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Novel Model Illustrates The Finer Details Of Nuclear Fission (phys.org)
mdsolar quotes a report from Phys.Org: For nearly 80 years, nuclear fission has awaited a description within a microscopic framework. In the first study of its kind, scientists collaborating from the University of Washington, Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, developed a novel model to take a more intricate look at what happens during the last stages of the fission process. Using the model, they determined that fission fragments remain connected far longer than expected before the daughter nuclei split apart. Moreover, they noted the predicted kinetic energy agreed with results from experimental observations. This discovery indicates that complex calculations of real-time fission dynamics without physical restrictions are feasible and opens a pathway to a theoretical microscopic framework with abundant predictive power.
Oh damn, now we have to redo all the nuke simulations again.
Finally news for nerds. It may not be revolutionary, but the interesting parts are that this model can make predictions that can be tested, and that one result differs significantly from current thinking.
This article holds far more interest for me than all the boring, pointless "multinational company X has problems producing random plastic widget Y" articles put together. Seriously, no nerd should be in the remotest bit interested in business chat that implies humanities future progress will soon vanish up its own backside in an orgy of consumer-driven pointlessness.
That modern Slashdot posters (I assume most of them are almost at the point where they could be considered capable of reading) don't find this at all interesting speaks volumes about how sites such as this have been flooded by shallow "norms" leading to the flight of and self-censorship by intelligent readers.