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Saturday, March 16, 2024

James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe

James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe

Illustration of the expansion of the Universe. Astronomers have used the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes to confirm one of the most troubling conundrums in all of physics — that the universe appears to be expanding at bafflingly different speeds depending on where we look.

This problem, known as the Hubble Tension, has the potential to alter or even upend cosmology altogether. In 2019, measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the puzzle was real; in 2023, even more precise measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) cemented the discrepancy.

Now, a triple-check by both telescopes working together appears to have put the possibility of any measurement error to bed for good. The study, published February 6 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that there may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe.

Related: After 2 years in space, the James Webb telescope has broken cosmology. Can it be fixed?"With measurement errors negated, what remains is the real and exciting possibility we have misunderstood the universe," lead study author Adam Riess, professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, said in a statement.

Reiss, Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt won the 2011 Nobel Prize in physicsfor their 1998 discovery of dark energy, the mysterious force behind the universe's accelerating expansion.

Currently, there are two "gold-standard" methods for figuring out the Hubble constant, a value that describes the expansion rate of the universe. The first involves poring over tiny fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) — an ancient relic of the universe's first light produced just 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

Dozens of stars and galaxies glisten across deep space in this James Webb Space Telescope image of the El Gordo galaxy cluster

JWST's infrared cameras allow it to look at the universe in more precise detail than any telescope before it. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Diego (Instituto de FĂ­sica de Cantabria), B. Frye (University of Arizona), P. Kamieneski (Arizona State University), T. Carleton (Arizona State University), and R. Windhorst (University of Arizona), A. Pagan (STScI), J. Summers (Arizona State University), J. D’Silva (University of Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), A. Robotham (University of Western Australia), and R. Windhorst (University of Arizona))

Between 2009 and 2013, astronomers mapped out this microwave fuzz using the European Space Agency's Planck satellite to infer a Hubble constant of roughly 46,200 mph per million light-years, or roughly 67 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc).

The second method uses pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. Cepheid stars are dying, and their outer layers of helium gas grow and shrink as they absorb and release the star's radiation, making them periodically flicker like distant signal lamps.

As Cepheids get brighter, they pulsate more slowly, giving astronomers a means to measure their absolute brightness. By comparing this brightness to their observed brightness, astronomers can chain Cepheids into a "cosmic distance ladder" to peer ever deeper into the universe's past. With this ladder in place, astronomers can find a precise number for its expansion from how the Cepheids' light has been stretched out, or red-shifted.

Related: Mysterious 'unparticles' may be pushing the universe apart, new theoretical study suggests

But this is where the mystery begins. According to Cepheid variable measurements taken by Riess and his colleagues, the universe's expansion rate is around 74 km/s/Mpc: an impossibly high value when compared to Planck's measurements. Cosmology had been hurled into uncharted territory.

"We wouldn't call it a tension or problem, but rather a crisis," David Gross, a Nobel Prize-inning astronomer, said at a 2019 conference at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) in California.

Initially, some scientists thought that the disparity could be a result of a measurement error caused by the blending of Cepheids with other stars in Hubble's aperture. But in 2023, the researchers used the more accurate JWSTto confirm that, for the first few "rungs" of the cosmic ladder, their Hubble measurements were right. Nevertheless, the possibility of crowding further back in the universe's past remained.

To resolve this issue, Riess and his colleagues built on their previous measurements, observing 1,000 more Cepheid stars in five host galaxies as remote as 130 million light-years from Earth. After comparing their data to Hubble's, the astronomers confirmed their past measurements of the Hubble constant.

"We've now spanned the whole range of what Hubble observed, and we can rule out a measurement error as the cause of the Hubble Tension with very high confidence," Riess said. "Combining Webb and Hubble gives us the best of both worlds. We find that the Hubble measurements remain reliable as we climb farther along the cosmic distance ladder."

In other words: the tension at the heart of cosmology is here to stay.”

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

On "Quitting" YouTube

Malaysia Rises as Crucial Link in Chip Supply Chain - The New York Times

Malaysia Rises as Crucial Link in Chip Supply Chain

"U.S. and European companies looking to diversify from China are expanding around Southeast Asia, a sign of how geopolitics is reshaping tech manufacturing.

Workers inside a lab wearing protective clothing. The lighting makes the room appear yellow.
The European firm Osram was early to open shop in Penang, Malaysia.Jes Aznar for The New York Times

By Patricia Cohen

Reporting from Penang, Kulim and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and from Bangkok, Thailand.

Construction cranes still surround the brand-spanking new plant in Kulim’s industrial park in Malaysia. But inside, legions of workers hired by the Austrian tech giant AT&S are already gearing up to produce at full capacity by year’s end.

Outfitted in head-to-toe coveralls, with oversized safety glasses and hard hats, they’re reminiscent of the worker bees in the movie “Minions,” but color coded by function: Blue for maintenance. Green for vendors. Pink for janitors. White for operators.

AT&S is just one of a flood of European and American companies that have recently decided to move to or expand operations in Malaysia’s electrical and electronicsmanufacturing mecca.

The American chip giant Intel and the German corporation Infineon are each investing $7 billion. Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips powering artificial intelligence, is teaming up with the country’s utilities conglomerate to develop a $4.3 billion artificial intelligence cloud and supercomputer center. Texas Instruments, Ericsson, Bosch and Lam Research are all expanding in Malaysia.

The boom is evidence of how much geopolitical friction and competition are reshaping the globe’s economic landscape and driving multibillion-dollar investment decisions. As rivalries between the United States and China over cutting-edge technology simmer and trade restrictions pile up, companies — particularly those in crucial sectors like semiconductors and electric vehicles — are looking to strengthen their supply chains and production capabilities.

People walking inside a white factory.
AT&S, an Austrian chip maker whose largest plant is in China, started looking to diversify locations in 2020.Jes Aznar for The New York Times

AT&S had production sites in Austria, India, South Korea and China — its largest plant — when it started hunting for a new location.

“It was clear after 20 years of investment in China, we needed to diversify our footprint,” said Andreas Gerstenmayer, chief executive of AT&S. The company manufactures high-end printed circuit boards and substrates, which serve as the foundation for advanced electronic components that power artificial intelligence and supercomputers.

The company’s site search started in early 2020, just as warnings began to spread about a dangerous new coronavirus in China. AT&S scouted 30 different countries on three continents before settling on Malaysia.

Southeast Asia’s strategic position in the South China Sea and longstanding economic ties to China and the United States make the region an attractive place to set up shop. Nations like Thailand and Vietnam, AT&S’s second choice, are also aggressively courting semiconductor firms to expand, offering tax incentives and other lures.

But Malaysia has the advantage of a head start.

The country has been riding the tech wave since the 1970s when it energetically courted some of the world’s electrical and electronic superstars, like Intel and Litronix (now ams Osram, with headquarters in Austria and Germany). It created a free-trade zone on the island of Penang, offered tax holidays, and built industrial parks, warehouses and roads. Cheap labor was an additional draw, as was its large English-speaking population and a government supportive of foreign investment.

Vendors and trishaw drivers in Penang, where a free-trade zone has helped draw foreign companies. Jes Aznar for The New York Times

Malaysia’s history in the back end of making semiconductors was one of the primary draws, Mr. Gerstenmayer said.

“They are quite aware of what the needs of the semiconductor industry are,” he said. “And they have a well-developed ecosystem in the universities, in education, labor force, supply chain” and more. Support from the government was another attraction, he said.

Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry, said foreign investment began to pick up 2019, driven by the widening use of semiconductors in everything from automobiles to medical devices. “There’s 5,000 chips in one car,” he said.

After the Covid-19 pandemic revealed devastating weaknesses in global supply chains, interest in Malaysia as an additional source soared.

That trend accelerated as great power conflicts bubbled over.

Both China and the United States moved to forge their own reliable semiconductor supply chains, in addition to supporting other critical sectors like renewable energy and electric vehicles.

“U.S. and European companies and even Chinese companies wanted to diversify out of China,” Mr. Zafrul Aziz said. China, too, is locating production facilities outside of the mainland, in part, some say, to sidestep U.S. sanctions. It’s a “China plus one” strategy.

Worries about Taiwan, the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, has further fueled investment in Malaysia, he said. The island is a source of growing friction between China, which maintains Taiwan is part of its territory, and the United States, which supports it politically.

Tech workers in Penang. Having so many tech companies in proximity has helped attract others.Jes Aznar for The New York Times

Malaysia is already the world’s sixth largest exporter of semiconductors, and packages 23 percent of all American chips.

“For a country of this size to be having that big an impact on the global semiconductor market is quite fantastic,” said David Lacey, director of advanced development and services at Osram, one of the world’s largest lighting companies.

Seated at a large conference table at the Sciences University of Malaysia on Penang, he rapidly pointed to the technology around the room. “There’s a TV, there are lights, there’s a projector, there are phones,” he said. “You can pretty much guarantee there is a Malaysia component somewhere.”

The proximity of so many tech companies also exerts a gravitational pull. In Penang and Kulim, which are connected by two long, snaking bridges, there are more than 300 companies.

“Everything is here,” said Eric Chan, a vice president and general manager at Intel in Malaysia. After a half century, that network and infrastructure are not easily duplicated.

Mr. Chan also mentioned the government’s crucial cooperation during the pandemic in keeping factories open.

Foreign direct investment was nearly $40 billion last year, more than twice the total generated in 2019.

“For a country of this size to be having that big an impact on the global semiconductor market is quite fantastic,” said David Lacey, an executive at Osram.Jes Aznar for The New York Times

Mario Lorenz, managing director in Malaysia for the German logistics company DHL Supply Chain, said “most of our big investments have happened in the last two years.”

During that time, the semiconductor sector has grown to dominate the company’s business in Malaysia. “We followed the trend,” he said.

Inside DHL Supply Chain’s newest global distribution center, Penang Logistics Hub No. 4, are bespoke orange and blue shelves specifically designed to handle the heavy, oversized crates used by a semiconductor company.

Four new supply chain facilities are in the works in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s track record has been mostly in the back end of the semiconductor supply chain — which includes packing, assembling and testing components — activities that traditionally have been considered less complex and of lower value.

But now the industry’s focus on packaging smaller chips — chiplets — more tightly together to increase computing power is increasing the value and technical complexity of those activities.

Intel is building its first overseas facility for advanced 3-D chip packaging in Malaysia. When you bring in cutting-edge technology there is a “ripple effect,” said AK Chong, a vice president and managing director of Intel in Malaysia. That development will attract dozens of new businesses and help advance the labor force’s entire skill set.

Such advancements will require a huge expansion of utilities like green energy, sanitation, water and a 5G digital infrastructure.

That’s a challenge for any country, particularly one whose history has been marred by a multibillion dollar corruption scandal involving its sovereign wealth fund. Even so, several company executives said they were confident in Malaysia role in the supply chain.

“They have projects to provide green energy by building up big solar farms,” Mr. Gerstenmayer of AT&S said. “Malaysia is on good path to becoming a hot spot in the electronics industry globally.”

Malaysia Rises as Crucial Link in Chip Supply Chain - The New York Times

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Facebook and Instagram restored after users report widespread outages - CBS News

Facebook and Instagram restored after users report widespread outages

"Meta says its Facebook and Instagram services have been restored, after more than half a million users reported widespread issues earlier in the day, with many saying they were booted out of the social media platforms and unable to log back in. 

DownDetector, a site that monitors internet service outages, on Tuesday said it received more than 500,000 reports of problems by U.S. Facebook users and more than 70,000 reported problems with Instagram as of about 10:30 a.m. ET. The most frequently reported problems were with logging into the Facebook app and issues with the Instagram app, according to DownDetector.

"Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services," a Meta Spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday. "We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience." 

Facebook users from across the globe reported that they were unable to log in to the service, ranging from Egypt to Oklahoma, according to DownDetector. Some people on social media expressed concern that their accounts had been hacked because they had been booted out of the service and were unable to get back in with their passwords.

"Meta platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads are currently experiencing outages related to login sessions in multiple countries; incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering," according to NetBlocks, a global internet monitor, on X earlier Tuesday.

Meta Quest's artificial reality headsets were also signed out, according to tech site 9to5Mac. WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, appeared unaffected. 

The issue represented a "major outage incident," wrote NetBlocks director of research Isik Mater on X during the service interruption. "[E]ven the company's official status page is currently showing status 'Unknown' across the board."

A senior official with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told reporters Tuesday that the agency was "not aware of any specific election nexus nor any specific malicious cyberactivity nexus to the outage."

The outage came just ahead of Thursday's deadline for large technology companies to fall in line with the European Union's new Digital Markets Act. To comply, Meta is making changes, like allowing users to separate their Facebook and Instagram accounts so personal information can't be combined to target them with online ads. It's not clear whether the outage is connected to any preparations Meta might be implementing to adhere to the law.

Facebook has more than 2 billion daily active users worldwide, according to Meta.

—With reporting by the Associated Press."

Facebook and Instagram restored after users report widespread outages - CBS News

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Earth Struck By Enormous Burst Of Gamma Rays From Two Billion Light-Years Away

Earth Struck By Enormous Burst Of Gamma Rays From Two Billion Light-Years Away

“A massive burst of gamma rays produced by the explosion of a star almost two billion light-years away was so powerful that it changed Earth’s atmosphere, according to scientists.

Gamma rays are the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, containing the most energy. On Earth, they come from lightning, nuclear explosions and radioactive decay. In space, they’re thought to originate from a star exploding as a supernova or from two dense neutron stars—the leftovers of a supernovae—colliding with each other.

This gamma-ray burst has come from two billion light-years away, which means it occurred two billion years ago.

MORE FROM FORBESGiant Cosmic Explosion May Be Biggest Since Human Civilization Began, Say ScientistsBy Jamie Carter

Significant Disturbance

Published today in the journal Nature Communications, a new paper reveals that on October 9, 2022, an enormous burst of gamma rays—labeled GRB 221009A—caused a significant disturbance in a layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the ionosphere.

The ionosphere sits from around 31 miles (50 kilometers) to 590 miles (950 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. “It was probably the brightest gamma-ray burst we have ever detected,” said Mirko Piersanti, University of L’Aquila, Italy, and lead author of the paper, in a press release.

The burst of energy, which lasted just over 13 seconds, is reckoned to be a once-in-10,000-years event. New research shows that Earth’s ionosphere was disturbed for several hours by the blast. Enough energy arrived at Earth to activate lightning detectors.

MORE FROM FORBESOnce-In-A-Thousand-Year Cosmic Explosion Has Been Explained At LastBy Jamie Carter

Atmospheric Changes

It’s not unusual for Earth’s atmosphere to be affected by space weather. It’s been subjected to a lot of geomagnetic activity in recent months, with a potent solar wind producing a marked increase in the frequency and intensity of aurora. However, that comes from the sun.

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GRB 221009A appears to have come from two billion light-years away, yet it still had a marked effect on the ionosphere.

“This disturbance impacted the very lowest layers of Earth's ionosphere, situated just tens of kilometers above our planet’s surface, leaving an imprint comparable to that of a major solar flare,” said Laura Hayes, research fellow and solar physicist at ESA.

MORE FROM FORBESLargest Cosmic Explosion Ever Seen Leaves Scientists BaffledBy Jamie Carter

Earth’s Mass Extinctions

GRB 221009A cannot have been the first time gamma rays from a supernova have struck Earth. “There has been a great debate about the possible consequences of a gamma-ray burst in our galaxy,” said Piersanti.

This new research reinforces the idea that a supernova in the Milky Way could affect the ionosphere and even damage the ozone layer, which protects us against dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Mass extinctions in Earth’s history may have been caused by something similar to—but much stronger than—GRB 221009A.

Biggest Mysteries In Astronomy

GRB 221009A was detected by the European Space Agency's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) space telescope, the first capable of simultaneously observing objects in gamma rays, X-rays and visible light. Launched in October 2002, it studies explosions, radiation, formation of elements, black holes and other exotic objects, according to ESA to solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy—such as gamma rays.

The burst’s effect on Earth’s atmosphere was detected by the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES), also known as Zhangheng, a Chinese-Italian space mission launched in 2018. It monitors the top side of the ionosphere for changes in its electromagnetic behavior.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.“