Rare boson particle ‘triplets’

An extremely rare event in the world of particles has taken place during a Chinese-led study at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland.

And the event has scored yet another victory for the Standard Model – our current best theory to describe how the basic building blocks of the universe interact.

Sifting through experimental data collected between 2016 and 2018, researchers from Peking University and their colleagues from around the world spotted the simultaneous appearance of three force-carrying particles, known as bosons, which had never been seen together before.  READ MORE...

Swiss Hydrogen-Powered Train

A hydrogen-powered train built by Swiss company Stadler has set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) after it traveled nonstop for 1,741 miles (2,803 km). 

The feat was achieved using a pilot hydrogen-powered passenger train car at a dedicated test ring in Colorado in the US.

When looking for sustainable transportation solutions, an electric vehicle (EV) comes to mind. While this technological development is great for reducing tail-pipe emissions, there is a need for sustainable mass transit options as well. 

More recently, automotive companies have also demonstrated the ability of electric buses. Still, trains can carry much larger batches of people at a time.  READ MORE...

Arrowhead Made from a Meteorite

In the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered an arrowhead at a Bronze Age dwelling in Mörigen, Switzerland. In the years since, the 3,000-year-old artifact has been part of the collection at the Bern Historical Museum.

Now, a new analysis reveals that the object is no ordinary arrowhead — it was crafted from a meteorite that crashed to Earth 3,500 years ago, according to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

"On the outside it looks like a typical arrowhead coated in rust," lead author Beda Hofmann, head and curator of mineralogy and meteorites at the Natural History Museum of Bern, told Live Science. Their analysis showed that "there is still a lot of metal preserved," he said.

Several methods, including X-ray tomography (computerized imaging) and gamma spectrometry (a process that detects gamma-emitting radioactive materials), showed that the palm-size arrowhead not only contained aluminum-26 isotopes that don't naturally occur on Earth but also traces of iron and nickel alloy consistent with meteorites, according to the study.

The analysis also revealed grind marks left over from when the meteorite was shaped into an arrowhead, and the remains of tar, which was likely used to attach the point to the arrow's shaft, according to a statement.

At first, scientists thought the artifact was linked to the 170,000-year-old Twannberg meteorite site, less than 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the dwelling. However, further study revealed that the concentrations of nickel and germanium (a chemical element) in the arrowhead weren't a match, according to the statement.

"It wasn't from the meteorite that I suspected it was from," Hofmann said of the artifact, which weighs one-tenth of an ounce (2.9 grams) and measures just over 1 inch (3 centimeters) long.  READ MORE...

Turning Solar Power Into Hydrogen Fuel

 

• Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology broke through the 1-kilowatt ceiling of green hydrogen generation using solar energy.
• The system turns solar power into hydrogen, oxygen, and heat.
• The lab wants to find new ways to use solar to create useful energy sources.

Researchers in Switzerland took a promising lab experiment and scaled it into a real-world example of how we could use solar energy to produce green hydrogen. Their system broke the coveted 1-kilowatt ceiling for green hydrogen production, and offers a new commercialization opportunity.

This efficient convertor of solar energy to fuel functions as an efficient artificial photosynthesis system, according to a new study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) published in Nature Energy. It also produces useful byproducts of oxygen and heat.

“This is the first system-level demonstration of solar hydrogen generation,” Sophia Haussener, head of the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering at EPFL, says in a news release. 

“Unlike typical lab-scale demonstrations, it includes all auxiliary devices and components, so it gives us a better idea of the energy efficiency you can expect once you consider the complete system, and not just the device itself.”

To make it all happen, a system that looks like a satellite dish has been engineered to act like a tree. The 23-foot-diameter dish concentrates the sun’s radiation power nearly 1,000 times. 

When water is piped into the system, a connected reactor uses photoelectrochemical cells powered by that concentrated solar radiation to split the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. 

The process—dubbed artificial photosynthesis—also generates heat, which can move through a heat exchanger to reach a useful finished state.  READ MORE...

SOROS Attempts to Influence US Politics

George Soros speaks at an event on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

On a very warm day in late June 2019, I got onto the tram near the Budapest train station. I found a seat between people holding bouquets, beaming. We were all going to the Palace of Arts for Central European University’s last graduation in Budapest.


CEU was founded by George Soros in the early 1990s. It was meant to be both a place where students from the region could get a first-class education and, maybe more importantly, a counter to the nationalism that could have easily consumed Central and Eastern Europe after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. It became a world-renowned institution of higher education. So, too, did it become a target of Viktor Orbán’s government, which passed a law that essentially forced most of CEU’s operations out of the city. From the beginning, it had been an improbable reality, attacked by politicians when convenient. But that, to those who loved it, just underscored its importance. On the one hand, Soros himself created something that would not have existed without his billions. On the other, all those billions were not enough to create conditions in which that something could persist.


I’ve thought of this often in the year that’s followed. I think of it, for example, when conspiracy theorists allege that Soros is the puppet master controlling protests against police brutality. It’s a ludicrous claim, one that strips agency from the individuals fighting for an end to systemic violence against black Americans. But it resonates in part because Soros has given money to, among other things, criminal justice reform. Here, too, there is a befuddling irony: Soros’s money has arguably led to real gains in the criminal justice space. And yet, if money was less concentrated, especially in the hands of men like Soros, perhaps people would not need to rely on billionaire philanthropists for change.

“That is a real conversation that has really erupted in a mainstream way … the question is, how do you give in ways that reduce the power of rich people?” Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World,” told me. “I do think he really has an opportunity here.”

Soros has, in his own way, thought about these issues, or at least about how to more equitably distribute wealth. Scrolling through my phone as I waited for the ceremony to begin back at the Palace of Arts, I noticed that Laura Silber, Open Society’s top communications official, had tweeted out a New York Times article. It was about an open letter published on the website Medium in which a collective of very rich individuals called for “a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest one-tenth of the richest 1 percent of Americans — on us.”

Signatories included Abigail Disney, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and George Soros, whose photo the Times had selected to adorn the virtual page. “A Message from the Billionaire’s Club: Tax Us,” the headline read. Alexander Soros, the son who Soros has signaled is interested in carrying on his work, had signed on, too.  READ MORE...

World Economic Forum - Davos 2023

Trade, tech and tackling the climate crisis were just some of the topics under discussion this week in Davos.  We've also heard from global leaders on Ukraine, the economy and health.  Here's a snapshot of what you might have missed this week at Davos 2023.

That's it for our 53rd Annual Meeting in Davos. We've covered a huge range of topics and themes at a difficult time for the global community as it faces a series of interlinked crises - as this year's Global Risks Report explained, a polycrisis.


It's against this backdrop that leaders met under the theme 'Cooperation in a Fragmented World'. And this call for cooperation echoed across speakers, sessions and topics.


As World Economic Forum President Børge Brende told us in his closing remarks, "In an uncertain and challenging time, one thing is clear. We can shape a more resilient, sustainable and equitable future, but the only way to do so is together."

Call for unity and collaboration
"There are no perfect solutions in a perfect storm," António Guterres stressed on Wednesday. "But we can work to control the damage and seize opportunities.  Now more than ever, it’s time to forge the pathways to cooperation in our fragmented world."  

The scale of the challenge, the sense of urgency, and the importance of collaboration was a thread that linked all the discussions this week, whether on Ukraine, the climate crises, supply chains, technology and innovation, health, the economy and so much more.

Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine urged world leaders to use their influence to bring an end to Russian aggression. She also stressed the ongoing human impact of the war.

Her husband, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, addressed Davos via video link. He also called for decisive action from world leaders, following a minute's silence after the helicopter crash earlier that day.  READ MORE...

World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is set to hold its annual meeting for heads of state and executives next week in the alpine resort town of Davos, Switzerland, as the global economy teeters on the verge of recession.

This year's forum will be the first at its usual time in mid-January since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was canceled in 2021 and postponed to May last year, resulting in reduced attendance. It's scheduled to begin Monday and will run through Friday.

World Economic Forum President Borge Brende noted the economic headwinds hanging over this year's event.

"There is no doubt that our 53rd annual meeting in Davos will happen against the most complex geopolitical and economic backdrop in decades," Brende said.

Attendance is expected to be back to its typical level when the forum begins next week. Brende pointed to "record participation" by at least 52 heads of state, more than half of them from Europe, and nearly 300 government ministers. Several recently elected leaders will attend the event for the first time in their current roles, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea.

Several Biden administration officials, including Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Agency for International Development Samantha Power and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will attend.

Additionally, senators Chris Coons, D-Del.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., will reportedly be in Davos as part of the U.S. delegation.  READ MORE...

From the Dawn of Time

The particle was produced inside the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Physicists at the world's largest atom smasher have detected a mysterious, primordial particle from the dawn of time.

About 100 of the short-lived "X" particles — so named because of their unknown structures — were spotted for the first time amid trillions of other particles inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, located near Geneva at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).

These X particles, which likely existed in the tiniest fractions of a second after the Big Bang, were detected inside a roiling broth of elementary particles called a quark-gluon plasma, formed in the LHC by smashing together lead ions. By studying the primordial X particles in more detail, scientists hope to build the most accurate picture yet of the origins of the universe. They published their findings Jan. 19 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
wie X particle's internal structure, which could change our view of what kind of material the universe should produce."

Scientists trace the origins of X particles to just a few millionths of a second after the Big Bang, back when the universe was a superheated trillion-degree plasma soup teeming with quarks and gluons — elementary particles that soon cooled and combined into the more stable protons and neutrons we know today.

Just before this rapid cooling, a tiny fraction of the gluons and the quarks collided, sticking together to form very short-lived X particles. The researchers don't know how elementary particles configure themselves to form the X particle's structure. But if the scientists can figure that out, they will have a much better understanding of the types of particles that were abundant during the universe's earliest moments.  READ MORE...

Malta Legalizes Cannibus

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS

Image caption,Supporters of the bill celebrated outside Malta's Parliament House on Tuesday

Malta has become the first EU country to legalise the cultivation and personal use of cannabis.

Adults will be allowed to carry up to seven grams of cannabis, and grow no more than four plants at home.

But smoking it in public or in front of children will be illegal.

Several other nations have similar plans, such as Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Countries like the Netherlands tolerate cannabis use in certain circumstances.

Malta's parliament voted in favour of the reform on Tuesday afternoon, with the bill winning 36 votes in favour and 27 against.

Equality Minister, Owen Bonnici, said the "historic" move would stop small-time cannabis users from facing the criminal justice system, and would "curb drug trafficking by making sure that [users] now have a safe and regularised way from where they can obtain cannabis".

However, Malta's opposition Nationalist Party voted against the change.

In October, its leader Bernard Grech - who initially supported the new law - warned it would "only lead to the strengthening of the illegal market, with organised crime taking advantage," according to The Times.  READ MORE...

Mr. Freedom

SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES


Outspoken professional basketball player Enes Kanter has legally changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom to celebrate becoming a US citizen.The Swiss-born, Turkish-raised Mr Kanter, 29, tweeted a video of his citizenship ceremony on Monday. He recited the oath using his new name.


He has repeatedly condemned human rights violations in China and Turkey.The NBA star has said his Turkish passport was revoked by authorities in 2017.In an interview with CNN, Mr Kanter, who plays with the Boston Celtics, said the name change will reflect his "fight" for freedom throughout his life.


"Here [in the US] there is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of the press," he said. "I didn't have any of those with Turkey."In his remarks, Mr Kanter said that "freedom is the greatest thing a human being can have"."That's why I wanted to make that word a part of me, and carry it wherever I go," he added.


Mr Kanter's manager told the AP news agency that the name change would take place at the same time as his naturalisation ceremony on Monday.During the ceremony, the judge addressed him by his new name, and he himself used it to swear his oath of allegiance to the United States.


He waved a miniature flag in the air after the oath and said "Freedom - that's it" while signing his naturalisation documentThe name 'Freedom' will be on his jersey when the Celtics face off against the Philadelphia 76ers later this week. Mr Kanter has said his team-mates already call him by that name.  READ MORE...

Looking Inside Mars

The solar system’s god of war has a bigger heart than expected: Using humankind’s first seismometer on another planet, researchers have analyzed the interior structure of Mars for the first time, including its oversize liquid core.

The findings, published on July 22 across three studies in the journal Science, mark the latest scientific triumph for NASA’s InSight lander, which arrived at the flat equatorial plain known as Elysium Planitia in November 2018. The stationary spacecraft has measured faint “marsquakes” rumbling through the planet since early 2019.


On Earth, seismic waves can reveal our planet’s inner structure by revealing boundaries deep underground where the waves’ speeds and directions change. InSight’s similar measurements of Martian temblors have let scientists detect distinct layers within the red planet, including the boundary of its roughly 2,300-mile-wide core.

“As a seismologist, you probably have one chance in your life to find a core for a planet,” says InSight team member Simon Stähler, a planetary seismologist at the research university ETH Zurich in Switzerland, interviewed by video call.

Mars is just the third celestial body to have its core directly measured with seismic data, following Earth in the early 1900s and the moon in 2011. When combined with InSight’s first measurements of Mars’s mantle and crust structure, the core size will refine models for how Mars formed and changed over the past 4.5 billion years, from a possibly habitable world with liquid water and a planet-wide magnetic field to the hostile, rusty desert it is today. (Read more about humankind’s long-lasting obsession with Mars in National Geographic magazine.)  READ MORE