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An event showing four muons (red tracks) from a proton-proton collision in ATLAS. This event is consistent with two Z particles decaying into two muons each. Such events are produced by Standard Model processes without Higgs particles. They are also a possible signature for Higgs particle production, but many events must be analysed together in order to tell if there is a Higgs signal.

Image: CERN

Issue no. 43, 2011 Published: Dec 16, 2011
Scientists home in on missing link of physics
Fastest ever camera captures light in a flash
NASA develops space harpoon to take samples from comets
New ink prints graphene electronics
Germany reaching out to young green scientists
Cotton fabric cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight
Driverless car: Google awarded US patent for technology
New material could create technicolour dreamcoat

Scientists home in on missing link of physics
Scientists said on Tuesday they had found signs of the Higgs boson, an elementary sub-atomic particle believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe after the Big Bang. The existence of the particle was first proposed by Peter Higgs in 1964 as the missing link of a grand theory of matter and energy. The leaders of two experiments, Atlas and CMS, revealed their findings to a packed seminar at the CERN physics research centre near Geneva, where they have tried to find traces of the elusive boson by smashing particles together at near light-speed in the Large Hadron Collider. Under what is known as the Standard Model of Physics, the boson is posited to have been the agent that gave mass and energy to matter after the creation of the universe 13.7 billion years ago. Its discovery would fill the last remaining hole in the model. However, that does not mean it must exist, and some eminent physicists believe it does not. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is designed to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang to allow particles such as the Higgs boson to be found and studied. While the boson's discovery would cement current knowledge about particles such as electrons and photons, proof that it does not exist would undermine the foundations of accepted theories of the make-up of the universe. The particle is so short-lived that it can only be detected from the particles that it decays into. In the course of millions of collisions, the scientists are hunting for a significant excess of a particular combination of decay particles. Although they are now converging on a particular profile for the Higgs, they will need another year's worth of such collisions to rule out a statistical fluke.
Yahoo / Reuters Dec 14, 2011	back to top

Fastest ever camera captures light in a flash
Photographers normally use a flash to freeze quick-moving subjects, but now a team at MIT have created a camera so fast that it can video a flash of light itself. The camera records one trillion exposures per second, enough to capture a pulse of light passing through a bottle in slow-motion. Its narrow-slit aperture can only capture a thin line of each scene in one go, but combining the camera with a revolving mirror system allows it to record multiple lines and build up a full picture. This unusual requirement means the camera is only suitable for capturing scenes in which the same action is repeated over and over. The light passes through the bottle in a nanosecond but it takes an hour to build up enough image data, which is then stitched together to produce the final video. The new technique is unlikely to find its way into consumer cameras. But it could be used for medical and industrial imaging, since capturing a single pulse of light lets you watch how it scatters off different objects and reveals information about a material's properties.
New Scientists Dec 14, 2011	back to top

NASA develops space harpoon to take samples from comets
NASA is developing a harpoon capable of taking samples from comets. The space agency has already built a prototype capable of launching test harpoon tips across a distance of 1.6km. The engineers believe it would be safer to collect comet material using the equipment rather than trying to land on the celestial bodies. Comets are made up of frozen chunks of ice, gas and dust. They orbit the sun and, if they are close enough to the star, project a tail in the opposite direction made up of ionised gases. Particle samples recovered by NASA's Stardust mission in 2002 were found to include an amino acid, glycine, which is used by living organisms to create proteins. The agency said the discovery supported the theory that some of life's ingredients had formed in space and had been delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts. To gather more material, the agency is developing a sample-collecting space harpoon which could be projected 'with surgical precision' from a spacecraft hovering above the target. Experts said this would avoid the risk of trying to anchor the craft to a comet's rugged surface. Engineers have built a trial harpoon that is 180cm tall. The bow is made out of a pair of springs normally used to provide the suspension for trucks. The bow string is made out of steel cable half an inch thick. It can fire projectiles at speeds of more than 30 m/s. The scientists are also developing a hollow harpoon tip to contain a sample chamber in which the gathered material would be stored.
BBC News Dec 14, 2011	back to top

New ink prints graphene electronics
A new ink based on graphene has been used to print high-performance, transparent, thin-film transistors and interconnects. The ink was invented by researchers at the UK's University of Cambridge, who say that the work could lead to better printed electronics, including flexible displays, solar cells and electronic paper. Inkjet printing is one of the best ways of making large amounts of plastic electronics, and a variety of components, such as transistors, photovoltaic devices, organic light-emitting diodes and displays, can be fabricated using this technique. Inkjet printing is also simple and only has a few processing steps. The technique has been used to print thin-film transistors based on organic and semiconducting inks. However, these devices do not offer the same performance and reliability as standard silicon-based electronics. Now, the Cambridge team have developed an ink based on graphene - sheets of carbon just one atom thick with unique electronic and mechanical properties. The ink is made by separating graphene flakes from pieces of graphite in a liquid. The process begins with treating the flakes in a sonic bath containing the solvent N-methylpyrrolidone. The flakes are then left to settle for a few minutes. Next, the team decants the dispersions and centrifuges the samples to filter out any flakes bigger than 1 µm across that might clog the printer nozzle. The ink can then be used to print electronic devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) on a variety of substrates, including silicon dioxide and quartz. The first TFTs printed using this ink already seem to perform better than state-of-the-art inkjet-printed devices.
PhysicsWorld / arXiv:1111.4970 Dec 09, 2011	back to top

Germany reaching out to young green scientists
Germany has given 20 young scholars from across the globe the chance to carry out research on climate change and sustainability as part of Berlin's push to get 80% of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. Awards were handed out Thursday to the young scientists and engineers from China, India, Brazil, South Africa, the United States and elsewhere in Latin America and Asia. They won the chance to carry out fully funded, three-month research projects in Germany as part of a EUR 2bn government research fund earmarked for research and development of renewable technology. Germany runs cooperation agreements with several nations to support efficiency, renewable energies and environmentally sound urban and industrial development in developing and emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Yahoo / AP Dec 15, 2011	back to top

Cotton fabric cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight
Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing. Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric that does clean itself of stains and bacteria when exposed to ordinary sunlight. The team say their fabric uses a coating made from a compound of titanium dioxide, the white material used in everything from white paint to foods to sunscreen lotions. Titanium dioxide breaks down dirt and kills microbes when exposed to some types of light. It already has found uses in self-cleaning windows, kitchen and bathroom tiles, odour-free socks and other products. Self-cleaning cotton fabrics have been made in the past, the authors note, but they self-clean thoroughly only when exposed to ultraviolet rays. So they set out to develop a new cotton fabric that cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight. Their report describes cotton fabric coated with nanoparticles made from a compound of titanium dioxide and nitrogen. They show that fabric coated with the material removes an orange dye stain when exposed to sunlight. Further dispersing nanoparticles composed of silver and iodine accelerates the discoloration process. The coating remains intact after washing and drying.
R&D Magazine / ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Dec 14, 2011	back to top

Driverless car: Google awarded US patent for technology
A US patent for self-driving cars has been awarded to Google. The intellectual rights relate to a method to switch a vehicle from a human-controlled mode into the state where it takes charge of the wheel. It explains how the car would know when to take control, where it is located and which direction to drive in. Google suggests the technology could be used to offer tours of tourist locations or to send faulty models to repair shops. The application for Transitioning a Mixed-mode Vehicle to Autonomous Mode was applied for in May, but had been hidden from public view until this week. The document describes using two sets of sensors. The first identifies a 'landing strip' when the vehicle stops. This then triggers the second set which receives data informing the machine where it is positioned and where it should go. The landing strip could simply be a mark on the ground, a sign on a wall, or lines or arrows showing where the vehicle should be parked. To detect which landing strip it has been parked at, the car could activate a GPS receiver to find its rough location and then use its sensors to detect trees, foliage or other known landmarks to determine its exact position. Alternatively the car could read a QR code - the popular two-dimensional square barcode - which would have details about the landing strip's location. Telling the car precisely where it has been parked could be crucial to ensuring it knows where to go. Although the technology described may sound fanciful, Google has been testing a fleet of driverless cars for several years. The vehicles combine artificial intelligence with the firm's Google Street View maps as well as video cameras and a range of sensors.
BBC News Dec 15, 2011	back to top

New material could create technicolour dreamcoat
If you've ever dreamed of having a technicolour dreamcoat, a new colour-changing material could make it possible. Developed researchers at Cambridge University, the polymer changes colour with viewing angle or when stretched. When light is shined through a superthin sample, bending the material causes it to change hue. The polymer contains an arrangement of tiny spheres that mimic a crystal structure, causing colour changes due to diffraction. The effect produced by changing vantage point is controlled by spacing in the lattice and the size of the tiny balls. But colour variations due to stretching, where hues are shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum, are caused by reducing the distance between spheres. According to the developers it is the first material of this type where dyes can be added to complement the colours produced. The team is receiving a lot of interest from fashion designers looking for smart textiles but the material also has many other potential uses, such as for anti-counterfeiting systems.
New Scientist Dec 15, 2011	back to top