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Content about physics and astronomy

December 14, 2011
Science Hack Day dives into physics data

During a Science Hack Day, designers, developers, scientists and other geeks spend an intense 48-hour period together to see what they can make using science. This year, some hacked smartphones so they'd operate as an earthquake warning system, while others simulated synaestheia using a vibrating mask. And research associate Matt Belis, from Northern Illinois University,  took along some data from the CMS detector at CERN to see what they could produce.

December 14, 2011
Where astronomy meets data

Brian Schmidt, awarded the 2011 Physics Nobel Prize, dicusses the role of e-science in astronomy and talks about his new project SkyMapper, which grew from the ashes of the Australian Mt. Stromlo telescope, used by Schmidt to discover that the Universe was accelerating.

October 26, 2011
Hunt for the Higgs on your Android

October 19, 2011
A small Sun on Earth

The quest to produce power from fusion is back on track after the test-bed reactor JET restarted successfully. But some serious challenges, which require heavy computing, still lie on the scientists' path between here and realising their dream.

Scientists are installing extremely sensitive infra-red cameras to find tiny hot-spots in the walls of the container, which might show why and where energy is lost. And they must also tackle one of the most important unsolved problems of classical physics: turbulance.

September 21, 2011
Tevatron to shut down, but science continues

After 28 years of physics breakthroughs and contributions to computational science, the Tevatron is shutting down.

September 7, 2011
Astronomers catch supernova in the act

Real-time analysis allows astronomers to capture a supernova in the act of exploding, an unprecedented opportunity to study the phenomenom.

July 27, 2011
Virtual atom smasher in LHC@Home

Anyone - anywhere - can now donate their own computers to help theoretical physicists at CERN calculate what the huge experiments using the LHC should be looking for in their data, with a new project called Test4Theory as part of LHC@Home.

June 1, 2011
Contemplating computing with qubits

In our virtual editorial office, Jacqui, Adrian and I have been talking about writing some articles -- maybe even a special issue -- on far future computing technologies, such as quantum computers. Emphasis there on far future.

So imagine my surprise to see HPC Wire's recent article about the first-ever sale of a quantum computer: a 128-qubit (quantum bit) chip computer designed by a company called D-Wave, purchased by Lockheed Martin.