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Categories: Anthropology: General, Physics: Quantum Physics
Published Mysterious new behavior seen in whales may be recorded in ancient manuscripts
(via sciencedaily.com) In 2011, scientists recorded a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales around the world. Now, researchers in Australia think they may have found evidence of this behaviour being described in ancient accounts of sea creatures, recorded more than 2,000 years ago. They believe that misunderstandings of these descriptions contributed to myths about medieval sea monsters. Whales are known lunge at their prey when feeding, but recently whales have been spotted at the surface of the water with their jaws open at right angles, waiting for shoals of fish to swim into their mouths. A clip of this strategy was captured in 2021 and went viral on Instagram. This strategy seems to work for the whales because the fish think they have found a place to shelter from predators, not realising they are swimming into danger. It's not known why this strategy has only recently been identified, but scientists speculate that it's a result of changing environmental conditions -- or that whales are being more closely monitored than ever before by drones and other modern technologies.
Published Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved
(via sciencedaily.com) Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.
Published Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.
Published Clear sign that quark-gluon plasma production 'turns off' at low energy
(via sciencedaily.com) Physicists report new evidence that production of an exotic state of matter in collisions of gold nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) can be 'turned off' by lowering the collision energy. The findings will help physicists map out the conditions of temperature and density under which the exotic matter, known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), can exist and identify key features of the phases of nuclear matter.
Published New material may offer key to solving quantum computing issue
(via sciencedaily.com) A new form of heterostructure of layered two-dimensional (2D) materials may enable quantum computing to overcome key barriers to its widespread application, according to an international team of researchers.
Published Unusual atom helps in search for Universe's building blocks
(via sciencedaily.com) An unusual form of caesium atom is helping a research team unmask unknown particles that make up the Universe.
Published Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists who study the origins and evolution of the plague have examined hundreds of ancient human teeth from Denmark, seeking to address longstanding questions about its arrival, persistence and spread within Scandinavia.
Published Heterostructures support predictions of counterpropagating charged edge modes at the v=2/3 fractional quantum Hall state
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have tested models of edge conduction with a device built on top of the semiconductor heterostructure which consists of gold gates that come close together. Voltage is applied on the gates to direct the edge states through the middle of the point contact, where they are close enough that quantum tunneling can occur between the edge states on opposite sides the sample. Changes in the electrical current flowing through the device are used to test the theorists' predictions.
Published Let there be (controlled) light
(via sciencedaily.com) In the very near future, quantum computers are expected to revolutionize the way we compute, with new approaches to database searches, AI systems, simulations and more. But to achieve such novel quantum technology applications, photonic integrated circuits which can effectively control photonic quantum states -- the so-called qubits -- are needed. Physicists have made a breakthrough in this effort: for the first time, they demonstrated the controlled creation of single-photon emitters in silicon at the nanoscale.
Published Theory can sort order from chaos in complex quantum systems
(via sciencedaily.com) Theoretical chemists have developed a theory that can predict the threshold at which quantum dynamics switches from 'orderly' to 'random,' as shown through research using large-scale computations on photosynthesis models.
Published The quantum twisting microscope: A new lens on quantum materials
(via sciencedaily.com) One of the striking aspects of the quantum world is that a particle, say, an electron, is also a wave, meaning that it exists in many places at the same time. Researchers make use of this property to develop a new type of tool -- the quantum twisting microscope (QTM) -- that can create novel quantum materials while simultaneously gazing into the most fundamental quantum nature of their electrons.
Published Physicists give the first law of thermodynamics a makeover
(via sciencedaily.com) Physicists at West Virginia University have made a breakthrough on an age-old limitation of the first law of thermodynamics.
Published Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East
(via sciencedaily.com) A recent excavation in Megiddo, Israel, unearthed the earliest example of a particular type of cranial surgery in the Ancient Near East -- and potentially one of the oldest examples of leprosy in the world.
Published Hidden from the Romans: 200 tons of silver on the shores of the river Lahn
(via sciencedaily.com) In their search for silver ore, the Romans established two military camps in the Bad Ems area near Koblenz in the 1st century AD.
Published Gene variations for immune and metabolic conditions have persisted in humans for more than 700,000 years
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study explores 'balancing selection' by analyzing thousands of modern human genomes alongside ancient hominin groups, such as Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes. The research has 'implications for understanding human diversity, the origin of diseases, and biological trade-offs that may have shaped our evolution,' says evolutionary biologists.
Published New quantum sensing technique reveals magnetic connections
(via sciencedaily.com) A research team demonstrates a new way to use quantum sensors to tease out relationships between microscopic magnetic fields.
Published Engineers discover a new way to control atomic nuclei as 'qubits'
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers propose a new approach to making qubits, the basic units in quantum computing, and controlling them to read and write data. The method is based on measuring and controlling the spins of atomic nuclei, using beams of light from two lasers of slightly different colors.
Published Proposed quantum device may succinctly realize emergent particles such as the Fibonacci anyon
(via sciencedaily.com) Tenacity has taken a roadblock and turned it into a possible route to the development of quantum computing.
Published Securing supply chains with quantum computing
(via sciencedaily.com) New research in quantum computing is moving science closer to being able to overcome supply-chain challenges and restore global security during future periods of unrest.
Published When the light is neither 'on' nor 'off' in the nanoworld
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists detect the quantum properties of collective optical-electronic oscillations on the nanoscale. The results could contribute to the development of novel computer chips.