Stick to Walls. "Geckos are well-known for their ability to adhere to almost any kind of surface, making them fantastic climbers. In fact, they’re the largest creatures able to maneuver along vertical walls, and a new study concludes that this is because of scaling limitations as animal body size increases."
We Finally Know Why It's So Damned Hard to Pull Phone Books Apart. "Several years ago, the Mythbusters famously tried to separate two thick phone books with pages tightly interleaved. They couldn’t do it. Scientists know it’s due to the enormous amounts of friction being generated, but precisely how this friction arises is a longstanding mystery. A new paper by French researchers concludes that it all comes down to the number of pages, their thickness, and the size of the overlap (contact) region between sheets."
Fractal Analysis of London Streets Proves People Hate the Suburbs. "A new fractal analysis of London’s dense network of streets and intersections reveals that a green belt meant to encourage migration to the suburbs had the opposite effect. The city has just became denser. People really seem to love urban living, especially in a thriving city like London. The work could shed light on how modern cities evolve, and help guide future urban growth policies."
GoPro for Mouse Brains Records Neural Circuits in Real Time. "An implantable miniature microscope lets researchers track the brain activity of mice in real time, as the animals forage for food or navigate a maze. It’s like a tiny GoPro for the rodent brain. Dubbed the nVista system, it’s the brainchild of Mark Schnitzer, a professor of biology and applied physics at Stanford University."
The Venus Flytrap Is a Mighty Hunter Because It Can Count -- At Least to 5. "The Venus flytrap is perhaps the best known of carnivorous plants — those that get essential nutrients from trapping and consuming insects, particularly when they can’t get enough from the soil. Now a team of German scientists has discovered that the flytrap can actually count, and this ability is the key to knowing the difference between the presence of prey and a false alarm. "
JPL Rocket Scientist Shows Why He's the Right Kind of Crazy. "When NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012, millions of people across the globe tuned in to watch. It was the culmination of nine long years of effort — and it went off without a hitch. In particular, we marveled at the ingenious method designed by the engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lower the one-ton rover onto the red planet’s surface: a hovering sky crane powered by booster rockets. This was a $2.5 billion mission, involving hundreds of scientists and engineers, but JPL engineer Adam Steltzner was front and center as the mission’s public face."
Author Amy Tan 'Thrilled' By Bloodsucking Leech Named in Her Honor. "Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York have named a new species of leech after Amy Tan, bestselling author of such novels as The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. They also completed a CT scan of the tiny creature—the first time the technique has been used on a microscopic soft-bodied specimen. Chtonobdella tanae hails from Queensland, Australia, and lacks any kind of shell or exoskeleton, making it particularly challenging to capture via CT scanning. The researchers describe their work in a new paper in the journal Zoologica Scripta."
Other Cool Links:
Ninth Planet May Exist in Solar System Beyond Pluto, Scientists Report, although NASA is still skeptical. I mean, This Isn’t the First Time Astronomers Have ‘Found’ a Planet Nine. Counterpoint: Planet Nine isn't a Death Star or the killer planet 'Nibiru.' It may not even exist. So How Can We Find Planet Nine? (And Other Burning Questions) And here's A Little (More) Perspective on the Possible New "9th Planet" (and the 10th, and the 11th) Related Q&A: The 'Pluto Killer' [a.k.a. Caltech's Mike Brown] who thinks he's found the true ninth planet. Also: Planet Nine May Help Us Slingshot Our Way to Interstellar Space. Or, it may not. Finally, How Math, And Not A Telescope, May Have Found A New Planet.
Forget Schrödinger's Cat: The Latest Quantum Puzzle Is About Three Pigeons in Two Holes.
The Future of Timekeeping Rests With Quantum Mechanics. A proposed quantum clock network would be so accurate it could detect continental shifts, potentially detecting an earthquake.
How to Measure the Speed of Light With Lanterns, Wheels, and Planets.
Quantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time. Quantum links may constitute the fundamental structure of the universe.
Black hole catches qubits, spits them back out again.
It's possible that there is a "mirror universe" where time moves backwards, say scientists.
When You Open a Wormhole to the Future, Be Prepared For Weirdness, In This Exclusive Clip From Synchronicity.
How fast do gravitational waves travel? It is at "c", but what about the expanding Universe? Related: Last fall's infographic from Scientific American breaks down the technology behind our ongoing search for ripples in space-time.
Is the neutrino its own antiparticle? This mysterious particle could hold the key to why matter won out over antimatter in the early universe.
"Superbugs" Destroyed Using Quantum Dot Nanoparticles.
Didymium: The Unreal Element in Glassworking Glasses.
Make Your Own Tanker Implosion With a Soda Can.
The team that revived John Harrison's forgotten science to build the world's most accurate pendulum clock.
Belgian astronomers honor David Bowie by mapping a new constellation. Related: Reality Check: You Can’t Actually Name Stars for David Bowie.
Here's the Behind-the-Scenes Story of SpaceX's Rocket Launch and Landing Attempt.
It'll get a little bumpy: Turbulence fuels hypernovae, the most violent explosions in the Universe.
'Inflatable Dark Matter' Could Explain Why We See Less Than Many Theories Predict. Related: World's Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Gets a Boost.
Are Cosmologists Fooling Themselves About The Big Bang, Dark Matter And More? Perhaps, but only to a degree.
The Martian was right. NASA Is studying Peruvian potatoes for farming on Mars.
It's surprisingly difficult to play guitar in space.
Why Violins Have F-Holes: The Science & History of a Remarkable Renaissance Design.
Booze Makes Some Butterflies Change Colors.
How Astronomers Will Solve the 'Alien Megastructure' Mystery.
Life, death, and Sputnik.: How the Cold War Created Astrobiology.
These Astronomical Glass Plates Made History: 8 foundational images from archives of the Carnegie Observatories.
Wislawa Szymborska on How the Prospect of Being Alone in the Universe Can Make Us Better Stewards of Our Humanity.
A Brief History of Stephen Hawking Being a Bummer.
Since nature is universal, and physics is the language, maybe we can reach out to refugees through physics.
Meet the 22-Year-Old Physics Genius That Harvard Believes is the Next Einstein.
Largest prime number yet discovered has 22 million digits. Related: the Newly Discovered 22 Million-Digit Prime Number Would Take About 127 Days To Pronounce.
The equation that will help us decode cancer's secrets.
Fractal fun on the web. "You like zoning out in front of fractals, right? Of course you do!" Related: Mesmerizing videos of curve-drawing machines.
Neither bomb blasts nor heartbeats can escape the giant ears of this Arctic outpost: Infrasound station IS18 in Greenland.
This Atlantic reporter tried to send a telegram in 2016. "Three weeks passed, and my telegram still had not arrived."
Einstein on Grief, Time, Eternity, and Privilege of Old Age: His Beautiful Letter to the Bereaved Queen of Belgium.
Physicists Must Accept That Some Things Are Unknowable.
Fluidik: a weighing scale that uses fluid dynamics to display your weight.
What makes a metaphor difficult to understand? (A scholarly study tackles the question.)
What do shark scales, underwater robots, blood flow, and art have in common? Check out the latest FYFD video.
NASA Visualization Specialist Weighs in on Realism of the Planets in Star Wars & Other Sci-Fi.
Physics Girl Combines Magnetic Ferrofluid & Glow Sticks for Some Strange, Beautiful Science.
Hitler doesn't get a postdoc in High Energy Theory.
How pigeon droppings nearly derailed a massive discovery in cosmology.
Kaća Bradonjić on The Nature Of Space And Time -- Great piece from The Story Collider.
This Trippy Animation Takes You Into The Mind Of Stephen Hawking.
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