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MI weekly selection #353

MI weekly selection #353

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

New image offers closer view of interstellar object Astronomers used the W.M. Keck Observatory’s Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer to take a new image of 2I/Borisov, the second interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system. The image shows the coma of the interstellar comet, which will pass by the sun early next month and Earth […]

The attosecond dynamics underlying the photoelectric effect

The attosecond dynamics underlying the photoelectric effect

Condensed matterDIPC Attosecond PhysicsMaterialsPhysics

By DIPC

In 1882, Heinrich Hertz devoted himself to the study of electromagnetism, including the recent and still generally unappreciated work of Maxwell. Two years later he began his famous series of experiments with electromagnetic waves. During the course of this work, Hertz discovered the photoelectric effect, which has had a profound influence on modern physics. The […]

Nature versus nurture: how modern science is rewriting it

Nature versus nurture: how modern science is rewriting it

EvolutionGeneticsNeurobiology

By Invited Researcher

The question of whether it is genes or environment that largely shapes human behaviour has been debated for centuries. During the second half of the 20th century, there were two camps of scientists – each believing that nature or nurture, respectively, was exclusively at play. This view is becoming increasingly rare, as research is demonstrating […]

MI weekly selection #352

MI weekly selection #352

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Clues point to possible fifth fundamental force Physicists say they’ve gathered more evidence that there could be a fifth physical force in addition to gravity, electromagnetism and a pair of nuclear interactions. The researchers say they’ve glimpsed a force carried by a particle they’ve named X17 most recently coming from a helium atom; if the […]

Quantum physics: our study suggests objective reality doesn’t exist

Quantum physics: our study suggests objective reality doesn’t exist

Quantum physics

By Invited Researcher

Alternative facts are spreading like a virus across society. Now it seems they have even infected science – at least the quantum realm. This may seem counter intuitive. The scientific method is after all founded on the reliable notions of observation, measurement and repeatability. A fact, as established by a measurement, should be objective, such […]