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    A New Bose-Einstein Condensate

    April 18, 2018, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    The wavelength of emitted light grows, that is, the energy decreases, along the gold nanorod array. A Bose-Einstein condensate forms when an energy minimum of the lattice is reached. Credit: Aalto University / Tommi Hakala and Antti Paraoanu

    The wavelength of emitted light grows, that is, the energy decreases, along the gold nanorod array. A Bose-Einstein condensate forms when an energy minimum of the lattice is reached. Credit: Aalto University / Tommi Hakala and Antti Paraoanu

    Nearly a hundred years ago, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose predicted that quantum mechanics can force a large number of particles to behave in concert as if they were only a single particle. The phenomenon is called Bose-Einstein condensation, and it took until 1995 to create the first such condensate of a gas of alkali atoms. Although Bose-Einstein condensation has been observed in several systems, the limits of the phenomenon need to be pushed further: to faster timescales, higher temperatures, and smaller sizes...

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    Can we tell Black Holes Apart?

    April 17, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Can we tell black holes apart? Astrophysicists at Goethe University Frankfurt answer this question by computing images of feeding non-Einsteinian black holes: at present it is hard to tell them apart from standard black holes. Credit: Fromm/Younsi/Mizuno/Rezzolla (Frankfurt)

    Can we tell black holes apart? Astrophysicists at Goethe University Frankfurt answer this question by computing images of feeding non-Einsteinian black holes: at present it is hard to tell them apart from standard black holes. Credit: Fromm/Younsi/Mizuno/Rezzolla (Frankfurt)

    Astrophysicists have created and compared self-consistent and realistic images of the shadow of an accreting supermassive black hole. The goal was to test if Einsteinian black holes can be distinguished from those in alternative theories of gravity. One of the most fundamental predictions of Einstein’s theory of relativity is the existence of black holes...

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    Hubble catches a Colossal Cluster

    April 17, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This image was taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 as part of an observing program called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters with the aim of finding the brightest distant galaxies for the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope to study. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS

    This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 as part of an observing program called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters with the aim of finding the brightest distant galaxies for the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope to study. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS

    This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a massive galaxy cluster glowing brightly in the darkness. Despite its beauty, this cluster bears the distinctly unpoetic name of PLCK G308.3-20.2. Galaxy clusters can contain thousands of galaxies all held together by the glue of gravity...

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    Spikes of Graphene can Kill Bacteria on Implants

    April 17, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Vertical graphene flakes form a protective surface that makes it impossible for bacteria to attach. Instead, bacteria are sliced apart by the sharp graphene flakes and killed. Human cells volume is typically 15,000 times larger. So, what constitutes a deadly knife attack for a bacterium, is therefore only a tiny scratch for a human cell. Coating implants with a layer of graphene flakes can therefore help protect the patient against infection, eliminate the need for antibiotic treatment, and reduce the risk of implant rejection. The osseointegration - the process by which the bone structure grows to attach the implant -- is not disturbed. In fact, the graphene has been shown to benefit the bone cells. Credit: Yen Strandqvist/Chalmers University of Technology

    Vertical graphene flakes form a protective surface that makes it impossible for bacteria to attach. Instead, bacteria are sliced apart by the sharp graphene flakes and killed. Human cells volume is typically 15,000 times larger. So, what constitutes a deadly knife attack for a bacterium, is therefore only a tiny scratch for a human cell. Coating implants with a layer of graphene flakes can therefore help protect the patient against infection, eliminate the need for antibiotic treatment, and reduce the risk of implant rejection. The osseointegration – the process by which the bone structure grows to attach the implant — is not disturbed. In fact, the graphene has been shown to benefit the bone cells. Credit: Yen Strandqvist/Chalmers University of Technology

    A tiny layer of graphene flakes b...

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