05/10/2013 10:07:58
Notes from the Back Row: "Quantum Entanglement and Quantum Computing"
Douglas Smith

John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, is hooked on quanta.

01/10/2013 08:56:43
A Cloudy Mystery
Marcus Woo
It's the mystery of the curiously dense cloud. And astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are on the case. Near the crowded galactic center, where billowing clouds of gas and dust cloak a supermassive black hole three million times as massive as the sun—a black hole whose gravity is strong enough to grip stars that are whipping around it at thousands of kilometers per second—one particular cloud has baffled astronomers. Indeed, the cloud, dubbed G0.253+0.016, defies the rules of star formation.
01/09/2013 10:03:56
Faulty Behavior
Katie Neith
In an earthquake, ground motion is the result of waves emitted when the two sides of a fault move—or slip—rapidly past each other, with an average relative speed of about three feet per second. Not all fault segments move so quickly, however—some slip slowly, through a process called creep, and are considered to be "stable," or not capable of hosting rapid earthquake-producing slip. One common hypothesis suggests that such creeping fault behavior is persistent over time, with currently stable segments acting as barriers to fast-slipping, shake-producing earthquake ruptures. But a new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) shows that this might not be true.
01/05/2013 14:59:21
Physics at the Large Hadron Collider
Douglas Smith
Professor of Physics Harvey Newman has been searching for signs of dark matter, extra dimensions, and the elusive Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. He'll be reporting from the high-energy frontier of particle physics at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium. Admission is free.
01/02/2013 18:37:19
Planets Abound
Marcus Woo
Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure. But you're also seeing planets—billions and billions of them. At least. That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32—planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.
12/22/2012 12:02:00
Caltech Chemical Engineer Frances Arnold Awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation
Kimm Fesenmaier
Frances H. Arnold, a leader in the field of protein engineering and a member of the faculty at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has been named one of 11 inventors who are the recipients of the 2011 National Medal of Technology and Innovation. The announcement was made by the White House on December 21.
12/20/2012 11:05:58
Unlocking New Talents in Nature
Kimm Fesenmaier
Protein engineers at Caltech have tapped into a hidden talent of one of nature's most versatile catalysts. The enzyme cytochrome P450 is nature's premier oxidation catalyst—a protein that typically promotes reactions that add oxygen atoms to other chemicals. Now the Caltech researchers have engineered new versions of the enzyme, unlocking its ability to drive a completely different and synthetically useful reaction that does not take place in nature.
12/19/2012 06:24:16
From Theory to Reality: An Interview with Jason Alicea
Marcus Woo
Quantum computers—computers that harness the bizarre laws of quantum mechanics to become vastly more powerful than conventional computers—have been touted as the next leap in technology. Although useful quantum-computing technology is probably years—and possibly decades—away, physicists like Jason Alicea, who joined Caltech's faculty this fall as an associate professor of theoretical physics, are working hard to make it a reality. Alicea's research involves translating purely theoretical ideas into real-life experiments and applications. He recently answered a few questions about himself and his research.
12/13/2012 19:57:09
A Close Encounter of the First Kind
Douglas Smith
A new era in planetary science began in 1962, when Mariner 2 and the 200-inch Hale telescope simultaneously took a close look at Venus.
12/13/2012 12:57:56
Research Update: Wordy Worms and Their Eavesdropping Predators
Katie Neith
For over 25 years, Paul Sternberg has been studying worms—how they develop, why they sleep, and, more recently, how they communicate. Now, he has flipped the script a bit by taking a closer look at how predatory fungi may be tapping into worm conversations to gain clues about their whereabouts.
12/12/2012 11:04:12
Caltech-Led Astronomers Discover Galaxies Near Cosmic Dawn
Marcus Woo
A team of astronomers led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to discover seven of the most primitive and distant galaxies ever seen. One of the galaxies, the astronomers say, might be the all-time record holder—the galaxy as observed existed when the universe was merely 380 million years old. All of the newly discovered galaxies formed more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was just about 4 percent of its present age, a period astronomers call the "cosmic dawn," when the first galaxies were born. The universe is now 13.7 billion years old. The new observations span a period between 350 million and 600 million years after the Big Bang and represent the first reliable census of galaxies at such an early time in cosmic history, the team says.
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