Previous features from "News, Opinions and Observations"

 

It’s Never Been a Better Time to Look Up  

Things have been tumultuous lately on Earth ..... and ecosystems are at risk of collapsing. Many aspects of life feel unpredictable. But beyond our planet, things are swell. It’s arguably the best time in history to study space - Astronomy is a bright spot amid turbulence on Earth - Scientific American - Editors, December 17, 2024

 

Entangled Photons Maintained under New York Streets  

New scheme sends large numbers of entangled photons reliably through commercial fiber-optic cables, demonstrating a capability required for secure quantum networks - APS - Charles Day, August 9, 2024

 

Measuring Qubits with “Time Travel” Protocol 

Quantum sensing can benefit from entanglement protocols that can be interpreted as allowing qubits to go backward in time to choose an optimal initial state - APS - Michael Schirber, June 27, 2024

 

Stunning Comet Could Photobomb This April’s Total Solar Eclipse 

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will make its closest approach to the sun this April—right after North America is treated to a total solar eclipse - SciAm - Meghan Bartels, February 23, 2024

 

Record-Breaking Detection of Solar Photons 

Measurements of the highest-energy radiation from the Sun ever seen highlight the need for better solar models - APS, Ryan Wilkinson, 3 August 2023 Physics 16, s107

 

A distant planetoid hosts a curiously distant ring 

The Kuiper belt object Quaoar has a ring system that is located well beyond the distance where particles should start accreting into moons - Physics Today, Andrew Grant, 8 Feb 2023 in Research & Technology

 

Imperial scientists appear in first book by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg 

Two experts on cloud science and dangerous weather contributed to a newly published ‘essential guide for saving the planet‘ - Jez Fredenburgh - Imperial College London - October 2022

 

Boosting the Performance of Quantum Repeaters 

Multiplexing techniques could boost the chances of achieving end-to-end entanglement of a signal in a trapped-ion-based quantum-computer network - Erika K. Carlson - APS Physics - February 2022

 

No, putting a spoon in an open bottle of champagne doesn't keep it bubbly, but there is a better way 

... The fact is, it's a myth to say a spoon in an open bottle of sparkling wine keeps it bubbly. You're better off buying a proper stopper - Geoff Scollary, The Conversation - Phys-Org - January 2022

 

Dune auroras shine light on atmospheric dynamics 

Their alternating pattern likely indicates a connection with waves in the upper mesosphere - Christine Middleton - Physics Today - May 24th 2021.

 

Quantum-entangled drones share secure messages 

Researchers transmitted photonic qubits through free space using a cost-effective, mobile network of nodes - Zhenda Xie, Yan-Xiao Gong, and Shi-Ning Zhu of Nanjing University in China have accelerated an alternative approach - Alex Lopatka - Physics Today - February 19th 2021.

 

Finding New Forces with Old Techniques 

Interactions predicted by beyond-standard-model theories could be detected using a variation on Mössbauer spectroscopy, according to a new proposal. - Marric Stephens - APS Physics - December 24th 2020.

 

Nobel Prize: Facing the Reality of Black Holes Three scientists were recognized for proving that gravitational collapse can lead to a black hole and for observing the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy - Michael Schirber - APS News - October 2020

 

A Few Qubits Go a Long Way  The right combination of quantum and classical computations allows for accurate quantum chemistry simulations using surprisingly few qubits - Marric Stephens - APS News - January 2020

 

Directly Measuring an Entangled State Researchers have directly measured the components of a nonlocal, entangled wave function, rather than relying on indirect tomographic or reconstructive techniques - David Starling - APS News - October 2019

 

 

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