by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Resonance Science Foundation Astrophysicist

Gamma-rays have been observed emanating from the solar poles at a higher rate than expected.

Gamma-rays are the highest observed energy of electromagnetic radiation and are typically produced in energy transitions in atomic nuclei. Similar to photons of light being emitted as electrons reconfigure in atoms, photons of light are released in the reconfiguration of nuclei in an atomic nucleus, albeit at a much higher energy range!

Our star – the Sun – is a hot rotating ball of plasma continuously emitting radiation at a broad range of energies, from radio to gamma-rays.

Energy generation is greatest in the centre of the Sun, decreasing radially outward.

High energy radiation, such as gamma-rays, are thus thought to be due to the bombardment of the solar atmosphere by high velocity protons – hadronic cosmic rays. However, as the gamma-rays from such an interaction are assumed to be absorbed long before...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Astrophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

In-direct observations of black holes are made through the detection of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the surrounding matter, and more recently through the detection of gravitational waves. Now for the first time, at an observatory 5000 feet below the Antarctic ice, astronomers have observed a black hole through the detection of neutrinos!

Neutrinos are subatomic fundamental particles, that are produced through radioactive decay – that is the spontaneous decomposition of a nucleus into a more stable configuration. These high energy particles are also weakly interacting at the electromagnetic level and are thus able to traverse vast distances across space and time, carrying information from the most distant parts of the Universe. On the other hand, the highly energetic enigmatic particles such as protons, electrons or atomic nuclei – known as cosmic rays – are...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Astrophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

The latest supernovae survey reveals the crucial importance in furthering our understanding of supernovae and reaching confident conclusions as soon as possible.

The standard theory of stellar evolution results in an explosion and is revealed in a rare and beautiful astronomical event. Astronomers search for these events in the hope that they will provide greater insight into our understanding of stellar evolution. Although each supernovae event is different, specific stars will yield certain characteristics. One type of Supernovae event that is of particular interest is the type associated with a binary star system in which one of the components is a white dwarf – this is known as a Type 1a supernova. White dwarfs are extremely dense stars that have exhausted all their hydrogen and their extreme density is thus a result of them not being able to support the inward pull of gravity...

Article by William Brown and Dr. Amira Val Baker, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientists

Supermassive black holes observed for the first time at the earliest epoch of star and galaxy formation are indicating that black holes form first and guide the later accretion and structuring of stars and galaxies

For decades physicist Nassim Haramein has been expounding a controversial idea in astrophysics—that structures from elementary particles to galaxies and the universe itself are the result of infinitely curved spacetime geometries, popularly known as black holes. In essence, this means that all the stuff we think of as material, physical objects in fact only appear substantive because of the geometry and torque of spacetime in these regions. As Charles Misner and John Wheeler stated it:

There is nothing in the world except empty curved space. Matter, charge, electromagnetism, and other fields are only manifestations of the bending of space. Physics is...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Astrophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Charge – that is the degree to which an entity is affected by an external force – comes in all shapes in sizes. Now for the first-time scientists have been able to determine the weak charge of the proton.

The weak force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature and is significant in radioactivity – the spontaneous emission of energy and/or subatomic particles i.e. an unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously (decay) into a more stable configuration. Note, this is done by emitting specific particles and/or specific amounts/forms of energy. For example, radioactive beta decay transforms a neutron into a proton, an electron, and an electron anti-neutrino.

The standard model describes these forces in terms of the exchange of virtual force carriers. In this model the weak force is thought to interact thorough the exchange of the massive (~ 100 x mass of a proton)...

By Dr. Amira Val Baker, Resonance Science Foundation Astrophysicist

The biggest map of our galaxy just got revealed and it confirms the intriguing discrepancy in the value of the Hubble constant, further questioning our understanding of the expanding Universe.

Hubble’s constant – which is essentially a measure of the speed of the expanding universe – is determined by two different methods. One method looks at the early universe through the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and the other method looks at the local universe through the light emitted by Cepheid variables.

In a recent news post, we described how Nobel laureate Adam Reiss and his team at the Space Telescope Science Institute determined a value for the Hubble constant 9% higher than that found by the CMB method. This value was found to an improved accuracy compared to previous studies and thus brings into question the reason for such a discrepancy.

Now with the help of Gaia, the...

It is remarkable what can be achieved with acoustic waves. During the last two decades, scientists have demonstrated photon creation with the sonoluminescence effect, acoustic levitation and sound hologram. Acoustic vortices are another interesting effect. They have been extensively studied for their ability to trap particles and recently a team achieved the stable three-dimensional trapping of Rayleigh particles (i.e., particle with a radius smaller than the wavelength a λ).

These acoustic vortices are wave fields with a screw dislocation in the phasewave front and an amplitude null on the axis pin. These helical wavefronts can be generated using various methods among which stands out the use of phased array systems because they allow to electronically control the acoustic beam by means of the application of a given delay law to the array elements.

Acoustic researchers had been frustrated by the size limit for years, so it’s satisfying to...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

When something seems a little mysterious or we just don’t understand what is going on we like to describe it with the adjective ‘dark’.

This is one of the reasons why the term ‘dark’ matter got coined which was first proposed to explain the anomaly observed in the rotational velocities of galaxies. That is – the observed rotational velocities of the gas and dust at the outer edges of a galaxy is rotating just as fast as the gas and dust near its center. This anomaly was first noted in 1978 by Vera Rubin and W. Kent Ford who made precise measurements utilizing a new instrument that Ford himself had designed. At first, they thought their data could be erroneous, but then their results were corroborated by subsequent observations of galactic rotational velocities, suggesting that there was indeed an anomaly between what is expected and what was observed!

So, what is going...

Article by William Brown, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Conventionally consciousness is explained as emerging from electrochemical computational activity of cells in complex neural networks. Prima facie, this is a logical theory as sensory inputs can be de-constructed into data / information—computations are what sorts and processes data—and thus the computational activity of the brain produces phenomenal experiences from sensory data. The only problem is that it is not at all clear how a series of computations can produce phenomenal experience, that aspect of consciousness that is the observer—the experiencer of sensations and mental qualia. Undoubtedly, neuromorphic computations can result in machine learning, and this is most likely an integral aspect of the process of synaptic remodeling (plasticity) that occurs in the brain as one learns.

However, the ability to process data input, execute a response, and optimize that response...

By Dr. Amira Val Baker, Resonance Science Foundation Astrophysicist

Recent analysis of a stone found in the Libyan Desert Glass area of southwest Egypt, has sparked debate and a rethink of the current consensus on the formation of the solar system.

In a study, due to be published next month, a team of international researchers announced the resulting analysis of a stone that was subsequently named Hypatia after the ancient female astronomer of Alexandria.

Utilizing techniques from electron scanning microscopy, to proton induce X-ray emission and micro-Raman spectroscopy – the results revealed compounds not found anywhere on our planet, solar system or any known meteorite. As well, a lack of silicates was found which sets it apart from interplanetary dust particles and all known cometary material. Previous analysis of noble gas and nitrogen isotope studies suggest an extraterrestrial origin, which along with these new results strongly suggests a pre-solar origin and could...