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Superior Super Earths

Superior Super Earths

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (55) | comments 15

Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to ...


Universes

Physicists Calculate Number of Parallel Universes

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 16, 2009 | popularity 3.1 / 5 (78) | comments 58 weblog

(PhysOrg.com) -- Over the past few decades, the idea that our universe could be one of many alternate universes within a giant multiverse has grown from a sci-fi fantasy into a legitimate theoretical possibility. ...


Rotating Space Elevator Propels its Own Load

Rotating Space Elevator Propels its Own Load

Physics / General Physics

created May 21, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (46) | comments 33 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of the space elevator just got a little crazier. While the “traditional” concept involved using rocket propulsion or laser light pressure to propel loads up a cable anchored to Earth, ...


Rice physicists find reappearing quantum trios

Rice physicists find reappearing quantum trios

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (43) | comments 8

Using atoms at temperatures colder than deep space, Rice University physicists have delivered overwhelming proof for a once-scoffed-at theory that's become a hotbed for research some 40 years after it first ...


Astronomers find coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 31, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (42) | comments 19

The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield ...


Discovery about behavior of building block of nature could lead to computer revolution

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 30, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (39) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of physicists from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have shown that electrons in narrow wires can divide into two new particles called spinons and a holons.


Dark energy from the ground up: Make way for BigBOSS

Dark Energy From the Ground Up: Make Way for BigBOSS

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 07, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (36) | comments 13

(PhysOrg.com) -- Several ways have been proposed to examine dark energy, in hopes of finding out just what it is. One of them, "supernovae" for short, certainly works: it's how dark energy was discovered in ...


A plume on Betelgeuse (artist’s impression with annotations)

Sharpest views of Betelgeuse reveal how supergiant stars lose mass

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 29, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (32) | comments 78

(PhysOrg.com) -- Betelgeuse -- the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter) -- is a red supergiant, one of the biggest stars known, and almost 1000 times larger than our Sun. It is ...


A Theory of Dark Matter

A Theory of Dark Matter

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 08, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (41) | comments 58

Among the most astounding, unexpected, and important achievements of the past century (or even more) have been the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, collectively dubbed the "dark sector."


Scientists Generate Black Hole Radiation in the Lab

Scientists Generate Black Hole Radiation in the Lab

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (32) | comments 9 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- Due to their violent nature and long distance from Earth, black holes and their surroundings are very difficult to study. Currently, the main method to observe a black hole is to use an X-ray ...


Black hole caught zapping galaxy into existence?

Black hole caught zapping galaxy into existence?

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (27) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Which come first, the supermassive black holes that frantically devour matter or the enormous galaxies where they reside? A brand new scenario has emerged from a recent set of outstanding ...


Venus

Expanding Spot on Venus Puzzles Astronomers

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 04, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (30) | comments 7 weblog

(PhysOrg.com) -- The expanding spot discovered on Venus last month may not have garnered as much attention as the meteor impact with Jupiter, but its cause is certainly more puzzling. ...


quantum physics

Article examines rare quantum physics effect

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Sep 23, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (28) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- There's nothing University of Nebraska-Lincoln physicist Herman Batelaan likes more than a challenge. And there are few areas of science more challenging than working at the sub-atomic, or ...


Galactic nuclei offer some indication of axionlike particles

Physics / General Physics

created May 28, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (26) | comments 18 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- “Axionlike particles are interesting because they come up regularly when scientists study string theory. By looking at their properties, you hope to learn about string theory, or some other unified theory ...


A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (24) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi, snagged in a search by a robotic telescope, turns out to be the first example of the kind of stars that first ...