Topic: Physics

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10 best books of May, according to Amazon

Amazon's editors picked these 10 books as the best for the month.
World rankings: top 10 universities around the globe

Britain's leading higher education publication, The Times Higher Education, today released its 2012 reputation rankings for universities worldwide. Here is a list of the top 10.
Pi Day: five fun facts about 3.14

March 14, or 3.14, is Pi Day. Get it? Pi Day celebrates all things related to the mathematical constant that measures the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Here are five things you should know about π.
Albert Einstein: 15 great quotes on his birthday

Albert Einstein's 133nd birthday falls on March 14th, 2012. Here, in his honor (and with a nod and a smile) are 15 quotes from the great thinker.
5 ways Americans and Iranians are surprisingly similar

Despite escalating US-Iran tensions, remarkable similarities between their peoples have prompted some to suggest that the US and Iran could one day be powerful ‘natural’ allies.

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Horizons
Bob Moog: How he changed music forever

A Google doodle today honors the legacy of Bob Moog, the creator of a famous line of synthesizers, and the grandfather of electronic music. 
How to photograph Sunday's solar eclipse

On Sunday, May 20, the western half of the United States will be treated to a spectacular annular eclipse as the sun sets in the western sky.
4,700 asteroids capable of catastrophic damage lurk near Earth

The survey found there are likely 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids in orbits that occasionally bring them close enough to Earth to pose a concern.
10 best books of May, according to Amazon

Amazon's editors picked these 10 books as the best for the month.
Bizarre cosmic ray mystery deepens (+video)

Humongous space explosions known as gamma ray bursts have been ruled out as a source of the universe's most intense cosmic rays, a new study has found.
Why the age of quantum computing is nearer than you think

New research published out of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics is one of the best examples of quantum computing beginning to flirt with practical technology.
Attempting to recreate Big Bang conditions, CERN scientists break energy record

Scientists at CERN may be getting closer to Higgs boson the particle that could help explain the birth of the universe billions of years ago.
NASA's Kepler observatory to continue hunt for strange new worlds (+video)

Funding for the Kepler mission, which has discovered more than 2,300 potential alien planets to date, was slated to run out this November.
How do supermassive black holes get so big? A peculiar diet, perhaps.

New research suggests that the supermassive black holes at the cores of some galaxies could grow so large by consuming one star from a binary system and flinging the other into space.
Planets found at dawn of universe, but their existence is a mystery

Scientists have found two planets orbiting a star that formed only a billion years after the big bang. But the universe had few planet-making elements then, so how did the planets form?
Head of 'faster-than-light' neutrinos team resigns

Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics said Friday that Antonio Ereditato had stepped down from the leadership of the OPERA experiment, whose measurements on the speed of neutrinos were widely questioned when they were announced in September.
Angry Birds Space billed as an educational tool. Really?

Launched Thursday, Angry Birds Space, the latest installment to the wildly popular Angry Birds video game franchise, is being billed as a tool for educating people about physics. How scientifically accurate is the physics in the game?
Massive, rocket-powered, robotic craft begins delivery mission to space station

The 13-ton cargo freighter is loaded with about 7.2 tons of supplies, including food, water, clothing, experiments and fuel for the space station, according to NASA.
Horizons
Angry Birds Space blasts off today (+video)

Angry Birds Space is the newest addition to the popular Angry Birds line of mobile games. 
Change Agent
World Water Day 2012: Two innovations for purifying water

Harnessing the bacteria naturally occurring in water and using solar energy are just two innovations that may help bring clean drinking water to the world's poor.
Giant stars may not be necessary for supernovae

New research using X-ray and ultraviolet data helps scientists to better understand the origins of supernovae. These exploding stars are important in measuring distance in the universe.
Scientists can see around corners using lasers and computers

Ordinarily it's impossible to see an object around a corner, but researchers have devised a system of pulsing lasers and computer algorithms that allow them to see the seemingly unseeable.
Albert Einstein had problems with authority in school, new online archives reveal

Einstein’s school certification, the famous E = mc2 equation in handwritten format, and a personal postcard are among the 80,000 items contained in the newly established Einstein Archives Online.
Albert Einstein papers show physicist as lover, dreamer (+video)

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which Albert Einstein helped found, is uploading scans of the physicist's manuscripts, political ideals, and love letters to his mistress,
Retest of neutrino speed suggests Einstein was right, after all (+video)

An attempt to replicate experiments last year in which neutrinos were measured moving faster than light has clocked the ethereal particles traveling within the cosmic speed limit, suggesting that Einstein's special theory of relativity still holds up.
Neutrinos slower than light, but continue to befuddle physicists

A recent experiment has demonstrated that neutrinos do not, in fact, travel faster than light. But this ethereal subatomic particle continues to undermine established physical models in other ways.
World rankings: top 10 universities around the globe

Britain's leading higher education publication, The Times Higher Education, today released its 2012 reputation rankings for universities worldwide. Here is a list of the top 10.
Tiny particles send a message for the first time (+video)

Scientists have used neutrinos to send a message. This may be the first step toward a new form of communication.
Pi Day: five fun facts about 3.14

March 14, or 3.14, is Pi Day. Get it? Pi Day celebrates all things related to the mathematical constant that measures the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Here are five things you should know about π.
Albert Einstein: 15 great quotes on his birthday

Albert Einstein's 133nd birthday falls on March 14th, 2012. Here, in his honor (and with a nod and a smile) are 15 quotes from the great thinker.