Have physicists conquered the scaling behavior of exotic giant molecules?

When a two-body relation becomes a three-body relation, the behavior of the system changes. The basic physics of two interacting particles is well understood but the mathematical description of a three- or many-body system becomes so difficult that calculating the dynamics can blast the capacities of even modern super computers.

Under certain conditions, the quantum mechanical three-body problem may have a universal scaling solution and  physicists from Heidelberg University say they have experimentally confirmed such a model. The scientists under Prof. Dr. Matthias Weidemüller investigated three-particle molecules, known as trimers, under exotic conditions. 

Volcanic hazards aren't limited to eruptions, debris landslides can also cause a great deal of damage and loss of life. 

Stratovolcanoes, with their steep, conical shapes made up of lava and unconsolidated mixed materials, can reach a critical point of instability when they overgrow their flanks. This leads to partial collapse, and the product of this slope failure is a large-scale, rapid mass movement known as a catastrophic landslide or debris avalanche. 

Results from a clinical trial show that high doses of the corticosteroid fluticasone propionate safely and effectively induce remission in many people with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus characterized by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils. However, some trial participants did not respond to fluticasone even after six months of high-dose treatments, providing evidence that certain people with EoE are steroid-resistant.

In the last few months, pop star Selena Gomez and actress Kristen Johnston have said they struggle with lupus, bringing new attention to the autoimmune disease.

They join a list of celebrities such as R&B singer Toni Braxton, Nick Cannon, host of “America’s Got Talent” and Seal, who has a form of the disease that caused the infamous scars on his face. Even Lady Gaga claimed she tested “borderline positive” for lupus.

But while people may be familiar with who has it, many do not know what it actually is.


Selena Gomez. Credit: North Shore LIJ

A new image-based strategy helps identify and measure placebo effects in randomized clinical trials for brain disorders. 

The U.S. Department of Energy has given the green light to the LUX-Zeplin (LZ) experiment, which wants to help figure out dark matter, an invisible substance that must make up a lot more of the universe than visible matter does. It is essentially a scientific placeholder because whatever it is should explain a number of important behaviors of the universe, including the structural integrity of galaxies.