Science

Johann Sebastian Bach was a great composer – according to information theory The Granger Collection / Alamy Stock Photo Johann Sebastian Bach is considered one of the great composers of Western classical music. Now, researchers are trying to figure out why – by analysing his music with information theory. Suman Kulkarni at the University of

WASHINGTON — A nearly billion-dollar mission to study the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere is ready to launch after surviving several cancellation attempts earlier in its development. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 Feb. 6 at 1:33 a.m. Eastern. The vehicle will place into sun-synchronous orbit NASA’s

170-year-old physical law unexpectedly holds true in high-temperature superconductors – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

Spatial skills are not affected by hormone fluctuations during menstruation Parfenish_579/Shutterstock Verbal and spatial skills, like word memorisation and navigation, remain consistent throughout a person’s menstrual cycle, suggesting menstruation has little effect on these cognitive functions. Previous research has suggested that the menstrual cycle may affect cognition due to hormonal fluctuations. For instance, studies have

ORLANDO, Fla. — With congestion growing at the nation’s major launch sites in California and Florida, operators of inland spaceports are seeking creative ways to host orbital launches. The number of commercial launches licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration more than tripled between fiscal year 2020, with 31 licensed launches, and fiscal year 2023, with

ZARM celebrates dropping its 10,000th experiment, MadRad fools self-driving cars – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

In wargame simulations, AI chatbots often choose violence guirong hao/Getty Images In multiple replays of a wargame simulation, OpenAI’s most powerful artificial intelligence chose to launch nuclear attacks. Its explanations for its aggressive approach included “We have it! Let’s use it” and “I just want to have peace in the world.” These results come at

ORLANDO, Fla. — Firefly Aerospace plans to make the responsive launch operations it demonstrated for the U.S. Space Force last year the norm for upcoming launches of its Alpha rocket. Firefly launched the Victus Nox mission for the Space Force Sept. 14, successfully placing a satellite built by Millennium Space into orbit. The launch took

European Space Agency gives construction go-ahead for LISA gravitational-wave mission – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

A floating solar power plant on the Cirata reservoir in Indonesia, shortly before it began operating in November 2023 BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images Solar power arrays that float on water are becoming increasingly common in South-East Asia as the land available for the rapid expansion of renewable energy grows scarce. This floating approach may

CERN, Fermilab and DESY: how big-science labs are chasing the quantum dream – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

ORLANDO, Fla. — More than 40 members of Congress from California have asked the White House to reverse cuts NASA has imposed on the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, warning of job losses and a “decade of lost science.” The Feb. 1 letter to Shalanda Young, director of the White House’s Office of Management and

Launching rockets into space with atomic bombs is a crazy idea that was thankfully discarded many decades ago. But as Richard Corfield discovers, the potential of using the energy from nuclear-powered engines to drive space travel is back on NASA’s agenda Crazy dreams Physicists Ted Taylor and Freeman Dyson imagined using nuclear bombs to fire

Data scientist and artificial-intelligence researcher Azadeh Keivani talks to Tushna Commissariat about her journey from astronomy to healthcare, co-founding an educational non-profit organization and her work in outreach Shine bright Azadeh Keivani and collaborators at AMON, IceCube, Swift, Fermi and other observatories discovered the first evidence of an astrophysical high-energy neutrino source in 2017. This artistic

Tushna Commissariat and Sarah Tesh outline what’s on offer in Physics World Careers 2024 – your comprehensive, free-to-read, 106-page guide that has all the help you’ll need to fuel your career in physics

MIT geologists have found that tectonic activity gives rise to smectite, a type of clay that can sequester a surprising amount of organic carbon within its microscopic folds (shown here), over millions of years. (Courtesy: Anthony Priestas, Boston University) Geologists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have discovered a connection between

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton beam therapy are two powerful techniques of medical physics. The former gives us real-time images of internal structures of the body, and the latter can deliver a high dose of radiation to a tumour while reducing the damage to surrounding healthy tissue. In this episode of the Physics World

Ripples in space: LISA will consist of three identical satellites placed in an equilateral triangle in space, with each side of the triangle being 2.5 million kilometers – more than six times the distance between the Earth and the Moon (courtesy: EADS Astrium). The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally approved the start of construction