21 posts · 20,881 views
The life and times of a female researcher in nuclear physics
nuclear.kelly
21 posts
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- May 16, 2008
- 05:20 PM
- 1,546 views
When acronyms go bad
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
For anyone in my line of work (I realize, of course, that this does not constitute a large fraction of the population), particle detection is of supreme importance. We need to know what reaction products we've made and where they went and with what energy. Specific to our lab, we run many experiments with beams of very heavy particles (like tin) striking targets of much lighter particles (like hydrogen). Typically, beams of light particles will be sent into much heavier targets, and that�........ Read more »
S PAIN, J CIZEWSKI, R HATARIK, K JONES, J THOMAS, D BARDAYAN, J BLACKMON, C NESARAJA, M SMITH, & R KOZUB. (2007) Development of a high solid-angle silicon detector array for measurement of transfer reactions in inverse kinematics. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 261(1-2), 1122-1125. DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2007.04.289
- January 15, 2009
- 04:36 PM
- 1,522 views
Visualizing human chromosomes
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
Now this is cool.A group at RIKEN in Japan have just published a study (subscription required) on visualizing, for the first time in 3D, human chromosomes using coherent x-ray diffraction. Coherent x-ray diffraction (as opposed to your regular old diffraction) utilizes, you guessed it, coherence in the x-ray wavefront. The phase differences of the exiting (scattered) x-rays when they hit a CCD camera behind the object of interest can be used to "map" a three dimensional image of that object's e........ Read more »
Yoshinori Nishino, Yukio Takahashi, Naoko Imamoto, Tetsuya Ishikawa, & Kazuhiro Maeshima. (2009) Three-Dimensional Visualization of a Human Chromosome Using Coherent X-Ray Diffraction. Physical Review Letters, 102(1). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.018101
- October 16, 2008
- 03:35 PM
- 1,464 views
When smashing black holes looks like theoretical nuclear physics
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
A new article out in PRL describes the authors' numerical solutions to the problem of colliding black holes. Not just any black holes, either. Fast ones.In general relativity (Einstein's famous spacetime; see a tutorial here), black holes are the objects so dense, so massive, that they warp spacetime to the point that no light can escape. All manner of strange physics takes place inside of black holes, including the smashing together of particles moving nearly the speed of light (the authors ref........ Read more »
Ulrich Sperhake, Vitor Cardoso, Frans Pretorius, Emanuele Berti, & José A. González. (2008) High-Energy Collision of Two Black Holes. Physical Review Letters, 101(16). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.161101
- March 11, 2008
- 05:14 PM
- 1,301 views
Neutron stars and magnetars
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
Considering my PhD research, I can appreciate the importance of statistics, so when there are only 12 of something - in this case, magnetars - which have been discovered in the entire universe, I can understand why a possible thirteenth is an amazing discovery (a free article may be found here).Neutron stars, objects so dense that they basically can't get any more so (they are supported merely by degenerate neutron pressure), exist throughout the universe. They are typically the remnants of........ Read more »
F Gavriil, M E Gonzalez, E V Gotthelf, V M Kaspi, M A Livingstone, & P M Woods. (2008) Magnetar-like Emission from the Young Pulsar in Kes 75. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1153465
- December 10, 2008
- 02:27 PM
- 1,267 views
Why PhD degrees in astronomy and planetary sciences take so long
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
The citation below is for a preprint (accepted for publication in ApJ) which is the culmination of 16 years worth of observations.Damn.The researchers have essentially confirmed, by examining the orbits of stars exceedingly close to the galactic center (called "S-stars," they are found within one arcsecond of the center), that a massive black hole (about 4 million suns in mass) exists in the center of our own Milky Way. The data were collected over a 16-year span using the European Southern Obse........ Read more »
S. Gillessen, F. Eisenhauer, S. Trippe, T. Alexander, R. Genzel, F. Martins, & T. Ott. (2008) Monitoring Stellar Orbits around the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center. The Astrophysics Journal. DOI: 2008arXiv0810.4674G
- May 22, 2008
- 06:13 PM
- 1,227 views
Congratulations, sir... it's a platypus
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
A large consortium of scientists have successfully mapped the genome of the platypus, one of the strangest creatures on the planet. The BBC news story is here.The platypus is not just physically a strange combination of attributes - the animal displays a mixture of genetic attributes as well, which manifest themselves in its physical appearance, among other things.If anyone has ever seen a platypus skull, they know what I mean.(photo of a platypus skull, on display at the Smithsonian in DC)It tu........ Read more »
Susan Brown. (2008) Top billing for platypus at end of evolution tree. Nature, 453(7192), 138-139. DOI: 10.1038/453138a
- February 5, 2009
- 05:34 PM
- 1,177 views
Letting bacteria work for you
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
In a fascinating paper just published in Physical Review Letters (January of this year), a small research group from the University of Rome describes their elaborate numerical simulations of micromotors (micron-scale gears, essentially) in a chaotic bacterial bath.For some time, microscopic motors, driven by tiny mule-teams of bacteria or other self-propelling entities, have been considered an interesting and plausible way of converting chemical energy to useful mechanical energy. The PRL descr........ Read more »
Luca Angelani, Roberto Di Leonardo, & Giancarlo Ruocco. (2009) Self-Starting Micromotors in a Bacterial Bath. Physical Review Letters, 102(4). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.048104
- June 21, 2011
- 04:44 PM
- 1,171 views
More magic numbers
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
I was alerted to some interesting work by a recent report in the IoP's Physics World magazine. Researchers have finally worked out that there is, in fact, a correlation between group size and quality of research.The paper (available on arxiv and published in Scientometrics, which is apparently the research of... research) took information from a survey of UK universities (and a few French) and determined the "quality vs quantity" of the research output (the "quality" metric is described in more ........ Read more »
Kenna, R., & Berche, B. (2010) Critical mass and the dependency of research quality on group size. Scientometrics, 86(2), 527-540. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0282-9
- May 20, 2011
- 02:10 PM
- 1,169 views
Why carbon-14 is like an old woman
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
Everyone knows that there exist in nature "old women." These "grans," as they are technically referred to, live nearly forever, relentlessly refusing to give up the ghost, stretching their lifetimes out indefinitely. Carbon-14 is one of these, too. As nuclei go, it may be pretty famous, but it's famous because it's anomalous... it lives too long. And a new paper in Physical Review Letters finally explains why (publicly available version here).To get to the crux of it, the issue is the approximat........ Read more »
P. Maris, J. P. Vary, P. Navrátil, W. E. Ormand, H. Nam, & D. J. Dean. (2011) Origin of the Anomalous Long Lifetime of 14C. Physical Review Letters, 106(20), 202502. info:/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.202502
- February 17, 2011
- 02:36 PM
- 1,110 views
Holifield needs your help
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
Below is the text of a letter in support of the continued operation of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Lab. It currently has a dozen signatures attached to it, with more being added daily. If you agree with the letter, consider contacting your representatives and asking them to grant us a fair review.It would be a great tragedy to see the operating budget for the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory cut, as has been pr........ Read more »
Jones, K., Adekola, A., Bardayan, D., Blackmon, J., Chae, K., Chipps, K., Cizewski, J., Erikson, L., Harlin, C., Hatarik, R.... (2010) The magic nature of 132Sn explored through the single-particle states of 133Sn. Nature, 465(7297), 454-457. DOI: 10.1038/nature09048
Beene, J., Bardayan, D., Galindo Uribarri, A., Gross, C., Jones, K., Liang, J., Nazarewicz, W., Stracener, D., Tatum, B., & Varner, R. (2011) ISOL science at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 38(2), 24002. DOI: 10.1088/0954-3899/38/2/024002
- March 12, 2008
- 07:17 PM
- 1,058 views
As for me, I'm unbound
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
A recent article in Physical Review Letters (see the citation below) published by a group of researchers at GANIL reports the detection of "the most neutron-proton unbalanced system presently found." Hydrogen-7. Wow.I won't pick at the details - the experimental group has done an excellent job, despite having used SRIM for their energy loss calculations (SRIM and I don't get along... 30% is not an acceptable error). Seven events is nothing to be sneezed at, nor is the use of ........ Read more »
M Caamaño, D Cortina-Gil, W Mittig, H Savajols, M Chartier, C Demonchy, B Fernández, M Gómez Hornillos, A Gillibert, B Jurado.... (2007) Resonance State in ^{7}H. Physical Review Letters, 99(6). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.062502
- April 3, 2008
- 01:28 PM
- 1,043 views
Drummer chimps
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
A new story on NPR discusses some recent research following a specific tribe of chimpanzees in Senegal.The chimps have been observed creating spears from tree branches, as well as drumming rhythmically on hollow trees to attract possible mates and intimidate rivals. Additionally, chimps in Senegal have also been observed using caves for shelter.The anthropologist involved in the research, along with a photographer companion, followed the band of chimpanzees for weeks, foregoing even a change of ........ Read more »
WC McGrew, JD Pruetz, & SJ Fulton. (2005) Chimpanzees Use Tools to Harvest Social Insects at Fongoli, Senegal. Folia Primatologica, 76(4), 222-226. DOI: 10.1159/000086023
- April 29, 2009
- 05:59 PM
- 1,043 views
Spring and Neon
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
It is late April, and the dogwoods are already losing their petals. The temperature rises, and mockingbirds sing the tunes they learn from their environment: sparrowsong, cardinal calls and car alarms. Soon, it will be too warm and humid to walk anywhere without breaking a sweat.In the meantime, the work has finally paid off, and the long-awaited paper is published. After much toil, a direct measurement for the strength of the resonant capture reaction on radioactive fluorine-17 at astrophysical........ Read more »
Chipps, K., Bardayan, D., Blackmon, J., Chae, K., Greife, U., Hatarik, R., Kozub, R., Matei, C., Moazen, B., Nesaraja, C.... (2009) First Direct Measurement of the ^{17}F(p,γ)^{18}Ne Cross Section. Physical Review Letters, 102(15). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.152502
- September 6, 2009
- 09:54 AM
- 891 views
A few anthropological notes, or, why we're fearful and rude
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
Here are two stories involving recent psychological/anthropological/biological research:In Future, Science Could Erase Traumatic Memories (NPR)The Culture of Being Rude (Smithsonian Magazine)As to the first, while describing an interesting study, the story itself is characteristically media. We can pinpoint the amygdala as being the "source" of the flight-or-fight (ie, fear) response, and we have now learned that as we (or, at least, as rats) grow, a "protective molecular sheath" coats the cells........ Read more »
Gogolla N, Caroni P, Lüthi A, & Herry C. (2009) Perineuronal nets protect fear memories from erasure. Science (New York, N.Y.), 325(5945), 1258-61. PMID: 19729657
Fincher CL, Thornhill R, Murray DR, & Schaller M. (2008) Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 275(1640), 1279-85. PMID: 18302996
- January 23, 2010
- 12:44 PM
- 648 views
Can science be artistic?
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
In light of the lack of effective communication between scientists (and science generally) and the public, I posed a challenge to the graduate students in my department: write a story about your research. It seemed a simple task, but there was one catch - the story had to be a fictional tale about their actual work.Can science be artistic? Is it only a chosen few who can turn science into the kind of thing that people on the street (or in the pub) find interesting; people like Carl Sagan, Brian ........ Read more »
Chipps, K., Blackmon, J., Chae, K., Moazen, B., Pittman, S., Greife, U., Hatarik, R., Peters, W., Kozub, R., Shriner, J.... (2009) The ^{17}F(p,γ)^{18}Ne resonant cross section. Physical Review C, 80(6). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.80.065810
- August 2, 2010
- 04:09 PM
- 614 views
Chernobyl, 24 years on
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
An article on the BBC this morning discusses (in the usual BBC "style") the recent findings of a study by researchers conducting a wildlife census in the Chernobyl "exclusion zone," published in Ecological Indicators. The researchers concluded that the radiation contamination had a "significant impact" on the local ecology.The actual article (available for a fee from Elsevier here... don't get me started on Elsevier, those murderers of the spirit of science) concludes that, within statistically ........ Read more »
Møller, A., & Mousseau, T. (2010) Efficiency of bio-indicators for low-level radiation under field conditions. Ecological Indicators. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2010.06.013
- May 26, 2010
- 07:31 PM
- 598 views
How magic is your work?
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
If you're Dr. Kate Jones of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the answer is very.Inside of a nucleus, just like for the electrons in an atom, there are discrete energy levels into which the neutrons and protons can arrange themselves. In chemistry, this behavior - in electrons - leads to the periodic table: different elements behave in different ways chemically because of the number of electrons they have. More precisely, what matters is the number of electrons outside of a closed shell......... Read more »
Jones, K., Adekola, A., Bardayan, D., Blackmon, J., Chae, K., Chipps, K., Cizewski, J., Erikson, L., Harlin, C., Hatarik, R.... (2010) The magic nature of 132Sn explored through the single-particle states of 133Sn. Nature, 465(7297), 454-457. DOI: 10.1038/nature09048
- September 24, 2011
- 05:29 PM
- 568 views
Neutrinos and the future of physics
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
The scientific community is buzzing, or one would imagine we are, after news of this paper came out last week. Could neutrinos, those mysterious particles which hardly interact with normal matter, really be traveling faster than the speed of light? It was all over the news. The collaboration held a news conference. Hints of another cold fusion fiasco creep into conversations.... Read more »
The OPERA Collaboraton: T. Adam, N. Agafonova, A. Aleksandrov, O. Altinok, P. Alvarez Sanchez, S. Aoki, A. Ariga, T. Ariga, D. Autiero, A. Badertscher.... (2011) Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam. arXiv. arXiv: 1109.4897v1
- May 22, 2012
- 01:26 PM
- 503 views
Let the Buyer Beware
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
"Modern societies are complex systems" may be the understatement of the year. Obvious or not, however, it must be stated when attempting to model even some minuscule aspect of such a society. Take, for instance...... Read more »
Tiago P. Peixoto, & Stefan Bornholdt. (2012) No Need for Conspiracy: Self-Organized Cartel Formation in a Modified Trust Game. Physical Review Letters, 108(21), 218702. info:/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.218702
- April 20, 2012
- 01:41 PM
- 496 views
"Fireballs" Snuffed
by nuclear.kelly in Miss Atomic Bomb
So the story begins thusly: somewhere out there in the universe, something is producing really high energy cosmic rays. I mean, really high energy. Energies above 10^18 electronvolts (that's a one followed by eighteen zeros). That's nearly a million times more energetic than the LHC upgrade. Boggles-the-mind high energy.... Read more »
Abbasi, R., Abdou, Y., Abu-Zayyad, T., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J., Ahlers, M., Altmann, D., Andeen, K., Auffenberg, J.... (2012) An absence of neutrinos associated with cosmic-ray acceleration in γ-ray bursts. Nature, 484(7394), 351-354. DOI: 10.1038/nature11068
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