After 40 years, CERN finds evidence of a one-in-10-billion particle decay

from ScienceDaily

CERN scientists have finally found evidence of a particle decay so rare that it happens only once in roughly 10 billion decays, ending a search spanning more than 40 years. The breakthrough could help physicists uncover hidden particles and forces that lie beyond the reach of today's most powerful accelerators.

explained

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, also called European Laboratory for Particle Physics, known as CERN (French pronunciation: [sɛʁn]; Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, a western suburb of Geneva, on the France–Switzerland border. It comprises 25 member states. Israel, admitted in 2013, is the only full member geographically out of Europe. CERN is an official United Nations General Assembly observer.

The acronym CERN is also used to refer to the laboratory; in 2024, it had 2,704 scientific, technical, and administrative staff members, and hosted about 12,406 users from institutions in more than 80 countries. In 2016, CERN generated 49 petabytes of data.

From Wikipedia: CERN (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗

how it works

A particle can decay in many ways, and each has a probability set by the Standard Model. Virtual, unseen particles contribute to the rate, so any unknown one would shift it away from the prediction.

so what

Colliders can only produce particles up to a certain energy. Rare decays offer a second route: invisible new particles can leave fingerprints in how often known ones decay, so they probe physics beyond the reach of today's biggest machines.

the bigger pattern

Physics has often found new things first through tiny deviations, such as the Mercury orbit anomaly that pointed to relativity.

fun fact

CERN's Large Hadron Collider is a 27-kilometre ring buried beneath the French-Swiss border.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗