Attached to the International Space Station (ISS) is a state-of-the-art particle detector, tasked with searching for antimatter and dark matter, and performing precise measurements of the composition of cosmic rays.The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) has collected over 239,017,100,611 cosmic events in the decade it has been mounted to the ISS. Within this data are some truly strange events that have been tentatively reported in presentations by the collaborators as the experiment continues.The reported detection of 10 relativistic antihelium (He) cosmic-ray events is of particular weirdness.Antimatter is essentially the same as ordinary matter except it has the opposite electric charge. It is made up of so-called antiparticles. Every particle is thought to have an antimatter companion with the opposite charge. For example, an electron has a negative charge but its antiparticle, a positron, has a positive charge. When these two particles meet, they annihilate each other. One of the many puzzles of antimatter is the continued existence of the universe. In short, we can't really tell why there is much more matter than antimatter. Scientists expected both types of particle to be produced during the Big Bang, so why didn't the universe pretty quickly annihilate itself?     We can study antimatter using high-energy collisions in particle colliders, which can produce a small amount of antimatter. But we can also look at cosmic rays – highly energetic particles ejected from stars including our Sun's flares, neutron stars, supernovas, or when matter falls into supermassive black holes.Antihelium-3 and antihelium-4 have now been reportedly detected by AMS-02, containing antiprotons and antinucleons together. While antihelium 3 and 4 have been produced by the Large Hadron Collider and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, we still don't know a lot about either isotope of antihelium, or how they are produced in nature. In a new paper, a team has attempted to explain how the antimatter could have come into existence, prior to being flung across the cosmos all the way to a space station orbiting Earth. These explanations lie at the edges of our understanding of physical processes, and will require more observations and work to back up or discount. The team suggests that the process behind the antihelium-4 likely took place in rapidly expanding "thermalized fireballs" of plasma, subject to relativistic effects."For appropriate initial conditions set by the initial radius, temperature, and antibaryon-to-entropy ratio of the plasma, the evolution of these fireballs is such that their thermal pressure drives the system toward a regime where there is relativistic bulk radial motion of a thin shell of plasma, in which the temperature of plasma falls as the expansion proceeds," the team writes in their paper. "This permits purely [standard model] thermal antinucleosynthesis of elements (similar to BBN) to occur in the expanding, cooling thin shell, while the products obtain relativistic boosts with respect to the rest frame of the fireball. Eventually, for appropriate parameters, the expansion rate shuts off the antinucleosynthesis in a regime where the antinucleosynthetic products have not reached their thermodynamic equilibrium values, which allows the abundances of 4He and antitritium (which later decays to 3He)."Already complicated enough with thin shells of plasma undergoing relativistic effects, the team suggests that it's possible for dark matter to be involved, offering an avenue to investigate."It would be plausible (at least in principle) for the required injection luminosity to be obtained via the collisions of supermassive, composite dark states (possibly a subcomponent of the dark matter)," the team explained, "provided that these otherwise individually cosmologically stable states can become destabilized in the collision in such a way that activates a decay channel that converts a non-negligible fraction of their mass energy to [standard model] antiquarks (and possibly some fraction of positively charged leptons), with this taking place both rapidly and in a localized region of space."Though an interesting avenue to explore, more detections will be needed and more work to be done to identify the source. For now, try to revel in the fact that antihelium nuclei are being flung across the cosmos, and are being detected by a space station humanity built.The research is published in Physical Review D.

In the history of mankind there have been many ancient civilizations that in one way or another shaped our current way of life. One of these civilizations was Ancient Rome – the majestic state of antiquity, whose solid foundation has been preserved to this day. But despite all the greatness of the empire, the life of an ordinary citizen in Ancient Rome was difficult. Historians suggest imagining a time traveler who returned to the past somewhere between 27 BC. and 180 AD – the golden age of Ancient Rome. This era began with the rise to power of Emperor Augustus after the assassination of his father, the famous Julius Caesar. This is what a public toilet looked like in ancient Rome. Credit: JSTOR Daily Life was not easy for the Romans With the arrival of the new emperor, a period of rapid development began in Rome. At its peak it became home to a million people. It was truly a golden era of architecture, science, art, entertainment and economic growth. It was a time of peace and prosperity. If you were rich, of course. If you were not part of the 1% elite that controlled 16% of Rome’s wealth, then your life would not be easy. Up to 50% of all Roman children died before the age of 10. Most adult Romans, at best, lived to be 50 years old. Despite the reigning peace, local conflicts still occurred, so the military profession was in demand in Ancient Rome. The Roman armies at that time consisted of volunteers who were looking for a chance for a better life. Soldiers came from the poorest strata of society and spent most of their service on the borders of the empire, where the situation was unstable. After retirement from military service, the Romans could settle on the land where they served. If a soldier was particularly good at wielding a sword or bow, he could be selected to join the special troops that protected the emperor. There was also the opportunity to become a gladiator, who were treated as celebrities in ancient Rome, at least those who survived. Since the overwhelming majority of men were away from home, women gained more independence during that period. Roman women took on important functions as city councilors, lawyers, teachers, and so on. The daily life of a Roman. Credit: Planet Pompeii However, men in the family still had the privilege of deciding matters of property and finances. Most of the poor lived in cheap wooden houses. Many of them were located in urban slums, where crime flourished. In some areas, the streets were patrolled by the so-called urban cohorts (Cohortes Urbanae) of Emperor Augustus. But the poorest areas still remained dangerous. Soldiers, philosophers or senators, for the most part, ate approximately the same. The daily diet of the Romans included bread, cheese, grapes, nuts, olives and meat. Depending on their income, residents of Ancient Rome could buy bread from numerous bakeries and wash down their meals with milk, diluted wine or fruit juice. Wealthy Romans went to the bathhouse after lunch, where they could not only take a steam bath, but also play sports, swim, go for a massage, or simply wash themselves. After water treatments, around 4-5 o’clock in the afternoon, the Romans sat down to dinner. The rest of the Romans, who were born poor, served in the homes of rich families. Such hired workers in Rome were called clients; they were free citizens who surrendered under the patronage of their patron. Sometimes this system even made it possible to sell people. Clients performed a variety of jobs, from hard labor to highly skilled professions such as teachers, accountants and so on. If the patrons were kind, the clients were provided with a good meal and returned home with food for the family. For truly outstanding work, clients could even be made truly free. But more often it happened that desperate poor families sold their own children to patrons. Fight of gladiators Daily life of the ancient Romans There were also great oddities in the daily life of the Romans. For example, to relieve yourself, you had to go to a public toilet, which had more than 10 open-air seats. Instead of toilet paper, the Romans had a stick with a sponge on the end, which they shared when necessary. When it came time to clean up the house, many Romans considered urine the best disinfectant. Moreover, both human and animal urine were used. It was also used to wash clothes and treat infections. This may seem strange, but it is true: The urea in urine breaks down into ammonia (NH3), a powerful cleaning agent found in most household cleaning fluids today. And in cases of epilepsy in Ancient Rome, they could prescribe the blood or liver of a gladiator. If the Romans had even a little money in their wallets, they could go shopping at Trajan’s Market, the world’s first shopping center. For thrills – go to chariot races at the Circus Maximus or to a gladiator fight. There were also a huge number of theaters, and for the poorest – many public executions. The post If you were born in Ancient Rome: what would your life be like? appeared first on Anomalien.com.

There is nothing to justify a rate cut.

Although Peter Goodman’s new book raises some valid concerns, none of them sufficiently compensate for the book’s shortcomings.

Masoud Pezeshkian is merely a polished front man for a bloody, theocratic regime incapable of reforming itself.

Independent contractors anxiously await how a President Harris might hurt worker freedom.

It is quintessentially American to proclaim God’s dominion over the public square.

I'm currently the proud owner of a 40mm Apple Watch SE 2, which is a few months shy of its second anniversary. It's a smartwatch that's been through a lot in these two years as my training has intensified significantly. I run marathons now and don't plan to stop anytime soon. Some runners might not like relying on an Apple Watch to track their workouts, but I had no problem with mine. The Apple Watch SE 2 has been incredibly reliable, and I've worn it around the clock. I've tracked my sleep, training sessions, and day-to-day activities with it. The best part is that the Apple Watch SE 2 got me through a full marathon despite my not being in top form when it comes to battery health. This is all the more impressive, considering that I was much slower than I intended, which prolonged the duration of the run. I will have to upgrade the Apple Watch SE 2 this year because of its dwindling battery life. I could replace the battery, but I'm no longer happy with the Watch's health-tracking abilities. I'd have no problem picking an Apple Watch SE 3 this fall and sticking with the same 40mm size. I don't even care that the Apple Watch SE 3 will be made of plastic, as a recent report indicates. But, like I said, I do have other health needs that I want the Apple Watch Series 10 to address. On top of that, I'm also reconsidering my stance towards battery life. Continue reading... The post I’d buy a plastic Apple Watch SE 3 in an instant if it had these rumored Series 10 features appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $200 off PSVR2, $299 iPad 10th-Gen, $3.75 smart plugs, $189 ASUS laptop, more Today’s deals: Rare PlayStation 5 discount, $19 Roku, $20 pet hair remover, $60 Keurig coffee maker, more Today’s deals: $179 AirPods Pro 2, $40 foldable camera drone, $899 M3 MacBook Air, $16 wireless charger, more Best Apple Watch deals for August 2024

U.S. stock index futures rebounded Tuesday as dovish rate commentary from Federal Reserve officials helped lift the mood and investors looked for bargains after a rout in the previous session.

Democrat delegates have selected Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's presidential nominee, according to final vote results released late Monday by the Democratic National Committee.Harris claimed the nomination after a five-day online voting process, receiving...