Just one point from two home games within a week is simply not enough!

[Turn the sound on if you like joy.]

Physicist Marguerite Perey discovered Francium #OTD in 1939. It was the last element to be found in a naturally occurring state, rather than synthesized by humans. 🧪 ⚛️ 👩‍🔬 Image: Musée Curie/ACJC Collection

The @esa.int Gaia satellite will take its final scientific measurements on Wednesday. 🔭 This will conclude a 12 year series of continuous observations. Larger Gaia data releases are still in progress, but Gaia has already had a HUGE impact on our understanding of the #milkyway. (Image: ESA)

It ends in defeat in Leipzig. FT | #rblsvw 4-2

Paul Dirac's paper "The Quantum Theory of the Electron," in which he derived the relativistic equation for spin 1/2 particles like the electron, was submitted #OTD in 1928. It’s one of the most important results of 20th century physics, taking the deceptively simple form: i ℏ γ.∂ψ - m c ψ = 0 🧪 ⚛️

What a year 2024 has been! 🎉 Before we jump to the new one we took a look back at all the incredible things that happened this year - and put a small selection of them together here: cms.cern/news/cms-wra...

Eine interessante Frage für den Silvesterabend: Klingen volle Sektgläser beim Anstoßen höher oder tiefer als leere Sektgläser? Und woran liegt das? Die Antworten geben Schülerinnen und Schüler eines Physik-Leistungskurses in Form eines genialen Erklärvideos: youtu.be/d7la1jphuJI

A new claim that dark energy isn’t necessary, we just need to properly account for inhomogeneities in the universe. Maybe. But his idea has been discussed for a long time - David Wiltshire, an author here, has been pushing it for 20 years, and others have also looked at it. (1/n)

Mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist, the great polymath (omnimath is more like it) John von Neumann was born #OTD in 1903. He considered his quantum mechanics contributions to be most important. To get a sense of the breadth of his work look at his Wikipedia “known for” list. 🧪 ⚛️ 💻 🧮

Eine der schönsten Beschäftigungen überhaupt: Einen Spaziergang zur Buchhandlung des Vertrauens machen um ein Buch zu kaufen - und dabei noch nicht zu wissen, welches es sein könnte.

2024 will be the second straight "hottest year" on record. People around the world suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat this year because of climate change.

A team led by physicist Chien-Shiung Wu obtained the first experimental confirmation of “parity violation,” in the decay of Cobalt-60, #OTD in 1956. Her theory colleagues received a Nobel for the prediction, but she was left off the prize. 🧪 ⚛️ 👩‍🔬 Image: Smithsonian Institution Archives

Millions have been watching 'La Palma' on Netflix, featuring a tsunami washing over the Canary Islands. 🌊 A scenario with much science behind it, given the risk of collapse of a flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano. Ocean model simulation of Abadie et al: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Mathematician John Conway was born #OTD in 1937. 🧪 He made broad and profound contributions across all of mathematics, but he is maybe best known by the general public for his "game of life" cellular automaton. Conway passed away in 2020, from COVID-19.

Scientists modeled Santa’s epic Christmas journey: delivering to 300M households across 144M km in 35 hours. Traveling at 8.2M km/h (0.8% of light speed), Rudolph’s nose could shift colors due to the Doppler effect—a festive blend of physics and magic! tinyurl.com/yajbsbst

The physics of a spinning dreidel is quite a bit different in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station, as demonstrated by astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. 🧪

The Apollo 8 astronauts performed lunar orbit insertion #OTD in 1968. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to orbit the Moon, the first to see an Earthrise, fifty six years ago today. 🧪 🔭 Image: NASA

An AI system has reached human level on a test for ‘general intelligence’. Here’s what that means

Earlier today, the Parker Solar Probe set two space records: closest approach to the Sun, and fastest-ever human object, hitting a speed of 191 km/sec. 🧪 parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu

Merry Christmas to you all! youtu.be/DqlWtJPk9xU

A complete collection of free, high resolution, downloadable images of all 88 western IAU-recognized #constellations was released today: noirlab.edu/public/news/... - the project also includes the release of the largest open-source, freely available all-sky photo of the night sky.

Atlantic Ocean is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows https://buff.ly/4gseFPC 🌎

"Fly me to the moon" - the Apollo Guidance Computer was basically build on this resistor-transistor NOR gate, each IC containing 3 or 6 transistors, forming either a single 3-input NOR chip, or a double 3-input NOR chip. #RetroComputing #Apollo #AGC

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/azaUozj0XlY

Earth’s Core May Be Messing with Time Days on Earth are subtly shifting. Research shows fluctuations in Earth’s spin over 3,000 years align with molten core dynamics, not climate. Using eclipse data and AI, scientists uncover how our planet’s heart may alter time itself. tinyurl.com/4jt2ed6p

Human Brains Are Shockingly Slow, Study Reveals New research shows we process info at just 10 bits/sec—far slower than computers. Our thoughts move in single file, creating a mental bottleneck. Evolution shaped us for a slower world, but could future tech break the limit? tinyurl.com/w63v98tk

The magnetic North Pole continues its rapid drift from Canada to Siberia, prompting a major update to the World Magnetic Model. This recalibration is vital for navigation systems globally, as Earth's magnetic field evolves due to shifting iron and nickel cores. tinyurl.com/3ub6kau4

Satellites CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 reveal Greenland's ice sheet is thinning at alarming rates, losing 2,347 cubic km in 13 years. This drives sea level rise and global weather shifts. Combined radar-laser data offer critical insights for climate adaptation strategies. tinyurl.com/3kh59td3

Stanford AI research warns the 1.5°C warming limit is now out of reach. Even with rapid decarbonization, Earth’s hottest years will soar past records, with a 90% chance of exceeding 2°C. Urgent investment in adaptation is critical to brace for severe climate extremes. tinyurl.com/y6v24hze

Scientists combined AI and advanced simulations to model Earth's core, revealing insights into its magnetic field and the role of iron. This breakthrough could also fuel energy-efficient AI tech like neuromorphic computing and next-gen data storage. tinyurl.com/mcdkf7hd

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/tLvGyR8jIkY

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/-QtVzEiHVTM

The perfect end to the year 🤩 FT | #svwfcu 4-1

Our thoughts are with all those affected by yesterday's tragic attack in Magdeburg 🕯️🖤 #werder

On top at the break 💪 HT | #svwfcu 3-1

Sinnvolle Aufgabenformate in den #MINT-Fächern im Zeitalter der künstlichen Intelligenz? Offen, motivierend, forschend, experimentell und alltagsnah! Dabei dürfen #KI-Tools co-kreativ eingesetzt werden. Beispiel: www.fg-freiburg.de/fg/aktuelles... Genutze KI: ChatGPT & DallE via @fobizz.bsky.social.

Happy Winter Solstice to all those in the northern hemisphere! The precise moment to celebrate is 9:21am GMT. Today in London is only 7 h, 49 min & 42 s long. Pic by Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021 entrant György Soponyai. Solstice explanation & more here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topi...

For your weekend relaxation: 1.5 billion years of plate tectonics in 60 seconds. Fun to locate your hometown (or ancestral town) and track where it's been over the years...or how long it's even existed as a physical location. 🧪 theconversation.com/witness-1-8-...

We are shocked by the tragic news coming out of Magdeburg. The thoughts of everyone at SV Werder are with the victims and those affected, as well as with their friends and family. 🖤

If all goes well, we could have three commercially developed landers touching down on the Moon next month: Resilience from iSpace, Blue Ghost from Firefly, and IM-2 from Intuitive Machines. 🧪🚀 ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=6... fireflyspace.com/news/firefly... spacenews.com/ice-hunting-...

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/j7sHB2uDQXA

Do gravitons need to exist? #AskEthan We often assume that gravity is quantum, implying the existence of spin-2 gravitons. But is that mandatory, and is there any way to test/confirm the idea? bigthink.com/starts-with-...

Today is more or less the 50th birthday of the desktop computer. It was 50 years ago today that the Altair 8800 kit computer went on sale. There was an immediate waiting list because MITS couldn't keep up with demand. #retrocomputing dfarq.homeip.net/altair-8800-...

Albert Michelson, pioneer of optical interferometry, was born #OTD in 1852. Michelson refined measurements of the speed of light, failed to find evidence of the aether, and developed a method that now underlies gravitational wave detection. 🧪 ⚛️ (1/n) Photo: “Practical Physics,” Millikan & Gale

Zauber der Weihnachtszeit: Die exklusive Sektglas-Musik-Eisenbahn! Im Physik-Leistungskurs haben unsere begabten Schüler*innen ein außergewöhnliches Projekt ins Leben gerufen ... Video 1: youtu.be/2hB5GbqRM2c Video 2: youtu.be/PpjNQ3lOVqA Bericht: www.fg-freiburg.de/fg/aktuelles...

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/DhGwHbTi63M

What is an #AI agent? A computer scientist explains the next wave of artificial intelligence tools: https://buff.ly/3BJ7eEo (Brian O'Neill, Quinnipiac University) #ArtificialIntelligence #chatbot #technology

J.J. Thomson was born #OTD in 1856. He discovered the electron, developed experimental techniques that led to mass spectroscopy, and trained physicists like Rutherford and Bohr. He was later BETRAYED by his own son, in the ultimate act of 20th century filial physics rebellion. (1/n) 🧪 ⚛️ 🎢

"PiA® - Physics in Advent" is a unique Advent calendar offering 24 fun physics experiments and puzzles. Each day features a video showing an experiment you can try at home, with questions to answer online and solutions revealed the next day. Discover the joy of physics! youtu.be/jtz5XMLJC5s