Science Saturday 03/16

March 16, 2019

Welcome back to Science Saturday everyone. Here’s what happened in the world of science this week:

Science Magazine: 5G Could Impact Weather Forecasting

The FCC just auctioned off a spectrum of radio frequency to be used for 5G communication. The problem is that communications traffic in one segment of this spectrum could compromise weather satellites’ ability to track water vapor from space. Such water vapor measures are essential to predicting future rainfall, tracing hurricanes, and monitoring sea ice. Thanks to its intrinsic physical properties, water vapor cannot be tracked at other frequencies.

ScienceNews: Atomic Clocks Prove Relativity

A pair of atomic clocks made of single ions of ytterbium kept pace with one another over six months, scientists report March 13 in Nature. The timepieces’ reliability supports a principle known as Lorentz symmetry. That principle was the foundation for Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which describes the physics of voyagers dashing along at nearly the speed of light. Lorentz symmetry states that the rules of physics should remain the same whether you’re standing still or moving at a breakneck speed, and no matter what direction you’re facing. The clocks kept up with one another as the Earth rotated, confirming that idea.

One of the atomic clocks used for this study. Photo: PTB

Phys.org: Reversing Time

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology teamed up with colleagues from the U.S. and Switzerland and returned the state of a quantum computer a fraction of a second into the past. While this sounds cool, this is only achievable on a quantum scale, where the weird rules of quantum physics are in play. Time travel is still impossible.

Science Magazine: Robot Vacuums the Sea Floor

Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR), a subsidiary of a Belgian dredging conglomerate will place a robot on the seafloor to collect potato-size nodules rich in valuable metals. The Patania II collector, tethered to a ship more than 4 kilometers overhead, will attempt to suck up these nodules through four vacuums as it mows back and forth along a 400-meter-long strip. (This week’s Technology Discussion was on robotics!)