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What do you do when a tried-and-true method for determining the sun’s chemical composition appears to be at odds with an innovative, precise technique for mapping the sun’s inner structure? That was the situation facing astronomers studying the sun—until new calculations that have now been published by Ekaterina Magg, Maria Bergemann and colleagues, and that resolve the apparent contradiction.

The decade-long solar abundance crisis is the conflict between the internal structure of the sun as determined from solar oscillations (helioseismology) and the structure derived from the fundamental theory of stellar evolution, which in turn relies on measurements of the present-day sun’s chemical composition. The new calculations of the physics of the sun’s atmosphere yield updated results for abundances of different chemical elements, which resolve the conflict. Notably, the sun contains more oxygen, silicon and neon than previously thought. The methods employed also promise considerably more accurate estimates of the chemical compositions of stars in general.

A water wave incident on a grooved wall is shown to be analogous to electromagnetic waves called surface plasmon polaritons.

The ability of metamaterials to steer light has enabled amazing inventions from superresolution microscopes to “invisiblity” cloaks. But the physics underlying these structures also applies to other waves, such as acoustic, seismic, and water waves. Huanyang Chen and his colleagues at Xiamen University in China have demonstrated a structure that can change the propagation of surface water waves, making a localized wave that is analogous to an electromagnetic excitation called a surface plasmon polariton [1].

Surface plasmon polaritons occur at the interface between a dielectric and a negative-permittivity material such as a metal. Generating an equivalent excitation in surface water waves requires a similar sort of interface, such as that between water and a vertical barrier. In this case, the water’s parameter that is analogous to a metal’s permittivity is its depth. Of course, it’s impossible for water to have negative depth, but using metamaterials, Chen and his colleagues engineered the boundary conditions of the waves to achieve the same effect.

Do the laws of physics place a hard limit on how far technology can develop, or could an advanced civilization re-write those laws?

Technology could make indoor areas as safe as outdoors, say physicists.

Today is the opening of The CAPT.(DR.) IDAHOSA WELLS OKUNBO STEM AND INNOVATION CENTER in the rural area of Iyara, warri, delta state, Nigeria.aa.

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Three researchers published their findings this week in the journal Physical Review Letters and say their hypothesis is based on problems with the Hubble Constant, the rate at which the universe expands. Yesterday’s SciTechDaily report on the study says predictions for that constant are a lot slower than what we’ve measured in reality, and scientists are trying to figure out what’s causing the discrepancy. They say the cause could be a mirror world we can’t yet see.

“This might provide a way to understand why there appears to be a discrepancy between different measurements of the Universe’s expansion rate,” researchers said in a statement about their findings.

Scientists have long built models of the cosmos. Now the task is to create one that doesn’t violate any of the rules cosmological rules we’ve learned so far. The researchers say that if the universe is somehow exploiting what we know about its physics and symmetry there could be an invisible mirror world very similar to ours but invisible except through gravitational impact on our world.

Benjy WangProbably could be limited by a simulation restart.

Jim RohrichNo limits.

Omuterema Akhahenda shared a link.

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