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New studies show photon polarization is constant in varying environments, potentially improving plasma heating methods for fusion energy advancement.

Light, both literally and figuratively, pervades our world. It eliminates darkness, conveys telecommunications signals across continents, and reveals the unseen, from distant galaxies to microscopic bacteria. Light can also help heat the plasma within ring-shaped devices known as tokamaks as scientists work to leverage the fusion process to produce green electricity.

Recently, researchers from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have discovered that one of the fundamental properties of photons—polarization—is topological, meaning it remains constant even as the photon transitions through various materials and environments. These findings, published in Physical Review D, could lead to more effective plasma heating techniques and advancements in fusion research.

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New findings reveal magnetic fields in three massive stars in the Magellanic Clouds, shedding light on the influence of magnetism on stellar evolution and the formation of neutron stars and black holes. The use of advanced spectropolarimetry techniques was crucial to overcome past observational challenges.

Magnetic fields have been discovered in three massive, hot stars within our neighboring galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, for the first time. Although magnetic fields in massive stars are not new to our own galaxy, their detection in the Magellanic Clouds is particularly significant due to the abundance of young, massive stars in these galaxies. This discovery offers a rare chance to investigate actively forming stars and explore the maximum mass a star can achieve while maintaining stability.

Impact of magnetism on star evolution.

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The Hubble Space Telescope is currently in safe mode due to gyroscope problems, suspending its science activities. However, NASA remains optimistic about its future contributions to space exploration, working in tandem with other telescopes.

On May 24, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope entered safe mode due to an ongoing gyroscope (gyro) issue, suspending science operations. Hubble’s instruments remain stable, and the telescope is in good health.

The telescope automatically entered safe mode when one of its three gyroscopes returned faulty telemetry readings. Hubble’s gyros measure the telescope’s slew rates and are part of the system that determines and controls precisely the direction the telescope is pointed.

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Researchers for the first time showed, how gravity can exist without mass, providing an alternative theory that could potentially mitigate the need for dark matter…

Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that is implied by gravitational effects that can’t be explained by general relativity unless more matter is present in the universe than can be seen. It remains virtually as mysterious as it was nearly a century ago when first suggested by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1932 to explain the so-called “missing mass” necessary for things like galaxies to clump together.

Now Dr. Richard Lieu at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has published a paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society that shows, for the first time, how gravity can exist without mass, providing an alternative theory that could potentially mitigate the need for dark matter.

“My own inspiration came from my pursuit for another solution to the gravitational field equations of general relativity—the simplified version of which, applicable to the conditions of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, is known as the Poisson equation—which gives a finite gravitation force in the absence of any detectable mass,” says Lieu, a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at UAH, a part of the University of Alabama System.

Continue reading “Researcher suggests that gravity can exist without mass, mitigating the need for hypothetical dark matter” | >

Stephen Paul KIng [always] has [good] ideas—especially for [error] rectification.

Fay Dowker is a physicist and is currently a professor of Theoretical Physics and a member of the Theoretical Physics Group at Imperial College London and a Visiting Fellow at the Perimeter Institute. Fay conducts research in a number of areas of theoretical physics including quantum gravity and causal set theory.

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Continue reading “Fay Dowker: Causal Set Theory, Quantum Gravity, Consciousness, Non-Locality, Stephen Hawking” | >

We’ve received a strange signal from across the galaxy, and astronomers are struggling to understand what it means.

They know what’s emitting the signals. It’s a neutron star named ASKAP J193505.1+214841.0 (ASKAP J1935+2148 for short), located in the plane of the Milky Way, some 15,820 light-years from Earth.

But the signals themselves are like none we’ve ever seen before. The star goes through periods of strong pulses, periods of weak pulses, and periods of no pulses at all.

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What if symptoms of chronic pain were sometimes just echoes of a past injury, and your brain could “snap out of it” with the help of psychedelics? It’s a surprising theory that several labs around the world are beginning to investigate. While there have been few double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of psychedelics for treating chronic pain, preliminary evidence is beginning to emerge — with promising results.

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists beyond the usual recovery period or occurs with another condition. It may occur continuously or happen off and on. The most common manifestations of chronic pain are lower back pain, headache disorders, fibromyalgia, and neuropathic pain. People treated for chronic pain often undergo “pain management programs” that combine approaches from different fields to customize treatments.

Although it may be a reflection of ongoing physical health issues, chronic pain can also have deeply psychosomatic origins, reflecting the close relationship between mind and body.

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