Quanta Magazine reporter Thomas Lewton writes that a new study co-authored by Prof. Frank Wilczek explores how gravitons may create “noise” that could be identified by gravitational wave detectors. “There’s a kind of default consensus that it’s a waste of time to think about quantum effects and gravitational radiation,” said Wilczek. “There’s nothing like actual experimental results to focus the attention.”
Gizmodo reporter George Dvorsky writes about how researchers from MIT and other institutions have detected the corona of a supermassive black hole disappearing and then reappearing. Dvorsky writes that their findings suggest this “strange episode was caused by a runaway star.”
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with Richard Webb at New Scientist about shifting his focus from cosmology to “intelligence, both human and artificial.” “It was very natural for me to gravitate to the biggest unsolved mystery that’s sort of coming within range,” says Tegmark. “We are able to see things with telescopes that our ancestors could never see, and the same thing is happening now with the mind.”
Prof. Emeritus Daniel Freedman has been awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work devising the theory of supergravity, reports Philip Ball for Scientific American. Freedman notes that the award, “takes the cake—it is the cap of my long career.”
Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane reports that Prof. Emeritus Daniel Freedman has been named a recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his discovery of supergravity. “The discovery of supergravity was the beginning of including quantum variables in describing the dynamics of spacetime,” explains Edward Witten, chairman of the selection committee.
Larry Edelman at The Boston Globe reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has completed its first round of venture financing with a total of $115 million. “CFS is working with the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT to develop what it hopes will be the first commercial system that creates power using nuclear fusion,” writes Edelman.
Jonathan Shieber of TechCrunch reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup collaborating with MIT, has raised an additional $50 million toward its efforts to develop a commercial fusion reactor. “Commonwealth Fusion expects to have its smallest possible reactor built by 2025 thanks to the research that MIT has done on proprietary magnet technology that the company uses to confine its nuclear reaction,” writes Shieber.
Researchers from a number of institutions, including MIT, are exploring the feasibility of cold fusion, reports Steven Salzberg for Forbes. The researchers explained that while they were unable to successfully produce cold fusion, their exploration of this topic “is likely to have a substantial impact on future energy technologies.”
On Science Friday, Prof. David Kaiser speaks with Ira Flatow and Annie Minoff about Albert Michelson, a physicist who was known for his work trying to detect evidence of the luminiferous ether, the hypothetical matter that for years scientists believed light traveled through.
MIT researchers have found that the universe’s first stars exploded in an aspherical manner, spewing heavy metals into the universe, reports Rachel Cromwell for Scientific American. “This is a beautiful paper,” says Volker Bromm of the University of Texas at Austin, noting that this type of stellar sleuthing is possible only with very high-quality data.
National Geographic reporter Michael Greshko writes about a new effort by researchers from a number of institutions, including MIT, to reassess the possibility of cold fusion. Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang explains that he hopes to be able to create a “‘reference experiment’ for other labs to also advance research into lower-energy nuclear physics.”
MIT alumnus Murray Gell-Mann, a pioneering physicist who “helped make sense of the very small,” died at the age of 89, reports George Dvorsky for Gizmodo. Dvorsky writes that Gell-Mann will be remembered for “bringing order to the chaotic field of particle physics, and for coining the term ‘quark.’”
The Associated Press memorializes the life and work of Murray Gell-Mann, an MIT alumnus who “transformed physics by devising a method for sorting subatomic particles into simple groups of eight.”
MIT alumnus Murray Gell-Mann, a Nobel laureate known for his work conceiving the idea of quarks, died on May 24, reports Martin Weil for The Washington Post. Gell-Mann, who earned a doctorate in physics at MIT, was a “pioneer in the development of what is called the ‘standard model’ of particle physics, a guide to the fundamental behavior of the constituents of the universe.”
Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle speaks with Bloomberg columnist Faye Flam about the recently redefined standard of measurement for the kilogram and the importance of making the change understandable to the general public. “Not everyone is explaining the new kilogram as a quantity of light, but MIT physicist Wolfgang Ketterle makes a convincing case that this is the best and simplest way to understand it,” writes Flam.