The Physics arXiv Blog
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The coming of age of hadrontherapy
There’s a problem with conventional radiotherapy for tumours: the body absorbs the radiation as it passes through. So zap a deep seated tumour with X-rays and the dose decreases exponentially with the depth of target. This means that both diseased and healthy tissue end up getting targeted. In 1946, Robert Wilson, a physicist at FermiLab…
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First evidence of a supernova in an ice core
There hasn’t been a decent supernova in our part of the universe in living memory but astronomers in the 11th century were a little more fortunate. In 1006 AD, they witnessed what is still thought to be the brightest supernova ever seen on Earth (SN 1006) and just 48 years later saw the birth of…
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Adding ‘n’ tangling
The best of the rest from the physics arXiv this week: Hydrogen Storage by Polylithiated Molecules and Nanostructures Physical Properties of Biological Membranes A Brief Overview of the Major Contribution to Physics by Landau New Worlds: Evaluating Terrestrial Planets as Astrophysical Objects A Recursive Threshold Visual Cryptography Scheme Tradition Versus Fashion in Consumer Choice A…
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Ptarithmetic: reinventing logic for the computer age
In the last few years, a small group of logicians have attempted the ambitious task of re-inventing the discipline of formal logic. In the past, logic has been thought of as the formal theory of “truth”. Truth plays an important role in our society and as suchm a formal theory is entirely laudable and worthy.…
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Human eye could detect spooky action at a distance
It’s almost a year since Nicolas Gisin and colleagues at the University of Geneva announced that they had calculated that a human eye ought to be able to detect entangled photons. “Entanglement in principle could be seen,” they concluded. That’s extraordinary because it would mean that the humans involved in such an experiment would become…
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The puzzle of planet formation
“The formation of planets is one of the major unsolved problems in modern astrophysics.” That’s how Rafael Millan-Gabet at Caltech and John Monnier from the University of Michigan begin their account of how our understanding of planet formation is about to undergo a revolution. Driving this change will be a new generation of telelscopes and…
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The telescope that Antarctica broke
First light from any instrument is always exciting but particularly so when exotic locations and exciting goals are involved. The CORONA experiment offers both. CORONA is a stellar coronagraph designed to spot extrasolar planets orbiting other stars. It is based at Dome C, some 10,000 feet above sea level in in Antarctica, a location that…
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What should robots do for us?
Robots have great potential for assisting the old and disabled (not to mention the rest of us) . But if you’re developing one of these devices, where do you start? What kind of assistance you should concentrate on providing? Young Sang Choi and buddies from the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology have…
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Swings ‘n’ roundabouts
The best of the rest from the physics arXiv this week: Black Hole Hair Removal Quantum Critical Analog of Cloud Chamber Tsetse Fly Population Outcomes for a Number of Aerial Spray Scenarios at Different Temperatures Self Collimation of Ultrasound in a 3D Sonic Crystal Some Reports of Snowfall from Fog During the UK Winter of…
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How to build a desktop Foucalt’s Pendulum
Foucalt’s pendulum–a 28 kilogram bob suspended on a 67 metre wire– famously hangs in the Pantheon in Paris where Leon Foucalt himself demonstrated it in 1851. The pendulum oscillates in a vertical plane which slowly rotates. The rotation is explained by the Earth’s motion which spins beneath the pendulum. The length of the wire is…