news 2018

International scientists are one step closer to answering the most fundamental question of our existence, 'why are we here'', as part of a global collaboration involving UCL researchers. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is led by scientists at CERN, Switzerland and Fermilab, USA, and is dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of neutrinos, the most abundant and most mysterious matter particles in the universe.

Some of the last data from the Cassini mission reveals more structure in Saturn's magnetic field, but still no answer as to how it formed. NASA's Cassini mission - with Imperial kit on board - took a series of daring dives between the planet and its inmost ring in September 2017 before burning up in the planet's atmosphere.

A Star Trek- inspired handheld device based on a silicon chip could help make rapid, sophisticated medical diagnostics more accessible to people around the world, scientists say. In a new paper published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics , researchers from the Universities of Glasgow describe the latest development in their 'multicorder' project, inspired by Star Trek's famous tricorder device, which the show's medics use to make quick and accurate diagnoses.

Five years on from discovering the Higgs boson, an international team, including scientists from the University of Birmingham, has discovered a brand new heavy particle at the LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The new particle, named Xi-cc++ (pronounced Ksī-CC plus-plus), is part of a family of "doubly charmed baryons" that are predicted to exist by the Standard Model theory of particle physics, but this is the first time scientists have been able to confirm their existence.

Six years after its discovery, the Higgs boson has at last been observed decaying to fundamental particles known as bottom quarks. The finding, presented this week at CERN by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is consistent with the hypothesis that the all-pervading quantum field behind the Higgs boson also gives mass to the bottom quark.

A system made of just a handful of particles acts just like larger systems, allowing scientists to study quantum behaviour more easily. Most substances physicists study are made up of huge numbers of particles - so large that there is essentially no difference between the behavioural properties of a drop or a swimming pool's worth of pure water.

UCL particle physicists are celebrating that the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has - at long last - observed the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of bottom (b) quarks. The elusive interaction is predicted to make up almost 60% of the Higgs boson decays. "Finding the Higgs in its favoured decay channel was one of the key missing items in our knowledge of the Higgs boson.

Using a single pixel camera and Terahertz electromagnetic waves, a team of Physicists at the University of Sussex have devised a blueprint which could lead to the development of airport scanners capable of detecting explosives.

Electrons have been successfully accelerated at CERN using a wave generated by protons zipping through plasma, report UCL scientists as part of the AWAKE collaboration. The achievement paves the way for an entirely new range of particle physics experiments at higher energies and lower cost.

For the second time this summer, University of Glasgow physicists are celebrating a groundbreaking new measurement of the Higgs boson from the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This time, they have observed the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of bottom (b) quarks. Professor Aidan Robson, who leads the University of Glasgow's team on this analysis work, explained, "Our theory of particle physics - the 'Standard Model' - predicts that most Higgs bosons should decay to b-quarks.

Babies who show lower levels of brain activity in response to social stimuli such as peek-a-boo are more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to research involving UCL. Academics from Birkbeck, University of London, University of Cambridge, King's College London and UCL used neuroimaging technology (functional near infrared spectroscopy - fNIRS) to measure the brain activity of infants aged four to six months, contrasting infants who have increased familial likelihood of developing ASD with those without a family link to ASD.

20 August 2018 An international team of researchers led by the University of Bristol have demonstrated that light can be used to implement a multi-functional quantum processor. This small device can be used as a scientific tool to perform a wide array of quantum information experiments, while at the same time showing the way to how fully functional quantum computers might be engineered from large scale fabrication processes.

Some of the faintest satellite galaxies orbiting our own Milky Way galaxy are amongst the very first that formed in our Universe, physicists have found. Findings by a team of academics, including physicists Professor Carlos Frenk and Dr Alis Deason from the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) at Durham University and Dr Sownak Bose from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in America, suggest that galaxies including Segue-1, Bootes I, Tucana II and Ursa Major I are over 13 billion years old.

To tame chaos in powerful semiconductor lasers, which causes instabilities, scientists have introduced another kind of chaos. High-powered semiconductor lasers are used in materials processing, biomedical imaging and industrial research, but the emitted light they produce is affected by instabilities, making it incoherent.

A new type of energy storage system could revolutionise energy storage and drop the charging time of electric cars from hours to seconds. In a new paper published today , chemists from the University of Glasgow discuss how they developed a flow battery system using a nano-molecule that can store electric power or hydrogen gas giving a new type of hybrid energy storage system that can be used as a flow battery or for hydrogen storage.

A new form of electronics manufacturing which embeds silicon nanowires into flexible surfaces could lead to radical new forms of bendable electronics, scientists say. In a new paper published today in the journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering, engineers from the University of Glasgow describe how they have for the first time been able to affordably 'print' high-mobility semiconductor nanowires onto flexible surfaces to develop high-performance ultra-thin electronic layers.

Researchers have found a way to accelerate antimatter in a 1000x smaller space than current accelerators, boosting the science of exotic particles. The new method could be used to probe more mysteries of physics, like the properties of the Higgs boson and the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and provide more sensitive testing of aircraft and computer chips.

Scientists found that relatively slow electrons are produced when intense lasers interact with small clusters of atoms, upturning current theories. Intense laser cluster interactions occur when small clusters of atoms, nanometres (billionths of a metre) in size, are struck with intense lasers. This happens, for example, when imaging biomedical samples on ultrafast timescales.

8 August 2018 Adults in their early 60s, who spend less time sitting and more time engaged in light to vigorous physical activity, benefit with healthier levels of heart and vessel disease markers, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, and the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

The severity of drought conditions during the demise of the Maya civilisation about one thousand years ago has been quantified, representing another piece of evidence that could be used to solve the longstanding mystery of what caused the downfall of one of the ancient world's great civilisations. The role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilisation is somewhat controversial, partly because previous records are limited to qualitative reconstructions.