Particles that are their own antiparticles discovered.

[Medusa Cascade]

http://news.stanford.edu/2017/07/20/...-antiparticle/

But in 1937, another brilliant physicist, Ettore Majorana, introduced a new twist: He predicted that in the class of particles known as fermions, which includes the proton, neutron, electron, neutrino and quark, there should be particles that are their own antiparticles.

Now a team including Stanford scientists says it has found the first firm evidence of such a Majorana fermion. It was discovered in a series of lab experiments on exotic materials at the University of California in collaboration with Stanford University. The team was led by UC-Irvine Associate Professor Jing Xia and UCLA Professor Kang Wang, and followed a plan proposed by Shoucheng Zhang, professor of physics at Stanford, and colleagues. The team reported the results July 20 in Science.

I have nothing to add, just thought it was interesting

[GennGreymane]

thats a whole new meaning of trust no one not even yourself.

[Julian Rayne]

Just to clarify, they are talking about fermions, not particles in general. We already know of bosons that are their own antiparticles like the photon for instance.

[Independent voter]

Was watching this show about particles. The scientist said this stuff is not intuitive and can only be described by math.

You'd think that something that was it's own antiparticle would annihilate itself but it doesn't.... math.

Maybe it only survives for the tiniest period of time?

[Osmeric]

This is talking about quasiparticles, which are states in condensed matter systems. They are not actually elementary particles like electrons or quarks.

[ro9ue]

Oh fuck you all pretending you know what any of this shit means.

[Allybeboba]

Oh fuck you all pretending you know what any of this shit means.

Don't you know MMOC has experts on everything.

[Elegiac]

Oh fuck you all pretending you know what any of this shit means.

It's entirely possible to have a rudimentary understanding of this.

I call tell you what a hadron is, for instance, but my knowledge of specifics such as quantum spin is far less comprehensive.

[Akka]

Oh fuck you all pretending you know what any of this shit means.

Don't you know MMOC has experts on everything.

You realize people can know more than you without being necessary an "expert" ?
Reminds me of people who thought I was a teacher just because I could write in my native language without making errors.

That's just putting the floor of expertise pretty low.

[unfilteredJW]

Don't you know MMOC has experts on everything.

Your lack of knowledge does not equate to others.

That's merely and issue of your ego.

[Allybeboba]

You realize people can know more than you without being necessary an "expert" ?
Reminds me of people who thought I was a teacher just because I could write in my native language without making errors.

That's just putting the floor of expertise pretty low.

It's mostly because they have access to the Internet.

[Elegiac]

It's mostly because they have access to the Internet.

This is as inane as saying someone doesn't know something because they have access to books.

Exactly what the fuck do you think information storage is for?

[Allybeboba]

This is as inane as saying someone doesn't know something because they have access to books.

Exactly what the fuck do you think information storage is for?

If one were to ask me or anyone any question here they could pretend to be an "expert" on the subject matter because we have access to the internet. All one has to do is simply look the question up and they are instantly an internet "expert".
We have plenty of internet 'experts' on MMOC and around the world.

Now, get them away from the internet where they have to apply that knowledge practically those so called "experts" will be dumbfounded.

[Muzjhath]

If one were to ask me or anyone any question here they could pretend to be an "expert" on the subject matter because we have access to the internet. All one has to do is simply look the question up and they are instantly an internet "expert".
We have plenty of internet 'experts' on MMOC and around the world.

Now, get them away from the internet where they have to apply that knowledge practically those so called "experts" will be dumbfounded.

Except that quite a few of the people you deem "internet experts" in threads on these topics study physics, or work in the field. So they either actively study and get better knowledge in those fields, or apply knowledge in said field to earn their monthly bread.

[Elegiac]

If one were to ask me or anyone any question here they could pretend to be an "expert" on the subject matter because we have access to the internet. All one has to do is simply look the question up and they are instantly an internet "expert".
We have plenty of internet 'experts' on MMOC and around the world.

Now, get them away from the internet where they have to apply that knowledge practically those so called "experts" will be dumbfounded.

Fun fact: even actual 'experts' on the subject are constantly having to refer to source material both as a refresher and to keep their knowledge in motion as new discussions and developments arise. I have my academic grounding in both history and political science but pretty much always have to be reading and learning, as well as revising.

What you're actually criticising is the sharing of information and resulting discussions of that information. Which again, is inane; and ironic coming from a newsbot.

[Allybeboba]

Except that quite a few of the people you deem "internet experts" in threads on these topics study physics, or work in the field. So they either actively study and get better knowledge in those fields, or apply knowledge in said field to earn their monthly bread.

I suppose that depends on how many one considers how many is "quite a few" and what determines "studies physics". Even I had studied physics as part of my curriculum but I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the subject by no means.

- - - Updated - - -

Fun fact: even actual 'experts' on the subject are constantly having to refer to source material both as a refresher and to keep their knowledge in motion as new discussions and developments arise. I have my academic grounding in both history and political science but pretty much always have to be reading and learning, as well as revising.

What you're actually criticising is the sharing of information and resulting discussions of that information. Which again, is inane; and ironic coming from a newsbot.

It's called continuing education my friend. That is what we do to keep up with the times. It is a requirement.

[Elegiac]

It's called continuing education my friend. That is what we do to keep up with the times. It is a requirement.

Yeah, so why are you criticising people for using the internet as a resource to accomplish just that?

I mean, it's significantly more useful than just spamming CNN articles and making contemptuously 'hospitable' remarks.

[Deleted]

Anyone mind explaining what the practical use could be?

[druenos]

Except that quite a few of the people you deem "internet experts" in threads on these topics study physics, or work in the field. So they either actively study and get better knowledge in those fields, or apply knowledge in said field to earn their monthly bread.

These so called real life experts would be busy with their physics, they would not have time to play wow and certainly would not be debating it on here. This kind of conversation is always the same, someone says something to try and make it look like he's more intelligent than the other. I imagine this is the nerd equivalent of a bar fight lol

[Elegiac]

Anyone mind explaining what the practical use could be?

Potentially in the field of energy generation. Or in terms of developing new instrumentation to observe shit at the quantum level.