Latest Niels Bohr Institute Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Many mysteries surround black holes, but new research led by the Niels Bohr Institute has come up with groundbreaking new theories that might explain several of their more mysterious properties. The new study reveals that black holes have properties that resemble the dynamics of both solids and liquids. Black holes are extremely compact, so compact in fact that they generate an incredibly strong gravitational pull. Everything that...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Dark matter comprises a large portion of the Universe, filling the space between galaxies and stars. Since the prediction of dark matter some 70 years ago, researchers from a myriad of disciplines – astronomers, cosmologists, and even particle physicists – have been looking for answers to what dark matter could be. New observations from the Planck satellite may bring researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute closer than ever to a...

[ Watch the Video ] Baby galaxies from the young Universe more than 12 billion years ago evolved faster than previously thought, shows new research from the Niels Bohr Institute. This means that already in the early history of the Universe, there was potential for planet formation and life. The research results have been published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters. For several thousand years after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago,...

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have combined two worlds – quantum physics and nano physics, and this has led to the discovery of a new method for laser cooling semiconductor membranes. Semiconductors are vital components in solar cells, LEDs and many other electronics, and the efficient cooling of components is important for future quantum computers and ultrasensitive sensors. The new cooling method works quite paradoxically by heating the material! Using lasers, researchers cooled...

Some of the oldest stars in the Milky Way – a kind of stellar fossils in the outer reaches of our galaxy, contain abnormally large amounts of heavy elements like gold, platinum and uranium. Where these large amounts came from has been a mystery for researchers, since they are usually seen in much later generations of stars. Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have been studying these ancient stars for several years with ESO's giant telescopes in Chile in order to trace the origin of...

  Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have measured the lifetime of an extremely stable energy level of magnesium atoms with great precision. Magnesium atoms are used in research with ultra-precise atomic clocks. The new measurements show a lifetime of 2050 seconds, which corresponds to approximately ½ hour. This is the longest lifetime ever measured in a laboratory. The results have been published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters. The experiment consists of...

Quantum communication could be an option for the absolutely secure transfer of data. The key component in quantum communication over long distances is the special phenomenon called entanglement between two atomic systems. Entanglement between two atomic systems is very fragile and up until now researchers have only been able to maintain the entanglement for a fraction of a second. But in new experiments at the Niels Bohr Institute researchers have succeeded in setting new records and...

A new scientific discovery could have profound implications for nanoelectronic components.  Researchers from the Nano-Science Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with Japanese researchers, have shown how electrons on thin tubes of graphite exhibit a unique interaction between their motion and their attached magnetic field "“ the so-called spin. The discovery paves the way for unprecedented control over the spin of electrons and may have a big...

The Earth and Moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus. Until now it was thought to have happened when the solar system was 30 million years old or approx. 4,537 million years ago. But new research from the Niels Bohr Institute shows that the Earth and Moon must have formed much later "“ perhaps up to 150 million years after the formation of the solar system. The research results have been published in the scientific journal, Earth...

Will all of the ice on Greenland melt and flow out into the sea, bringing about a colossal rise in ocean levels on Earth, as the global temperature rises? The key concern is how stable the ice cap actually is and new Danish research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen can now show the evolution of the ice sheet 11,700 years back in time "“ all the way back to the start of our current warm period. The results are published in the esteemed journal Nature.Numerous...