It Doesn't Get Any Cooler Than This
Physicists cooled a cloud of atoms to produce the coldest fermions in the universe, reports Laura Baisas for Popular Science. They did so by exploiting the symmetries of a system called the Hubbard model, which they simulated with the atoms. The model is of interest to physicists for more than just cooling fermions — it's essential to understanding how electrons move in materials. In August, Charlie Wood wrote for Quanta about a pair of physicists whose work on 2D materials included the Hubbard model.
Stool's Gold
By sequencing the DNA of ancient whipworms found in fossilized Viking excrement, scientists have dated our relationship to the parasites back 55,000 years, reports Jacinta Bowler for Cosmos Magazine. When two organisms coexist for so long, it makes sense to consider how they might also have coevolved. In 2018 Jonathan Lambert wrote for Quanta about a more holistic view of evolution that considers the "hologenome" of animals, which includes the genes of the microbes and parasites that they host. | |
