Category: Definitions
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Measuring… (What?)
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, […]
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Evolution. Dark DNA.
Scientists long assumed that new genes appear when evolution tinkers with old ones. There are studies suggesting that genes do not always evolve from existing ones, as biologists long supposed. Instead, some are fashioned from desolate stretches of the genome that do not code for any functional molecules. For example in the fish genomes, there […]
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Expert decisions…
Does a mass on a mammogram indicate breast cancer? Will Serbia be a member of the EU by 2025? Will there be more floods in Germany in five years’ time? The diagnoses and predictions made by doctors, scientists, and experts often have far-reaching consequences. And in many cases, it is only years later that it […]
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Measuring laws…
One of the fundamental physical constants, the ‘weak axial vector coupling constant’ (gA), has now been measured with very high precision for the first time. It is needed to explain nuclear fusion in the sun, to understand the formation of elements shortly after the Big Bang, or to understand important experiments in particle physics. With […]
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Liquid and Solid…
Scientists have discovered a new state of physical matter in which atoms can exist as both solid and liquid simultaneously. Applying high pressures and temperatures to potassium — a simple metal – creates a state in which most of the element’s atoms form a solid lattice structure, the findings show. However, the structure also contains a second […]
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