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Category: particle physics – Page 7

Smaller nanoplastics trigger stronger changes in brain neuron activity

Smaller plastic particles have more effects on neurons, the key information processing cells of the brain, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. In the study, neuronal cells were exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics at low doses to study subtle changes.

Plastic production continues to rise, despite worldwide concerns. In addition to environmental implications, there is an increasing interest in how exposure to plastics may impact human health, but our understanding is still limited. Only recently it was shown that plastics can accumulate also in the human brain.

Plastic particles smaller than 5,000 nm in diameter are called microplastics, and the smallest plastic particles with a diameter of less than 1,000 nm are called nanoplastics. The small size of nanoplastics enables them to interact with various cell types, and other particles or biological mass, such as bacteria. Compared to microplastics, nanoplastics have larger adsorption capacity and penetrate through biological barriers more easily. This makes them potentially more harmful and a compelling target for research in the field of neurobiology.

The impact of nanoplastics on neurons may depend on their size

Smaller plastic particles have more effects on neurons, the key information processing cells of the brain, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. In the study, neuronal cells were exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics at low doses to study subtle changes.

The study is published in the journal NanoImpact.

Plastic production continues to rise, despite worldwide concerns. In addition to environmental implications, there is an increasing interest in how exposure to plastics may impact human health, but our understanding is still limited. Only recently was it shown that plastics can also accumulate in the human brain.

Matter may entangle with light far more easily near quantum critical points

Quantum entanglement is a state in which particles are entwined with each other. In this entwined state, the properties of one particle influence the other, even when they aren’t physically close to each other. This phenomenon has often been observed in small quantum systems with only a few particles in them, where researchers can use it to store and process quantum information. Rice University professor Qimiao Si is interested in understanding and applying quantum entanglement to macroscopic systems with vast numbers of particles.

In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, Si described a method that could lead to not only better understanding of quantum entanglement in quantum materials but also more ready usage of quantum entanglement in macroscopic systems. His theory posits this can be done by coupling quantum materials to quantum light.

“In this theory, by placing matter in a small mirrored cavity and pushing it towards what is called the quantum critical point, we can then introduce photons and induce quantum entanglement in the photon-matter hybrid,” said Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Extreme Quantum Materials Alliance.

Space station dust maps slash climate uncertainty over iron-rich particles

New research from a team of scientists led by Cornell is transforming how researchers understand one of the atmosphere’s most abundant and least understood constituents: mineral dust.

Mineral dust, composed of tiny particles lifted from arid regions including the Sahara, Middle East and East Asia, plays a complex role in Earth’s climate system. These particles both scatter and absorb radiation, influence cloud formation and even fertilize ecosystems. But until recently, scientists lacked reliable global data on the surface soils’ mineral composition, particularly on the prevalence of light-absorbing iron oxides.

Using high-resolution data from a NASA mission aboard the International Space Station, the team has reduced long-standing uncertainty about how airborne dust particles affect Earth’s energy balance through interactions with sunlight. The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Better math discriminates exotic from classical materials

The planar Hall effect is a tabletop diagnostic tool for special quantum properties useful in basic research and technological applications. Or so it was thought, because careful calculation by Kobe University researchers clarifies the conditions under which this effect may also appear in classical materials. This makes the diagnostic more meaningful and enables more purposeful design.

In the hunt for materials with properties that are useful for quantum computing or spintronics, researchers have used the “planar Hall effect” as a tabletop diagnostic tool: The researchers send a current through a thin, flat sample and observe whether an electric voltage is produced in response to a magnetic field in the same plane as the sample.

If it is, the pattern of how the voltage responds to rotating the magnetic field in the plane of the sample tells researchers about the properties of the material.

New experiment will try to coax virtual particles out of the vacuum

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My favourite physics paper of the week is a new idea for how to coax virtual particles out of the quantum vacuum and into revealing themselves.

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🤓 Check out our new quiz app ➜ http://quizwithit.com/
💌 Support us on Donatebox ➜ https://donorbox.org/swtg.
📝 Transcripts and written news on Substack ➜ https://sciencewtg.substack.com/
👉 Transcript with links to references on Patreon ➜ / sabine.
📩 Free weekly science newsletter ➜ https://sabinehossenfelder.com/newsle…
👂 Audio only podcast ➜ https://open.spotify.com/show/0MkNfXl…
🔗 Join this channel to get access to perks ➜
/ @sabinehossenfelder.
🖼️ On instagram ➜ / sciencewtg.

#sciencenews #physics #science #shortly

IceCube detects break in cosmic neutrino spectrum, ruling out simple power-law model

A new study published in Physical Review Letters by the IceCube Collaboration reports evidence that the energy spectrum of astrophysical neutrinos is not a simple straight line.

Astrophysical neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles produced when high-energy cosmic rays interact with matter or radiation near sources such as active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and supernova remnants. Because they barely interact with anything, they travel from the edges of the observable universe in straight lines, carrying information about the environments that produced them.

Analyzing more than a decade of data, the study found a break in the spectrum near 30 TeV, comparable to the energies seen at the Large Hadron Collider. This rules out the single power law with a statistical significance greater than 4σ, meaning the chance of the result being a fluke is less than about 1 in 16,000.

‘Atom Camera’ maps laser light at nanoscale using a single ultracold atom

A research group led by Assistant Professor Takafumi Tomita and Professor Kenji Ohmori at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, has developed a new microscopy technique called the Atom Camera, which uses a single ultracold atom at near absolute zero temperature trapped in an optical tweezer as a camera to visualize the intensity and polarization distributions of light at the nanometer (one-millionth of a millimeter) scale.

In this study, a single atom trapped by optical tweezer was successfully utilized as a scanning probe for imaging the fine structures of intensity and polarization distributions of light patterns with a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit of conventional optical microscopes. The results are published in Nature Communications.

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