Star in a jar
They call it a “star in a jar”: if bubbles inside a liquid are compressed by sound waves, they will give off light, a phenomenon known as “sonoluminescence.” Researchers at the University of Illinois say that the temperature inside of a collapsing bubble can reach 15,000 degrees Celsius, four times hotter than the surface of the sun. They say that the compression of the gas inside the bubble creates an enormous amount of heat and causes plasma to form at the centre of the bubble. Plasma is a high-energy soup of subatomic particles that is normally found in stars. The subatomic particles from the plasma then join back together into atoms and give off light. The findings, published in the journal Nature, may indirectly give some support to a controversial theory by physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan, who proposed that sonoluminescence is the result of nuclear fusion inside the bubbles. If he is right, bubbles could be a new, limitless, clean source of energy. Most scientists, however, do not support Taleyarkhan’s theory.
-Zoe Cormier
Source: Nature
Tastes like a major third
Recorder player Elizabeth Sulston can taste the differences between musical notes. Sulston appears to be a synaesthete, a person whose brain links two or more different senses (for example, seeing different colours for different tones of music). Sulston, however, is the first person known to associate tastes with music. For example, she says a major third tastes sweet, a minor third salty, a minor sixth like cream, a major sixth like low-fat cream, an octave is tasteless, and a perfect fourth tastes like mown grass. Neuroscientists tested her abilities, and say that she can indeed taste sounds:when they gave her tongue a sample of the flavour while playing her the respective chord, or gave her a taste she did not associate with the chord being played to her, she was able to identify the chord much quicker when she was given her “normal” taste.
-Z.C.
Source: Nature
