Archive by category | Physics & Mathematics

European Research Council funds arXiv — a taste of changes to come

European Research Council funds arXiv — a taste of changes to come

The European Research Council (ERC) announced today that it has joined the list of more than 170 institutions to financially support arXiv, the major online repository for pre-print papers operated by Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York.  Read more

Europe picks a neutrino machine

According to a new prioritization, the Neutrino Factory, a proposed multi-billion euro facility, is the best long-term European option for testing whether neutrinos and antineutrinos behave differently, a step toward understanding why the universe contains primarily matter instead of antimatter.  Read more

Canadian accelerator produces a city’s-worth of medical isotopes overnight

Canadian accelerator produces a city’s-worth of medical isotopes overnight

The looming problem of a global medical isotope shortage is one step closer to a solution. A Canadian team has developed an upgrade that allows hospital cyclotrons to make a much-needed diagnostic tracer, and has proven it can pump out enough overnight to fulfil a city’s needs the next day.  Read more

Mathematics prize ups the ante to $1 million

Mathematics prize ups the ante to $1 million

A billionaire businessman from Dallas, Texas, has sweetened the pot for a number theory prize that has remained unclaimed for 16 years. After putting up $5,000 in 1997 for a solution to the Beal conjecture, upped to $100,000 in 2000, Andrew Beal has now raised the stakes yet again to US$1 million, the American Mathematical Society announced today.  Read more

Stephen Hawking’s ‘boycott’ of Israeli conference not due to health reasons

Physicist Stephen Hawking’s confirmation that he will not be attending a conference in Israel has re-ignited long-simmering debate over boycotts of the country by some researchers. But the University of Cambridge insists the decision was taken on medical grounds.  Read more

US frees Iranian scientist accused of illegal trade

Sayed Mojtaba Atorodi, a professor of electrical engineering at Teheran’s Sharif University of Technology who was held in prison in the United States since 7 December 2011, was released and returned to Iran on 27 April, according to the Iranian government-funded PressTV.  Read more

Further proof for controversial quantum computer

Is the world’s only commercial quantum computer really a quantum device, or a just regular computer in disguise? Controversy has long swirled around the computer produced by D-Wave, a company based near Vancouver, Canada. Now a paper published on the arXiv preprint server takes a step forward in showing that it really does operate on a quantum level.  Read more