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New ALMA Image Shows Finest Details of Planet-Forming Disc Around Sun-like Star

This new image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows the finest detail ever seen in the planet-forming disc around the nearby Sun-like star TW Hydrae. It reveals a tantalising gap at the same distance from the star as the Earth is from the Sun, which may mean that an infant version of our home planet, or possibly a more massive super-Earth, is beginning to form there.

1 Apr 2016

Scientists Measure Motion and Velocity of Unruly Atoms Using X-rays

X-rays have long been used to make pictures of tiny objects, even single atoms. Now a team of scientists has discovered a new use for X-rays at the atomic scale: using them like a radar gun to measure the motion and velocity of complex and messy groups of atoms.

1 Apr 2016

SETI Institute Inaugurates New Red Dwarf Survey

The SETI Institute has inaugurated a greatly expanded hunt for deliberately produced radio signals that would indicate the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Over the course of the next two years, it will scrutinize the vicinities of 20,000 so-called red dwarf stars.

31 Mar 2016

NSF Announces Five-Year, $35 Million Grant for IceCube Neutrino Detector

Smaller than an atom and hurtling through space at near the speed of light, neutrinos are high-energy particles that pass right through just about anything in their way — yourself included — at a pace of billions per second.

31 Mar 2016

Rice University Scientists Determine 2D Boron is Natural Low-Temperature Superconductor

Rice University scientists have determined that two-dimensional boron is a natural low-temperature superconductor. In fact, it may be the only 2-D material with such potential.

31 Mar 2016

New Research Determines Likely Trigger for Most Recent Supernova in Milky Way

Scientists have used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the NSF's Jansky Very Large Array to determine the likely trigger for the most recent supernova in the Milky Way. They applied a new technique that could have implications for understanding other Type Ia supernovas, a class of stellar explosions that scientists use to determine the expansion rate of the Universe.

31 Mar 2016

Study Findings Help Explore Magnetic Phase Transitions in Neutral Atoms

The swirling field of a magnet—rendered visible by a sprinkling of iron filings—emerges from the microscopic behavior of atoms and their electrons. In permanent magnets, neighboring atoms align and lock into place to create inseparable north and south poles. For other materials, magnetism can be induced by a field strong enough to coax atoms into alignment.

31 Mar 2016

NSF Renews Cooperative Agreement with UW—Madison to Operate IceCube Neutrino Telescope

The National Science Foundation today announced that it has renewed a cooperative agreement with the University of Wisconsin—Madison to operate IceCube, a massive neutrino telescope buried deep in the ice beneath the South Pole.

31 Mar 2016

Chip-Based Atomic Physics Shows Promise to Make Second Quantum Revolution

A University of Oklahoma-led team of physicists believes chip-based atomic physics holds promise to make the second quantum revolution—the engineering of quantum matter with arbitrary precision—a reality. With recent technological advances in fabrication and trapping, hybrid quantum systems are emerging as ideal platforms for a diverse range of studies in quantum control, quantum simulation and computing.

31 Mar 2016

Penn State-Led Research Group to Build Cutting-Edge Instrument to Detect Exoplanets

A Penn State-led research group has been selected by NASA's Astrophysics Division to build a $10-million, cutting-edge instrument to detect planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.

30 Mar 2016