It’s known that airplane crews at high altitude are exposed to potentially harmful levels of radiation from cosmic rays, but could these cosmic rays pose hazards even at sea level? A new study into these potential terrestrial effects has just been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Study co-author Adrian Melott, professor of physics […]
Astronomers using NASA’s Swift X-ray Telescope have observed a spinning neutron star suddenly slowing down, a never before seen event that is expected to catalyze renewed efforts to better understand the puzzling physics of these bizarre stellar remnants. The star, known as 1E2259 586, is in the Northern Hemisphere sky in the constellation Cassiopeia. The […]
After years of eagerly anticipating its completion, scientists have finally witnessed the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in action at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In a test conducted in the early hours of April 28, a pulse of protons successfully “spalled” neutrons from the nuclei of mercury. Researchers […]
