Physics and Astronomy News Archive: January 2007

Image: Magellanic Clouds May Be Just Passing Through

Magellanic Clouds May Be Just Passing Through

Source: Harvard   Posted: 1/28/07

Scientists discover that the velocities of the two Magellanic Clouds are unexpectedly large - almost twice those previously thought.
Image: Blood-Cell-Sized Memory Made

Blood-Cell-Sized Memory Made

Source: NSF   Posted: 1/28/07

Researchers have created an ultra-dense memory device the size of a white blood cell that has enough capacity to store the Declaration of Independence and still have space left over.
Image: Ultra-Dense Optical Storage — on One Photon

Ultra-Dense Optical Storage — on One Photon

Source: URochester   Posted: 1/28/07

Researchers at the University of Rochester have made an optics breakthrough that allows them to encode an entire image's worth of data into a photon, slow the image down for storage, and then retrieve the image intact.
Image: STEREO Sends Back First Solar Images

STEREO Sends Back First Solar Images

Source: NASA   Posted: 1/28/07

NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories (STEREO) sent back their first images of the sun this week and with them a view into the sun's mounting activity.
Image: Geologists Discover Origin of Earth’s Mysterious Black Diamonds

Geologists Discover Origin of Earth’s Mysterious Black Diamonds

Source: BNL   Posted: 1/15/07

Geologists have discovered that black diamonds came from none other than interstellar space.
Image: NASA funds instrument to probe life on Mars

NASA funds instrument to probe life on Mars

Source: Berkeley   Posted: 1/15/07

NASA funds a 'lab on a chip' instrument to fly aboard the European ExoMars rover mission in 2013.
Image: Exploring the Universal Glue

Exploring the Universal Glue

Source: JLab   Posted: 1/15/07

Jefferson Lab's nuclear physicists are studying how the strong force combines nature's fundamental building blocks into the lightest particle built of quarks: the pion.
Image: Researchers Observe Rare Light-emitting Decay of Neutrons

Researchers Observe Rare Light-emitting Decay of Neutrons

Source: NSF   Posted: 1/15/07

Researchers have caught the photons from a neutron 'radiative decay' for the first time.