Atomic magnetometers work by detecting how the energy levels of atoms are modified by an external magnetic field. This is the famous Zeeman effect – a quantum effect whereby the magnetic spin states in an atom split in the presence of an external magnetic field. This interaction between the atomic magnetic moment and external field is used to measure the field. This is normally done by using a pump laser to "polarize" the atoms by populating specific spin states, while a probe laser measures the spin precession, which is proportional to the magnetic field.

Join over 3,700 attendees for four days of scientific research presentations, professional development, networking, exhibits, culture, and community. One of the largest annual gatherings of minority scientists in the country, the interdisciplinary, and interactive SACNAS National Conference motivates and inspires. The SACNAS National Conference supports its diverse membership showcasing cutting-edge science and features mentoring and training sessions. Programming is specifically tailored to support undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and career professionals at each transition stage of their career as they move towards positions of science leadership.

Mission

Sometimes, science can be dramatic, dangerous, and if you survive the adventure: thrilling and invigorating. Not de-emphasizing safety here, just access...to knowledge, and ultimately power and self-determination.

A 16 year old Florida student with good grades, who is described by her principal as a “good kid”, is now facing felony charges for a science experiment gone wrong.²

The AMS results are based on an analysis of some 2.5 × 10¹⁰ events, recorded over a year and a half. Cuts to reject protons, as well as electrons and positrons produced in the interactions of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere, reduce this to around 6.8 × 10⁶ positron and electron events, including 400,000 positrons with energies between 0.5 GeV and 350 GeV. This represents the largest collection of antimatter particles detected in space.

About 7,000 light-years from Earth, an exceptionally massive neutron star that spins around 25 times a second is orbited by a compact, white dwarf star. The gravity of this system is so intense that it offers an unprecedented testing ground for theories of gravity.

Scientists know general relativity, proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915, isn't the complete story. While it does very well describing large, massive systems, it's incompatible with quantum mechanics, which governs the physics of the very small. For something extremely small, yet extremely massive — such as a black hole — the two theories contradict each other, and scientists are left without a physical description.

Rare systems like this binary star pair offer a chance to probe the boundary between the two theories, and search for possible openings toward new physics that could reconcile them.

"We thought this system might be extreme enough to show a breakdown in general relativity, but instead, Einstein's predictions held up quite well," Paulo Freire, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, said in a statement.

Neutrinos are of particular importance to researchers because they have no charge and very little mass. This means they are free to travel through space without having their paths changed due to gravitational or magnetic forces, a trait that makes them very valuable for one day locating their source. The two neutrinos recorded at IceCube (dubbed Bert and Ernie) are of particular relevance because the odds are very good that they came from the far reaches of space, rather than as a by-product of a collision between cosmic rays and Earth's atmosphere—the researchers give it a confidence level of 2.8 sigma—meaning that the two neutrinos are very likely the first detected from outside the solar system since 1987, when detectors recorded neutrinos believed to have come from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Professor Okeke spoke with us about her background and inspiration, the cultural challenges she overcame in achieving success and how she uses her position to encourage and inspire young women scientists in Nigeria.

What challenges did you face, in particular, with regards to the stereotypes of women and the culture in your country, Nigeria, when you decided to get involved in science?

In the past, the core sciences such as physics were regarded as male domains where women were expected not to be seen but to be heard. People used to think that when you get into these core science subjects, like physics, the characteristics that are most worthily accepted for women in our society, including passivity, emotionality, intuition and receptivity would no longer be possessed by that woman. Therefore they fought against women trying to embark on studying these core subjects.

But, my own case was a little different; my father was an old graduate of mathematics who was my mentor, so I did not face that in my family because he was supportive of everything about science. Not only did he encourage me, he was my mentor. He planted and watered the seed of my academic excellence which we are celebrating today. He laboured and inspired my love for science in general, and mathematics in particular. That love for mathematics later metamorphosed into a special love for physics.

He played crucial leadership roles in many projects, particularly in physics related development issues. He was Vice President of the IUPAP, and Chair of the C13 Commission on Physics for Development. He was primarily responsible for bringing to South Africa the iconic ‘Physics for Sustainable Development’ conference in 2005[2] as a part of the International Year of Physics. This conference cast a distinct spotlight on physics as an instrument for development in Africa.

We would like to specifically mention his tremendous contribution to two extremely important projects of the Institute. The first was the highly successful Shaping the Future of Physics, where he contributed to the design of the project and also served as chair of the Management and Policy Committee that oversaw the international review in 2003.

Professor Zingu began his physics career at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He was a materials physicist, and with his collaborators at Cornell University invented a new method to study atomic diffusion by transmission electron microscopy[4]. Later he studied diffusion phase transitions in thin films due to induced thermal stress[5]. He had a period of employment at Turfloop, QwaQwa Campus, then as Head of the Physics Department and later Dean of Basic Sciences (1990-1993) at MEDUNSA. He later returned to UWC and served as Head of the Physics Department (1994-1998), and finally Vice Rector of Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi, Durban until the time of his retirement.

Edmund was a pioneer for physics in post-apartheid South Africa, a visionary, a tireless campaigner for strengthening the discipline of physics* and, above all, a true gentleman. His leadership and contributions were characterized by sensitivity, perceptiveness, vision, ethics, wisdom, global standards and great industry. He will be sorely missed.

Martin Ebner, a doctoral student from the group headed by Vanessa Wood, a professor at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, has been examining the issue of the discharging and charging speed. In order to understand what influences it, he has been researching the microstructure of the electrodes of commercially available and home-made lithium ion batteries. Knowing this also enables us to understand the charging and discharging mechanism better and endeavour to produce optimised electrodes with more efficient batteries in mind.

The experimental breakthrough for studying the structural evolution of organic transistor layers was reported by a joint team of scientists from Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), including first author and CHESS staff scientist Detlef Smilgies. Other collaborators were from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Stanford University.

Their paper, “Look fast – Crystallization of conjugated molecules during solution shearing probed in-situ and in real time by X-ray scattering,” was featured on the March cover of the journal Physica Status Solidi – Rapid Research Letters (Vol. 7, Issue 3).

The coating procedure, called solution shearing, is like the buttering of a slice of toast, Smilgies said: The knife and toast need to be well controlled, as well as the speed that the butter is spread. Their actual materials were a solution of a semiconducting molecule called TIPS pentacene, a silicon wafer kept at a specific temperature for the substrate, and the highly polished edge of a second silicon wafer acting as the knife.

The most-studied fullerene is C₆₀, a roughly spherical molecular shell made of 60 carbon atoms. Two years ago researchers used organic chemistry “surgery” to open C₆₀, insert a water molecule, and seal the incision, creating a structure designated H₂O@C₆₀.

Baoxing Xu and Xi Chen of Columbia University in New York City have now used computer simulations to explore the properties of this structure. Their simulation captures all of the interactions between the carbon atoms and the three atoms of the water molecule. The researchers treated the C₆₀ as a rigid structure, undistorted by its cargo, because the 1-nanometer-diameter cage is so much larger than H₂O. They then placed the simulated H₂O@C₆₀ inside an 8.2-nanometer-diameter carbon nanotube.

The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets.

Two of the newly discovered planets orbit a star smaller and cooler than the sun. Kepler-62f is only 40 percent larger than Earth, making it the exoplanet closest to the size of our planet known in the habitable zone of another star. Kepler-62f is likely to have a rocky composition. Kepler-62e, orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth.

The third planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than the size of Earth, and orbits in the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. Astronomers are uncertain about the composition of Kepler-69c, but its orbit of 242 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our neighboring planet Venus.

Scientists do not know whether life could exist on the newfound planets, but their discovery signals we are another step closer to finding a world similar to Earth around a star like our sun.

Various experiments worldwide have proven this fundament of quantum theory. However, up to now last doubts could not be ruled out completely. Advocates of “local realism,” by which the classical world is governed, refer to several “loopholes” which have been identified in order to save their world view. Now, physicists from the group of Prof. Anton Zeilinger at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Vienna, Austria, have closed an important loophole in photonic experiments which use quantum entanglement to rule out a local realistic explanation of nature.

The work got theoretical support from Dr. Johannes Kofler from the group of Prof. Ignacio Cirac at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany, and experimental assistance from researchers at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig Germany, as well as the National Institute of Standards (NIST) in Boulder, USA. The results are published this week in Nature.

For today, post a marathon that's existed since 1897, I know nothing else to say...for the sad deaths and injury of innocents. Donne seemed appropriate, as we lose forever collectively our innocence.