Category Archives: Physical sciences
Higgs boson news roundup
It’s been a big week for physicists since the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced by CERN July 4. We’ll have more on that in a post later this week, but here’s a roundup of some of the news …
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Hunting meteor fragments, older than the Earth
The minivan-sized meteorite that broke up over the Sierra on Sunday, April 22 was not just any old space rock. It was one of the rarest types of meteorites to fall to Earth — a carbonaceous chondrite, the earliest solid …
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South Pole Telescope homes in on dark energy, neutrinos
Data from the new 10-meter South Pole Telescope is providing new support for the most widely accepted explanation of dark energy, the source of the mysterious force that is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. The results also …
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Erbacher appointed to national physics panel
Professor Robin Erbacher of the Department of Physics has been appointed to the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, a group of experts that advises the federal government on research in theoretical and experimental physics. The panel reports jointly to the …
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Different galaxy cluster, different results
It’s a result baffling to astronomers but one that should delight true science fans everywhere. Observations of the behavior of dark matter in a merging galaxy cluster billions of light years away don’t square with theory. Heck, they don’t even …
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Ancient climate expert joins AAAS panel on climate mitigation
UC Davis geoscientist Isabel Montañez will take part in a symposium on how to stabilize global CO2 levels at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver next week. Montañez’ speciality is in studying …
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Closing in on the ‘God particle’
Physicists are closing in on the Higgs boson, the missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics — but they aren’t quite there yet. UC Davis physics professor Mani Tripathi said that although not yet conclusive, the results so …
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Learn about superconductivity at Emergent Universe
The online exhibit Emergent Universe has opened a new virtual wing, on ‘Superconductivity.’ Opened in 2009, Emergent Universe aims to encourage young people to learn about “emergence,” complex behaviors that arise from interactions of simple parts, and develop an “emergent …
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Wrapping sorts carbon nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes – sheets of carbon atoms rolled up into tiny cylinders or tubes – have many interesting properties and potential uses, for example in flexible display screens or printed circuits. Some act like conducting metals, and others are semiconductors. …
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Physics Nobel for “astounding” cosmic acceleration
This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded for a “landmark in the history of human knowledge,” said Andy Albrecht, professor and chair of the physics department at UC Davis. Albrecht said he’d already emailed the recipients to congratulate …
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