How do quark-gluon-plasma fireballs explode into hadrons?
Quark gluon plasma (QGP) is an exciting state of matter that scientists create in a laboratory by colliding two heavy nuclei. These collisions produce a QGP fireball. The fireball expands and cools following the laws of hydrodynamics, which govern ho.....»»
New plasma jet technology effectively treats fungal nail infections
Recently, the team led by Prof. Huang Qing from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed using a portable pulsed cold air plasma jet (PP-CAPJ) to treat Trichophyton rubrum in nails. They revealed that the s.....»»
Super-resolution machining of single crystalline sapphire by femtosecond laser-induced, plasma-assisted ablation
A new study in Opto-Electronic Advances discusses super-resolution machining of single crystalline sapphire by GHz burst mode femtosecond laser-induced plasma assisted ablation......»»
The dangers of sneezing—from ejected bowels to torn windpipes
The benefits of a good sneeze can sometimes come with a greater risk of injury. Enlarge (credit: Getty | Bettmann) If you were to envision the kind of accident that would cause a person’s bowels to explode out of their.....»»
Apple versus donut: How the shape of a tokamak impacts the limits of the edge of the plasma
Harnessing energy from plasma requires a precise understanding of its behavior during fusion to keep it hot, dense and stable. A new theoretical model about a plasma's edge, which can become unstable and bulge, brings the prospect of commercial fusio.....»»
New discoveries about the nature of light could improve methods for heating fusion plasma
Both literally and figuratively, light pervades the world. It banishes darkness, conveys telecommunications signals between continents and makes visible the invisible, from faraway galaxies to the smallest bacterium. Light can also help heat the plas.....»»
First observation of a focused plasma wave on the sun
For the first time, scientists have observed plasma waves from a solar flare focused by a coronal hole, akin to the focusing of sound waves responsible for the Rotunda effect in architecture or the focusing of light by a telescope or microscope......»»
Researchers elucidate ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions
The interaction of solids with high-intensity ultra-short laser pulses has enabled major technological breakthroughs over the past half-century. On the one hand, laser ablation of solids offers micromachining and miniaturization of elements in medica.....»»
Using AI to speed up and improve the most computationally-intensive aspects of plasma physics in fusion
The intricate dance of atoms fusing and releasing energy has fascinated scientists for decades. Now, human ingenuity and artificial intelligence are coming together at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) t.....»»
Smaller laser facility uses new method to exceed previous record for proton acceleration
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has made a significant advance in laser plasma acceleration. By employing an innovative method, a research team managed to substantially exceed the previous record for proton acceleration......»»
Fusion record set for tungsten tokamak WEST
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) measured a new record for a fusion device internally clad in tungsten, the element that could be the best fit for the commercial-scale machines required t.....»»
Solar orbiter takes a mind-boggling video of the sun
You've seen the sun, but you've never seen the sun like this. This single frame from a video captured by ESA's Solar Orbiter mission shows the sun looking very fluffy! You can see feathery, hair-like structures made of plasma following magnetic field.....»»
Two seconds of hope for fusion power
A fusion reactor in San Diego surpasses a limit on plasma density. Enlarge / The interior or the DIII-D tokamak. (credit: General Atomics) Using nuclear fusion, the process that powers the stars, to produce electricity o.....»»
Pulsed plasma rocket (PPR): Shielded, fast transits for humans to Mars
The future of a space-faring civilization will depend on the ability to move both cargo and humans efficiently and rapidly. Due to the extremely large distances that are involved in space travel, the spacecraft must reach high velocities for reasonab.....»»
AWS S3 storage bucket with unlucky name nearly cost developer $1,300
Amazon says it's working on stopping others from "making your AWS bill explode." Enlarge / Be careful with the buckets you put out there for anybody to fill. (credit: Getty Images) If you're using Amazon Web Services and.....»»
CMS Collaboration observes new all-heavy quark structures
For over a decade, the CMS Collaboration, a large team of researchers based at different institutes worldwide, has been analyzing data collected at the Compact Muon Solenoid, a general-purpose particle detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC)......»»
Record electron temperatures for a small-scale, sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion device achieved
In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated the ability to make a thermal fusion plasma with electron temperatures hotter than 10 million degrees Celsius, roughly the temperature.....»»
Novel method could explore gluon saturation at the future electron-ion collider
The U.S. nuclear physics community is preparing to build the electron–ion collider (EIC), a flagship facility for probing the properties of matter and the strong nuclear force that holds matter together. The EIC will allow scientists to study how n.....»»
NASA observations find what helps heat roots of "moss" on sun
Did you know the sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere "moss." This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by NASA's TRACE mi.....»»
Searching for new asymmetry between matter and antimatter
Once a particle of matter, always a particle of matter. Or not. Thanks to a quirk of quantum physics, four known particles made up of two different quarks—such as the electrically neutral D meson composed of a charm quark and an up antiquark—can.....»»
Examining the blowtorch effect of satellite reentry through video
A reaction wheel—one of the heaviest parts of a space mission, its changing rotation used to shift a satellite's orientation—seen in a plasma wind tunnel belonging to the High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group (HEFDiG) at the University of Stuttgar.....»»