Category Physics

Concept of an asteroid redirect mission (NASA)

The grizzled asteroid miner was a stock character in science fiction. Now, a couple of recent events – one legal and the other technological – have brought asteroid mining a step closer to reality. The legal step was taken when the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee passed a bill titled H.R. 2262–SPACE Act of 2015. The bill has a number of measures designed to facilitate commercial space development, including a provision that gives individuals or companies ownership of any material that they mine in outer space, a trillion-dollar market.

The technological development is a new generation of gamma-ray spectroscope that appears perfectly suited for detecting veins of gold, platinum, rare earths and other valuable material hidd...

Paul Klimov, a graduate student in the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering, adjusts the intensity of a laser beam during an experiment. Because the laser light lies within the infrared spectrum, it is invisible to the human eye. Credit: University of Chicago

Entanglement says that 2 particles can be so inextricably connected that the state of one particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are. It will be useful for quantum computers, quantum communication networks, and high-precision quantum sensors.
Entanglement is also one of nature’s most elusive phenomena.

Producing entanglement between particles requires that they start out in a highly ordered state, which is disfavored by thermodynamics, the process that governs the i...

The decay of a kaon (K+) into three pions (2 π+, 1 π−) is a process that involves both weak and strong interactions. Weak interactions : The strange antiquark (s) of the kaon transmutes into an up antiquark (u) by the emission of a W+ boson; the W+ boson subsequently decays into a down antiquark (d) and an up quark (u). Strong interactions : An up quark (u) emits a gluon (g) which decays into a down quark (d) and a down antiquark (d).

Scientists devised the first calculation of how the behavior of kaons differs when matter is swapped out for antimatter, known as direct “CP” symmetry violation...

For his research, Gilbert won the physics, astronomy and engineering category for his research work and a superior rating on his poster. More than 80 graduate and undergraduate students presented their research at the conference. In addition, he accepted an offer to join the prestigious international science and engineering society.

The novel semiconductor is an alloy of cobalt, iron, chromium and aluminum in which part of the aluminum was replaced with silicon. Simeon Gilbert, a South Dakota State University physics major won 1st place at the annual Sigma Xi national conference for his work. He tested the magnetic and structural properties of a novel magnetic semiconductor material.

“Materials for computers need to work at, and somewhat above, room temperature,” Gilbert said...