Tag Archives: Defy

Ultra-Cold Atoms Defy Entropy and Resist Heating Up

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Some atoms simply refuse to follow entropy

Shutterstock / Mendin

Repeated energization of vast collections of atoms should result in the disruption of their established structures, yet quantum effects appear to resist these changes.

The expected outcome for a physical system is “thermalization,” where everything becomes hot and eventually turns into a puddle of water. Intuitively, one might think that continuously throwing rocks at a sculpture would accelerate this process. Hanns-Christoph Negerl and his team at the University of Innsbruck in Germany conducted experiments that mimic this notion using some of the coldest atoms on Earth, but they observed no heating.

“We anticipated witnessing the opposite,” Negerl shares. The researchers utilized roughly 100,000 cesium atoms, cooling them down to billionths of absolute zero through laser and electromagnetic pulses. At this chilling temperature, atomic behavior becomes entirely quantum. They arranged the atoms in numerous single-layer tubes and employed additional laser pulses to “kick” them repeatedly.

These kicks were intended to provide the atoms with extra energy, which should have resulted in heating and varying speeds. However, team member Yanliang Guo reported that they observed no such changes, regardless of the kick intensity or the adjustments made to the interactions between atoms. The atoms continued to display remarkably similar speeds, behaving as if they were “frozen” within a singular quantum state.

The concept of quantum particles generating heat isn’t new, tracing back to the 1950s. The timing of such occurrences has long been a topic of debate among physicists. Team member Manuele Landini noted that while previous experiments revealed mechanisms for heating atoms, this current investigation may have unveiled novel physics by exploring an alternate range of parameters.

The mathematical framework explaining these phenomena is complex and often contradictory. Adam Ranson from the University of Lille in France commented that calculating whether interacting atoms will heat up is quite challenging, often resulting in researchers simplifying equations to two or three atoms. There exists a theory suggesting that the quantum states of highly interactive atoms can align in a manner that prevents energy absorption, but Ranson believes this picture remains incomplete.

Experiments like those conducted recently act as quantum simulators capable of deeper insights, although Rançon emphasized that further exploration of kick strengths and interactions is still needed.

Robert Connick at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York has been developing mathematical models relevant to such experiments that project the unusual behavior of atoms. He posits that discovering systems resistant to energy absorption could inspire new developments in quantum technologies, offering a stable quantum state for long-term reliable detection or data storage. “Thermalization poses a significant threat to maintaining quantum effects,” he explains.

Researchers are already planning follow-up experiments to align atoms in thicker tubes, manipulate different tubes, and investigate the possibility of “freezing” their speeds.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Expansive Bubbles Surrounding the Dying Star Defy Comprehension

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Gas bubbles surrounding red supergiant DFK 52

Alma/Mark Siebert et al. 2025

A dying star is shedding a massive sphere of dust and gas approximately half the size of our solar system. Astronomers are puzzled by this phenomenon as there’s no known process capable of producing such an extensive amount of material from a single star.

Red supergiants are the universe’s largest stars, representing the final stages of a massive star that has exhausted most of its fuel before it eventually goes supernova. During this brief phase, the star expands rapidly, releasing copious amounts of gas and dust and forming bubbles around it.

Mark Siebert from the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden and his colleagues found that the red supergiant star DFK 52 possesses the largest known environment for such celestial bodies, creating a bubble 50,000 times wider than the distance between Earth and the Sun. Curiously, these stars are relatively dim, suggesting they have less energy than what would typically be needed to generate such a vast debris field. “I can’t ascertain how I can disperse so much material in that timeframe,” Siebert remarks.

Previously, DFK 52 had been observed by various telescopes, allowing astronomers to conclude that it expelled a normal quantity of gas. However, when Siebert and his team used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, they detected light at longer wavelengths from older, much cooler materials.

“It reveals an extensive environment around DFK 52 with a very complex geometry that’s not entirely understood yet,” Siebert explains. “We don’t grasp the precise structure, but we acknowledge its immense scale.”

Similar to the intricate flow of bubbles throughout the structure, Siebert and his team observed ring-like formations at the core of the overall sphere, expanding at approximately 30 kilometers per second. They estimate that this activity likely stemmed from a significant event that occurred around 4,000 years ago, potentially key to understanding how the star generated so much material.

Location of DFK 52 observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope

NASA/JPL-CALTECH/IPAC

A potential explanation for the extensive environment is that these stars may have briefly increased in brightness and then dramatically faded, although red supergiants are not typically known for such fluctuations, according to Siebert. Alternatively, another star may be orbiting a larger star, stripping material from DFK 52, but this would likely result in a more symmetrical bubble, Siebert asserts. “It is evident that some additional energy sources must contribute to this phenomenon, but we remain uncertain about what they are,” he comments.

“The explosion won’t alter the star’s overall evolution, but it may significantly influence the future appearances of supernovas,” says Emma Beads from John Moores University, Liverpool, UK. “This is an intriguing development that enhances our understanding of unusual supernovae.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Ancient molluscs challenge our stereotypes: punk and emo fossils defy conventional perceptions

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Digital model of an ancient mollusk punk ferox and emo swirl, Created from X-ray scans of fossils

Sutton et al. Nature (2025)

Two prehistoric marine mollusk fossils with distinctive spiky 'hairstyles' have been discovered and named. punk and Emotional.

Its strange appearance highlights the ancient diversity of molluscs, which today include creatures such as snails, slugs, clams, and octopuses.

“Some people may have a bit of a soft spot for molluscs. My partner called them loser animals, but they are one of the really important areas of life.” he says. mark sutton At Imperial College London.

He and his colleagues unearthed artifacts dating back 430 million years at a British site known as . herefordshire lagerstedt.

The fossil, from a group of molluscs known as Aculifera, was so delicate that researchers couldn't simply crack open the stone it contained.

Instead, Sutton and his colleagues use X-ray scans to identify structures inside rocks, slice the material thinly and photograph each layer, and combine the images to show what living things might look like. A 3D image was created. Both were earthworm-like animals with long spines about 2 centimeters long.

Sutton said the music-related nickname was originally a pet name. The name stuck and was officially proposed because the spike-laden fossil was reminiscent of the hairstyle of the punk rock movement. punk ferox and emo swirl.


“The spikes are probably primarily for protection,” Sutton said, but it's also possible that the spikes formed because the creatures needed to remove calcium buildup in their bodies while living in the ocean. be. In many cases, he says, such hard protrusions can serve both purposes.

Researchers don't quite understand how punk The specimen was moved, but the specimen emo It is preserved in a folded state, suggesting that it increments like a caterpillar. emo It also had many sturdy downward-pointing spines on its back, which may have acted as ratchets to aid movement, Sutton said.

These spines would have stopped it from sliding backwards in the sediment as it turned, ensuring it moved forward, he says. “This inching has never really been shown in any fossils before,” Sutton said.

“I love the name; it fits these spiky mollusks,” he says. luke parry at Oxford University. “Molluscan fossils that preserve soft tissue like this are extremely rare, so seeing in 3D what these rare and ancient animals looked like is truly spectacular. It’s like a treasure trove, like the Pompeii of insect-eating molluscs.”

He agrees that the spikes were likely primarily for protection, since both species were definitely moving around on the ocean floor rather than burrowing.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Defy the odds, create your own path, and achieve unprecedented success

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art kreiskorn
Contributor

Tatchapong “Art” Climbing Cone Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Amity. Art earned her MBA from Cambridge University, where she worked for five years at IBM.

have something in common A story that repeats itself in the tech industry. A fast-growing startup emerges with a breakthrough concept, succeeds in raising incredible VC funding, and rockets to unicorn status. The company then fails to achieve sustainable profits and falls from glory within a few years (or even months). Despite a relative slowdown in VC activity, that story has continued over the last year, and usually reaches the same conclusion.
90% of startups fail 10% of them die within a year.

The numbers paint a grim picture, but one thing we know as innovators is that every challenge has a unique solution. Often, what holds entrepreneurs back is not money, but rather rapid growth and an over-obsession with flashy technology. This leads to neglecting to solve core business challenges and ultimately leads to a lack of stability and long-term profitability. Before investing in an attractive technology product, it is important to change this approach and prioritize providing reproducible solutions to relevant problems.

Suppose your objective is to introduce an innovative solution to a new niche problem in a way never seen before in the market. In that case, you don’t have to be bold. You need to be bold enough to believe in the company’s clairvoyance, and know enough about your field to maintain that level of confidence even to your face. A strong headwind.

Here’s how to start your own category to solve a niche problem

Identify your unique value proposition

When faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges or unexpected investments, the most important thing is to remain true to the company’s mission.

The most loved and valued companies have built categories that didn’t exist because they offer solutions that other companies can’t even imagine. There’s a reason Apple remains the most valuable company on the planet. The advent of iPhone happened when the user had to carry her iPod, mobile phone, laptop and planner separately. For the first time, a device has appeared that allows him to achieve all these items in one device.

Compare this to products like Threads. Threads is a simple modification of existing products. Unable to retain users. A sales pitch that says, “We’re offering the same product that’s already on the market, but with a few changes,” is much weaker than, “This is a solution that didn’t exist before.” In my career helping brands connect with their communities on platforms, I’ve seen this strategy yield greater benefits than copying existing solutions.

In 2018-2019, I began a journey to take on traditional social giants and provide an alternative way for brands to develop brand-centric communities online. At the time, Facebook had some notorious scandals regarding the misuse of personal data. Amity has set out on a mission to improve and democratize social networks, with the goal of building better social networks that foster active user interaction while respecting the privacy of user data.

Source: techcrunch.com