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Magneto-Optical Trapping Chills World's Coolest Molecules

It's official. Yale physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecules. The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping (MOT).

22 Aug 2014

High-Energy Particles from Uncommon Solar Storms Could Have Electrically Charged Lunar Soil

The moon appears to be a tranquil place, but modeling done by University of New Hampshire and NASA scientists suggests that, over the eons, periodic storms of solar energetic particles may have significantly altered the properties of the soil in the moon's coldest craters through the process of sparking—a finding that could change our understanding of the evolution of planetary surfaces in the solar system.

22 Aug 2014

Quantum Vortices Observed Inside Superfluid Helium Nanodroplets

Scientists have, for the first time, characterized so-called quantum vortices that swirl within tiny droplets of liquid helium. The research, led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the University of Southern California, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, confirms that helium nanodroplets are in fact the smallest possible superfluidic objects and opens new avenues to study quantum rotation.

22 Aug 2014

European Astronomers View Whirlpool Galaxy with Low Frequency Array Radio Telescope

Using a radio telescope with frequencies just above those of commercial FM radio stations, a European team of astronomers has obtained the most sensitive image of a galaxy below 1 GHz.

22 Aug 2014

Researchers Explain Origin of Magnetic Field Deep Inside Jupiter

Superlatives are the trademark of the planet Jupiter. The magnetic field at the top edge of the cloud surrounding the largest member of the solar system is around ten times stronger than Earth’s, and is by far the largest magnetosphere around a planet.

22 Aug 2014

Students Study Dark Matter at SLAC Summer Institute

Physicists have good reason to believe 85 percent of the matter in the universe is currently undetectable. But not being able to see it didn’t keep students at the 42nd SLAC Summer Institute (SSI), held at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, from learning about it.

22 Aug 2014

Quantum Cascade Laser Device for Diabetics to Check Blood Sugar

Princeton University researchers have developed a way to use a laser to measure people's blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check their condition without pricking themselves to draw blood.

21 Aug 2014

Rice University Theoretical Physicist Wins NSF CAREER Award and RCSA Cottrell Scholar Award

“Emergent” is a key concept in the work of Rice University theoretical physicist Andriy Nevidomskyy, and thanks to two prestigious new awards, it is also an apt description of his work.

21 Aug 2014

Chemists Successfully Measure Vibrational Motion of a Single Molecule with Femtosecond Resolution

For the first time, chemists have succeeded in measuring vibrational motion of a single molecule with a femtosecond time resolution. The study reveals how vibration of a single molecule differs from the behaviour of larger molecular groups.

21 Aug 2014

ESO’s Wide Field Imager Captures Dramatic Star Formation Regions in the Southern Milky Way

This image, captured by the Wide Field Imager at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, shows two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. The first is of these, on the left, is dominated by the star cluster NGC 3603, located 20 000 light-years away, in the Carina–Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The second object, on the right, is a collection of glowing gas clouds known as NGC 3576 that lies only about half as far from Earth.

21 Aug 2014