Mystery ‘dark flow’ extends towards edge of universe

Mystery ‘dark flow’ extends towards edge of universe – space – 16 November 2009 – New Scientist

SOMETHING big is out there beyond the visible edge of our universe. That’s the conclusion of the largest analysis to date of over 1000 galaxy clusters streaming in one direction at blistering speeds. Some researchers say this so-called “dark flow” is a sign that other universes nestle next door.

In SUSY we trust: What the LHC is really looking for

In SUSY we trust: What the LHC is really looking for – physics-math – 11 November 2009 – New Scientist

Supersymmetry was a bold idea, but one with seemingly little to commend it other than its appeal to the symmetry fetishists. Until, that is, you apply it to the hierarchy problem. It turned out that supersymmetry could tame all the pesky contributions from the Higgs’s interactions with elementary particles, the ones that cause its mass to run out of control. They are simply cancelled out by contributions from their supersymmetric partners. “Supersymmetry makes the cancellation very natural,” says Nathan Seiberg of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton.

That wasn’t all. In 1981 Georgi, together with Savas Dimopoulos of Stanford University, redid the force reunification calculations that he had done with Weinberg and Quinn, but with supersymmetry added to the mix. They found that the curves representing the strengths of all three forces could be made to come together with stunning accuracy in the early universe. “If you have two curves, it’s not surprising that they intersect somewhere,” says Weinberg. “But if you have three curves that intersect at the same point, then that’s not trivial.”

This second strike for supersymmetry was enough to convert many physicists into true believers. But it was when they began studying some of the questions raised by the new theory that things became really interesting.

One pressing question concerned the present-day whereabouts of supersymmetric particles. Electrons, photons and the like are all around us, but of selectrons and photinos there is no sign, either in nature or in any high-energy accelerator experiments so far. If such particles exist, they must be extremely massive indeed, requiring huge amounts of energy to fabricate.

Such huge particles would long since have decayed into a residue of the lightest, stable supersymmetric particles, dubbed neutralinos. Still massive, the neutralino has no electric charge and interacts with normal matter extremely timorously by means of the weak nuclear force. No surprise then that it is has eluded detection so far.

When physicists calculated exactly how much of the neutralino residue there should be, they were taken aback. It was a huge amount – far more than all the normal matter in the universe.

Beginning to sound familiar? Yes, indeed: it seemed that neutralinos fulfilled all the requirements for the dark matter that astronomical observations persuade us must dominate the cosmos. A third strike for supersymmetry.

Electrodinamica Cuantica QED pe înţelesul tuturor

QED pe înţelesul tuturor – partea 1
QED pe înţelesul tuturor – partea a 2-a
QED pe înţelesul tuturor – partea a 3-a

Carenta de vitamina D creste alarmant riscul cardiac si de deces

Carenta de vitamina D creste alarmant riscul cardiac si de deces – DoctorH Actualitate – HotNews.ro

Alimente care contin vitamina D sunt: pestele gras (hering, sardina, somon), untura de peste (morun, ton, calcan), galbenus de ou, unt, lapte integral si lactate nedegresate. Vegetalele nu contin aceasta vitamina . Spre deosebire de celelalte, vitamina D poate fi produsa in organism. Procesul de sinteza a vitaminei D este declansat de razele ultraviolete.

British man given bionic butt

British man given bionic butt

IT manager Ged Galvin has been given a pioneering ‘bionic bottom’, following a motorcycle accident which left him with massive internal injuries.

He now uses a remote control to open his bowels.

Salk Institute Scientists Research How Animals Regrow Body Parts

Salk Institute Scientists Research How Animals Regrow Body Parts – NYTimes.com

The best possible kind of regenerative medicine would surely be to entice the body to use nature’s own methods to regrow a damaged limb or organ. The genes that made the structure in the first place are still present in every cell of the body but somehow repressed. Could they not be reactivated to make the patient as good as new?

HIT, the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center

Backreaction: HIT, the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center

Last Monday morning, more cars than usually were crowding the road through the Heidelberg “Neuenheimer Feld” Campus. A parking lot had been reserved for guests, and signs all over the Campus showed the way to a “Press Conference”. Later I learned that all this gathering was for the opening ceremony of the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT).

With a background in heavy-ion physics from Frankfurt University, it would have been hard for me not to have heard of this project before: Kind of a large spin-off of the GSI facility near Darmstadt, the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center is a dedicated heavy-ion accelerator for deployment in radiotherapy to treat tumours. It is the first medical heavy-ion machine in Europe.

Stem cells restore mobility in neck-injured rats (w/ Video)

Stem cells restore mobility in neck-injured rats (w/ Video)

PhysOrg.com) — The first human embryonic stem cell treatment approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries – a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage.

Youtube

O diferenta de doua molecule la o gena aproape identica la om si la cimpanzeu ar putea reprezenta originea facultatii de a vorbi

O diferenta de doua molecule la o gena aproape identica la om si la cimpanzeu ar putea reprezenta originea facultatii de a vorbi – studiu – Esential – HotNews.ro

O simpla diferenta de doua molecule ale unei gene altminteri identica la om si la cimpanzeu ar putea reprezenta originea facultatii de a vorbi, potrivit unui studiu publicat miercuri de revista Nature si citat de AFP.

Adevarul – VIDEO Liposucţie virtuală sau cum să scapi de celulită prin metode noninvazive

Adevarul – VIDEO Liposucţie virtuală sau cum să scapi de celulită prin metode noninvazive – Societate

Se spune că nu există tratament pentru celulită, dar ştiinţa ne-a demonstrat că ce ieri era considerat imposibil, astăzi poate fi ceva obişnuit. Nu vom numi tratarea celulitei o banalitate, că prea s-au investit multe pentru a se găsi metode de a scăpa de ea, dar nici nu mai este cazul să facem din asta o dramă.