February 25, 2020
This month PSD researchers have been featured for taking the most detailed images of the sun's surface, creating a new technique to analyze moon rocks, and designing several components for the detectors for the ATLAS experiment.
Voices
- Prof. David Archer comments on GOP plan to plant 3.3 billion trees each year for the next 30 years
- Professor David Awschalom comments on Quantum internet closer as physicists stretch spooky link between atoms
- See also Technology.org
- Professor Robert Rosner discusses the changing world of nuclear energy regulations
- SciTechDaily profiles Dark Energy Survey and how new instrumentation may give the best insight yet into how dark energy has behaved over time
Research
- Researchers propose why sub-Neptunes planets are so abundant
- Scientists discover hidden symmetries, opening new avenues for material design
- Remarkable images from a new telescope enable scientists to measure and characterize the sun’s magnetic field in more detail than ever seen before and determine the causes of potentially harmful solar activity
- See also Chicago Tonight interview with Prof. Rosner
- UChicago chemistry scientists Bozhi Tian and Yin Fang discovered granules of common starch can be the missing ingredient for a composite that mimics tissue that can stretch, heal, and defend itself
- Asst. Prof. Eric Jonas described a new technique for reading nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, opening up new possibilities for chemical analysis and the design of new molecules using a “self-driving spectrometer”
- Leftover Big Bang light helps calculate how massive faraway galaxies are
- Assoc. prof. in geophysical sciences Phillipp Heck and postdoc Jennika Greer are using a new technique called atom probe tomography to learn about the moon’s history, atom by atom
- See also independent.co.uk
- See also UChicago Central News
- The Research Corporation for Science Advancement has selected astronomer Leslie Rogers to receive $100,000 in support of her research on Searching for Water in Distant Worlds: Connecting the Atmospheric and Bulk Compositions of Sub-Neptune-Size Planets
- 2020 Sloan Fellows include two PSD scientists: Raymond Moellering, a chemist who creates innovative tools to address human disease, and Sebastian Hurtado-Salazar, a mathematician who helped prove the long-standing Zimmer conjecture
- Faculty, students, engineers to design several components for the upgraded detector for ATLAS experiment. Advancements made possible with $75M in new funding from NSF and National Science Board
- Computer Science professors Pedro Lopes, Ben Zhao, and Heather Zheng developed wearable defenses against listening devices such as Alexa
- Scientific American mention of 2018 Argonne discovery of a super-cool paint that could be used in space exploration
- Scientific American on how two divergent measurements of how fast the universe is expanding cannot both be right, citing Astronomy Prof. Amy Freedman
- Assoc. Prof. David Schuster and grad students Akash Dixit and Ankur Agrawal are searching for dark matter with quantum computers, one blip of light at a time
- How much carbon is buried deep within Earth? New PME simulation co-authored by by Prof. Galli provides clues
- Misbehaving kaons could hint at the existence of new particles featuring KOTO spokesperson and UChicago physicist Yau Wah
- DUNE project to receive £65M from UK research institutions
- A discovery by chemistry Prof. David Mazziotti and his research team addresses the problem of generating and moving energy efficiently
- See also Xinhua News
Education and Community
- Former UChicago geophysicist C. Kevin Boyce is mentioned in an article about gallery art show featuring art made with mushrooms
- Biophysicist Michael Rust discusses STORM and how the imaging fields delight in catchy acronyms
- Crafoord Prize winner Eugene Parker’s contributions to solar astronomy are explained in A Solar Science Timeline
- Whitehouse earmarks new money for A.I. and quantum computing. David Awschalom comments on Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., to get funding to explore advanced encryption technology
- First Veteran Undergraduates on Adjusting to University Life and PSD Academics
- Profile of physicist Reina Reyes, former UChicago postdoc, on returning to The Philippines to work in applied physics and run a blog intended to inspire young science students
- AAS has announced their new Fellows program, kicking it off with an initial group of 200 Legacy Fellows. Astronomy Professors John Carlstrom, Wendy Freedman, and Michael Turner named AAS Legacy Fellows.