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Interview with Samuel Richards – Quantum Tunnel Podcast

rp_sam_richards1.jpgYou can download this podcast in iTunes or Feedburner.

The Quantum Tunnel Podcast brings you an interesting chat with Samuel Richards, an undergraduate student at the University of Hertfordshire who has recently had the opportunity to collaborate with researchers in the University of Sydney and the Australian Astronomical Observatory working on SAMI.

News

Travelling faster than light

One of the cornerstones of modern physics is the idea that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Nonetheless, researchers at the Gran Sasso facility in Italy have recently reported on the recording of particles travelling at speeds forbidden by the theory of relativity.

Researchers on the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-Tracking Apparatus or OPERA recorded the arrival times of neutrinos sent from CERN. The trip would take a beam of light 2.4 milliseconds to complete, but after three years of experi-ments, the scientists report on the arrival of 15,000 neutrinos sixty billionths of a second earlier. The result is so unexpected that the OPERA researchers say that they hope the physics community would scrutinise their experiment and help un-cover any flaws. The results have been reported in the ArXiV.

Good-bye Tevatron

At the end of September the Tevatron facility near Chicago fires its last particles af-ter US federal funding ran out. During its more than 25 years, the Tevatron has without a doubt left a rich legacy, for instance one of natures heaviest elementary particles, the top quark, was found here.

The Tevatron was run by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory or Fermilab, where since 1985 scientist have been accelerating protons and antiprotons around its 6km ring in order to unlock the secrets of the Universe. The closure of the facility is indeed a solemn occasion, at a time when budgets for science are increasingly being squeezed.

Amazon dam halted again
A Brazilian judge has suspended work on the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Amazon Jungle. In previous podcasts we have reported in the on and off plans for the plant.

In a ruling posted last week, the judge, Carlos Eduardo Martins, said he halted con-struction of the dam because it would harm fishing by indigenous communities in Para State. Back in February the construction was halted by another judge, but the ruling was overturned. The Brazilian government strongly backs the project and it has reported that they will appeal the new ruling.

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2 thoughts on “Interview with Samuel Richards – Quantum Tunnel Podcast”

  1. He disfrutado todos los podcast de Quantum Tunel en Español. ¿Volverás a grabar nuevos episodios? Muchas gracias y que tengas un próspero año nuevo.

    1. Muchas gracias por el mensaje y por escuchar los podcasts. Estoy por iniciar una nueva serie de episodios, ya veremos que tal quedan. Mantente en contacto.

      Saludos y feliz 2012

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