2001: "Brookhaven Labs has produced for the first time collisions of gold nuclei at a center of mass energy of 200GeV/nucleon."
2002: "There may be a new type of matter according to researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory."
2010: The hottest man-made temperatures ever achived were a record 4 trillion degree plasma experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York... anointed the Guinness record holder."
2023: "Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered an entirely new kind of quantum entanglement."
2026: On Friday, February 6, "a control room full of scientists, administrators and members of the press gathered" at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York to witness its final collisions, reports Scientific American:
The vibe had been wistful, but the crowd broke into applause as Darío Gil, the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, pressed a red button to end the collider's quarter-century saga... "I'm really sad" [said Angelika Drees, a BNL accelerator physicist]. "It was such a beautiful experiment and my research home for 27 years. But we're going to put something even better there."
That "something" will be a far more powerful electron-ion collider to further push the frontiers of physics, extend RHIC's legacy and maintain the lab's position as a center of discovery. This successor will be built in part from RHIC's bones, especially from one of its two giant, subterranean storage rings that once held the retiring collider's supply of circulating, near-light speed nuclei...slated for construction over the next decade. [That Electron-Ion Collider, or EIC] will utilize much of RHIC's infrastructure, replacing one of its ion rings with a new ring for cycling electrons. The EIC will use those tiny, fast-flying electrons as tiny knives for slicing open the much larger gold ions. Physicists will get an unrivaled look into the workings of quarks and gluons and yet another chance to grapple with nature's strongest force. "We knew for the EIC to happen, RHIC needed to end," says Wolfram Fischer, who chairs BNL's collider-accelerator department. "It's bittersweet."
EIC will be the first new collider built in the US since RHIC. To some, it signifies the country's reentry into a particle physics landscape it has largely ceded to Europe and Asia over the past two decades. "For at least 10 or 15 years," says Abhay Deshpande, BNL's associate laboratory director for nuclear and particle physics, "this will be the number one place in the world for [young physicists] to come."
The RHIC was able "to separately send two protons colliding with precisely aligned spins — something that, even today, no other experiment has yet matched," the article points out:
During its record-breaking 25-year run, RHIC illuminated nature's thorniest force and its most fundamental constituents. It created the heaviest, most elaborate assemblages of antimatter ever seen. It nearly put to rest a decades-long crisis over the proton's spin. And, of course, it brought physicists closer to the big bang than ever before...
When RHIC at last began full operations in 2000, its initial heavy-ion collisions almost immediately pumped out quark-gluon plasma. But demonstrating this beyond a shadow of a doubt proved in some respects more challenging than actually creating the elusive plasma itself, with the case for success strengthening as RHIC's numbers of collisions soared. By 2010 RHIC's scientists were confident enough to declare that the hot soup they'd been studying for a decade was hot and soupy enough to convincingly constitute a quark-gluon plasma. And it was even weirder than they thought. Instead of the gas of quarks and gluons theorists expected, the plasma acted like a swirling liquid unprecedented in nature. It was nearly "perfect," with zero friction, and set a new record for twistiness, or "vorticity." For Paul Mantica, a division director for the Facilities and Project Management Division in the DOE's Office of Nuclear Physics, this was the highlight of RHIC's storied existence. "It was paradigm-changing," he says...
Data from the final run (which began nearly a year ago) has already produced yet another discovery: the first-ever direct evidence of "virtual particles" in RHIC's subatomic puffs of quark-gluon plasma, constituting an unprecedented probe of the quantum vacuum.
RHIC's last run generated hundreds of petabytes of data, the article points out, meaning its final smash "isn't really the end; even when its collisions stop, its science will live on."
But Science News notes RHIC's closure "marks the end for the only particle collider operating in the United States, and the only collider of its kind in the world. Most particle accelerators are unable to steer two particle beams to crash head-on into one another."
2002: "There may be a new type of matter according to researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory."
2010: The hottest man-made temperatures ever achived were a record 4 trillion degree plasma experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York... anointed the Guinness record holder."
2023: "Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered an entirely new kind of quantum entanglement."
2026: On Friday, February 6, "a control room full of scientists, administrators and members of the press gathered" at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York to witness its final collisions, reports Scientific American:
The vibe had been wistful, but the crowd broke into applause as Darío Gil, the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, pressed a red button to end the collider's quarter-century saga... "I'm really sad" [said Angelika Drees, a BNL accelerator physicist]. "It was such a beautiful experiment and my research home for 27 years. But we're going to put something even better there."
That "something" will be a far more powerful electron-ion collider to further push the frontiers of physics, extend RHIC's legacy and maintain the lab's position as a center of discovery. This successor will be built in part from RHIC's bones, especially from one of its two giant, subterranean storage rings that once held the retiring collider's supply of circulating, near-light speed nuclei...slated for construction over the next decade. [That Electron-Ion Collider, or EIC] will utilize much of RHIC's infrastructure, replacing one of its ion rings with a new ring for cycling electrons. The EIC will use those tiny, fast-flying electrons as tiny knives for slicing open the much larger gold ions. Physicists will get an unrivaled look into the workings of quarks and gluons and yet another chance to grapple with nature's strongest force. "We knew for the EIC to happen, RHIC needed to end," says Wolfram Fischer, who chairs BNL's collider-accelerator department. "It's bittersweet."
EIC will be the first new collider built in the US since RHIC. To some, it signifies the country's reentry into a particle physics landscape it has largely ceded to Europe and Asia over the past two decades. "For at least 10 or 15 years," says Abhay Deshpande, BNL's associate laboratory director for nuclear and particle physics, "this will be the number one place in the world for [young physicists] to come."
The RHIC was able "to separately send two protons colliding with precisely aligned spins — something that, even today, no other experiment has yet matched," the article points out:
During its record-breaking 25-year run, RHIC illuminated nature's thorniest force and its most fundamental constituents. It created the heaviest, most elaborate assemblages of antimatter ever seen. It nearly put to rest a decades-long crisis over the proton's spin. And, of course, it brought physicists closer to the big bang than ever before...
When RHIC at last began full operations in 2000, its initial heavy-ion collisions almost immediately pumped out quark-gluon plasma. But demonstrating this beyond a shadow of a doubt proved in some respects more challenging than actually creating the elusive plasma itself, with the case for success strengthening as RHIC's numbers of collisions soared. By 2010 RHIC's scientists were confident enough to declare that the hot soup they'd been studying for a decade was hot and soupy enough to convincingly constitute a quark-gluon plasma. And it was even weirder than they thought. Instead of the gas of quarks and gluons theorists expected, the plasma acted like a swirling liquid unprecedented in nature. It was nearly "perfect," with zero friction, and set a new record for twistiness, or "vorticity." For Paul Mantica, a division director for the Facilities and Project Management Division in the DOE's Office of Nuclear Physics, this was the highlight of RHIC's storied existence. "It was paradigm-changing," he says...
Data from the final run (which began nearly a year ago) has already produced yet another discovery: the first-ever direct evidence of "virtual particles" in RHIC's subatomic puffs of quark-gluon plasma, constituting an unprecedented probe of the quantum vacuum.
RHIC's last run generated hundreds of petabytes of data, the article points out, meaning its final smash "isn't really the end; even when its collisions stop, its science will live on."
But Science News notes RHIC's closure "marks the end for the only particle collider operating in the United States, and the only collider of its kind in the world. Most particle accelerators are unable to steer two particle beams to crash head-on into one another."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Kick-off at Amex Stadium 2pm (GMT)
Email Daniel with your thoughts
I’ll probably end up looking silly, but I quite fancy Palace here. Brighton lack a reliable scorer – though Katsoulas’ brilliant goal against Bournemouth tells us he knows where the goal is – and I think Palace have the speed of foot and of pass to cause them problems.
So where is the game? Brighton will expect – and probably allowed – to have more of the ball, with Mitoma and Rutter staying narrow and Kadioglu and De Cuyper keeping width outside them – especially useful when facing a three-at-the-back system. The space will be in behind the wing-backs and down the sides of the centre-backs, though I’d also expect Katsoulas to target the space in behind.
Continue reading...Blaze probably caused by candles at makeshift tribute near Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, say police
A memorial for the victims of a deadly fire at a new year party in Switzerland itself caught fire early on Sunday, probably sparked by candles left burning inside, police have said.
It was a makeshift tribute to the 41 people killed and the 115 injured in the fire that erupted in the early hours of 1 January at Le Constellation bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, which was packed with mainly teenagers and young adults.
Continue reading...Whoever succeeds Keir Starmer will have an almost impossible task: convincing voters that politicians will serve the people, not themselves
Keir Starmer’s side of the ever-unfolding Jeffrey Epstein scandal clearly centres on one big decision, the twisted calculations that must have led to it, and a question that is not going to go away: between late 2024 and early 2025, despite knowing that Peter Mandelson had maintained his friendship with Epstein after the latter’s conviction for what US law calls soliciting prostitution from a minor, why did Starmer and his inner circle still conclude that he was the right man to be the UK’s ambassador in Washington DC?
There is a very important contextual element of the story, which began to surface at the end of last week, about the absence of alarm – in both politics and the media – at the appointment at the time it was made, suggestive of an amazing collective amnesia about details of the Mandelson/Epstein relationship that had been made public. But even so, that doesn’t detract from the awfulness of what the prime minister and his people did, which sits at the heart of the story like an incurable headache. They surely know it, and so does everyone else: presented with a due diligence report based on a vivid account of what Mandelson had been up to (much of which was well known anyway), they apparently took his denials at face value. Despite warnings to the contrary – from, we now hear, the-then foreign secretary David Lammy and Starmer’s then-deputy Angela Rayner – they gave Mandelson exactly what he wanted.
John Harris is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Northern leaders urge government to support proposal as Manchester mayor says a London bid ‘wouldn’t be right’
The north of England is seeking to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost a region “left out of the national story”.
Northern leaders have written to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, urging the government to back a multi-city games spanning an area with a population of 15 million people.
Continue reading...These chocolatey Brazilian treats are endlessly customisable to fit your sweet tooth preferences – and they’re quick and easy for those in a last-minute romantic rush
If you’re not au fait with these soft, chocolatey treats, you clearly haven’t spent much time in Brazil, where, in the words of blogger Olivia Mesquita, they’re national treasures, “a must-have at special celebrations, from kids’ parties to weddings”. As content creator Camila Hurst puts it, “It’s basically not a party without them.” Quick and simple to make from everyday ingredients, they’re also an ideal last-minute gift for someone you love.
Continue reading...Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists – could the mayor please do something about the weather?
It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing – a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice.
But science isn’t enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city’s streets.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading...⚽ Updates from Emirates Stadium, kick off 12pm (GMT)
⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Xaymaca
3 min: Caitlin Foord turns Kerstin Casparij inside out on the left. She drives towards the byline before crossing the ball across the box. Nobody’s there to tap the ball in though.
1 min: Former Arsenal player Vivianne Miedema has an early opportunity. Manchester City win the ball off Arsenal shortly after kick off and Miedema strikes from about 25 yards out. It travels comfortably past the post.
Continue reading...Zie de cartoon hier ontstaan:
Tip: koop een boek!
Ouderschap verandert je hersenen, hart en immuunsysteem ingrijpend. Wetenschap toont: kinderen kosten slaap maar beschermen tegen dementie en kanker.
Kinderen krijgen is geen kleinigheid — niet voor je agenda en niet voor je lijf. Maar de wetenschap laat steeds duidelijker zien dat ouderschap het menselijk lichaam en de geest op ingrijpende en verrassende manieren transformeert. Van hersenreconstructie tot bescherming tegen kanker: de effecten zijn groter dan de meeste ouders vermoeden.
Je brein wordt verbouwd
Zodra een vrouw zwanger wordt, ondergaan haar hersenen veranderingen die onderzoekers vergelijken met de puberteit. Oestrogeen zet een grootschalige herstructurering in gang, waarbij gebieden met grijze stof krimpen — met name in het default mode network, het hersengebied dat verantwoordelijk is voor empathie. Het resultaat: moeders worden beter in het aanvoelen van de behoeften van hun kind. Neurowetenschapper Erika Barba-Müller toonde aan dat deze veranderingen zelfs zes jaar na de geboorte nog zichtbaar zijn
Opmerkelijk: ook vaders worden hersenmatig 'geüpgraded'. Israëlische neurowetenschapper Ruth Feldman bewees dat de zorg voor een kind een grotere invloed op de hersenen kan hebben dan biologische factoren zoals geslacht. Een grootschalige studie van Yale University, gepubliceerd in PNAS (2025), bevestigt dat ouderschap de functionele connectiviteit van hersenen verhoogt — in een richting die tegengesteld is aan veroudering.
Worden ouders gelukkiger? Niet per se.
Worden ouders gelukkiger? Niet per se. Een studie van de Universiteit van Keulen onder ruim 43.000 Europeanen toont dat ouders na de eerste babyroes minder tevreden zijn dan kinderloze leeftijdsgenoten. Maar er is een kanttekening: ouders ervaren significant meer zingeving in het leven. "Wie kinderen heeft, erleeft zijn leven vaker als waardevol," aldus socioloog Ansgar Hudde. In Noord-Europa, waar overheidsondersteuning sterk is, zijn ouders zelfs tevredener dan kinderlozen.
Langer leven, sterker immuunsysteem
De fysieke balans is verrassend positief. Zweedse data laten zien dat moeders gemiddeld 1,5 jaar langer leven en vaders bijna twee jaar — en elk extra kind levert een bonus op. Ouders hebben minder kans op hart- en vaatziekten en verongelukken minder vaak. Voor moeders daalt het risico op eierstokkanker met circa 30 procent en op baarmoederkanker met 40 procent; borstvoeding verlaagt het risico op borstkanker extra.
De prijs: slaap, bekkenbodem en buik
Uiteraard is er een keerzijde. Moeders slapen de eerste drie maanden gemiddeld een uur minder per nacht; zelfs zes jaar later is dat nog twintig minuten. Het immuunsysteem lijdt onder slaapgebrek: na een slechte nacht produceert het lichaam maar de helft van de normale antilichamen na een vaccinatie. Daarnaast kampen veel vrouwen met bekkenbodemproblemen na de bevalling, al herstelt negen van de tien vrouwen zonder blijvende schade.
Ouderschap in cijfers
- Hersenveranderingen blijven minstens 6 jaar zichtbaar na de geboorte
- Levenszufriedenheid daalt na de babyfase, maar zingeving stijgt permanent
- Levensverwachting stijgt met 1,5–2 jaar voor ouders (Zweeds onderzoek)
- Kankerbescherming: −30% eierstokkanker, −25% borstkanker, −40% baarmoederkanker
- Slaapverlies: moeders −1 uur (eerste 3 maanden), −20 min (na 6 jaar); vaders −15 min
Tijdens een wiskundeles schreef Arnold ‘Kryptonite’, waarvan de kwetsbaarheid kenmerkend was voor zijn beste songs voor postgrunge band 3 Doors Down. Zijn emotionele directheid sprak miljoenen fans aan.
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De crisis bij The Washington Post eist nu ook slachtoffers in de top. Uitgever Will Lewis, zeer ongeliefd bij de redactie, stapt op.
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Gaswinning in kleine velden op land blijft belangrijk voor de Nederlandse energievoorziening, maar Friesland vreest voor de gevolgen. Onder meer voor bodemdaling in het veenweidegebied. „Ik zie wat gaswinning doet met mensen”, zegt de gedeputeerde.
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In een mager duel met FC Utrecht heeft Feyenoord voorkomen dat de crisis vergroot werd. In de Galgenwaard werd het 1-0 voor de ploeg van Robin van Persie na een bevlieging van middenvelder Oussama Targhalline.
Er komt een stille tocht voor de 19-jarige man die afgelopen week om het leven kwam in de Rotterdamse Zoutziedersstraat. De tocht is dinsdag en start om 17:30 uur aan het voorste stuk van de Aelbrechtskade. Belangstellenden wordt gevraagd om een wit shirt en een witte ballon mee te nemen.
Passief-agressieve mensen opgelet: vanaf nu is er ook speciaal voor hen een nieuw chocoladegeschenk. De nieuwe varianten zijn een uitbreiding van de bekende ‘Merci’-lijn en liggen sinds deze week in de winkels.
De chocoladelijn met de naam ‘Dikke Merci en de groeten’ komt met verschillende nieuwe producten. Zo wordt de doos met hazelnoot-chocoladerepen vergezeld door de spreuk ‘Thanks, preciés wat ik nodig had’ en kun je de zeezout-karamel variant cadeau doen met de tekst ‘Bedankt hoor’. De doos met een combinatie aan verschillende soorten chocolade, komt in de winkels te liggen met ‘Je wordt bedankt hé!!’ in fraaie sierletters.
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