Crucial Superconducting Theory Confirmed

photo credit: Magnetic levitation is only one of the many properties of superconducting materials. ktsdesign/shutterstock

Superconductivity promises to revolutionize our world with efficient transport, cheaper electricity, and even hoverboards. Although it’s still a long road to that technology, a crucial theory has just been confirmed that could help.

The superconducting state happens suddenly when electrons in the material join in pairs. This formation is due to internal electrical currents that form the state when the right conditions arise. The theory was first proposed in 1989 by Professor Chandra Varma, and now he and colleagues from China and Korea have successfully proved it.

When some materials are cooled below a certain critical temperature, they become superconducting. They suddenly transmit electricity with zero resistance, thanks to the fact that electrons form pairs and move through the material effortlessly without repelling each other.

“I suggested that this behavior was happening because there was an unusual phase transition due to loops of currents flowing within the material. It was a very bold hypothesis because no such behavior had ever been observed,” said Professor Varma, now a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at theUniversity of California Riverside

The experiment conducted at the National Laboratory for Superconductivity in Beijing used a laser to precisely measure the energies of the coupling electrons. The values were so accurate that it allowed them to prove that Varma had the right idea all along. The findings are published in the latest issue of Science Advances.

The critical temperature for all the superconducting materials is still significantly below zero, with thehottest superconductor still needing to be cooled to a temperature of -70ºC (-94ºF). But the scientists think their research could help develop room-temperature superconductors, which would allow for more efficient technology that doesn’t overheat, faster transportation, and more advanced scientific and medical instruments.

“I can in my theory predict precisely the parameters that a material must have in order to get higher temperature superconductors,” said Varma. “How can chemists and experimentalists (who make those materials) achieve those parameters? I can’t directly say, but the theory points to a certain direction.”

The History of Gravity

Our understanding of gravity has gone through a few permutations, from Newton’s equations through to Einstein’s general relativity. With today’s discovery of gravitational waves, we look back on how our grasp of gravity has evolved over the centuries.

1687: NEWTONIAN GRAVITY

Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, giving a comprehensive account of gravity. This gave astronomers an accurate toolbox for predicting the motions of planets. But it was not without its problems, such as calculating the precise orbit of the planet Mercury.

All planets’ orbits precess – with the closest point of their orbit moving slightly with each revolution – due to the gravitational tugs from other planets.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

The issue with Mercury’s orbit was that the amount of precession did not match what Newton’s theory predicted. It was only a small discrepancy, but big enough for astronomers to know it was there!

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1859: PLANET VULCAN

To explain Mercury’s odd behaviour, Urbain Le Verrier proposed the existence of an unseen planet calledVulcan, which orbited closer to the sun. He suggested that the gravity from Vulcan was influencing Mercury’s orbit. But repeated observations revealed no signs of Vulcan.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1905: SPECIAL RELATIVITY

Albert Einstein shakes up physics with his special theory of relativity. He then started incorporating gravity into his equations, which led to his next breakthrough.

1907: EINSTEIN PREDICTS GRAVITATIONAL REDSHIFT

What we now call gravitational redshift was first proposed by Einstein from his thoughts in the development of general relativity.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Einstein predicted that the wavelength of light coming from atoms in a strong gravitational field will lengthen as it escapes the gravitational force. The longer wavelength shifts the photon to the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum.

1915: GENERAL RELATIVITY

Albert Einstein publishes general theory of relativity. The first great success was its accurate prediction of Mercury’s orbit, including its previously inscrutable precession.

The theory also predicts the existence of black holes and gravitational waves, although Einstein himself often struggled to understand them.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1917: EINSTEIN THEORISES STIMULATED EMISSION

In 1917, Einstein publishes a paper on the quantum theory of radiation indicatingstimulated emissionwas possible.

Einstein proposed that an excited atom could return to a lower energy state by releasing energy in the form of photons in a process called spontaneous emission.

In stimulated emission, an incoming photon interacts with the excited atom, causing it to move to a lower energy state, releasing photons that are in phase and have the same frequency and direction of travel as the incoming photon. This process allowed for the development of the laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).

1918: Prediction Of Frame Dragging

Josef Lense and Hans Thirring theorise that the rotation of a massive object in space would “drag” spacetime around with it.

1919: FIRST OBSERVATION OF GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

Gravitational lensing is the bending of light around massive objects, such as a black hole, allowing us to view objects that lie behind it. During a total solar eclipse in May 1919, stars near the sun were observed slightly out of position. This indicated that light was bending due to the sun’s mass.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1925: FIRST MEASUREMENT OF GRAVITATIONAL REDSHIFT

Walter Sydney Adams examined light emitted from the surface of massive stars and detected a redshift, as Einstein predicted.

1937: Prediction Of A Galactic Gravitational Lensing

Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky proposed that an entire galaxy could act as a gravitational lens.

1959: GRAVITATIONAL REDSHIFT VERIFIED

The theory was conclusively tested by Robert Pound and Glen Rebka by measuring the relative redshift of two sources at the top and bottom of Harvard University’s Jefferson Laboratory tower. The experimentaccurately measured the tiny change in energies as photons travelled between the top and the bottom.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1960: LASER INVENTED USING STIMULATED EMISSION

Theodore H. Maiman, a physicist at Hughes Research Laboratories in California, builds the first laser.

1960S: FIRST EVIDENCE FOR BLACK HOLES

The 1960s was the beginning of the renaissance of general relativity, and saw the discovery of galaxies that were powered by the immense pull of black holes in their centres.

There is now evidence of massive black holes in the hearts of all large galaxies, as well as there being smaller black holes roaming between the stars.

1966: First Observation Of Gravitational Time Delays

American astrophysicist Irwin Shapiro proposed that if general relativity is valid, then radio waves will be slowed down by the sun’s gravity as they bounce around the solar system.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

The effect was observed between 1966-7 by bouncing radar beams off the surface of Venus and measuring the time taken for the signals to return to Earth. The delay measured agreed with Einstein’s theory.

We now use time-delays on cosmological scales, looking at the time differences in flashes and flares between gravitationally lensed images to measure the expansion of the universe.

1969: FALSE DETECTION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

American physicist Joseph Weber (a bit of a rebel) claimed the first experimental detection of gravitational waves. His experimental results were never reproduced.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1974: INDIRECT EVIDENCE FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse discover a new type of pulsar: a binary pulsar. Measurements of the orbital decay of the pulsars showed they lost energy matching the amounts predicted by general relativity. They receive the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics for this discovery.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

1979: FIRST OBSERVATION OF A GALACTIC GRAVITATIONAL LENS

The first extragalactic gravitational lens was discovered, when observers Dennis Walsh,Bob Carswell andRay Weymann saw two identical quasi-stellar objects, or “quasars”. It turned out to be one quasar that appears as two separate images.

Since the 1980s, gravitational lensing has become a powerful probe of the distribution of mass in the universe.

1979: LIGO RECEIVES FUNDING

US National Science Foundation funds construction of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

1987: ANOTHER FALSE ALARM FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

A false alarm on direct detection from Joseph Weber (again) with claimed signal from the supernova SN 1987A using his torsion bar experiments, which consisted of large aluminium bars designed to vibrate when a large gravitational wave passed through it.

1994: LIGO CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

It took a long time, but the construction of LIGO finally began in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana.

2002: LIGO Starts First Search

In August 2002, LIGO starts searching for evidence of gravitational waves.

2004: FRAME DRAGGING PROBE

NASA launches Gravity Probe B to measure the spacetime curvature near the Earth. The probe contained gyroscopes that rotated slightly over time due to the underlying spacetime. The effect is stronger around a rotating object which “drags” spacetime around with it.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

The gyroscopes in Gravity Probe B rotated by an amount consistent with Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

2005: LIGO HUNT ENDS

After five searches, the first phase of LIGO ends with no detection of gravitational waves. The sensors then undergo an interim refit to improve sensitivity, called Enhanced LIGO.

2009: Enhanced LIGO

An upgraded version called Enhanced LIGO starts new hunt for gravitational waves.

2010: ENHANCED LIGO HUNT ENDS

Enhanced LIGO fails to detect and gravitational waves. A major upgrade, called Advanced LIGO begins.

2014: ADVANCED LIGO UPGRADE COMPLETED

The new Advanced LIGO has finished installation and testing and is nearly ready to begin a new search.

2015: FALSE ALARM #3 FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

The indirect signature of gravitational waves in the early universe was claimed by theBICEP2 experiment, looking at the cosmic microwave background. But it looks like this wasdust in our own galaxy spoofing the signal.

2015: LIGO UPGRADED AGAIN

Advanced LIGO starts a new hunt for gravitational waves with four times the sensitivity of the original LIGO. In September, it detects a signal that looks likely to be from the collision between two black holes.

2016: GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTION CONFIRMED

After rigorous checks, the Advanced LIGO team announce the detection of gravitational waves.

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

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Some Birds May Be As Clever As Apes Despite Having Tiny Brains

Bird brains might not be quite as useless as their puny size suggests, and may even contain structures that enable them to perform complex cognitive tasks normally associated with mammalian brains. This being the case, the authors of a new study in the journalTrends in Cognitive Science argue that certain high-level mental capabilities may not depend on brain size or structure, but on types of connectivity.

In mammalian brains, an area known as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) controls executive functions such as working memory, reasoning, and the ability to empathize with others. Covering most of the forebrain, the PFC is arranged in six layers – known as laminae – each of which contains a different type of neuronal cell and a particular pattern of connectivity.

The presence of this particular structure has therefore been identified as an essential precursor to the advanced cognitive abilities possessed only by mammals.

However, numerous studies over the past few decades have indicated that some birds may in fact possess mental aptitudes on par with certain species of primate. In one such study, an African grey parrot namedAlex learned to label items and used communication skills to solve a range of cognitive tasks. Other experiments have revealed that ravens employ cunning tactics to try and deceive others when competing for food, while magpies and jackdraws appear to recognize themselves in a mirror, indicating a level of self-awareness.

In light of such evidence, the authors of the new study suggest that bird brains must contain an equivalent to the PFC, which coordinates executive function yet occupies a much smaller volume than the mammalian cortex. Reviewing the literature on avian neuroanatomy compiled over several decades, they attempt to explain how “birds with small, non-cortical brains of 5 to 20 grams can show identical capabilities to apes with large cortices and brain weights of between 275 and 500 grams.”

African grey parrots are famous for their communication skills. FrameAngel/Shutterstock

They begin with the work of Harvey Karten, who showed in the 1960s that, even though avian and mammalian brains differ in structure, they actually contain many of the same types of neurons and patterns of connectivity. Future studies then showed that the neurons of an avian brain region called thenidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) connect with one another in a remarkably similar way to the neurons of the mammalian PFC.

For instance, the NCL has been shown to be packed with dopamine-releasing fibers, which delay the transmission of signals in order to store information during working memory tasks, in exactly the same way as the neurons in the PFCs of monkeys do.

Further studies have indicated that injuries to the NCL severely disrupt birds’ “decision making, rule tracking, encoding of subjective values, and the association of outcomes to actions.”

As such, the researchers claim that the NCL is the avian equivalent of the PFC. Remarkably, however, these two structures are entirely dissimilar in both their location within the brain and in form. For instance, the NCL does not contain laminae, seemingly discrediting the notion that the layered structure of the PFC is necessary for the development of advanced cognitive capacities. Instead, the type of connectivity between neurons may be a more reliable source of mental aptitude.

Furthermore, because the evolutionary lines of birds and mammals diverged some 300 million years ago, the researchers suggest that they probably did not both inherit this connectivity from a common ancestor, but evolved to possess it independently of one another.

As such, they claim that “the NCL and PFC possibly represent a spectacular case of evolutionary convergence,” which refers to the process by which unrelated species develop the same evolutionary traits.

Incredible New Map Of The Milky Way Released

One of the largest studies of our galaxy has just been completed. The ATLASGAL survey has mapped a huge swathe of cold dust and gas distribution in the Milky Way in order to understand how and where stars form.

The survey has so far produced 70 scientific papers, and in the latest publication, astronomers combined the survey data with observations from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. The paper, which appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics, detailed the location of dense star-forming regions and established a precise star-formation rate for our galaxy: The Milky Way forms 13 stars the mass of the Sun every 10 years.

The project was possible thanks to APEX, the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment telescope, in Chile, a precursor to the advanced Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is studying the universe at wavelengths between infrared and radio.

Dr. Carlos De Breuck, ESO APEX project scientist, told IFLScience: “We can have detailed observations of our galaxy because we are inside it. So we can zoom in the regions where stars are born.

“When we look at the sky with our own eyes, we see these dark lanes in the Milky Way. These dust lanes are the place where stars are forming.”

This comparison shows the central regions of the Milky Way observed at different wavelengths. ESO/ATLASGAL consortium/NASA/GLIMPSE consortium/VVV Survey/ESA/Planck/D. Minniti/S. Guisard

To understand how our galaxy has changed and is changing is very important in order to get a complete census of these star-forming regions. The final catalog covered a 420-square-degree area of sky, more than four times larger than the first ATLASGAL survey.

“It’s a huge amount of data,” added De Breuck, “and its legacy will go well beyond the end of this survey. The entire ATLASGAL data was made available to other astronomers. Everybody from the public can now download the data. It is both beautiful and scientifically useful.”

Although the ATLASGAL survey is now complete, this is not an end but a beginning. “There are many things we can do now. It is a very versatile survey. We found many small compact regions that we could follow up with ALMA,” said De Breuck.

“ATLASGAS told us where to look, where the interesting regions in our galaxy are. And we can study in detail how these regions collapse and form stars. We can get the kinematic of the gas, how it moves around.”

The follow-up observations will not be just in the submillimeter but also in other wavelengths, which will deliver a better understanding of these important regions.

“[The different types of observations] directly illustrate how powerful it is to look at the complementary data between these different observations. What you see in one wavelength is not directly what you see in another wavelength,” added De Breuck.

Did you know? (Issue 1)

This topic will shed light on some of the recently discovered facts and information from many parts of the world. Some of them is really impressing and worth knowing and memorizing.
1. JELLYFISH KILL MORE PEOPLE EACH YEAR THAN SHARKS DO.

Jellyfish is reportedly 15 – 30 times deadlier than sharks. Some species of stinging jellyfish are almost invisible in the water and the first warning anyone may get is large numbers of people leaving the water with painful, itching stings. Even after it is dead, the jellyfish can still continue stinging. The stingers activate upon touch and work whether the tentacle is still attached to a living jellyfish or not. Talk about a zombie ha?!!
2. DOGS UNDERSTAND HUMAN PERSPECTIVE.

A recent study revealed that dogs are much likely to steal food in the dark when humans cannot see them which indicates that they somehow understand that what they are doing is not right from a human’s point of view.
3. CHILDREN’S DAY!


India actually celebrates Children’s Day on November 14th which is exactly 9 months after Valentine’s Day. I guess protection is off the table during that day!!

5. FACEBOOK LANGUAGE.



You can actually change Facebook language to upside down or pirate if you want to. Jack Sparrow would be happy. Hey, how come there is no Klingon option?!!

6. MILLIONAIRES.



Half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business. Around 80% of them are college graduates. Only 18% of millionaires have a Master’s Degree. 8% have law degrees, 6% have medical degrees and 6% have a PhD. I mean, if they can do it, why can’t we?

7. ST. VALENTINE.

In addition to love, St. Valentine is the patron saint of plague. How is that for a contradiction?!!

8. OH JAPAN!!

In Japan, women give chocolates on Valentine’s day. Men are supposed to return the favor a month later on White Day, March 14th.

9. HOW MANY PEOPLE SHARE YOUR BIRTHDAY?

You share your birthday with approximately 9 million other people in the world. Let’s put that to the test shall we? Mine is September 13th; who has the same birthday?

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Some scientific facts that will leave you speechless

It is really sad that only few people are into science nowadays. I think this is mainly due to the way science is portrayed and taught to kids at schools all around the world. Why can’t we learn science and still make if fun and interesting at the same time? Is it a bad idea to ask comedians, for instance, to include some science facts in their jokes? It is an idea worth mentioning and discussing I think.

With that being said, here are some amazing science facts that will literally blow your mind. These kind of facts just continue to amaze me and keeps me hungry for more. It just proves that with all the things we have learned in the world still have an ocean of facts to dive into.

IT CAN TAKE A PHOTON 40,000 YEARS TO TRAVEL FROM THE CORE OF THE SUN TO ITS SURFACE, BUT ONLY 8 MINUTES TO TRAVEL THE REST OF THE WAY TO EARTH

A photon travels, on average, a particular distance, d, before being briefly absorbed and released by an atom, which scatters it in a new random direction.From the core to the sun’s surface (696,000 kilometers) where it can escape into space, a photon needs to make a huge number of drunken jumps. The calculation is a little tricky, but the conclusion is that a photon takes between many thousands and many millions of years to drunkenly wander to the surface of the Sun. In a way, the light that reaches us today is energy produced maybe millions of years ago. Isn’t that just amazing! (image source)

THERE ARE 8 TIMES AS MANY ATOMS IN A TEASPOONFUL OF WATER AS THERE ARE TEASPOONFULS OF WATER IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

A teaspoon of water (about 5 ml) contains 2×1023 water molecules, but each water molecule is comprised of 3 atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen. Moreover, if you’d laid down end to end each water molecule from a teaspoon full you’d end up with a length of 50 billion km or 10 times the width of our solar system. (image source)

IF BETELGEUSE WOULD EXPLODE TRANSITING FROM THE RED SUPER GIANT STAGE TO SUPERNOVA THEN OUR SKY WOULD LIGHT CONTINUOUSLY FOR TWO MONTHS. IT CAN HAPPEN ANYTIME, WITHIN A COUPLE OF THOUSAND YEARS, TOMORROW OR EVEN NOW!!

Betelgeuse lies some 430 light-years from Earth. Yet it’s already one of the brightest stars in Earth’s sky. The reason is that Betelgeuse is a super-giant star – the largest kind of stars in the Universe. Betelgeuse has a luminosity about 10,000 times that of the Sun and its radius is calculated to be about 370 times that of the sun. If it were positioned at the center of our sun, its radius would extend out past the radius of Mars. Because it’s near the end of its lifetime, Betelgeuse is likely to explode into a supernova. (image source)

THERE IS ENOUGH DNA IN AN AVERAGE PERSON’S BODY TO STRETCH FROM THE SUN TO PLUTO AND BACK. 17 TIMES

The human genome, the genetic code in each human cell, contains 23 DNA molecules each containing from 500 thousand to 2.5 million nucleotide pairs. DNA molecules of this size are 1.7 to 8.5 cm long when uncoiled, or about 5 cm on average. There are about 37 trillion cells in the human body and if you’d uncoil all of the DNA encased in each cell and put them end to end, then these would sum to a total length of 2×1014 meters or enough for 17 Pluto round trips (1.2×1013 meters/Pluto round trip). (image source)

HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE?!!

The known universe is made up of 50,000,000,000 galaxies. There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy. In the Milky Way alone there might be as many 100,000,000 planets. Do you still think you are alone?!! (image source)

THE AVERAGE HUMAN BODY CARRIES TEN TIMES MORE BACTERIAL CELLS THAN HUMAN CELLS

It’s funny how we compulsively wash our hands, spray our countertops and grimace when someone sneezes near us—in fact, we do everything we can to avoid unnecessary encounters with the germ world. The truth of the matter is that each and every one of us is a walking petri dish! All the bacteria living inside you would fill a half-gallon jug or 10 times more bacterial cells in your body than human cells, according to Carolyn Bohach, a microbiologist at the University of Idaho. Don’t worry, though. Most of these bacteria are helpful; in fact, we couldn’t survive without them.

For one thing, bacteria produce chemicals that help us harness energy and nutrients from our food. Germ-free rodents have to consume nearly a third more calories than normal rodents to maintain their body weight, and when the same animals were later given a dose of bacteria, their body fat levels spiked, even if they didn’t eat any more than they had before. The gut bacteria is also very important to maintaining immunity. (image source)

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