Physics MOOC courses again

There have been some interesting changes over the years. According to a previous post in this blog in November 2014 Coursera had 35 courses matching keyword PHYSICS and EdX had 95. This number has grown since then. Coursera now has 126 and EdX 203. And FutureLearn has 46. Please note that these only match the keyword and not all are truly physics courses.

A quick browse shows EdX to have more academic type courses of interest to high school and university students. However Coursera and FutureLearn also have interesting courses. The latter tends to have shorter, less demanding but unusual courses.

Many introductory courses start in September. For example there is the course "Preparing for the AP Physics 1 Exam" which is intended to "bridge the college readiness gap". Fairly basic physics but good videos etc. There are similar courses for other subjects. This has been available since 2014 at least.

Lightning can produce gamma rays and antimatter

According to recent reports the very strong fields produced by the lightning accelerate electrons close to the speed of light colliding with atoms to create gamma photons. According to Phys.org:

Terrestrial gamma flashes were discovered about two decades ago. When lightning strikes, electrons are accelerated to very high energies and crashing into air molecules, causing an explosion of gamma radiation, the so-called terrestrial gamma flashes.

More recetly it was discovered that some of these gamma rays can have enough energy to produced antimatter. See this report:

...researchers from Japan describe how gamma rays from lightning react with the air to produce radioisotopes and even positrons—the antimatter equivalent of electrons.

Interstellar visitor

According to a report in Science Daily:
"A small, recently discovered asteroid -- or perhaps a comet -- appears to have originated from outside the solar system, coming from somewhere else in our galaxy. If so, it would be the first "interstellar object" to be observed and confirmed by astronomers"

A big solar flare

According to a report in Scientific American there has been a big solar flare - the biggest in 12 years.

"The Sun's level of activity goes up and down in an 11-year cycle: sometimes it produces a ton of large flares, and sometimes it's pretty quiet. Every solar cycle, the Sun delivers a few standout punches. This current solar cycle, however, is the quietest in the last 100 years. It's pretty notable that such a large flare came out of such a calm period."

Questions for discussion: what is a solar flare? Why are they important to us?
See also Wikipedia.

Science CSEC results for Guyana

According to a GINA report the results in Chemistry showed improvement.

However:

"The eleven subject areas where Guyana’s “performance did not measure up when compared with last year’s performance were: Biology, English A, English B, ... Integrated Science, Physics, ... Human & Social Biology, and Additional Mathematics."

With regard to these subjects the Minister said:

'“We therefore recognise that these performances indicate that appropriate measures have to be taken to ensure overall improved performance in all subject areas,” the Minister of Education stated.'

Performance in Mathematics was said to be "consistent".

STEM team returns to Guyana

Image from Guyana Chronicle

According to a report in the Guyana Chronicle:

The young Guyanese team...placed 10th after battling against 164 other countries from around the globe. The achievement by the nine-member team is phenomenal, considering that they had only four months to prepare for a competition which was new to them. However, their achievement is being celebrated by the Guyanese population.

The First Global web site gives some background:

FIRST Global organizes a yearly international robotics challenge to ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) among the more than two billion youths across the world. 

but has little regarding the outcomes of the event.

A word more on STEM Robotics

I have not yet been able to find a report on the event which took place successfully on June 24th despite rainy weather. Here is another earlier report by Vidyaratha Kissoon.

STEM Guyana

This initiative is introducing young people here in Guyana to the basics of robotics. According to an article in the Guyana Chronicle:

First Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger, today, met with the group of young Guyanese ... who are currently fine-tuning their robotic project in preparation for the inaugural Robot Olympics in Washington DC, USA in July.

More than 150 countries from around the world are expected to participate at the Robot Olympics. This initiative is part of the wider Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme, which was started last year under the aegis of the First Lady’s Office. It is being spearheaded by Ms. Karen Abrams, an overseas-based Guyanese.

An exhibition is planned for June 24th.

Further information is available from their websites:
http://stemguyana.com
https://m.facebook.com/stemguyana/

Ingenious Experiments in Astronomy and Physics

This article at space.com describes 5 experiments in astronomy and physics which involve quite a lot of interesting physics...

• - discovering the first exoplant
• - measuring the circumference of the Earth
• - Einstein's thought experiemnts
• - Millikan's oil drop
• - Foucault's pendulum

Some wierd physics

Physicists have developed a new kind of matter which is stable but changes periodically over time. It involves a complex quantum effect and is called a 'time crystal'. According to a report in Physics.org :

"Time crystals may sound like something from science fiction, having more to do with time travel or Dr. Who. These strange materials—in which atoms and molecules are arranged across space and time—are in fact quite real, and are opening up entirely new ways to think about the nature of matter. They also eventually may help protect information in futuristic devices known as quantum computers."

Sondhi said that the work addresses some of the most fundamental questions about the nature of matter. "It was thought that if a system doesn't settle down and come to equilibrium, you couldn't really say that it is in a phase. It is a big deal when you can give a definition of a phase of matter when the matter is not in equilibrium," he said.

Science podcasts

Some excellent podcasts for science and physics news can be found on the BBC podcast website of which the following I listen to regularly:

The Science Hour - "Science news and highlights of the week"

Science in Action - "The latest science research and news stories from all over the world" There is usually some overlap with "The Science Hour" but still worth getting.

Discovery - "Explorations in the world of science." This usually focuses on one topic.

Space - "Stories, opinion and debate from the final frontier"

and in the IT field there is:

Click - "Technological and digital news from around the world."

Tech Tent - "Your weekly status update on the technology business "