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Listening for Deuterium

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the but-can-you-dance-to-it dept.

jose parinas writes "Researchers at MIT made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that the scientists claim is key to understanding the beginning of the universe." It turns out the actual detection wasn't the key, but filtering out all of the RF 'pollution' produced by nearby gadgets.

4 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Unrea by elgatozorbas · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The interference caused by one person's stereo system was solved by having a part on the sound card replaced by the factory.

    When these measurements are even disturbed by EMI due to sources that aren't even supposed to be radiating at all, they apparently are very sensitive. Why don't they do them somewhere else, far from civilisation? Also, how can they be sure that what is measured is actually this deuterium and not another very weak terrestrial noise source?

  2. Ommmm... by moviepig.com · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It turns out the actual detection wasn't the key, but filtering out all of the RF 'pollution' produced by nearby gadgets.

    Eliminating camouflage and noise, to see what's in plain sight all along... Sounds somewhat Zen...

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  3. interesting side values by zappepcs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its interesting that this might bring light to the EMI and RF radiation that is all around us. The work to filter out that noise and reduce it will go quite a long ways toward making wireless broadband more available, toward making things more capable, quiet, and efficient. This amounts to a step toward making RF polution a problem that needs to be addressed. Sort of like taking lead out of computer parts, but taking unneeded and nasty RF out of the airwaves. That would give more spectrum, and better use of the spectrum that is used. This is good.

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  4. First radio detection of Deuterium by dinsdale3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Technically, this isn't the first RF detection of deuterium. Deuterium Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has been around since the 50's and uses RF to excite and receive signals from deuterium nuclei transitioning between quantum spin states that separate in energy when subjected to a magnetic field.

    This may be the first extraterrestrial RF detection of deuterium and as such is pretty neat, but TFA should have been a little more careful.