At 25, Kurt Gödel proved there can never be a mathematical “theory of everything.” Columnist Natalie Wolchover explores the implications.
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Reanalyzed Hubble data challenges Europa plume claims
Dr. Kurt Retherford: “The new data has made us reconsider the strength of the previous paper’s conclusion regarding water vapor plumes.” [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30560/reanalyzed-hub…e-claims-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30560/reanalyzed-hub…e-claims-2)
What can the vapor plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa teach scientists about the small moon’s atmosphere? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the origins of Europa’s vapor plumes. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the geological activity occurring on Europa and how its subsurface ocean could influence the small moon’s fragile and thin atmosphere.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1999 and between 2012 and 2020 that displayed evidence of water vapor plumes from Europa and a hydrogen exosphere. An exosphere is the uppermost layer of an atmosphere and is where the atmosphere thins out and merges with the vacuum of space.
This study builds on a 2014 study published in Science from some of these same researchers that explored evidence of plume activity at Europa’s south pole. Now, this most recent study used a series of computer models to ascertain the accuracy of past Hubble data and from the 2014 study. In the end, the researchers discovered that while evidence of the hydrogen exosphere was present, evidence of water vapor plumes was not.
Behold the neuron, a complicated cell with a simple mission
Neurons, the uber-connected nerve cells that act as a main switchboard for the brain, are central to some incredibly complicated processes. They make it possible to think, walk, speak, and breathe. They even have built-in backup batteries to use in emergencies.
Yet the way individual neurons go about their business is surprisingly simple, according to a new Yale study.
How simple? Most of them operate entirely like tiny on-off switches.
Scientists Created a Subatomic Particle That Defies Our Understanding of Physics
For decades, every known atomic and nuclear system has relied on at least two fundamental forces working in concert: the strong force binds protons and neutrons inside the nucleus, while electromagnetism holds electrons in orbit around it. Now, an international team of physicists has found the first experimental evidence of a nuclear system bound exclusively by the strong force—confirming a theoretical prediction made twenty years ago and opening a new window onto how matter acquires mass.
Creating a system held together by only one force required a particle with a special property: no electric charge. Ordinary atoms can’t do the job because their components—protons and electrons—are electrically charged, so electromagnetism is always in play. The Standard Model of particle physics, which describes three of the four fundamental forces (the strong force, the weak force, and electromagnetism —gravity isn’t included), predicts that electrically neutral mesons should be able to bind to a nucleus through the strong interaction alone. The eta prime meson (η′) is the ideal test case: it carries no electric charge, so it can’t be bound electromagnetically, and its unusually large mass makes it a uniquely sensitive probe of the strong force’s inner workings.