Monthly Archives: July 2025
Quantum clock breaks entropy barrier
In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says that a closed system tends to become more disordered over time. This disorder is captured in an entity called entropy. Many devices, especially clocks, are affected by this law because they need … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged coherent transport, dissipative transport, entropy, Hamiltonian, precision, quantum clock, quantum physics, second law of thermodynamics, spin chain, thermodynamic bias, thermodynamics, time reversal symmetry
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A new beast: antiferromagnetic quasicrystals
Scientists have made a new material that is both a quasicrystal and antiferromagnetic — a combination never seen before. Quasicrystals are a special kind of solid. Unlike normal crystals, whose atoms are arranged in repeating patterns, quasicrystals have patterns that … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged antiferromagnetism, approximant crystals, arc melting, crystallography, Curie-Weiss temperature, electron diffraction, ferromagnetism, magnetic order, magnetisation, neutron diffraction, quantum spin, quasicrystals, quasiperiodic order, rare-earth elements, specific heat, spintronics, Tsai quasicrystal, X-ray diffraction
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Tracking the Meissner effect under pressure
In the last two or three years, groups of scientists from around the world have made several claims that they had discovered a room-temperature superconductor. Many of these claims concerned high-pressure superconductors — materials that superconduct electricity at room temperature … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged diamond anvil cell, flux-pinning, magnetic field, materials science, Meissner effect, nitrogen vacancy centres, optical magnetometry, quantum spin, room-temperature superconductor, superconductivity
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Enfeebling the Indian space programme
There’s no denying that there currently prevails a public culture in India that equates criticism, even well-reasoned, with pooh-poohing. It’s especially pronounced in certain geographies where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys majority support as well as vis-à-vis institutions that … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Axiom Space, Axiom-4, Bharatiya Janata Party, Board of Control for Cricket in India, Chandrayaan 2, Covaxin, Department of Space, Election Commission of India, Falcon 9, HUNOR, Indian Space Research Organisation, K Sivan, NASA, political capture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, S Somanath, Shubhanshu Shukla, SpaceX, V Narayanan, VG Somani, Vikram lander
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