Searching for life in alien oceans may be more difficult than scientists previously thought, even when we can sample these extraterrestrial waters directly.
A new study focusing on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that sprays its ocean water into space through cracks in its icy surface, shows that the physics of alien oceans could prevent evidence of deep-sea life from reaching places where we can detect it.
Published today (Thursday, 6 February 2025) in Communications Earth and Environment, the study shows how Enceladus’s ocean forms distinct layers that dramatically slow the movement of material from the ocean floor to the surface.
A new discovery in physics and digital technology has identified a new magnetic phase that’s being called altermagnetism’ and it has incredible implications.
Traditional 3D printing builds objects layer by layer, but tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (TVAM) takes a different approach. It uses laser light to illuminate a rotating vial of resin, solidifying material only where the accumulated energy surpasses a specific threshold. A key advantage of TVAM is its speed—it can produce objects in seconds, whereas conventional layer-based 3D printing takes about 10 minutes. However, its efficiency is a major drawback, as only about 1% of the projected light contributes to forming the intended shape.
Researchers from EPFL’s Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices, led by Professor Christophe Moser, and the SDU Centre for Photonics Engineering, led by Professor Jesper Glückstad, have developed a more efficient TVAM technique, as reported in Nature Communications
<em> Nature Communications </em> is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research from all areas of the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, Earth sciences, and biology. The journal is part of the Nature Publishing Group and was launched in 2010. “Nature Communications” aims to facilitate the rapid dissemination of important research findings and to foster multidisciplinary collaboration and communication among scientists.
Most of us take it for granted that there are three dimensions, perhaps four if we count time. But for over 200 years, mathematicians and scientists have proposed further dimensions. In some standard versions of contemporary physics eleven dimensions are now proposed. But might the notion of additional dimensions be an empty idea that derails physics? Richard Feynman argued that proponents of extra dimensions.
A new adaptive optics technology is set to transform gravitational-wave detection, allowing LIGO
LIGO, or the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. There are two LIGO observatories in the United States—one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. These observatories use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples in spacetime caused by passing gravitational waves from cosmic events, such as the collisions of black holes or neutron stars.
2.4 billion years from now there will be a black hole colliding with the Milky Way.
A supermassive black hole hidden in the Large Magellanic Cloud is on a collision course with the Milky Way! Scientists discovered it using hypervelocity stars, and in 2.4 billion years, it will merge with Sagittarius A at our galaxy’s center. This event could reshape our galaxy and trigger gravitational waves! 🌌 Want to know what happens next? Watch the full video to explore the science behind this cosmic collision. Don’t miss it—subscribe now for more space discoveries! 🚀
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction. 00:30 The Discovery and Characteristics of the Supermassive Black Hole. 03:11 The LMC-Milky Way Collision and Its Consequences. 05:34 Other Famous Supermassive Black Holes and What They Teach Us. 07:23 Outro. 07:35 Enjoy.
You may think that time started 13.8 billion years ago at the birth of the universe, but physicists with alternative definitions of time have other ideas.
A strange molecular pattern, first mistaken for an error, led researchers to an unexpected discovery: molecules forming non-repeating structures similar to the einstein tiling problem.
This phenomenon, driven by chirality and energy balance, could pave the way for novel insights into molecular physics.
At the crossroads of mathematics and tiling lies the einstein problem—a puzzle that, despite its name, has nothing to do with Albert Einstein. The question is simple yet profound: Can a single shape tile an infinite surface without ever creating a repeating pattern? In 2022, English amateur mathematician David Smith discovered such a shape, known as a “proto-tile.”
If you think I live in the twilight zone your right.
As a computational functionalist, I think the mind is a system that exists in this universe and operates according to the laws of physics. Which means that, in principle, there shouldn’t be any reason why the information and dispositions that make up a mind can’t be recorded and copied into another substrate someday, such as a digital environment.
To be clear, I think this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. I’m not in the technological singularity camp that sees us all getting uploaded into the cloud in a decade or two, the infamous “rapture of the nerds”. We need to understand the brain far better than we currently do, and that seems several decades to centuries away. Of course, if it is possible to do it anytime soon, it won’t be accomplished by anyone who’s already decided it’s impossible, so I enthusiastically cheer efforts in this area, as long as it’s real science.
There have always been a number of objections to the idea of uploading. Many people just reflexively assume it’s categorically impossible. Certainly we don’t have the technology today, but short of assuming the mind is at least partially non-physical, it’s hard to see what the ultimate obstacle might be. Even with that assumption, who can say that a copied mind wouldn’t have those non-physical properties? David Chalmers, a property dualist, sees those non-physical properties as corresponding with the right functionality, so for him AI consciousness and mind copying remain a possibility.
