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The Pueblo people created rock carvings in the Mesa Verde region of the Southwest United States about 800 years ago to mark the position of the sun on the longest and shortest days of the year, archaeologists now say.

Panels of ancient rock art, called petroglyphs, on canyon walls in the region show complex interactions of sunlight and shadows. These interactions can be seen in the days around the winter and summer solstices, when the sun reaches its southernmost and northernmost points, respectively, and, to a lesser extent, around the equinoxes — the “equal nights”— in spring and fall, the researchers said.

Mysterious-new-virus-unknown-origin-emerges-lake-Brazil.

Scientists have discovered a mysterious never-before-seen virus in a lake in Brazil and have named it after a mermaid who lured soldiers underwater to their death.

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IMAGE: Novosteo, a Purdue University-affiliated startup, is advancing a technology shown to repair bone fractures faster and at greater benefit to a patient. The image above shows fractured femurs at four… view more

Credit: Novosteo/Philip S. Low

Brillouin scattering has applications ranging from signal processing^1,2, sensing³ and microscopy⁴ to quantum information⁵ and fundamental science^6,7. Most of these applications rely on the electrostrictive interaction between light and phonons^3,7,8. Here we show that in liquids optically induced surface deformations can provide an alternative and far stronger interaction. This allows the demonstration of ultralow-threshold Brillouin lasing and strong phonon-mediated optical coupling. This form of strong coupling is a key capability for Brillouin-reconfigurable optical switches and circuits^9,10, for photonic quantum interfaces¹¹ and to generate synthetic electromagnetic fields^12,13. While applicable to liquids quite generally, our demonstration uses superfluid helium. Configured as a Brillouin gyroscope¹⁴ this provides the prospect of measuring superfluid circulation with unprecedented precision, and exploring the rich physics of quantum fluid dynamics, from quantized vorticity to quantum turbulence^15,16.

Critics say the government is making a coronavirus episode worse by not being more forthcoming.

An 18-year-old who was born without the left half of her brain scores well on IQ tests and plans to attend university, revealing our brain’s incredible adaptability.

WASHINGTON — Spaceflight Industries announced Feb. 11 it will sell its smallsat rideshare launch business to a pair of Japanese companies, allowing it to focus on its BlackSky geospatial business.

Spaceflight Industries said that Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Yamasa Co., Ltd. will acquire its rideshare business, known as Spaceflight, Inc., for an undisclosed sum. Mitsui & Co. and Yamasa will own Spaceflight as a 50/50 joint venture. The companies said that they expect the deal to close in the second quarter of this year, after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to examine any national security implications of the sale.

Spaceflight Industries said it will use the proceeds from the deal to accelerate the growth of BlackSky, its geospatial intelligence business that is developing a constellation of high-resolution imaging satellites. BlackSky has four satellites in orbit currently with another eight scheduled for launch this year.

A basic rule of quantum physics is that knowing too much about an experiment will break quantum interference, but now physicists have discovered a way to bend that rule.

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US have uncovered the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of most viruses which plague mankind, and could soon develop a universal vaccine.

Vaccine research, development and testing takes a long time, as the ongoing coronavirus outbreak has shown, but that is because researchers devote their time, attention and resources to targeting specific viruses one-by-one. But now scientists at MGH have located what may prove to be a game-changing breakthrough for humanity which could strengthen our bodies and make them impervious to most viruses.