Sabine posts
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Quantum Computing Newcomers: 2023 Update
[This is a transcript with links to references.]It’s been a while since we talked about quantum computing! The last time I did an overview video was in 2021, but that might as well have been in the stone age, so much has happened since! What’s going on, what’s new and who is saying what? That’s what we’ll talk about today.First things first, quantum computers calculate with “quantum bits”, qubits for short that can become entangled. Entanglement is a type of correlation but one that requires quantum effects. So, you can’t build ...
Asteroid Dust, A Wok-Antenna, and Energy from Water
NASA To Live-Stream Opening of Asteroid SampleScientists gather to open the space capsule containing material from the asteroid Bennu.Image: NASANASA’s first-ever asteroid sample has arrived on Earth. It comes from the asteroid Bennu and was successfully dropped off by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in an Earth flyby on September 24. NASA has recovered and shipped it to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.Researchers want to analyse the sample for chemical, mineral, and other physical information. The space capsule is also figuratively a “time c...
Science News Oct 3
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news! Today we’ll talk about the Nobel Prize in physics, yet another superconductor retraction, whether Integrated Information theory is pseudoscience, why antimatter doesn’t anti-gravitate, sand that flows uphill which I swear has nothing to do with antigravity, the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, how life could come about on other planets, why we might go extinct sooner than expected, and of course, the telephone will ring. The Nobel Prize in ph...
1 Million Subscribers -- You can do it, too
[This is a transcript with links. Some of you may remember that this video should have run a few weeks ago. It turned out that a paragraph had gone lost somewhere in the production and it took some time to fix the issue But finally, here we go!]Oh dear, we’ve made it to 1 million subscribers. This is so crazy. Thank you all for making this happen. It’s been a life-changing experience. The biggest change has been that people no longer ask me what entanglement is, but what’s the secret to my YouTube success.It makes sense because the two ha...
An Einstein Ring, Supernovae, and Bioprinted Nerves
Webb Telescope Spots Full Einstein RingEinstein Ring, JWST-ER1, original and magnified. Image: NASA/JWSTNASA’s James Webb telescope has found the most beautiful Einstein Ring ever. An Einstein Ring is a phenomenon produced by gravitational lensing, when light from one object is bent around another one. Usually the two objects are different galaxies and most of the time we don’t see a full ring but rather several dots or arcs. But if the configuration coincidentally happens to be particularly symmetric – as in this case – we see a ring. ...
Science News Sep 27
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today we’ll talk about raisins. Yes, raisins. Quasars with dark matter halos, pink diamonds, the last moments of a dying satellite, a new type of qubit, maybe, how to measure the length of the day with lasers, a new treatment method for brain cancer that’s got something to do with quantum mechanics, whether climate change drives migration, and of course, the telephone will ring.Before we start, I have a service announcement, so to speak, which is...
Is the universe pointless?
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Stephen Hawking might have been the most famous contemporary physicist in the eyes of the public, for me it’s been Steven Weinberg. Weinberg was one of the recipients of the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics, for his role in the development of the standard model. But if people knew one thing about him it’d be a quote from one of his books: “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” I was very fortunate to meet Weinberg in 2015, when I was working on my first...
Lithium, Moebius Strips, and Asteroids
Massive Lithium Supply Found in the USASizes and types of large, known lithium deposits. Image: Benson et al, Science Advances 9, 35 (2023)Scientists have discovered a huge deposit of lithium – a metal used in batteries – in a volcanic crater along the Nevada-Oregon border. The deposit lies in the southern portion of McDermitt caldera at Thacker Pass and is larger than the previous record holder in Bolivia. It could entirely change the global market and geopolitics of lithium, which is a major ingredient in the batteries used in electric ve...
Science News Sep 18
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today we’ll talk about the possibly first evidence for life on an exoplanet, with some caveats, chaos at the centre of the Milky Way, earthquake lights, a really old rock, noise cancellation for qubits, good news about air pollution, wifi that can see through walls, origami robots, the 2024 Breakthrough Prizes, and of course, the telephone will ring. A group of scientists from the UK might have found the first signs of life on an exoplanet with th...
Don't trust me, I'm an influencer!
[This is a transcript with links to references.]On this channel I talk a lot. Guess you’ve noticed that. So in this video, I want to talk about how we talk, or how we communicate information on social media in general. Why is it so difficult to communicate on social media? What’s a parasocial relationship, and should you trust me? That’s what we’ll talk about today.Scientists have many theories about why humans ended up dominating this planet. Maybe it’s the opposing thumb that let us use tools. Or the invention of cooking that improv...
Dark Matter, Ozone, Proton Therapy, and Web3
Physicists Look for Dark Matter with Atomic Clocks (And Don’t Find It)Theoretical physicists from the University of Sussex and the U.K.’s National Physical Laboratory have proposed a method of using atomic clocks to look for certain types of dark matter particles (ultralight particles that include axions). According to the idea, if we pass through clouds of dark matter particles, the frequencies of atomic clocks might subtly shift. The proposal itself is not new, but in the new paper, the authors have put forward a more sophisticated analys...
Science News Sep 12
[This is a transcript with links to reference.]Welcome back everyone to our weekly science news. Today we’ll talk about a bubble of galaxies, a climate scientist who made his own paper worse, double magic oxygen, a chemical reaction slowed down 100 billion times, Maxwell’s demon in biology, intelligent life on earth, the launch of a new X-ray space mission, drone racing, and of course the telephone will ring.Astronomers in Hawaii have spotted a massive bubble of galaxies. It’s approximately 8 hundred and twenty million light years from Ea...
All you need to know about web3
[This a transcript with links to references.]Have you ever heard of Web3? If not, you’re not alone. In a YouGov survey in May this year, merely 24 percent of participants said they are familiar with the term. Elon Musk has taken shots at it, tweeting, “Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.” And the software engineer turned journalist Molly White runs a website called Web3 is going just great, that lists all the supposed innovations that didn’t quite go according to plan: crypto scams, startup failures, NFT hacks – it’s a very lon...
Underwater Writing, AI Consciousness, and Lasers in Space
How to Write UnderwaterImage Credit: Moller, et al., Nano-Micro Small, 2023Have you ever tried to write your shopping list underwater? Neither have I. But a group of researchers from Germany and China have now developed ink that would be up to the task. Normal ink doesn’t work underwater because the act of writing itself would create turbulence that wipes away the ink. The new underwater ink instead deposits a trail of microscopic beads that, by a chemical reaction, lower the pH value of the water, which attracts the ink to the colour pigment...
Capitalism is good. Let me explain.
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Capitalism will kill us all. That is, if you trust Greta Thunberg. Which maybe you should not. Free markets will save us all. If you trust Robert F Kennedy, junior. Which maybe you should not. Maybe we should talk about what capitalism and free markets are. Will they kill us or save us? That’s what we’ll talk about today.Before we talk about capitalism and markets and stuff, we need to talk about money. I don’t mean my money, though while we’re at it, check out my Patreon. I mean money in ...
Yin-Yang Entanglement, Biofriendly Viscosity, and LHC Trouble
A Yin-Yang-Shaped Photon Source Creates ConfusionA reconstructed signal with a Yin-Yang-shaped filter. Image credit: Zia et al., Nature Photonics, 2023.It can be difficult to figure out the properties of a laser beam, and yet you need to know those properties if your experiments require high precision. Physicists from Canada and Spain have recently published a paper that makes the beam analysis easier, added a pretty image, and created a lot of confusion with this. Their method works by overlaying an unknown signal with a known signal and then ...
Do your own research. But do it right.
[This is a transcript with links to references.]I’ve noticed that a lot of scientists on social media make jokes about people who do their own research. This has been going on ever since COVID and it’s only been getting worse. We’re now at the point where they’re claiming you’re only allowed to talk about a topic if you’re an expert yourself. Don’t you dare commenting on anything you don’t have a PhD in! I think this nonsense has been going on for long enough. So I’m here to say: It’s of course completely okay if you do your...
Andromeda, Robotaxi Trouble, Custom LEDs, and Mental Health
Dark Energy Pushes Andromeda AwayAndromeda. Image: NASAAstrophysicists at the University of Cambridge claim to have found a new way to measure dark energy by studying our galactic neighbor, Andromeda.Andromeda is hurling towards our own Milky Way galaxy at about 250,000 miles per hour (112 kilometres per second). The two are predicted to collide in about four billion years. Their motion depends on the amount of visible matter, the amount of dark matter (if that exists), and the value of the cosmological constant, which is the simplest type of d...
Science News Aug 22
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today we’ll talk about superchemistry, music in the brain, how to create matter from light, contrails, objects that take strange turns, why phone batteries might soon become replaceable, how to control fire, why we have to think about preventing hurricanes, and of course, the telephone will ring.Before we get to the news, a brief channel update: I’ll be away for the next two weeks, so there will be no science news on August 30 and September 6. Th...
A global mental health crisis? Really?
[This is a transcript with links to references.]I’ve read that we have a mental health crisis. When I say “we”, I don’t mean that physicists are depressed because they still don’t understand quantum mechanics. Though there’s that. I mean, we, on this planet, supposedly have a mental health crisis. Though if you take a closer look at the headlines, most of them seem to be about the United States. So do we really have a global mental health crisis? Or is it an American thing? Or is it maybe not a thing at all? Does it have something ...
A New Carbon Renewal Program, NASA's Latest Project, & Sound In A Vacuum
US Launches Pilot Program for Carbon RemovalThe US Department of Energy has announced it will spend $1.2 billion on two direct carbon capture facilities in Louisiana and Texas. This is a very interesting step because so far governmental efforts – if they exist at all – have focused on technologies that capture carbon dioxide at the source before it is released (known as carbon capture and storage). The two facilities will instead remove carbon dioxide from that atmosphere. I welcome this development because the way things are going we will ...
Science News Aug 15
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today we’ll talk about the muon anomaly at fermilab, say good-bye to LK99, hear from scientists who say that sun is brighter than we thought, look at a new ion trap, talk about talk about a cold blob, plans for a new space station, delay with NASA’s trip to the moon, freeze rays, the smallest traffic light ever, and of course, the telephone will ring. Physicists at Fermilab in the United States have made a better measurement of the magnetic mome...
How Dead is Moore's Law?
[This is a transcript with links to references.]My family’s first personal computer was a Commodore 128. It had 128 kilobytes of RAM and a display resolution of 320 times 200 pixel. The laptop I currently use is a few years old but has 16 gigabytes of ram and a screen resolution that outperforms my rapidly aging eyes. There’s no doubt that computing power has seen the most remarkable progress ever since the production of the first microchips.And yet in the past 10 years or so, tech specialists have repeatedly voiced concerns that this progr...
An Umbrella in Space, Resume Padding, & Atmospheric Protection
A Giant Sun Umbrella to Slow Climate ChangeCredit: István Szapudi/UH Institute for AstronomyIstván Szapudi, a University of Hawaii astronomer, has proposed a radical method to prevent further global warming: Let’s put a shield between the Sun and Earth. “In Hawaii, many use an umbrella to block the sunlight as they walk during the day,” says Szapudi. “I was thinking, could we do the same for Earth and thereby mitigate the impending catastrophe of climate change?”Yes, gee, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before! Well, of course t...
Science News Aug 8
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today I have an update on the reproduction efforts for the supposed room temperature superconductor, LK 99, the first images from the Euclid mission, more trouble with Starlink satellites, first results from a new simulation for cosmological structure formation, how to steer drops with ultrasound, bacteria that make plastic, an improvement for wireless power transfer, better earthquake warnings, an attempt to predict war, and of course the telephone ...
Do we have evidence for new physics? Or not?
[This is a transcript with links to references.]I constantly hear physicists claim that there is something “wrong” with our understanding of the universe. It’s an argument they frequently use to justify new experiments, a better detector, a new telescope, a bigger collider. At the same time, they’ll also tell you that, try as they might, they can’t find any evidence that disagrees with their best existing theories. You’ve seen the headlines: Einstein was right again. Yet another anomaly gone. So, what’s going on. Do we have evide...
LEGOs in the Lab, Product Labels, & Massive Wind Turbines
Read This Label CarefullyA study led by UCLA psychologists has revealed that consumers often not only misremember product label marketing claims, but also overestimate their significance. In a study of about 300 students and adults, 74% were unable to distinguish between “scientifically studied” and “scientifically proven” when remembering labels presented. Furthermore, participants tended to recall the word “proven” instead of "studied,” thus overestimating the strength of product claims.The researchers suggest that consumers...
Science News July 31
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Welcome everyone to this week’s science news. Today we’ll talk about the new superconductor claim, bad news for new physics, a quantum radar, how to print origami, space-based solar power for a moon station, a dire prediction for the collapse of an ocean circulation, Europe’s first hyperloop test, why NASA shoots lasers at the rain forest, and of course, the telephone will ring.The biggest science news this week has without doubt been that of a Korean group that says they found a superconduc...
How to spot and avoid greenwashing
[This is a transcript with links to references.]Does this sound familiar? You go to a supermarket to get a new bathroom cleaner. One of them promises to be more sustainable and eco-friendlier, but the other one is cheaper. Which do you buy? Many companies try to appear environmentally friendly without making a real difference, a strategy that’s been dubbed “greenwashing”. So, is calling a product or service “eco-friendly” just a ploy of companies to get more money out of us? What are the consequences for climate change? And how can we...
Warm Dark Matter, Nuclear Waste, Dog Poop, and Personality Tests
Supercomputer Simulation Favours Warm Dark MatterA snapshot of the cosmic web in the new supercomputer simulation. Credits: Bruno Villasenor/UCSCA team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has used the Oak Ridge supercomputer to try and figure out what dark matter might be made of. They ran more than 1,000 high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations, and calculated how the gravitational pull of different types of dark matter would affect the distribution of gas clouds. These gas clouds then affect how light from distant ...
