A half-quantum vortex combines circular spin flow and circular mass flow, leading to the formation of vortex pairs that can be observed experimentally. Image: Ella Maru Studio.

Gained understanding in quantum physics may be a step towards quantum computers. Researchers in Aalto University, Finland, and P.L. Kapitza Institute in Moscow have discovered half-quantum vortices in superfluid helium. This vortex is a topological defect, exhibited in superfluids and superconductors, which carries a fixed amount of circulating current. ‘This discovery of half-quantum vortices culminates a long search for these objects originally predicted to exist in superfluid helium in 1976,’ says Samuli Autti, Doctoral Candidate at Aalto University in Finland.

‘In the future, our discovery will provide access to...

In these celestial objects dark matter mimics light

Statistical analysis of mini-spiral galaxies shows an unexpected interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter. According to the SISSA study where the relationship is obvious and cannot be explained in a trivial way within the context of the Standard Model, these objects may serve as “portals” to a completely new form of Physics which can explain phenomena like matter and dark energy.

They resemble a spiral galaxy like ours, only 10,000X smaller: the mini-spiral galaxies studied by Professor Paolo Salucci et al may prove to be “the portal that leads us to a whole new Physics, going beyond the standard model of particles to explain matter and dark energy,” says Salucci...

This is an artist impression of the whirlwind being liftet up from the protoplanetary disk around the approximately 100,000 year old protostar, TMC1A. Credit: Per Bjerkeli/David Lamm/BOID

Researchers from Niels Bohr Institute have used ALMA telescopes to observe the early stages in the formation of a new solar system. For the first time they have seen how a powerful whirlwind shoot out from the rotating disc of gas and dust surrounding the young star. A new solar system is formed in a large cloud of gas and dust that contracts and condenses due to the force of gravity and eventually becomes so compact that the centre collapses into a ball of gas where the pressure heats the material, resulting in a glowing globe of gas, a star...

A Japanese research team has become the first in the world to discover that 2-aminobutyric acid (2-AB) is closely involved in the metabolic regulation of the antioxidant glutathione, and that it can effectively raise levels of glutathione in the body when ingested. Glutathione plays an important role in keeping us healthy. This finding could contribute to the development of new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat various oxidative stress-related conditions including Alzheimer’s, aging, cancer, lifestyle-related diseases, hardened arteries, and rgan damage caused by medicines and toxins.

Glutathione is a major antioxidant component within cells, contributing to the detoxification of foreign substances...