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May 25, 2018
The Absolutely Amazing Theory of Almost Everything
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: physics
The Standard Model. What dull name for the most accurate scientific theory known to human beings.
More than a quarter of the Nobel Prizes in physics of the last century are direct inputs to or direct results of the Standard Model. Yet its name suggests that if you can afford a few extra dollars a month you should buy the upgrade. As a theoretical physicist, I’d prefer The Absolutely Amazing Theory of Almost Everything. That’s what the Standard Model really is.
Many recall the excitement among scientists and media over the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson. But that much-ballyhooed event didn’t come out of the blue – it capped a five-decade undefeated streak for the Standard Model. Every fundamental force but gravity is included in it. Every attempt to overturn it to demonstrate in the laboratory that it must be substantially reworked – and there have been many over the past 50 years – has failed.
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May 25, 2018
Watch the weird new solutions to the baffling three-body problem
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
May 25, 2018
In S.Africa, a unique telescope link-up scans deep space
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
Scientists in South Africa on Friday launched the world’s first optical telescope linked to a radio telescope, combining “eyes and ears” to try to unravel the secrets of the universe.
The device forms part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project in the remote Karoo desert, which will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope system.
The latest move combines the new optical telescope MeerLITCH — Dutch for ‘more light’ — with the recently-completed 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope, located 200 kilometres (125 miles) away.
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May 25, 2018
We’re not prepared for the genetic revolution that’s coming
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: genetics
May 25, 2018
Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos advocates a return to the moon and calls for collaborative effort in space
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: existential risks, space travel
May 25, 2018
Weed-killing robots are threatening giant chemical companies’ business models
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: business, food, genetics, robotics/AI
But if robots kill weeds, who will spray Roundup on everything.
AI-powered weed hunters could soon reduce the need for herbicides and genetically modified crops.
How it’s done now: Current farming methods involve spraying large amounts of indiscriminate weed killer over fields full of crops that have been genetically tweaked (usually by the same company that makes the weed killer) to resist the chemicals. The pesticide and seed industry is enormous, worth $100 billion globally. Of that, herbicide sales alone account for $26 billion.
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May 25, 2018
Sir Richard Branson is training as an astronaut and hopes to travel into space
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
May 25, 2018
Black Hole At Center Of Galaxy Close To Being Imaged In Event Horizon Telescope Project
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: cosmology
The telescope may give us a long-awaited glimpse at what lies behind the cosmic veil of the Milky Way’s super-massive black hole.
Scientists have used telescopes from all over the earth to edge closer to imaging the supermassive back hole (SMBH) at the center of the Milky Way, reports Newsweek. An SMBH, the largest type of black hole, is found in the middle of almost all known massive galaxies. The SMBH that inhabits our galaxy is located at approximately the galactic center of the galaxy (18hrs, −29 deg), and it is known as Sagittarius A*.
Pronounced Sagittarius A-star, this spiral structure within Sagittarius A West and Sagittarius A East “contains an intense compact radio source.” It’s located approximately 26,000 light years away from earth, and it can’t be seen by normal optics. Instead, Sagittarius A* lies hidden beneath the Milky Way’s enormous dust clouds.
