I3MOUNTAINS - Slashdot User

Submission + - Imprisoned Physicist Honored for Refusing to Work on Iran's Nuclear Program (physicscentral.com)

Submitted by I3MOUNTAINS on Monday September 23, 2013 @03:53PM

I3MOUNTAINS writes: Omid Kokabee, a University of Texas graduate student who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than two years, received APS's Andrei Sakharov human rights prize for refusing to collaborate on the country's nuclear program. In May, an Iranian court sentenced him to ten years in prison for "communicating with a hostile government" and receiving "illegal earnings." The so-called "illegal earnings" were the student loans he received while in Texas.

Submission + - Fine structure constant may not be so constant (physicscentral.com)

Submitted by

BuzzSkyline

on Wednesday November 02, 2011 @10:20PM

BuzzSkyline writes: "Physics Buzz is reporting, "Just weeks after speeding neutrinos seem to have broken the speed of light, another universal law, the fine structure constant might be about to crumble." Astronomical observations seem to indicate that the constant, which controls the strength of electromagnetic interactions, is different in distant parts of the universe. Among other things, the paper may explain why the laws of physics in our corner of the universe seem to be finely tuned to support life. The research is so controversial that it took over a year to go from submission to publication in Physical Review Letters, rather than the weeks typical of most other papers appearing in the peer-reviewed journal."

Submission + - NASA: If there was life on Mars, it was likely und (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Wednesday November 02, 2011 @04:13PM

coondoggie writes: "NASA issued a study today that said if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting environments were most likely below the planet's surface. The hypothesis comes from analyzing tons of mineral data gathered over the years from more than 350 sites on Mars gathered by NASA and European Space Agency Mars space probes."

Submission + - The Physics of Jump Rope (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit on Wednesday November 02, 2011 @11:44AM

sciencehabit writes: Last year, Jeffrey Aristoff and Howard Stone, mechanical engineers at Princeton University, were at the gym waiting for a pickup game of basketball. To warm up, Stone started jumping rope. As the rope whizzed over the head of his colleague, Aristoff wondered, "Is it known how jump ropes bend in the wind?" A few literature searches later, he concluded that the answer was, "not really." Now, the two have solved the problem themselves.

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