Name: Did Dark Matter Doom the Dinosaurs? by SciFri
Duration: 17 min 25 s
Description: Dark matter makes up over a quarter of the universe. It’s also invisible and difficult to directly detect. In her new book Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, physicist Lisa Randall shares a theory that a disc of dark matter could have been responsible for the catastrophic collision that extinguished the dinosaurs.

Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

Dark matter makes up over a quarter of the universe. It’s also invisible and difficult to directly detect. In her new book Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, physicist Lisa Randall shares a theory that a disc of dark matter could have been responsible for the catastrophic collision that extinguished the dinosaurs.

Did Dark Matter Doom the Dinosaurs?

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

Did Dark Matter Doom the Dinosaurs?

SciFri

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