Long time reader Chad points us to an interesting result in wave-particle duality, in which researchers have used entanglement to gain information about which slit a photon travels through in the Young double-slit experiment. Arstechnica has the layperson’s summary here, while others may prefer to go directly to the original paper.
Category Archives: Science
SpaceX Successfully Launches Capsule to the Space Station
A successful launch after a scrubbed launch last week put SpaceX in the lead for private contractors to handle missions to the ISS. The unmanned capsule is planned to dock with the ISS if everything is go. This is only the second launch for the Dragon capsule and the third for the Falcon 9 rocket.
The overall goal is to make space flight more cost-effective, something that NASA has not been able to do.
Space.com has the details here.
So, the question is: Do you think switching away from government-based to commercial-based space flight will hurt or hinder our exploration of the stars?
Neutrino speed update
The OPERA experiment at CERN has announced a couple of possible systematic errors that would impact the speed of neutrinos, which we discussed earlier. Defective hardware may have impacted the flight time measurements. The final results are being studied, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Seek out new life…. in Antarctica
No Great Old Ones thus far been identified, but a research team has found some fascinating things living in the hydrothermal vents near Antarctica.
Video below.
Neutrino results: Blaine’s commentary
There has been a lot of recent buzz surrounding a result indicating that neutrinos may travel faster than light, rewriting Einstein. Well, as promised, I’ve tracked down the original paper, and written up a layperson translation/summary/commentary on Google Docs, which can be found here.
FTL Neutrinos?
The physics world is abuzz today, as a group of CERN scientists have announced evidence of faster than light neutrinos. They had a formal webcast earlier today, based on this paper. Though it may not be ready until Sunday, I fully intend to read that paper start to finish and give a complete report on the contents here on Bureau 42. In the meantime, let the discussion commence!
International Space Station to be Abandoned?
Due to problems with Soyuz rockets– currently, the only transportation available– the International Space Station may have to be abandoned temporarily this autumn for this first time in its history.
Video below:
The End of an Era – Atlantis Safely Back on Earth
“After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle’s earned its place in history. And it’s come to a final stop.”
In the pre-dawn hours in Florida, the Space Shuttle Atlantis came to a stop, ending a 30-year era of space travel for the United States.
The crew of four ended their historic mission forty-two years and one day after we first set foot on the moon.
Atlantis Launched
For the final time the Atlantis is aloft. And as some would say, she’s home for the last time.
She is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Sunday and to return home after thirteen days.
This marks the final launch of any space shuttle. With the end of the program and no concrete replacement, NASA is planning on laying off over 14,000 people from across the board.
One of their chief concerns is that with the glut of unemployed aerospace workers, few young people will want to embark in training for a career in space work, leading to a generational “brain drain” that will cripple the American space program in a decade or two.
Final Shuttle Launch Date Set: July 8
NASA has set the date for the final launch of a Space Shuttle. Friday, July 8th, the Atlantis will make history and close out the 30-year program.