For the first time, physicists have captured an enigmatic state of matter on video.

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Scientists have demonstrated how to structure light such that its polarization behaves like a collective of spins in a ferromagnet forming half-skyrmions (also known as merons). To achieve this, the light was trapped in a thin liquid crystal layer between two nearly perfect mirrors. Skyrmions, in general, are found, e.g., as elementary excitations of magnetization in a two-dimensional ferromagnet but do not naturally appear in electromagnetic (light) fields.

One of the key concepts in physics, and science overall, is the notion of a “field” that can describe the spatial distribution of a physical quantity. For instance, a weather map shows the distributions of temperature and pressure (these are known as scalar fields), as well as the wind speed and direction (known as a vector field). Almost everyone wears a vector field on their head — every hair has an origin and an end, just like a vector. Over 100 years ago L.E.J. Brouwer proved the hairy ball theorem which states that you can’t comb a hairy ball flat without creating whorls, whirls (vortices), or cowlicks.

Today, more than 90% of the indexed articles in the natural sciences are published in English. That wasn’t always the case.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist, cosmologist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator, gives one of the most eye opening interviews you will ever hear.
►Inspired? Get Neil’s book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: https://amzn.to/2Mm3YSc.

Thank you to Tom Bilyeu for providing the amazing interview! Check out his awesome channel here for more: https://www.youtube.com/TomBilyeu.

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“On my tombstone, I want the epitaph to read: Be ashamed to die until you have scored some victory for humanity.”