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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 7, 2020 at 7:11am

Researchers crack quantum physics puzzle

Scientists have re-investigated a sixty-year-old idea by an American physicist and provided new insights into the quantum world.

The research could lead to improved spectroscopic techniques, laser techniques, interferometric high-precision measurements and atomic beam applications.

Quantum physics is the study of everything around us at the atomic level, atoms, electrons and particles. Atoms and electrons which are so small, one billion placed side by side could fit within a centimeter. Because of the way atoms and electrons behave, scientists describe their behaviour as like waves.

Waves, unlike particles which travel in straight lines, can go around obstacles, but if there are enough random obstacles, the waves cannot get through because they interfere with each other and cancel themselves out.

At low temperatures, matter, which is made up of atoms and particles, can be made to behave much like light; that is, light behaves the same way all waves do whether it be light waves or ocean waves. In its interaction with matter, light can behave like it is composed of particles which don't go around objects but instead travel in a straight line.

In the Quantum Information Lab researchers took this one step further and added an ultra-cold atom experiment to the mix. With the aid of high tech lasers, they manipulated these ultra-cold atoms until they were so cold, their wave behaviour became visible to the eye.

This is about a billionth of a degree above absolute zero (-273.15 degrees C) so that is pretty chilly. Physicists have created customized patterns of obstacles to stop the waves, and when they take a picture, they can find out where these atoms are. This way, they can see what exactly is required to get their quantum-mechanical waves to reflect off obstacles, and why the waves do not get in.

Donald H. White et al. Observation of two-dimensional Anderson localisation of ultracold atoms, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18652-w

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-quantum-physics-puzzle.html?utm_sourc...

 

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 7, 2020 at 6:35am

**A new interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that reality does not depend on the person measuring it

Quantum mechanics arose in the 1920s, and since then scientists have disagreed on how best to interpret it. Many interpretations, including the Copenhagen interpretation presented by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, and in particular, von Neumann-Wigner interpretation, state that the consciousness of the person conducting the test affects its result. On the other hand, Karl Popper and Albert Einstein thought that an objective reality exists. Erwin Schrödinger put forward the famous thought experiment involving the fate of an unfortunate cat that aimed to describe the imperfections of quantum mechanics.

In their most recent article, Finnish civil servants Jussi Lindgren and Jukka Liukkonen, who study quantum mechanics in their free time, take a look at the uncertainty principle that was developed by Heisenberg in 1927. According to the traditional interpretation of the principle, location and momentum cannot be determined simultaneously to an arbitrary degree of precision, as the person conducting the measurement always affects the values.

However, in their study Lindgren and Liukkonen concluded that the correlation between a location and momentum, i.e., their relationship, is fixed. In other words, reality is an object that does not depend on the person measuring it. Lindgren and Liukkonen utilized stochastic dynamic optimization in their study. In their theory's frame of reference, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is a manifestation of thermodynamic equilibrium, in which correlations of random variables do not vanish.

"The results suggest that there is no logical reason for the results to be dependent on the person conducting the measurement. According to our study, there is nothing that suggests that the consciousness of the person would disturb the results or create a certain result or reality

This interpretation supports such interpretations of quantum mechanics that support classical scientific principles.

"The interpretation is objective and realistic, and at the same time as simple as possible. We like clarity and prefer to remove all mysticism

Jussi Lindgren et al. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as an Endogenous Equilibrium Property of Stochastic Optimal Control Systems in Quantum Mechanics, Symmetry (2020). DOI: 10.3390/sym12091533

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-quantum-mechanics-reality-person.html...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 7, 2020 at 6:26am

**Individual suicide risk can be dramatically altered by social 'sameness,' study finds

Similarities among individuals living in the same communities can dramatically change their risk of dying by suicide, according to a new study

Bernice A. Pescosolido et al, Cross-level sociodemographic homogeneity alters individual risk for completed suicide, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006333117

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-individual-suicide-social-sameness.ht...

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Safeguarding iconic buildings from bomb explosions

 Researchers have developed a technique to prevent glass facades on iconic buildings from shattering if the building is targeted by terrorists in a bomb explosion.

In the study researchers looked at the "maximum credible load" of an explosion and how to minimize the problem of a deadly wave of shattered glass which can cause traumatic injury and death.

The study went beyond previous research in the field with a sophisticated coupling analysis, which did not just look at the way the glass responds to an explosion but also modeled the explosive source, the pressure wave transmission and fluid-structure interaction.

The researchers modeled the shock waves that traveled through the air and then they studied how it hit the structures.

The solution is to absorb the energy of the blast with a shock absorbing layer between the glass panels in the laminated glass and through the members of the supporting system as well as to make the cable trusses stronger. The glass is certainly going to crack, but this interlayer holds the particles together.

 R.R.C. Piyasena et al. Fully coupled modeling technique for blast analysis of cable truss facades, Engineering Failure Analysis (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104771

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-safeguarding-iconic-explosions....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 7, 2020 at 6:20am

Deciphered: evolution of the Y chromosome in great apes 

New analysis of the DNA sequence of the male-specific Y chromosomes from all living species of the great ape family helps to clarify our understanding of how this enigmatic chromosome evolved. A clearer picture of the evolution of the Y chromosome is important for studying male fertility in humans as well as our understanding of reproduction patterns and the ability to track male lineages in the great apes, which can help with conservation efforts for these endangered species.

A team of biologists and computer scientists sequenced and assembled the Y chromosome from orangutan and bonobo and compared those sequences to the existing human, chimpanzee, and gorilla Y sequences. From the comparison, the team were able to clarify patterns of evolution that seem to fit with behavioural differences between the species and reconstruct a model of what the Y chromosome might have looked like in the ancestor of all great apes.

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The Y chromosome is important for male fertility and contains the genes critical for sperm production, but it is often neglected in genomic studies because it is so difficult to sequence and assemble . The Y chromosome contains a lot of repetitive sequences, which are challenging for DNA sequencing, assembling sequences, and aligning sequences for comparison. There aren't out-of-the-box software packages to deal with the Y chromosome, so we had to overcome these hurdles and optimize our experimental and computational protocols, which allowed us to address interesting biological questions.

The Y chromosome is unusual. It contains relatively few genes, many of which are involved in male sex determination and sperm production; large sections of repetitive DNA, short sequences repeated over and over again; and large DNA palindromes, inverted repeats that can be many thousands of letters long and read the same forwards and backwards.

Previous work by the team comparing human, chimpanzee, and gorilla sequences had revealed some unexpected patterns. Humans are more closely related to chimpanzees, but for some characteristics, the human Y was more similar to the gorilla Y.

Monika Cechova et al, Dynamic evolution of great ape Y chromosomes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001749117

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-evolution-chromosome-great-apes-decip...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 7, 2020 at 6:13am

3 scientists win Nobel physics prize for black hole research

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for advancing our understanding of Krishna (means ‘black’ in Sanskrit :)) holes.

Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez explained to the world these dead ends of the cosmos that devour light and even time. Staples of both science fact and fiction, black holes are still not completely understood but are deeply connected, somehow, to the creation of galaxies, where the stars and life exist.

Penrose, of the University of Oxford, received half of the prize for discovering that Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts the formation of black holes.

Announcement of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2020 at 11:01am

Post-viral fatigue syndrome- the condition affecting some COVID-19 survivors

https://theconversation.com/what-is-post-viral-fatigue-syndrome-the...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2020 at 10:34am

**T Cells and Neurons Talk to Each Other

Conversations between the immune and central nervous systems are proving to be essential for the healthy social behavior, learning, and memory.

https://www.the-scientist.com/features/t-cells-and-neurons-talk-to-...

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How Trump Could Have Exposed Biden and Others to COVID at the Debate

An expert on airborne virus transmission explains the risks of talking loudly without wearing a mask in an indoor environment

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-trump-could-have-exp...

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https://theconversation.com/we-estimate-there-are-up-to-14-million-...

Microplastics on the seafloor : research suggests there’s a staggering 8-14 million tonnes of it

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2020 at 10:01am

Why do mirrors flip horizontally (but not vertically)?

Here's The Physics

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2020 at 9:18am

Dozens of mammals could be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2

Numerous animals may be vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a large study modelling how the virus might infect different animals' cells, led by UCL researchers.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, reports evidence that 26 animals regularly in contact with people may be susceptible to infection.

The researchers investigated how the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 could interact with the ACE2 protein it attaches to when it infects people.

The focus of the investigation was whether mutations in the ACE2 protein in 215 different animals, that make it different from the human version, would reduce the stability of the binding complex between the virus protein and host protein. Binding to the protein enables the virus to gain entry into host cells; while it is possible the virus might be able to infect animals via another pathway, it is unlikely based on current evidence that the virus could infect an animal if it cannot form a stable binding complex with ACE2.

The researchers found that for some animals, such as sheep and great apes (chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and bonobo, many of which are endangered in the wild), the proteins would be able to bind together just as strongly as they do when the virus infects people. Some of the animals, such as sheep, have not yet been studied with infection tests, so this does not confirm that the animal can indeed be infected.

Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71936-5

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-dozens-mammals-susceptible-sars-cov-....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2020 at 8:55am

World's first direct observation of the magneto-Thomson effect

Applying a temperature gradient and a charge current to an electrical conductor leads to the release and absorbtion of heat. This is called the Thomson effect. In a first, researchers have directly observed the magneto-Thomson effect, which is the magnetic-field-induced modulation of the Thomson effect. This success may contribute to the development of new functions and technologies for thermal energy management and to advances in fundamental physics and materials .

science on magneto-thermoelectric conversion.

Kelly Morrison et al. Thermal Imaging of the Thomson Effect, Physics (2020). DOI: 10.1103/Physics.13.137

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-world-magneto-thomson-effect.html?utm...

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