The week in physics: Briefcase-sized battery-powered desalinization; Portrait of Sag A*; Reactions to Australian funding decisions

A portrait of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Forward this email  View in your browser THE WEEK IN PHYSICS: 9–13 MAY Webinar Live Webinar: Mechanism behind the high-temperature superconductivity of copper-oxide We use atomic-scale visualization of the response of both charge-transfer energy and superconductive electron-pair density to alternations in unit-cell geometry. Concurrence with theory for hole-doped charge-transfer insulators indicates that charge-transfer superexchange is the electron-pairing mechanism of superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. Register now. A portrait of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Hidden behind a fog of galactic gas, Sagittarius A* proved a tricky imaging target for the Event Horizon Telescope team. Andrew Grant Australian scientists vent frustrations ahead of national election Researchers are angry at what they see as increasing political interference in academia after government vetoes of several research projects. Benjamin Plackett Advertisement Zerodur—"Designed to exhibit zero thermal expansion over considerable temperature range" Schott's Zerodur and Corning's ULE glass-ceramics were developed to achieve an almost unmeasurable change in dimension over large temperature change. Typical applications include space optics, instruments and laser gyroscopes where dimensional stability is critical despite often large and sudden temperature swings. Learn more. FROM THE VAULT: March 1973 Gravitational waves—a progress report Although many experiments to detect gravity waves are underway, and others are planned, so far none of them has reproduced Joseph Weber's results, first reported in 1967. Jonothan L. Logan Webinar Live Webinar: The demons haunting thermodynamics Thermodynamics has been called the "village witch" of physics; thermodynamics is unusual partly because of the number of thought-experiments or "demons" haunting her history. Can quantum mechanics help vanquish these demons? Register now. W-boson mass hints at physics beyond the standard model Nearly a decade of collisions and a decade of analysis together yield the fundamental particle's mass with the highest precision to date. Heather M. Hill A briefcase-sized device makes seawater drinkable The battery-powered system has just half the weight of its competitors, and it even cleans itself. Alex Lopatka FROM THE MAY MAGAZINE The secret world in the gaps between brain cells Innovations in diffusion analysis and imaging techniques have gradually revealed the ubiquity and importance of extracellular space. Charles Nicholson Get notified about our webinars and whitepapers Sign up Get Physics Today delivered for just $25 per year Subscribe FEATURED JOBS > Imaging Solutions Engineer  |  Thorlabs, Inc. > Lecturer (Doctoral Schedule) - Physics   |  LaGuardia Community College Are you hiring? Do you want your job to appear here? Post with Physics Today and select the "Publication" enhancement to easily showcase your job to 66 000 physicists and engineers. Physics Today is published by the American Institute of Physics 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 USA +1 301 209 3100 © 2022 American Institute of Physics. Unsubscribe  |  Email Preferences  |  Privacy Policy  |  Contact Us