REMEMBERING FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER 

There are several events in London next month marking the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and opposing nuclear power. August this year will see the seventieth anniversary of the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.   I'm speaking at SOAS University of London on Tuesday 3 March, and also at the rally in Parliament Square at 2.30 pm on Saturday 14 March.

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER SEARCH FOR GLUINO

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is due to restart next month after an energy-boosting upgrade, following the crucial discovery of the Higgs boson:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31476337

Doubling the LHC collision energy may take it into the domain of dark matter particles, as predicted by Supersymmetry, which is  a theoretical addition to the Standard Model of particle physics. Most of the matter in the Universe is believed to be in the form of dark matter. There may be many dark matter particles, partners to the ordinary matter particles. Initial candidates for discovery by the LHC are the gluino (the partner of the gluon which holds the quarks together inside protons and neutrons) and the neutralino.

Professor Beate Heinemann of the University of California at Berkley, a spokeswoman for the Atlas experiment at the LHC, says: 'We hope that we're just now at this threshold that we're finding another world, like antimatter for instance. We found antimatter in the beginning of the last century. Maybe we'll now find supersymmetric matter.'

Dr Michael Williams of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said: 'Finding any particle that could be a dark matter candidate is nice because we could start to understand how it affects the galaxy and the evolution of the universe, but it also opens the door to whatever is on the other side, which we have no idea what is there.'

Comment: These are adventurous and exciting times for particle physics and cosmology. A feeling that we may be just on the verge of major new discoveries that could change our view of the universe.

COSMIC INFLATION MEASUREMENTS ERROR

A new study of cosmic inflation involving the BICEP2 team of scientists has concluded that results announced last year were in error due to light emission from dust in our own galaxy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31058529

BICEP2 used extremely sensitive detectors in an Antarctic telescope to study light coming to Earth from the edge of the observable universe - the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR).

It was looking for swirls in the polarisation of the light, called B-modes, which are an imprint of the waves of gravitational energy that would have accompanied the early inflation of the universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang.

The scientists now believe that false B-mode signals in the measurements reported last year arising from dust in our own galaxy lead to a reduced significance in the results, and they are unable to confirm that the signal is an imprint of cosmic inflation.  

Other experiments are now attempting to resolve the B-mode signal using a variety of detector technologies and telescopes.

Comment: This is leading research and these developments are steps forward rather than setbacks.

GREECE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN'S SYRIZA RALLY

A rally celebrating the stunning victory of Syriza in the Greek general election was held on Wednesday 28 January at the TUC Congress House in London, attended by supporters of the Greece Solidarity Campaign and Syriza members from Athens. 

The new Syriza government has already taken urgent action to remove some of the worst injustices inflicted on the Greek people by Austerity policies.

SELLAFIELD NUCLEAR CLEAN-UP CONTRACT LOST

Private consortium Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) will be stripped of the £9bn contract to clean-up the nuclear waste site at Sellafield, the biggest and most complex nuclear site in Europe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30785623

NMP has run the site for more than six years. The private consortium has been heavily criticised; both the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office have accused NMP of overruns and delays. NMP's contract was extended for a further five years in 2013.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA),  which awarded the contract, last year increased its estimate for cleaning up the UK's nuclear sites by 7% to £110bn over the next 120 years. The vast bulk of that relates to Sellafield.

Comment: This debacle illustrates the enormous costs, the timescale disappearing into the distant future, and the short-term profiteering of private consortia involved in the clean-up of the waste from nuclear power.

ROSETTA DATA HINTS AT COMET FORMATION

New pictures from the Rosetta probe of the surface of Comet 67P reveal a lumpy texture in places that researchers speculate could have been the comet's original building blocks.
http://bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30931445

Cameras on Rosetta have now imaged 70% of the comet's surface. The unseen fraction, in the southern hemisphere, will be mapped as it emerges from the darkness of winter. The research team has defined 19 regions on the comet, giving each the name of an ancient Egyptian deity.

A striking occurrence is a kind of 'fluidisation' effect that acts to smooth some surfaces. Scientists think this occurs when ices change their structure. The change in phase results in a release of gas that can pick up local dust and make it move briefly like a fluid. Something similar is seen on Earth when large volumes of hot ash tumble down the sides of volcanoes.

It is obvious now that this comet is not a large lump of ice with some dust mixed in. It has a much more complex construction. incorporating significantly more dust and may rocky components. This is very evident from all those craggy cliff features where stiff, consolidated materials seem to dominate.

Simon Green of the Open University said: 'We used to think of comets as 'dirty snowballs'; we now think 'icy dirt-ball' is a much better description.. That's the way 67P looks - a solid object with ice vaporising from somewhere below the surface.'

Comment: It's clear from these latest published research findings that Rosetta is making important and exciting contributions to cometary science.

FALLOWFIELD  in Winter

The River Lea meanders through Fallowfield yesterday on a frosty, sunny January day. The most natural, unspoilt and hidden riverside site in Luton, now a County Wildlife Site. A clump of Reed Mace in Boggy Mead, one of the three ancient fields here.

Comment: Fallowfield is on the flood plain of the River Lea, hence this urban site is undeveloped and preserves three ancient fields:  River Close, Boggy Mead and Catch's Close, within just a mile or so of Luton town centre.