Lifeboat Foundation

If you know anything about special relativity then you probably know that how fast you’re moving has an impact on how quickly time passes for you. What physics gives rise to this effect? Do you need to know some complicated mathematics in order to understand it?

It turns out that this effect, known as “time dilation”, can be very easily derived for a special kind of clock: a light clock. In this video, I consider a light clock moving through space and show how the postulates of special relativity entail that this moving clock runs slow.

Continue reading “The Light Clock: How Moving Clocks Run Slow” »

Year 2020 face_with_colon_three

The rigorously proven No Free Lunch theorem shows that physicists will always be needed to determine the correct questions.

Year 2022 😗

AI observed videos of lava lamps and inflatable air dancers and identified dozens of physics variables that scientists don’t yet understand.

Year 2022 What they find is a new type of physics generated by their artificial intelligence.

The determination of state variables to describe physical systems is a challenging task. A data-driven approach is proposed to automatically identify state variables for unknown systems from high-dimensional observational data.

OzGrav is turning Albert Einstein’s imagination into reality as they pursue groundbreaking discoveries in the rapidly expanding area of gravitational wave physics. Read the article to find out more.

Year 2022 face_with_colon_three

Since the discovery of black holes, they have inspired images of the universe’s extremities in both scientists and storytellers. Their immense gravity — sucking in any matter and light unfortunate enough to come within grabbing distance — conjures images of crushing death and infinite possibility.

That same gravity, however, creates a well which consumes indiscriminately and from whence nothing can ever emerge. The only trouble is that isn’t the case. Among Stephen Hawking’s many accomplishments was the discovery that black holes actually radiate very slowly and will eventually evaporate. This discovery, while enough to make Hawking famous, threw a wrench in contemporary astrophysics by creating a paradox.

Continue reading “If you could see a black hole, it might look like a cosmic koosh ball” »

Extended special relativity describes how the universe would look if you broke the speed of light.

Scientists from the University of Warsaw in Poland and the National University of Singapore are pushing the limits of relativity with a new theory called the “extension of special relativity,” a report from Science Alert reveals.

The scientists’ new study suggests that objects may be able to go faster than the speed of light without completely shattering our current laws of physics.

Continue reading “A new physics-defying theory describes the effects of faster-than-light travel” »

John Horton Conway, born on December 26th, 1937, was a brilliant mathematician known for his contributions to a diverse array of disciplines, including group theory, number theory, algebra, geometric topology, theoretical physics, and geometry. Despite being viewed as a potential candidate for the title of greatest living…

Image credit: Max Planck Institute of Plasma physics. Cutaway of a Fusion Reactor.

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wein) have discovered a way to control Type-I ELM plasma instabilities, that melt the walls of fusion devices. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

There is no doubt that the day will come when fusion power plants can provide sustainable energy and solve our persistent energy problems. It is the main reason why so many scientists around the world are working on this power source. Power generation in this way actually mimics the sun.