Astronomers discover one of the longest filaments of the cosmic web. And it may help solve the puzzle of the universe’s missing matter. Source: https://www.livescience.com/longest-filament-cosmic-web.html
Tag: puzzle
The Search for Dark Matter Is Dramatically Expanding
Ever since astronomers reached a consensus in the 1980s that most of the mass in the universe is invisible — that “dark matter” must glue galaxies together and gravitationally sculpt the cosmos as a whole — experimentalists have hunted for the nonluminous particles. From a report: They first set out in pursuit of a heavy, sluggish form of dark matter called…
Carbon emission from star-forming clouds
The carbon atom can be easily ionized, more easily than hydrogen atoms for example. In star forming regions, where massive young stars emit ultraviolet light capable of ionizing atoms, all the neutral carbon nearby becomes ionized. The singly-ionized carbon atom (abbreviated CII) emits a strong line in the far infrared that is both very intense and consequently a reliable proxy for…
Ghostly circles in the sky can’t be explained. And astronomers are excited.
Ghostly circles of radio emission, hanging out in space like cosmic smoke-rings, can’t be explained by current theories. And astronomers are excited to figure them out. Source: https://www.livescience.com/ghostly-circles-puzzle-astronomers.html
Unprecedented accuracy in quantum electrodynamics: Giant leap toward solving proton charge radius puzzle
Physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have tested quantum mechanics to a completely new level of precision using hydrogen spectroscopy, and in doing so they came much closer to solving the well-known proton charge radius puzzle. …
Hubble sees the brightest kilonova yet
Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope reveal intense infrared radiation from an unusual kilonova probably created by the collision of neutron stars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/unusual-kilonova-infrared-light-neutron-stars-grb…
Cosmic flashes come in all different sizes
By studying the site of a spectacular stellar explosion seen in April 2020, a Chalmers-led team of scientists have used four European radio telescopes to confirm that astronomy’s most exciting puzzle is about to be solved. Fast radio bursts, unpredictable millisecond-long radio signals seen at huge distances across the universe, are generated by extreme stars called magnetars—and are astonishingly diverse in…
Building the University of the Future
By Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO Even before COVID-19 changed the ways we live, work, and learn, universities were facing major challenges. Almost half of the higher education institutions in the U.S. had no formal online programs in 2018, and last year, fewer than 50 percent of faculty had ever taught an online course. Meanwhile, universities […]
The post Building the University of…
Should Computer Programming Classes Focus on Projects Instead of ‘Logic Puzzles’?
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: Writing in the November Communications of the ACM, MIT’s Mitchel Resnick and Natalie Rusk explain that the educational use of coding in schools is at a crossroads. The good news? “School systems and policymakers are embracing the idea that coding can and should be for everyone.” The bad news? “In many places, coding is being introduced…
AI Has Cracked a Key Mathematical Puzzle For Understanding Our World
An anonymous reader shares a report: Unless you’re a physicist or an engineer, there really isn’t much reason for you to know about partial differential equations. I know. After years of poring over them in undergrad while studying mechanical engineering, I’ve never used them since in the real world. But partial differential equations, or PDEs, are also kind of magical. They’re…