Infinite doppelgängers may explain quantum probabilities
NewScientist.com: An identical copy of you is also reading this story. This twin is the same in every way, living on an Earth and in a universe that looks exactly like our own. And there may be an infinite number of them. Such doppelgängers could be a natural consequence of our present conception of the universe. Now, some physicists say they could pose a serious problem for quantum mechanics. But a possible fix may also be in sight, and it could help tie abstract quantum concepts to concrete physical causes.
At issue is the possibility that there could be a multiplicity of copies of any particular experiment floating about the universe, just as there could be a multiplicity of yous. There could even be an infinite number of them if, as is thought, the early universe underwent a period of exponential growth, called inflation.
NASA/NOAA Study Finds El Niños are Growing Stronger
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology: A relatively new type of El Niño, which has its warmest waters in the central-equatorial Pacific Ocean, rather than in the eastern-equatorial Pacific, is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new study by NASA and NOAA. The research may improve our understanding of the relationship between El Niños and climate change, and has potentially significant implications for long-term weather forecasting.
Lead author Tong Lee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Michael McPhaden of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, measured changes in El Niño intensity since 1982. They analyzed NOAA satellite observations of sea surface temperature, checked against and blended with directly-measured ocean temperature data. The strength of each El Niño was gauged by how much its sea surface temperatures deviated from the average. They found the intensity of El Niños in the central Pacific has nearly doubled, with the most intense event occurring in 2009-10.
Continue reading »
Time to blame climate change for extreme weather?
NewScientist.com: It is time to start asking the hard questions. Countless people in flood-stricken Pakistan have lost families and livelihoods. Who can they hold responsible and turn to for reparations?
Less than a decade ago, these questions would have been dismissed outright. “Many scientists at the time said that you can never blame an individual weather event on climate change,” says Myles Allen of the University of Oxford. But a small meeting of scientists in Colorado last week – organised by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre, among others – suggests the tide is turning.
The aim of the Attribution of Climate-Related Events workshop was to discuss what information is needed to determine the extent to which human-induced climate change can be blamed for extreme weather events – possibly even straight after they have happened.
Assigning blame in this way is not without precedent. In 2004, Allen and his colleagues showed to a high level of confidence that human greenhouse gas emissions had at least doubled the risk of the European heatwave of 2003 occurring.
The Story of Cosmetics: How safe are they really?
SafeCosmetics.org: Brought to you by the makers of “The Story of Stuff,” this video describes what’s really in our personal care products, the potential risks they carry by their daily use, and how we can make improvements and cut risks by making wiser choices.
Americans Using Less Energy, More Renewables
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Americans are using less energy overall and making more use of renewable energy resources.
The United States used significantly less coal and petroleum in 2009 than in 2008, and significantly more wind power. There also was a decline in natural gas use and increases in solar, hydro and geothermal power according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“Energy use tends to follow the level of economic activity, and that level declined last year. At the same time, higher efficiency appliances and vehicles reduced energy use even further,” said A.J. Simon, an LLNL energy systems analyst who develops the energy flow charts using data provided by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. “As a result, people and businesses are using less energy in general.”
Continue reading »
Is quantum theory weird enough for the real world?
NewScientist.com: Physics, its practitioners will proudly tell you, is the most fundamental of sciences. Its theories and laws distil the workings of the real world – of particles and planets, heat and light – into stark, sweeping statements of universal validity. Think Newton’s law of gravity, which describes with equal assurance how an apple falls and Earth orbits the sun, or the laws of thermodynamics that govern how energy flows. These physical laws are generally couched in the language of mathematics, to be sure. But this is merely a convenient shorthand. The mathematical quantities are ciphers, proxies for the tangible objects of the real, physical world and their measurable properties.
That was all true until quantum theory arrived on the scene. Quantum theory is odd, not just because its weird predictions are a source of consternation for physicists and philosophers, but because its mathematical structures bear no obvious connection to the real world, as far as we can see. “We do not have a source for the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics,” says Časlav Brukner of the University of Vienna in Austria. “We do not have a nice physically plausible set of principles from which to derive it.”
Cosmic Lens Used to Probe Dark Energy for First Time
NASA: Astronomers have devised a new method for measuring perhaps the greatest puzzle of our universe — dark energy. This mysterious force, discovered in 1998, is pushing our universe apart at ever-increasing speeds.
For the first time, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope were able to take advantage of a giant magnifying lens in space — a massive cluster of galaxies — to narrow in on the nature of dark energy. Their calculations, when combined with data from other methods, significantly increase the accuracy of dark energy measurements. This may eventually lead to an explanation of what the elusive phenomenon really is.
Continue reading »
Deep Plumes of Oil Could Cause Dead Zones in the Gulf
American Geophysical Union: A new simulation of oil and methane leaked into the Gulf of Mexico suggests that deep hypoxic zones or “dead zones” could form near the source of the pollution. The research investigates five scenarios of oil and methane plumes at different depths and incorporates an estimated rate of flow from the Deepwater Horizon spill, which released oil and methane gas into the Gulf from April to mid July of this year.
Continue reading »
Extended solar minimum linked to changes in Sun’s conveyor belt
An NCAR model of magnetic flux below the Sun’s surface, developed by Mausumi Dikpati and colleagues, shows the extended reach of flux transport during the solar cycle that ended in 2008 (right), compared to the previous cycle (left). The larger loop is believed to be related to the extended duration of the cycle. (Image courtesy UCAR.)
NCAR & UCAR News Center: A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the Sun’s conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between the Sun’s equator and its poles. The results should help scientists better understand the factors controlling the timing of solar cycles and could lead to better predictions.
The study was conducted by Mausumi Dikpati, Peter Gilman, and Giuliana de Toma, all scientists in the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and by Roger Ulrich at the University of California, Los Angeles. It appeared on July 30 in Geophysical Research Letters. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor, and by NASA’s Living with a Star Program.
The Sun goes through cycles lasting approximately 11 years that include phases with increased magnetic activity, more sunspots, and more solar flares, than phases with less activity. The level of activity on the Sun can affect navigation and communications systems on Earth. Puzzlingly, solar cycle 23, the one that ended in 2008, lasted longer than previous cycles, with a prolonged phase of low activity that scientists had difficulty explaining.
Continue reading »
Doctor Stresses Intuition of Touch, Not Technology
PBS NewsHour: Research is emerging that corroborates the importance of the patient-physician bond, the virtue of the samaritan healer. “We’re learning that you can have a powerful effect on patients, or a powerful negative effect on patients, based on context, based on your tone of voice. They are actually associated with significant chemical changes in the brain,” says Dr. Abraham Verghese, a professor at Stanford Medical School.
Recent Posts
- MRSA Bacteria in Your Grocery Store’s Meat Products
- Is a highly-evolved ‘supermind’ the stuff of science fiction?
- Genetically modified corn losing resistance to major pest
- Cognitive abilities linked to diet and nutrients
- Gulf of Mexico dead zone predicted to be the largest ever recorded due to Mississippi River flooding