This new post from the scientist Experimentor_4u reports on a recent new device which has been developed to create a ‘magnetic wormhole’. This wormhole can transmit the magnetic field through a magnetically invisible path from one point in space to another, effectively cloaking the magnetic field so it becomes invisible from the outside. While not an actual space-time wormhole as proposed by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen back in 1935, this is more of an ‘invisibility cloak’, a realisation of something that was initially proposed in the journal ‘Physical Review Letters’ in 2007. The device acts just as a wormhole would, however, as if the magnetic field were actually travelling through an extra dimension.
No-one has as yet observed a naturally occurring wormhole as predicted in the general theory of relativity, however this device can transmit the magnetic field through space on a magnetically invisible path. This acts just like a wormhole in that the electromagnetic waves are hidden from view from the outside. You can read all about what a wormhole actually is and about the device itself in our infographic, or watch the video to see how this device actually works.
Follow up posts will look at the first proposals of the possibility of wormholes, now dating back to almost a century ago.
This has been a big year so far for scientific discoveries and investigations, and as technology grows ever-more impressive the scope for what can be achieved continues to broaden. Read on to find out about some of the most amazing new scientific discoveries of the year to date from experimentor_4u.
Supermassive Black Hole
Perhaps the most mind-blowing in terms of size and scale of all the discoveries from 2015 so far is the supermassive black hole which has been uncovered by astronomers that measures up as approximately 12 billion times the size of our Sun. The object – which scientists are naming SDSS J0100+2802 – is at the centre of a quasar and has a million billion times the energy output of the sun. It is believed to be situated around 12.8 billion light years away from earth and has mystified astronomers, who are struggling to explain how such a gigantic black hole could have possibly formed at such an early point in cosmic history, having found that it was formed 900 million years after the Big Bang which created the universe. It is being called “the brightest lighthouse in the distant universe”, and it is easy to see why.
Human Epigenome Finally Mapped
In a ground-breaking biological breakthrough, scientists have for the first time completely mapped the human epigenome, which turns on or silences individual genes within DNA. The epigenome map reveals how each of the 127 cell and tissue types differ from every other at the level of DNA. A genome is the typecast for how an individual person is built, meaning that by extension the epigenome is referred to in simple terms as the ‘cross-outs and underlinings’. Scientists have had a map of the genome for more than a decade, but this new mapping of the epigenome – part of a $240m, 10-year US government research programme – is set to have a massive impact.
Potential Cure for HIV Successfully Tested
A potential cure for HIV has been successfully tested on four monkeys thanks to a lab-made molecule that mimics an antibody from our immune system, which has been able to keep the monkeys free from HIV even when subjected to large doses. Usually, a vaccination works by provoking an immune response, however in this case the “alternative vaccine” represents a new approach. The researchers have engineered a new molecule which they are claiming has the potential to block HIV from attaching itself to cells. Genetic material from this artificial molecule was at this point injected into the rhesus monkey’s muscles, with the result being that its production in the bloodstream was stimulated. The monkeys were protected for nearly six months despite being injected with far more of the virus than is normally needed to inject a standard control group. Researchers are hoping to test the vaccine on humans later this year.
Sun-Like Star Discovered
Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown Sun-like star being orbited by Earth-like planets and dating back to the beginning of the Galaxy. At 11.2 billion years old, it is the oldest of its kind to have been discovered and proves that such planets have formed throughout the duration of the universe. The star has been named Kepler-444 and is two and a half times older than our solar system, and astronomers are hoping that this can provide scope for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy.
New Quantum Physics Model
A new quantum physics model proposes that the universe has in fact existed forever and there was no ‘big bang’ moment of creation. The new model applies quantum correction terms to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which did state that the universe was created by a Big Bang; over the years, however, scientists have encountered problems with this theory and have sought other explanations. Quantum mechanics suggests that the universe could always have existed in what the physicists investigating this are calling “quantum potential”, which could have collapsed in the heat of the Big Bang. This means that they are not denying the existence of a Big Bang, they are putting forward their view that this was not the start of the universe as there was quantum life before that.
More…
Other great discoveries so far this year include; a new antibiotic that has been discovered using a breakthrough method of isolating antibiotic compounds in soil, a vibrational chemical bond which has been confirmed experimentally and demonstrated, having first been predicted in the 1980s and the DSCOVR satellite that has been launched into deep space in February by SpaceX to provide advance warnings of extreme emissions from the Sun.
experimentor_4u looks forward to the new discoveries and advances that 2016 might bring!
