God. Angels. Particles. Lost.

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A 2017 report of the discovery of a particular kind of Majorana fermion – the chiral Majorana fermion, referred to as the “angel particle” – is likely a false alarm, according to another research. Majorana fermions are enigmatic particles that act as their own antiparticle and were first hypothesized to exist in 1937. They are of immense interest to physicists because their unique properties could allow them to be used in the construction of a topological quantum computer. (1)

Seeking the God particle. Searching for the angel particle.

Trying to decode existence based on existence.

Trying to find particles in a cosmos full of particles.

Choosing the easy path.

Looking for answers in a place where we have already asked the questions…

Measuring… (What?)

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A new optical atomic clock makes ultra-precise time measurements. (1)

Measuring time.

Even though we are not certain what time is.

You see, not knowing something does not hinder you from handling it.

But this goes even further than that.

Not knowing something is the sole pre-requisite of handling it.

Because if you knew it, there would be nothing to handle.

For in a cosmos where you know what time it…

You just stand by the river.

Without putting your feet in.

For there is no river…

For you have no feet…

For there is nothing flowing…

Just you.

Out of time.

Thinking.

Making the cosmos go around.

Can you feel time?

Can time feel you?

Elusive motion… Only if still moving…

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In temperatures millions of times colder than interstellar space, researchers have performed the coldest reaction in the known universe. But that’s not all. In such intense cold, their molecules slowed to such glacial speeds, they could see something no one has been able to see before: the moment when two molecules meet to form two new molecules. In essence, they captured a chemical reaction in its most critical and elusive act. (1)

And so we captured motion.

So slow that it is barely visible.

And yet, still visible.

Could we slow down that motion even more?

Up to the point of having no motion at all?

Up to the point of having everything standing still?

Watch out for Achilles.

What you are really watching?

Flip the cosmos upside down.

And you will see it upside down!

A cosmos standing still.

A cosmos moving fast.

A cosmos warming up.

A cosmos moving faster.

The more it moves, the better you can see it moving.

Don’t you see?

Everything is more evident when it is more evident.

What if it stands still?

Can you see what you cannot see?

New force…

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Everything in our Universe is held together or pushed apart by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and two nuclear interactions. Physicists now think they’ve spotted the actions of a fifth physical force emerging from a helium atom.

It’s not the first time researchers claim to have caught a glimpse of it, either. A few years ago, they saw it in the decay of an isotope of beryllium. Now the same team has seen a second example of the mysterious force at play – and the particle they think is carrying it, which they’re calling X17.

The team seems to discover a new particle the characteristics of which suggested it had to be a completely new kind of fundamental boson. We currently know of four fundamental forces, and we know that three of them have bosons carrying their messages of attraction and repulsion.

This new boson couldn’t possibly be one of the particles carrying the four known forces, thanks to its distinctive mass of (17 megaelectronvolts, or about 33 times that of an electron), and tiny life span (of about 10 to the minus 14 seconds).

But physics isn’t keen on celebrating prematurely. Finding a new particle is always big news in physics, and warrants a lot of scrutiny. Not to mention repeated experiment. (1)

Humans lost in their quest for more knowledge.

New particles.

New forces.

New… whatever we know already.

Modern physics looks the cosmos through its own lenses. And interprets everything accordingly. When something is not in place, it seeks to fill in the puzzle with a new piece. And it searches for that new piece in – where else? – this things it already knows. So like a stupid uroborus ofis (Gr. Ουροβόρος όφις) it keeps on verifying itself by looking for answers back to… itself.

Don’t you see?

There is nothing which you see that you have not seen already…

And in the beginning you were blind.

It is just that we need a new Einstein to tell us so.

Benzene. Dimensions. Reality.

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Nearly 200 years after the molecule was discovered by Michael Faraday, researchers have finally revealed the complex electronic structure of benzene.

This not only settles a debate that has been raging since the 1930s, this step has important implications for the future development of opto-electronic materials, many of which are built on benzenes.

The atomic structure of benzene is pretty well understood. It’s a ring consisting of six carbon atoms, and six hydrogen atoms, one attached to each of the carbon atoms.

Where it gets extremely tricky is when we consider the molecule’s 42 electrons.

“The mathematical function that describes benzene’s electrons is 126-dimensional,” chemist Timothy Schmidt of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science and UNSW Sydney in Australia told ScienceAlert.

“That means it is a function of 126 coordinates, three for each of the 42 electrons. The electrons are not independent, so we cannot break this down into 42 independent three-dimensional functions. (1)

126 dimensions.

3 dimensions.

2 dimensions.

Does it matter?

Benzene is here. And so are you.

Roaming the cosmos.

In a thousand dimensions!

Listening to the rain.

In one single dimension.

Touching happiness.

In three dimensions.

Does it matter?

Are you defining dimensions?

Or are dimensions defining you?

As more dimensions reveal themselves, the more the cosmos will be extinct from one. And the more we see through the broken glass, the more we will ignore the fact that once upon a time, it was not broken.

Without 126 dimensions.

Without benzene.

Just you.

Ready to go home.

And discover benzene!

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