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The MMS satellites encounter a shock wave that forms when a fast wind of charged particles from the Sun slams into Earth’s magnetic field. Credit: APS/Carin Cain

In a new study researchers at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics have used measurements from NASA’s MMS (Magnetospheric MultiScale) satellites to reveal that there are ripples, or surface waves, moving along the surface of shocks in space. Such ripples in shocks can affect how plasma is heated and are potential sites of particle acceleration.

Most visible matter in the Universe consists of ionized gas known as plasma. Shock waves in plasmas form around planets, stars and supernovas. Shocks in supernova explosions are thought to be the main source of cosmic rays – very high energy charged particles from space...

Gold nanoparticles are attached directly within the aqueous solution onto a DNA structure. The whole process is based on DNA self-assembly, and yields countless of structures within a single patch. Credit: Image courtesy of Academy of Finland

Researchers at the Nanoscience Center (NSC) of the University of Jyväskylä and BioMediTech (BMT) of the University of Tampere have now demonstrated a method to fabricate electronic devices by using DNA. The DNA itself has no part in the electrical function, but acts as a scaffold for forming a linear, pearl-necklace-like nanostructure consisting of 3 gold nanoparticles.

The nature of electrical conduction in nanoscale materials can differ vastly from regular, macroscale metallic structures, which have countless free electrons forming the current, th...

This illustration shows a qubit attached to a waveguide where light in the form of microwaves enters and exits. Credit: University of Waterloo

Researchers at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) recorded an interaction between light and matter 10X larger than previously seen. The strength of the interaction between photons and a qubit was so large that it opens the door to a realm of physics and applications unattainable until now. “We are enabling the investigation of light-matter interactions in a new domain in quantum optics,” said Pol Forn-Diaz, a postdoctoral fellow at IQC. “The possibilities are exciting because our circuit could potentially act as a quantum simulator to study other interesting quantum systems in nature.”

The ultrastrong coupling between...

A conceptual rendition of gas being driven into a supermassive black hole following a supernova explosion Strong turbulence caused by supernova explosions inside a dense molecular gas disk in the central region of a galaxy disturbs the stable motion of gas. This causes the gas to flow further inward toward the supermassive black hole at the center. Credit: The University of Tokyo

Astronomers have revealed that dense molecular gas disks a few hundred light years in scale located at the centers of galaxies supply gas to supermassive black holes situated within them. This finding provides important insights on the growth of supermassive black holes over cosmic time...