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Aug. 28 (UPI) — Particle physicists have finally witnessed the decay of a Higgs boson particle into two bottom quarks.

Models predict Higgs boson particles decay into two bottom quarks 60 percent of the time. Bottom quarks, or b quarks, are the second heaviest of the six types of quarks.

Scientists have struggled to directly observe the predicted decay. Several types of proton-proton collisions can produce bottom quarks, making it difficult to link quarks produced by particle collisions with decaying Higgs boson particles.

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A NEW scan can predict heart attack risks five years in advance.

Experts say the “game-changing” advance spots problems in one in ten patients currently getting the all-clear.

It scours ordinary CT scans to detect missed warning signs.

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A growing number of cannabis brands claim to be using nanotechnology to make their products more effective. Experts explain whether the trend is legit.

WASHINGTON — A startup company planning to develop orbital propellant depots to assist satellite servicing ventures has raised an initial round of funding to support a first launch as soon as next year.

Orbit Fab, a Silicon Valley-based company with about a dozen employees, said Aug. 28 that a round of funding led by venture capital firm Bolt will enable it to demonstrate technology for fuel tanks that could be used by future satellite servicing systems.

“We differentiate ourselves from the satellite servicing operators in that we’re looking to put up just dumb tanks full of propellant, to provide that propellant where it’s needed, and we’re looking to partner with the satellite servicing operators to help improve their business models,” said Daniel Faber, chief executive of Orbit Fab, in an interview.

Continue reading “Startup plans ‘gas stations’ for satellite servicing” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=o9jTEP0u8mg

In a best-of-three match, two teams of pro gamers overcame a squad of AI bots that were created by the Elon Musk-founded research lab OpenAI.

AI bots made by the Elon Musk-founded research lab OpenAI were defeated by human pro gamers at Dota 2 at The International. The loss was not completely unexpected, but it’s still an unusual knock back for the seemingly unstoppable march of AI. Here, we explain what the matches really meant.

Continue reading “OpenAI’s Dota 2 defeat is still a win for artificial intelligence” »

At IFA 2018, Intel showed off the latest members of its 8th-Gen processor family: the Y-series Amber Lake chips and U-series Whiskey Lake models. Both lines are focused on improving internet speeds with integrated gigabit Wi-Fi.

It might be a little cramped.

Sean Carroll will be helping New Scientist Live attendees understand what quantum mechanics means for the many worlds hypothesis — and poor Schrödinger’s cat.

It’s common knowledge that, because of the speed at which light travels, we can see things in space that aren’t even there anymore. If we peer at a distant galaxy we’re really only seeing what the objects within it looked like when the light itself was beaming in our direction. If the galaxy is a thousand light-years away, we’re seeing what the galaxy looked like a thousand years ago.

Now, researchers believe that they may be able to use a similar technique to search for black holes that don’t exist anymore. The only difference is that the black holes aren’t just from long ago, they’re from an entirely different version of the universe. Woah.

A research team comprised of scientists from Oxford University, the University of Warsaw, and the New York Maritime College, believe they have evidence that points to the leftovers of a black hole that existed in a universe that preceded the one we’re currently living in. However, rather than visible light, the black holes leave behind what is known as cosmic microwave background radiation, or (CMB).