Current Affairs
The (Supposed) New force in Physics:
Oversimplified
-Devansh Mishra
Physicists are always wrong. Newton’s laws of gravitation were disproved by Einstein’s theories of relativity. Thomas Young’s Wave Theory of Light was disproved by Einstein’s paper on the photoelectric effect, stating that light was also a particle. Thompson’s, Dalton’s and Rutherford’s model of the atom was continuously disproved one after the other to get what we have today (and this will certainly get disproved in the near future to the dismay of middle-schoolers). Laws of physics never remain static and are continuously built upon, improved and redesigned to remove the experimental inaccuracies we observe. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the long-known, world-renown theory of the four fundamental forces of physics was also improved upon recently.
Evidence of a new branch of physics has emerged from the Large Hadron Collider. Have we stumbled upon the hallmark discovery of the 21st century?
Sources: The Conversation, The Independant
Oversimplified:
Imagine that you have a particle A. According to traditional theories, particle A should decay into particles B and C with a 50% chance of it being either. The only difference between particles B and C is that B is about 200 times more massive than its competitor. Over the past few years, scientists have seen that the number of 50% isn’t entirely accurate. The B particles are always a little less than the C particles. This had physicists entirely stumped. Had they just stumbled upon something new?
Well, the folks at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) certainly think so. Repeating the experiment once again, they found out the ratio of B to C particles to be 85 to 100 with a large amount of experimental accuracy. A buzz rose around the room. The scientists have speculated this anomaly to come from another type of particle, let’s call it the Z particle, which apparently brings in a fifth force of nature into the world along with it. A new branch of physics is speculated to be started if the readings turn out to be true. Unfortunately, astrologists will remain blissfully undisturbed regarding this recent development.
(Also, just convert the B particles into muons, C particles into electrons and Z particles into a new fundamental particle called “Z prime”, and there you have your story)
A budding theorist’s POV:
Admittedly, I have nowhere near the knowledge required I would like to have to interpret the recent findings, but if I had to say something about it, it feels like there would be much more than just a new force of nature or a new particle. If it is something new, as popular thoughts suggest, then it can’t just be a niche area in which this pops up, it has to be everywhere, influencing a wide variety of things. Physics has simply been dormant for far too long for it to be stirred up by a new fundamental force. It has to be something as revolutionary as Einstein’s theories of relativity (however, nothing can ever match that man; he was and still is at the pinnacle of his field). A new particle in the already-overpopulated particle zoo just won’t cut the deal. However, I must note that this is just my primate gut that is signalling this to me and I have no empirical data whatsoever to back this hypothesis, so bear with me. :)
Our physical understanding of our universe has popularly been conceived to have the form of this pie chart:
And it feels like we are taking off a bite-sized chunk from the ‘things we don’t know we don’t know’. But what’s stopping this new force to be just another manifestation of dark matter or dark energy? This force could just be another derivative of something we don’t fully understand yet, but we know that exists.
In this period of speculatory period, alien and conspiracy theorists are portrayed to be highly pretentious. Throwing around casual theories about the force coming from an alien civilisation nearby, you never know who could be correct. The flat earth society also may join the mix at some point in time, having absolutely nothing to contribute in terms of hypotheses, but desperately trying to stay afloat in a world that is cancelling them.
I must include this though. The origin of the new force could just be from another galaxy, far, far away from ours. The chances of its origin to be Anakin Skywalker exerting The Force are low, but never zero.
Source: Scroll.in
Gianni and the spontaneous superleague
-Grace Treesa
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, seems to have a plan for an African superleague. These conclusions follow after a recent tweet by Barbara Gonzalez, CEO of a club in Tanzania. It revealed that a continent-wide African Super League was under discussion. According to NYTimes columnist Rory Smith, this is usually one of the best ideas because these leagues address the financial imbalance that soccer brings.
Let’s ignore the intense amount of complex logistics that would have to go into this for now and look at Africa. Africa is one of the best candidates for an experiment like this. Many small-time leagues in the continent don’t find enough investment or support to find talent and keep going. They don’t have enough resources to compete with the European clubs like Barcelona, who we usually see on our screens and set as the norm. Africa’s league could provide a lot of untapped potential, and if the world-renown clubs came together, there would be a change for the better and increased representation of the African community in the soccer world.
President Gianni Infantino in conversation with a news agency
Source: FIFA.com
However, this idea has been in the works since 2019 and has remained at that; an idea. When Infantino first released the proposal to the public, insiders from FIFA claim that it was no business plan and just a probable source of $200 million in revenue. For football, that’s a pretty significant number. And, as is usual with Gianni’s plans, we have no idea where it’ll come from. No particulars have been worked out or released yet, and other than Barbara, no other club seems to be responding to it. Remember, this is the same person who walked into a council meeting demanding a document to allow the selling of the World Cup to SoftBank.
In conclusion, yes, we need the representation, yes there is so much unseen potential in African football that goes unnoticed, and football shouldn’t be Eurocentric. Thing is, no one, including Gianni, knows how to do it.
Source: The New York Times, Forbes
Revival and Resurrection:
Not Just in the Stories
-Grace Treesa
For a lot of people, the coming of Easter this year symbolizes new beginnings. Last Easter, we were leaving behind our lives for our homes. We built a new life in a smaller space, made our peace with truth and loss and so much more. If we can get through that, we can get through quite a lot. (Definitely not an invitation to show me more things I could get through, universe)
To me, Easter always meant the one day we’d take a breather. The week after my exams would end, and the week when the vacations would start. This year, all that changed. I still have exams to write, unfortunately just this time there’s a lot more apprehension, and barely anyone knows how anything will go. Unpredictability is overrated, but it’s probably for the best.
Easter, the day of merriment
Sources: Woman's Day, Time Magazine
The first emotion that comes to mind, after an end, however, is fear. Fear of the unknown and how we’d move on. The thing with new beginnings is, they sound cool and all, but there’s no specific formula that tells you how to go through with them, or how they’ll work. You’ll figure it out on the way. The fear is normal, and necessary even. Last Easter was a different sort of beginning. One we were afraid to get through. I’m afraid to get through this beginning too. But that’s what life is. A lot of new beginnings and it never ends. At some beginnings, we have to leave behind some things. At some beginnings, we have to bring new stuff with us. All beginnings are for new and beautiful experiences to develop and flourish. We come out of every beginning better and stronger because we’ve gotten through things we never would have imagined we’d have to go through. Easter is supposed to tell us that it isn’t the end, just a new start. This Easter, let yourself breathe and stare your beginning in the face, and get through it.
And also, forget all of that philosophy we just went through. Easter is also about eggs made of chocolate and bunnies. That’s how I prefer it.
The Study on the infamous dinosaur meteor
-Akshaj balaji
The dinosaurs were killed 66 million years ago in one big swoop after being hit by a meteor. The famous rock that formed the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatán peninsula, which is now Mexico, was also responsible for another phenomenon. After the Cretaceous era causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, the birth of one of the greatest natural landforms took place, that is the tropical rainforests. The asteroid was majorly responsible for the creation of the Amazon rainforest.
The meteor that made the dinosaurs extinct
Source: Forbes
After the large meteor killed most of the wildlife in the region, there was a huge growth of trees and shrubs. About 6 million years after the dinosaur’s extinction, angiosperms, or flowering plants, came to dominate the landscape. The vegetation around the area changed drastically. There weren’t any dinosaurs to eat and destroy the trees anymore which allowed the forest to develop freely. Additionally, the arrival of the meteor caused several minerals and nutrients to be spread across the landscape and this allowed for vegetation which was not previously possible resulting in the Amazon Rainforest. The recent research and study on this matter was detailed in the paper titled ‘Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests’ which was posted in the Science Journal this month. One of the main takeaways from this is that vegetation takes a long time to return, 6 million years long, and if we humans continue destroying wildlife at the same pace we already are, there may be no plants and animals left on earth for 6 million years.
Source: BBC, India Times