(PhysOrg.com) -- Inflation, the brief period that occurred less than a second after the Big Bang, is nearly as difficult to fathom as the Big Bang itself. Physicists calculate that inflation lasted for just a tiny fraction of a second, yet during this time the Universe grew in size by a factor of 1078. Also during this time, a very important thing occurred: fluctuations in the quantum vacuum appeared, which later resulted in the temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that in turn produced large-scale structures such as galaxies
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Feed SubscriptionPhysicists search for new physics in primordial quantum fluctuations
(PhysOrg.com) -- Inflation, the brief period that occurred less than a second after the Big Bang, is nearly as difficult to fathom as the Big Bang itself. Physicists calculate that inflation lasted for just a tiny fraction of a second, yet during this time the Universe grew in size by a factor of 1078. Also during this time, a very important thing occurred: fluctuations in the quantum vacuum appeared, which later resulted in the temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that in turn produced large-scale structures such as galaxies.
Read More »Huge pool of Arctic water could cool Europe: study
By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - A huge pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean is expanding and could lower the temperature of Europe by causing an ocean current to slow down, British scientists said Sunday.
Read More »Winter Wonders: The Science of Cold
When it comes to science, temperature matters. And when it comes to Wisconsin, things get really, really cold.
Read More »Superconductivity’s third side unmasked
The debate over the mechanism that causes superconductivity in a class of materials called the pnictides has been settled by a research team from Japan and China.
Read More »The Catlin Arctic Survey: Thermohaline circulation
If you look at a map of the world and draw a line through London, a latitude of about 50 degrees North and follow this line across the world, you'll see that it passes through southern Siberia and skims the southern shores of Hudson Bay in Canada. The week before I came out to the Catlin Arctic Survey Ice Base, the temperature in Hudson Bay was lurking between -20
Read More »How To Turn Climate Skeptics Into Believers: Argue With Them On Warm Days
When it's cold in summer, climate change nonbelievers ask where the global warming is. When it's hot in winter, climate change activists tell people to step outside and see the changes we have wrought on the environment. And while these are both incredibly wrong-headed arguments with no basis in modern science, it turns out they're smart techniques: A study in the journal Psychological Science has found that people's opinions on climate change vary with their perception of the current temperature
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