(Hat tip: Phantoms and Monsters.) One of the questions posed in these experiments is why Antimatter is so rare. It was created when particles collided at the dawn of the universe, creating Matter and Antimatter (explained here and here). Researchers assert that there is no mirror Antimatter universe. Therefore, in their estimation, half the cosmos is missing. Scientists are seeking to verify that Antimatter particles would behave consistently if they were in a mirror universe with reversed charges and were moving backwards through time:Scientists have trapped and stored antihydrogen atoms for a record 16 minutes, a stunning technical feat that promises deeper insights into the mysteries of anti-matter. ... We can keep the antihydrogen atoms trapped for 1,000 seconds. This is long enough to begin to study them -- even with the small number that we can catch so far," said Jeffrey Hangst, spokesman for the ALPHA team conducting the tests at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. In the study, published in the journal Nature Physics, researchers report trapping some 300 antiatoms. Scientists used CERN's high-energy accelerator to create the antihydrogen atoms, and then chilled them to near-zero temperatures. The aim is to use laser and microwave spectroscopy to compare the immobilised particles to their hydrogen counterparts.
For other reports, go here, here, here and here. CERN has a public page explaining Antimatter here. The original article at Nature Physics is here.Antimatter is a puzzle because it should have been produced in equal amounts with normal matter during the Big Bang that created the universe 13.7 billion years ago. Today, however, there is no evidence of antimatter galaxies or clouds, and antimatter is seen rarely and for only short periods, for example during some types of radioactive decay before it annihilates in a collision with normal matter.
Hence the desire to measure the properties of antiatoms in order to determine whether their electromagnetic and gravitational interactions are identical to those of normal matter. One goal is to check whether antiatoms abide by CPT symmetry, as do normal atoms. CPT (charge-parity-time) symmetry means that a particle would behave the same way in a mirror universe if it had the opposite charge and moved backward in time. “Any hint of CPT symmetry breaking would require a serious rethink of our understanding of nature,” said Jeffrey Hangst of Aarhus University in Denmark, spokesperson for the ALPHA experiment. “But half of the universe has gone missing, so some kind of rethink is apparently on the agenda.”
Global trade and mass communication and travel during and after the Cold War created a new world society riddled with psychological tension as radically different cultures collided. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the world's bogeymen were painted with different political stripes. Communists. Spies. Guerrillas. Terrorists. In the 1970s and 1980s, cult horror combined vivid memories of battlefield carnage in Vietnam with soul-searching best captured by Catholic fears of apocalypse, exorcisms and Antichrists. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the fear of the unknown aggressor coursed through novels and films in the form of 'the stranger you know next door' stories. A neo-noir culture simmered against a backdrop of real-world drug wars, gangland violence and inner-city crime waves. By the mid-to-late 1990s, that tension resolved itself in fear of the government and conspiracy theories about high-level cover-ups alien invaders. 9/11 gave the world a new bogeyman in the form of Osama bin Laden. And now the bogeyman is gone, but the fear remains.Recently released WikiLeaks documents have revealed some troubling – but not entirely unexpected – news concerning terrorist leader Osama bin Laden’s death. Evidently, Al Qaeda members detained at the Guantanamo Bay Prison have predicted that there may very well be be nuclear reprisals for the U.S.’s killing of bin Laden.
Abu al-Libi, the terrorist network’s third in command prior to his capture in 2005, told authorities that a nuclear device located somewhere in Europe would be detonated in retaliation for bin Laden’s death. Fellow detainee Sharif al-Masri added that, if Al Qaeda is able to move the bomb to the United States, it would find someone of European, Arab or Asian descent to ensure it would go off.
Many of the workers went as long as 10 days straight without a bath or proper rest after March 11. They also witnessed the hydrogen explosions nearby "and testified that they were prepared for death," according to Tanigawa. "Their level of stress is something unimaginable," he said, adding that psychological care will be necessary for their posttraumatic stress.Consider, then, the bravery of elderly people, retired nuclear engineers, who are volunteering to work at the plant and continue to control the situation once the current workers flag. From a Time report:
With all the blame being tossed between generations in the online media these days, it's hard to imagine a parallel sentiment regarding inter-generational responsibility, duty and sacrifice being expressed in the West.But lest anyone think that Japan's growing coterie of elderly doesn't contribute to society, a newly formed group called the Skilled Veterans Corps shows just how vital pensioners are to rebuilding a nation still reeling from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Composed of nearly 250 retired engineers and other professionals as of June 1, the group is volunteering to tread where few dare to go: the forbidden zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is still leaking radiation after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the facility. Skilled Veterans Corps was founded by Yasuteru Yamada, a 72-year-old retired engineer who believes that it is the older segment of society that should expose itself to potentially deadly radiation, thereby protecting younger Japanese from long-term health risks. “Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop,” Yamada told the BBC. “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live.”
The stoicism and selflessness with which Japanese have dealt with this year's natural disasters have been remarkable to behold. But nowhere is the collective, sacrificial spirit greater than among Japan's elderly. They, more than younger Japanese, remember what it was like when Japan was not yet a rich, comfortable nation. Many, like Yamada, are determined to contribute whatever they can to return their country to normal. “Our generation who has, consciously or unconsciously, approved the construction of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and enjoyed the benefits of the vast supply of electricity generated… should be the first to join the Skilled Veteran Corps to install or repair the [Fukushima plant's damaged] cooling system,” says a mission statement on the group's new website. “This is the duty of our generation to the next generation and the one thereafter." ... So far the elderly volunteers have not gotten permission from the government to enter the nuclear no-go zone. But the dangers at the Fukushima plant, where three reactors have most likely suffered meltdowns, show little sign of abating. Plant operator Tepco announced earlier this week that yet two more workers, one in his 30s and another in his 40s, may have been exposed to radiation levels surpassing maximum government limits. (The current maximum of 250 millisieverts is already more than double the previous ceiling of 100 millisieverts.)
As a Gen X commenter, I am not going to join that chorus. I am not going to walk the path my predecessors walked, and slam the generations coming up behind me. Anyway, there are signs that this knee-jerk assumption about how people now in their teens and early twenties engage with technology is not entirely correct.Researchers found 79 per cent of students subjected to a complete media blackout for just one day reported adverse reactions ranging from distress to confusion and isolation.
Teenagers spoke of overwhelming cravings while others reported symptoms such as ‘itcing’ which is a familiar sensation for drug addicts fighting to break an addiction.
Some even reported bulimia like symptoms where they would deprive themselves of their phones or laptops so they could binge for hours at a time later.
The study, focused on students aged between 17 and 23 in ten countries. Researchers banned them from using phones, social networking sites, the internet and TV for 24 hours.
They were allowed to use landline phones or read books and were asked to keep a diary.
One in five reported feelings of withdrawal like an addiction while 11 per cent said they were confused or felt like a failure. Nearly one in five (19 per cent) reported feelings of distress and 11 per cent felt isolated. Just 21 per cent said they could feel the benefits of being unplugged.
Some students even reported stress from simply not being able to touch their phone.
One participant reported: “I am an addict. I don’t need alcohol, cocaine or any other derailing form of social depravity.
“Media is my drug; without it I was lost.’
Another wrote: ‘I literally didn’t know what to do with myself. Going down to the kitchen to pointlessly look in the cupboards became regular routine, as did getting a drink.”
Happy Lunar New Year! Come on over to Patreon and Substack , where I am sharing selections from my new novel in progress, Vampire Daddy. ...
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