In The News: Department of Physics and Astronomy
Awareness itself may predate our universe.
Imagine homing in on the source of your consciousness like an airport metal detector finds the keys stashed in your pocket.
Have you found that allergies worsen during extreme weather? It can be due to thunderstorm asthma, also known as thunder fever, when a thunderstorm puts huge amounts of pollen into the air. What causes thunderstorm pollen strikes, and what should homeowners do to stay safe?
One way to make money is to get your planes back in the air quickly, but another way is just to torture your passengers until they give it to you directly.
As four astronauts head toward the Moon in a module about the size of a small bedroom, Professor Mike Pravica joins us to break down the science behind NASA’s Artemis II mission. From what the crew will experience to the technology making it possible, we take a closer look at this next step in returning humans to the Moon.

For the first time in more than half a century, Americans watched astronauts blast off for the moon again Wednesday as Artemis II lifted off, a milestone for space exploration that also sparked a rare moment of national unity.
The key is to evenly distribute elderly passengers, who move more slowly, among the aircraft cabins.
Faint flickers in the night sky have puzzled astronomers for decades. These subtle changes in brightness come from violent star systems, where one star feeds on another. Now, new research from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, offers a clearer explanation for one of the most confusing signals these systems produce.
Cataclysmic variables are a broad class of binary systems that periodically undergo powerful outbursts, which we perceive as novae. However, in the intervals between these events, their brightness can also increase. And now scientists have a good idea of why this happens.
They’ll only be available on the new models of planes easyJet is introducing (for aviation nerds, that’s the Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft, of which there’ll be just over 200).

Throughout the nation, communities are divided on the rapid development of AI data centers that threaten to suck rivers dry and raise utility bills with enormous energy demands. In Boulder City, a short drive southeast from Henderson, voters will get to decide whether data centers are an acceptable use for a specific portion of city-owned land known as the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area.
Confusing calls for ‘priority boarders’ and numbered groups can make the process drag on — so it might surprise travelers to learn that there’s actually a tried and tested boarding system proven to make the process quicker.