Experiments

Every time you take a step, space itself glows with a soft warmth.Called the Fulling–Davies–Unruh effect (or sometimes just Unruh effect if you're pushed for time), this eerie glow of radiation emerging from the vacuum is akin to the mysterious Hawking radiation that's thought to surround black holes.  Only in this case, it's the product of acceleration rather than gravity.Can't feel it? There's a good reason for that. You'd need to move at an impossible speed to sense even the weakest of Unruh rays.For now, the effect…

In 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed that a phosphor-coated screen gave off a green light when exposed to a cathode ray tube. He quickly realised that he’d found a new invisible ray. Asked what he thought when he saw this green light, he replied: “I didn’t think. I investigated.” In fact he spent seven weeks investigating, locked away in his laboratory and only coming out when his wife, Anna, insisted he eat something. He rewarded her concern for his wellbeing by using the unknown rays to make an image of…

The world's largest particle collider is getting ready to smash atoms harder than ever before.Following a three-year break of scheduled maintenance, upgrades, and pandemic delays, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is preparing to power up for its third, and most powerful yet, experimental period.  If all initial tests and checks starting this month go well, scientists will begin experiments in June and slowly ramp up to full power by the end of July, experts told Live Science.The new run could finally reveal the…

PhonePe users have taken to social media to express disappointment over processing fee on mobile recharges above Rs. 50. The company has confirmed that recharges below Rs. 50 are not charged, recharges between Rs. 50-100 are charged Rs. 1, and above Rs.100 are charged Rs. 2. PhonePe maintains that this is a ‘very small-scale experiment' and isn't affecting all users. Affected users have been criticising this move, as other portals continue to not charge ab additional processing fee on mobile recharges.In an official…