May 30, 2018
May 30, 2018 —
The headaches of heavy traffic may be universal, but University of California San Diego’s Ruth Williams works to ease the pain. The Department of Mathematics professor analyzes traffic congestion within the field of stochastic networks. This area of math describes real-world systems running at near-maximum capacity. It applies to things like the Internet when congested, assembly line glitches, customer service queues and freeways at rush hour. For this work, and for her many contributions to probability theory and collaborative research, Williams has been selected as a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science. The U.K.’s Professor Richard Ellis joins her as a new academy member.
May 22, 2018
May 22, 2018 —
As if taken from a Star Wars or Star Trek movie script, the term “exciton” (pronounced ˈek-sə-tän) comes from condensed matter physics. Excitons are bound states of electrons and electron holes attracted to each other by electrostatic force. They can be created both by light and transformed into light. Electrically neutral, these quasiparticles exist in systems like insulators and semiconductors, but University of California San Diego physicists have established a way that may bring them into future cell phones and laptops.
May 9, 2018
May 9, 2018 —
University of California San Diego’s Wei Xiong studies the science of “in between.” Specifically, the physical chemist studies mixed states of light and matter in order to better understand how the two forms of energy interact and communicate. Xiong does this by mixing light and matter to create hybrid quantum combinations whose properties he and his team measure and analyze. Recent research by Xiong; Bo Xiang, a Ph.D. candidate in his group; and postdoctoral scholar Raphael Ribeiro, from the Joel Yuen-Zhou Group, was published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in an article titled, “Two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy of vibrational polaritons.”
May 7, 2018
May 7, 2018 —
Exploring space beyond our solar system, UC San Diego Professor of Physics Adam Burgasser collaborated with an international team of astronomers, led by Nikolay Nikolov from the University of Exeter, to discover that the atmosphere of an exoplanet named WASP-96b, a so-called “hot Saturn,” is cloud-free. Their research is now published in the scientific journal Nature in an article titled, “An absolute sodium abundance for a cloud-free ‘hot Saturn’ exoplanet.”
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018 —
Researchers in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California San Diego mixed together unlikely materials to create a new hybrid form of crystalline matter that could change the practice of materials science. The findings, published in "Nature," present potential benefits to medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.
April 23, 2018
April 23, 2018 —
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the country’s most esteemed honorary societies and independent policy research centers, has elected three professors of the University of California San Diego as new members.
April 23, 2018
April 23, 2018 —
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the country’s most esteemed honorary societies and independent policy research centers, has elected three professors of the University of California San Diego as new members.
April 5, 2018
April 5, 2018 —
In 1895 Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite sat at a desk in Paris and secretly wrote out his last will and testament. In that document, the man known to many as “the Merchant of Death” stipulated that his vast wealth be distributed in the form of yearly prizes to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.” In the following years, the Nobel Prize would become the world’s most prestigious honor. Each December, thousands of the world’s elites arrive in Stockholm to dine on reindeer with the King of Sweden in celebration of the achievements of humankind.
March 23, 2018
March 23, 2018 —
University of California San Diego condensed matter physicists noticed something surprising about electrons—they behave like a family. Electrons not only carry electric charge as exhibited in electric currents, but they also possess spins which are responsible for quantum magnetic properties. Electron spins can organize, bond and interact. When excited, one spiraling part impacts the others.
March 19, 2018
March 19, 2018 —
Each year people all over the world die from the flu. To protect against influenza epidemics and their potentially mortal results, medical professionals encourage vaccination. While generally effective for healthy individuals, vaccinations are less effective for the elderly, the immunocompromised and other high-risk groups. For the healthy, getting a shot doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t get the flu since current vaccinations are not full-proof. But now there’s hope.
