This is the basic question that drives the natural science of physics. Through the theoretical and experimental study of energy (motion, light, gravity...) and matter (from sub-atomic particles to galaxies)—and how they interact with each other, physicists seek to formulate scientific laws and test physical phenomena.
Advances in research fields such as theoretical physics, condensed-matter physics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, cosmology, and biophysics often lead to revolutions in the way we understand the Universe, as well as in technology and innovation.
Physicists proved the Big Bang theory by harnessing the technologies that could show how energy and matter interacted billions of years ago. Likewise, a new understanding of electromagnetism led innovators to develop modern-day products such as television, computers and cell phones. Advances in medicine have been made possible by machines such as CAT scans and MRIs, the technology for which grew out of physics laboratories. And in future, we look to nanoscientists who have learned to fabricate objects by joining molecule to molecule. Could a single carbon nanotube radio that fits inside the ear canal be in our future?
Suffice it to say, physics informs not simply the scientific past and present but also the scientific and technological future! Below is a list of the stories on this site relating to physics.
Cal physicists study the most fundamental questions in science. Read on to learn about these scientists' research!
On January 21, our talk was given by Dr. Beate Heinemann, and was entitled "The Quest for the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider".
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built in the past decade near Geneva at the border of Switzerland and France, and is now operating since last year at the world's highest energy. A primary objective of the LHC is to either discover or dispute the so-called Higgs boson. The Higgs boson was first hypothesized nearly 50 years ago in 1964 in order to find a mechanism by which all particles that make up the matter in our Universe acquire mass. Just in the last year the LHC has made significant progress in its search for the Higgs boson. Particularly at the end of 2011 initial search results were observed that show tantalizing hints that a discovery might be very near which received a broad echo within the scientific community and the popular press. In my lecture will describe the LHC and its experiments, the relevance of the Higgs boson and the current state of the experimental searches.
On December 17, our talk was given by Prof. Bernard Sadoulet, and was entitled "Shedding Light on the Dark Side of the Universe".
The last decade of cosmological observations tells us that 95% of the energy density in the universe is dark: the combination of about 25% of dark matter, whose nature is unknown and 70% of an even more mysterious dark energy. Ordinary matter only represents 5% of the energy budget. I will review attempts to shed light on this dark side of the universe, in particular current attempts to detect Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, which could make the dark matter.
The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on October 15th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.
The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on September 17th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.
The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on August 20th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.
On August 20, our talk was given by Dr. Willi Mickelson, and was entitled "Nanotechnology-Enabled Environmental Monitoring".
The goal of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) is to inspire and realize applications directed towards sensing of environmental conditions using nanomaterials-enabled technologies. COINS research combines sensing, energy harvesting, electronics, mobility and wireless communication to enable mobile, self-powered, wirelessly communicating sensors.
Your body routinely produces 200 billion red blood cells every day, yet you could spend years at a lab bench attempting to artificially synthesize all of the raw materials that those cells are made of. Your cells manage to do that - and to assemble new cells out of those raw materials - with relative ease. Synthetic biology aims to design and construct biological systems to make valuable products or perform constructive tasks. The tremendous diversity in the natural world provides us with a versatile and complex set of biological tools. We'll discuss how synthetic biologists apply and hone these tools, and to what ends.
On August 21, our talk was given by Dr. Spencer Klein, and was entitled "Neutrino Astronomy in Antarctica".
For the past 50 years, scientists have been studying cosmic-ray air showers consisting of billions of particles, produced when an ultra-high energy particle strikes the earth. The most energetic of these particles have energies comparable to that of a boxer's punch. Despite enormous effort, we still have not found the cosmic accelerators that create these particles.
One way to find these accelerators is to search for the neutrinos that they produce. Neutrinos travel cosmic distances in a straight line, interact weakly, and can reach us even through dust clouds or other obstructions. Because of their weak interactions, huge detectors are required to observe these neutrinos. Antarctic ice is an attractive material, and several neutrino detectors are being built there. The 1-cubic-kilometer IceCube neutrino observatory is already in partial operation at the South Pole. The proposed 100 cubic-kilometer ARIANNA detector will be located on the Ross Ice Shelf, about 20 miles offshore.
In this talk, I will discuss the rationale for building these detectors, show some early results from IceCube, and discuss future prospects with ARIANNA and other proposed detectors. I will also discuss what it’s like to work on high-tech detectors in Antarctica.
I arrived at Cal from Mrs. Costello’s 5th grade class at Havens Elementary School. My Science@Cal adventure took me far from the UC Berkeley campus, all the way to the CDMS underground laboratory at Soudan, Minnesota. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) underground lab searches for unseen ‘dark matter’ particles in our universe. These particles are called ‘dark matter’ because they do not reflect light.
Combine an evening out with fascinating scientific discussions! Learn more here. Held the first Wednesday of every month.
Please consider supporting Science@Cal with a tax-deductible donation! More information here.
Check out upcoming science events at Cal at our event calendar!
Powered by Drupal. Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer
