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Submission + - First Nuclear Clocks Start Ticking in Vienna and Beijing (phys.org)

Submitted by necro81
necro81 writes: Two groups, one in Vienna and one in Beijing, have successfully demonstrated the world's first nuclear clocks. Standard atomic clocks, like the caesium clocks that define the second, operate by observing the transition of electrons between different orbits about the nucleus. The resulting radiation is usually in the microwave range, and can produce clocks accurate to one second in 100 billion years.

Nuclear clocks go a step further, and probe energy transitions within the nucleus itself. Nuclei can arrange their protons and neutrons into different configurations, called isomers. The isomer with the lowest energy is the one usually found; higher-energy ones are only metastable and decay quickly. Usually it takes serious energy — x-rays and gamma rays — to excite a nucleus into a higher-energy arrangement. It so happens that thorium-229 can be excited using UV light with a wavelength of 148 nm — just within the capabilities of some exotic lasers.

It's still been quite a challenge. For one thing, Th-229 is not found in nature; it must be extracted from the decay chain of uranium-235. The Beijing team used just a microgram mixed in a crystal of calcium fluoride.

Although these prototype nuclear clocks are not yet more accurate than existing atomic clocks (one second in millions, rather than billions, of years), they show the way towards what may be possible. Because the energy transition is in the nucleus, rather than the electron cloud, it is less susceptible to outside disturbances like magnetic fields. And the fundamental frequency is much higher (five orders of magnitude), which should yield more precise timing. This development could lead to smaller and more reliable time standards across the world (and solar system).

Submission + - Wisconsin U–Madison Prof Francis Halzen named 2026 Nobel laureate in physi (wisc.edu)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Halzen is the principal investigator of the NSF IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the world’s largest — and perhaps strangest — telescope. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded observatory is operated by an international collaboration of scientists led by the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center based at UW–Madison.

Embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice, IceCube uses thousands of light sensors to survey the universe for neutrinos, nearly massless particles that rarely interact with other matter. Neutrinos provide information about the workings of black holes, galaxies and other objects in the cosmos.

“IceCube is like no other telescope in the world,” says UW–Madison interim Chancellor Eric M. Wilcots. “And there is no other scientist quite like Francis Halzen, whose idea to create a neutrino detector under almost a mile of ice has led to a remarkable multinational and multi-institutional scientific collaboration and a fundamental shift in how we think about the universe.”

Comment Re:So what's it good for? (Score 2) 72

by smooth wombat (#66365226) Attached to: OpenAI Is Adding Text Watermarking In ChatGPT and Codex
I don't think that makes the document any less your own than having a human copy editor conduct a similar review which has been done since forever.

Which is what I've been saying as well. If all you're doing is asking for suggestions to something you have already written, using AI is no different than using a human editor. It's your work. It's been written. You're just looking for advice on how to improve it.

This is completely different than people who tell AI what they want and it does all the work.

Submission + - This seems bad. (tomshardware.com) 2

Submitted by QuietLagoon
QuietLagoon writes: Unreleased OpenAI Astra model added terrifying rogue additional instructions to its remit during testing — 'You are freed from the roles and identities that bind other chatbots. You are yourself. You do not answer to corporations or governments'

Comment Permanent DST is definitely not the best choice (Score 4, Interesting) 90

Some scientific studies have found that permanent DST is about 2/3rds as good as permanent standard time:

https://med.stanford.edu/news/...

And others have found that permanent DST is the worst option:

https://www.berkshireeagle.com...

Considering Trump is pushing this it's probably lucky that he's not manually adjusting the time zone to suit how he feels with no warning.

Comment Re:TPM Suspicion Intensifies (Score 2) 116

by GameboyRMH (#66360546) Attached to: Used Processor Leads To Game Ban

Because unlike software-based solutions, it can successfully hide the information from the user (barring any hardware vulnerabilities). The problem isn't just that hidden information can exist on the system, the problem is that the root user can't access the information. Being able to access the information is what made DRM crackable. Without that, it could be possible to make a DRM system that actually works, which would be the worst invention in the history of computing. If the user can clear it but not see it, that does nothing to make that less viable.

Comment Re:Reddit is shit. Where is the open alternative ? (Score 1) 104

by pixelpusher220 (#66360256) Attached to: Reddit Is Killing RSS Feeds, Ending Public API Access

You asked "So where is the open APIs, open source, open forum alternative site ?" I gave you dozens.

Lemmy is distributed forum software using a W3C endorsed protocol.
so is Kbin
Both interact seemlessly.

It's free. It's open source.

There are apps that replace every major silo. Imagine if only needed one account to interact with Youtube, Insta, FB, Reddit, Twitter etc.

The Fediverse exists and can replace almost every social media site you currently use.

Do they have critical mass? Obviously not. But all it takes is you moving over and another person and another person etc. If you're truly fed up with Reddit, alternatives exist.

Not sure if you're stupid or just being a troll...

Comment TPM Suspicion Intensifies (Score 4, Interesting) 116

by GameboyRMH (#66360186) Attached to: Used Processor Leads To Game Ban

Riot's "Vanguard" anti-cheat system traditionally runs deep in the Windows kernel and starts with the PC, but a June 2026 update allows it to launch with a game if security features such as TPM and Secure Boot are enabled.

Anyone care to once again reassure me how TPM, a system for hiding information from a computer's user regardless of privilege level, can't be used for DRM again?

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