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Some metals, alloys and transition-element salts exhibit a form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism. This occurs below a certain temperature, named after Louis Néel, when an ordered array of atomic magnetic moments spontaneously forms in which alternate moments have opposite directions. There is therefore no net resultant magnetic moment in the absence of an applied field […]

The share of the world’s population living below the global extreme poverty line has dropped from 42% in 1981 to 11% in 2013. This dramatic change has encouraged the UN to set the goal of ending it by 2030. Can it happen? In a recent article published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Page and […]

Observations vs intuitions Einstein’s Theory of Relativity introduced us to the concept of Spacetime, as a unified entity. This stands in contrast with the intuition that we develop since birth, which leads to naturally separate space and time. Human intuition is a way to understand how the world works, our brain processes our daily experiences […]

Juno space probe gets close-up view of storms at Jupiter’s poles Massive storms at the poles of Jupiter have been spotted in images taken by a camera on NASA’s Juno space probe and processed by citizen scientists. BBC Elongated skulls may be linked to Neanderthal DNA Some modern-day humans with slightly more elongated skulls may […]

Two-dimensional materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides embedded in optical cavities, stand out as an excellent platform where strong light-matter interactions can be studied. Moreover, their band structures bring about nontrivial topological features, including the possibility of inducing some really interesting ones, like the polariton anomalous Hall effect. But, before getting into that let’s go through […]

High-moisture soft solid snack foods such as rice cakes have become increasingly popular. Most of these snacks are freshly made and sold on the spot, whilst industrially produced versions use chemical preservatives to inhibit microbial growth and improve shelf life. With the increasing demand for preservative-free foods from some consumers, physical methods are needed to […]

I told once to a very dear friend that my daughter had 1200 friends on Facebook and he answered me: well, I have just two and I am not sure about one of them. I hope to be the other one. Friendship is one of the great challenges and pleasures of our existence, one of […]

Mass extinction event likely result of warmed oceans, depleted oxygen A mass extinction of nearly all marine animals approximately 252 million years ago was caused by volcanic activity that released greenhouse gases, resulting in warmer ocean waters and depleted oxygen. Researchers used computer models to simulate conditions of the so-called Great Dying, saying that current […]

One of the most mysterious features of quantum mechanics is that if two particles (or photons) interact at some point in time then the properties of these particles will remain connected at future times. A consequence of this is that determining the quantum state of one of the particles simultaneously determines the quantum state of […]

The history of Earth climate is characterized by a succession of glacial and interglacial periods. However, although climate change is inherent to Earth, the observed trend of temperature increase over the past century cannot be explained by climate models which include solar irradiance and are only explicable by the rise in greenhouse gases. Mauna Loa […]