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COSMIC RAY LEARNING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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This page originally appeared on CoS A cohort of teens at the Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE) is learning the principles of physics and computer programming by building detectors for cosmic rays. The pilot program is led by U faculty member Tino Nyawelo, one of three recipients of the 2023 Spirit of Salam Award given […]

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The ‘Barbenheimer Star’

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This page originally appeared on @THEU & CoS Adapted from a release by Jordan Raddick, Sloan Digital Sky Survey press office. Astronomy’s new blockbuster was announced in New Orleans during the 2024 American Astronomical Society meeting. Astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) discovered evidence for what they call the “Barbenheimer Star”—an enormous ancient star that […]

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OVERCOMING PHYSICS PHOBIA

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This page originally appeared on CoS By CJ Siebeneck “The core concept of physics is a physical intuition about the world,” Kevin Davenport says. “Human beings love to think about puzzles and problem solving.” Davenport, who earned his PhD at the U in 2019 is now an assistant lecture professor in the department of physics […]

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THE UNIVERSE WITHIN

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This page originally appeared on CoS by Christoph Boehme The Department of Physics & Astronomy has a dedicated team of Experimental Condensed Matter (CME) Physicists exploring the enigmatic world of condensed matter, in the quest for discoveries that redefine our understanding of nature on the quantum scale.  The University of Utah’s Department of Physics & Astronomy is not just a place of academic inquiry; it is a crucible […]

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Humans of the U: Ramón Barthelemy

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This page originally appeared on @THEU & CoS   “Ideas of social justice, inclusion and equity have always been at the forefront of my mind. I’m a first-generation in an immigrant family and this has given me a perspective that most other people in physics don’t have. I noticed that there was a trend in […]

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Lightning, camera, gamma ray!

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This page originally appeared on @THEU In September 2021, an unprecedented thunderstorm blew across Utah’s West Desert. Lightning from this storm produced at least six gamma ray flashes that beamed downward to Earth’s surface and activated detectors at the University of Utah-led Telescope Array. The storm was noteworthy on its own—the array usually clocks one […]

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SCI FRI: COSMIC RAY BURST

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This page originally appeared on @Science Friday & @CoS  Around 30 years ago, scientists in Utah were monitoring the skies for cosmic rays when they detected a surprising particle. It struck the atmosphere with much more energy than they had previously seen—enough energy to cause the researchers to dub it the “Oh My God Particle.” […]

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Telescope Array detects second highest-energy cosmic ray ever

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This page originally appeared on @THEU In 1991, the University of Utah Fly’s Eye experiment detected the highest-energy cosmic ray ever observed. Later dubbed the Oh-My-God particle, the cosmic ray’s energy shocked astrophysicists. Nothing in our galaxy had the power to produce it, and the particle had more energy than was theoretically possible for cosmic […]

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First Detection of Heavy Element From Star Merger

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This page originally appeared on @THEU & Adapted from NASA Webb Space Telescope. “We only know of a handful of kilonovas with any certainty, and this is only the second one for which we have such detailed spectral information” said Tanmoy Laskar, assistant professor at the University of Utah, of the first detection of we have of […]

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Queering STEM Education Research

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This page originally appeared on @THEU The National Science Foundation has awarded University of Utah researchers $1.25 million for Queering STEM Education Research, a pioneering program to recruit and train postdoctoral researchers to explore marginalization in STEM disciplines from a queer theory perspective. One way academia has tried to understand inclusion in STEM-related fields is through […]

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