Can the laws of Physics change over time?

 There is a published study that finds evidence something called the fine-structure constant has changed ever so slightly over the evolution of our universe. This, if true, will make us re-think a lot about our understanding and assumptions about 'universal constants' such as the speed of light, Planck's constant, the gravitational constant, and several others that are believed to be unchanging since the beginning of time. 

We can't know with any certainty if this new study is the final, accepted word on this topic, as many other groups will be going out to verify the results independently (which is how science is supposed to work). But over the years, we have wondered in class whether G, Newton's universal gravitational constant, could change over time? The reason we wonder is because Einstein says gravity is the consequence of curvatures in space and time. Well, since the universe is expanding and space and time can change and vary a lot locally, around big objects such as stars and galaxies, why would we expect G to be a universal constant since the stuff that allows for what we 'feel' as gravity is dynamic and changing?! 

We'll need to find out how this one goes when there are more studies into it! 

Meteorite has building blocks of life

 In a recent study published in the journal Science shows how a meteorite found in Costa Rica has organic molecules, as complex as amino acids, the building blocks of life (proteins). Many scientists have wondered if life was given a 'nudge' by molecules coming to earth from outer space, and this finding would suggest that was a real possibility. It also suggests there could be primitive life on other worlds since these organic molecules are found widespread in space, as well as water molecules. With trillions and trillions of other planets and galaxies out there, most scientists would find it difficult to Believe there isn't at least primitive single-celled or bacterial life out there! The chemistry is just too common and basic not to produce the pieces needed for simple life. Now intelligent life, who knows about that! 

Interesting Book on Quantum Computing - learn the basics

 Check out this book, titled Quantum Computing for the Quantum Curious. It is a good introduction for students into the quantum mechanics concepts and ideas, using minimal math, to understand what the next generation of quantum computers and other technologies are, how they work, and how they will be used in the world. 

What one of our students was working on this past summer - fast radio bursts

 Here is a short review article about a topic one of our seniors helped work on this past summer in the CIERA astrophysics summer program - fast radio bursts. These are star events that are not well-understood, and astronomers are trying to find characteristics of the environments and sources for these energetic bursts. We found this on a good site, phys.org. 

College admissions diversity quotas - students for them...but not for football

 This is an interesting video where some students at the U. of Florida are asked if they support diversity quotas in college admissions. Here what they say for general admissions, and what happens when it is asked if the same thing should apply to the football team. 

Use of AI in Cancer Research

 There are a few articles linked here that get into the use of artificial intelligence in cancer research. AI is revolutionizing many areas of study in all fields of STEM, and of course will only get better and more effective as these technologies continue to advance. 

Wave functions - A good introductory video

 This is one of the better videos I've seen trying to get basic concepts about 'wave functions' across in as clear a way as possible. In your chemistry classes, this term comes up, but you don't ever really go into much detail about what the term means or suggests - it is a really difficult, abstract critter that is necessary to understand how the quantum world behaves! Good luck! 

High-Precision test of Einstein's GR

 General relativity is Einstein's masterpiece, dating back to 1915. It is still our best understanding of the universe, and of gravity. And with new technologies come new tests of any theory. Check out how, using atomic clocks, scientists are measuring the tiniest changes in time caused by the tiniest differences in gravity with a change in height of 1 millimeter!! This is ridiculous precision of the clocks to be able to do this, but we are at that level! It is equivalent to saying it would take 300 billion years for the two clocks to differ by 1 second. WOW!!

Interested in open-ended problems? Try the COMAP math modeling contest.

The COMAP math modeling contest allows teams of 4 students to develop a viable solution to a real-world, open-ended problem in a 2-week period. Teams submit papers to see if their solution has the potential to be a solution to the problem being addressed. Our top two teams in COMAP will have a chance to represent the school in the MathWorks contest.

Good examples of the problems used in the MathWorks contest are found in their Archives. 

Nobel Prizes 2021!

 It is Nobel week! 

Physiology: Two Americans won, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, for determining how the body takes physical sensations and turn them into electrochemical signals within the body so the brain can interpret them as changes in temperature and touch. See the announcement and some details here. 

Physics: Three split the Prize for their work in understanding the science behind complex systems. One of the best examples of how others apply their work is in climate science, and how one begins to understand one of the most complex systems there is, global climate, that has countless of thousands of parameters and variables that interact in so many ways. How does one approach complexity? How does one go about trying to calculate and simulate such a system? How can we possibly understand how to take microscopic processes and figure out how those affect a macrocosmic system? Well, the work of Giorgio Parisi (Italy), Syukuro Manabe (Japan/Princeton), and Klaus Hasselmann (Germany) created the means to do this. 

Chemistry: A German and American split the chemistry prize for their work twenty years ago, where they independently discovered a third type of catalyst for creating organic molecules; the two types of catalysts prior to this work were metals and enzymes. This has had a major impact in creating new medicines and other areas where organics is a key. Catalysts are those molecules that can help accelerate chemical reactions, but do not directly end up in the products. These are key to all areas of life, including the enzymes that keep us alive. The scientists are Benjamin List and David MacMillan (a 2nd for Princeton this year). 

Literature: A Tanzanian author has won this year, Abdulrazak Gurnah. He is the first black African author to win the prize in 35 years. His work is described in a statement:

 "Abdulrazak Gurnah's dedication to truth and his aversion to simplification are striking," the Nobel Committee for Literature said in a statement.

"His novels recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world."

"[His] characters find themselves in a hiatus between cultures and continents, between a life that was and a life emerging; it is an insecure state that can never be resolved."

Economics: Three Americans won for their work in finding real-world situations to do 'natural experiments' to test economic theories and models, and for quantifying how to find cause and effect relationships for economic models. Unlike natural scientists, where one has control over controlled experiments (put fertilizer on one field and none on the other to see which one has the best crop yield, for instance), this process of experimentation is much more difficult for social sciences, including numerous ethical considerations for different topics. But when one state has one economic policy such as raising the minimum wage, and a neighboring one does not, now economists can get data to see how raising minimum wage affects the local and state economies, and what effect this has on labor in general. Turns out raising the minimum wage does not cause job losses, and instead has almost no effect at all, despite widespread beliefs among many. The winners are David Card (UC Berkeley), Joshua Angrist (MIT), and Guido Imbens (Stanford).

Peace: Two journalists won the Peace Prize for their reporting of authoritarian government scandal and abuse of power, often putting their lives at risk in countries where journalists can be imprisoned or even killed. Their emphasis has been on trying to preserve freedom of expression/speech as a basic human right, which is essential for honest reporting as well as for sustained peace. Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia are this year's winners.