Proton MR spectroscopy detects early brain changes in multiple sclerosis patients

13 Jan 2022

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Proton MR spectroscopy can identify changes in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published in Radiology. The findings could translate to earlier diagnosis and treatment, senior author Wolfgang Bogner of the Medical University of Vienna says in a statement released by the university.

Plastic scintillation detectors ready to shine as FLASH radiotherapy gathers momentum

28 Jan 2022 Sponsored by Medscint

Canadian technology start-up Medscint is working with customers to develop a new generation of real-time, small-field dosimetry solutions based on plastic scintillation detectors

Optical innovation: Magdalena Bazalova-Carter (left), head of the University of Victoria’s XCITE Lab, and PhD student Alex Hart are using plastic scintillation detectors to provide real-time, small-field dosimetry in their FLASH radiotherapy experiments. (Courtesy: XCITE Lab)

Ultrahigh-dose-rate FLASH radiotherapy – whether using electron, proton or photon treatment beams – is shaping up as the “next big thing” in radiation oncology research.

 

Achieving success in research collaborations, celebrating the UN International Year of Glass

27 Jan 2022 Hamish Johnston

Physics research is rarely a solo activity and physicists will often work in collaborations that can stretch around the world and across disciplines. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, Annette Bramley of the UK’s N8 Research Partnership talks about how to build successful research collaborations.

 

Why open-source software is so powerful for physics: find out in the September 2021 issue of Physics World

01 Sep 2021 Matin Durrani

Open-source software has been critical to the famous image of a black hole – but also for many other areas of physics besides

Picture of success: The importance of open-source software to physics.

Twenty-three thousand. That’s roughly how many people helped create the first ever image of a black hole, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2019.

 

Ultrafast cryo-arrest of living cells reveals biomolecular patterns with unprecedented resolution

21 Jan 2022 Rojin Jafari

Freeze frame: Fluorescence microscopy of an oncoprotein and corresponding tumour-suppressor in a living cell before cryo-arrest (left) and a super-resolution image obtained under cryo-arrest (right). (Courtesy: MPI of Molecular Physiology)

The energized state of living matter leads to the dynamic behaviour of billions of interacting nanometre-sized biomolecules, and the spatial–temporal patterns resulting from this collective behaviour give rise to cellular functionalities that manifest at the micrometre scale.

 

Motion of a single skyrmion is controlled at room temperature

17 Jan 2022

On the move: Diagram showing the spin structure of a skyrmion (upper left). Also shown is the translational motion (Δx) of the skyrmion caused by the current pulse (lower left). The transverse motion (Δy) of the skyrmion is also shown. (Courtesy: Licong Pen et al/Nature Communications)

Researchers have used electrical currents to manipulate the motions of single skyrmions at room temperature. Xiuzhen Yu, together with colleagues at Japan’s RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science, formed the skyrmions in chiral-lattice magnets, then steered their paths using ultra-short electrical pulses.

 

Magnetic propeller star flings plasma into the cosmos

14 Jan 2022

Plasma slinger: Artist’s impression of J0240+1952, which contains the fastest spinning confirmed white dwarf (centre) and only second ever magnetic propeller to be observed. Material is being pulled from the companion (right) and flung into space at high speed. A small fraction of it is accreted, gathering in bright spots that rotate in and out of view. (Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick)

The fastest-spinning white dwarf ever seen is flinging plasma into interstellar space – according to observations made by astronomers in the UK. Ingrid Pelisoli at the University of Warwick and colleagues have combined data from two instruments to show that binary star system J0240+1952 contains a highly magnetized white dwarf, which completes a full rotation in just 24.9 s. Their discovery is the second known example of such a magnetic propeller system.

 

Multimode optical fibres make a hair-thin 3D imaging system

23 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Snapshots from depth-resolved movies at progressively increasing scene depths. (Courtesy: Daan Stellinga)

A new three-dimensional imaging system uses multimode optical fibres (MMFs) rather than traditional bulk optics, paving the way for applications in medical imaging. The system can scan a scene at a rate of nearly 23,000 points per second over depths of up to several metres beyond the end of a roughly 40 cm-long fibre.

 

Twisted light from semiconducting nanohelices could speed drug discovery

24 Jan 2022

Chiral characterization: Upon illumination with red light, semiconductor nanohelices generate twisted blue light. (Courtesy: Ventsislav Valev, Kylian Valev and Lukas Ohnoutek)

Researchers in the UK and the US have discovered a novel photonic effect that could make it far easier for chemists to assess the chirality of new drug candidates. Led by Ventsislav Valev at the University of Bath, the team achieved the result after synthesizing semiconductor nanohelices that emit intense, twisted blue light along a single direction when illuminated with red light.

 

Physicists detect an Aharonov–Bohm effect for gravity

25 Jan 2022

A quantum probe for gravity: Physicists have detected a tiny phase shift in atomic wave packets due to gravity-induced relativistic time dilation – an example of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in action. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Evgenia Fux)

The idea that particles can feel the influence of potentials even without being exposed to a force field may seem counterintuitive, but it has long been accepted in physics thanks to experimental demonstrations involving electromagnetic interactions. Now physicists in the US have shown that this so-called Aharonov–Bohm effect also holds true for a much weaker force: gravity.

 

Angled light beams allow OCT to image deeper into skin

26 Jan 2022

Looking deeper into tissue: A needle point more than 1 mm beneath a mouse’s skin can be seen towards the bottom of the dual-axis image (left) but not in the standard image (right). (Courtesy: Evan Jelly)

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a new dual-axis optical coherence tomography (DA-OCT) system that increases the imaging depth by almost 50% compared with conventional OCT. This ability to reach deeper layers of tissue could enable the use of OCT to assess burn damage to skin, examine healing processes or help diagnose skin cancer.

 

Interference wall captures single photons

28 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

On and off: Better, simpler control of single-photon emissions opens the door to new platforms in quantum research. (Courtesy: art-skvortsova/iStockphoto)

Researchers in the US have devised a new scheme for trapping single photons in a cavity that involves creating a “wall” to prevent additional photons from entering. The technique could provide a simpler way to generate single photons for use in next-generation quantum technologies such as ultra-secure quantum communications and quantum computers.

 

Ultrathin flexible solar cells get an efficiency boost

24 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells on a flexible polyimide substrate. (Courtesy: Koosha Nassiri Nazif)

Researchers have used materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides to make ultrathin, flexible solar cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.1% – a record for cells made from this type of material. Though this efficiency is far below that of standard silicon solar cells, the super-light nature of the new cells means they could be employed in mobile applications such as self-powered wearable devices and sensors as well as drones and lightweight electric vehicles.

 

Two-dimensional nanoribbons make more efficient perovskite solar cells

28 Jan 2022

Increased efficiency: Illustration showing layers of a solar cell incorporating phosphorene nanoribbons and (right) an image of a nanoribbon. (Courtesy: T J Macdonald and T Webb)

Phosphorene nanoribbons can improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells, a new study has shown. This is the first time that the benefits of the unique electrical properties of this novel two-dimensional nanomaterial have been experimentally demonstrated. According to the researchers, their results highlight the genuine importance of phosphorene nanoribbons.

 

Selfishness for the greater good revealed in optimization of group dynamics

24 Jan 2022 Heba Megahd

On the go: Time evolution of the positions of 14 particles, shown as red or yellow dots. (Courtesy: Alexandra Zampetaki/A Zampetaki et al PNAS e2111142118)

To increase their chances of survival, social organisms communicate in response to changes in resources, according to new research done in Germany. Scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Heinrich-Heine-University and the Technical University of Darmstadt developed a general model describing groups of organisms or particles that move to produce or consume a certain resource and move collectively to improve their access to it.

 

Silicon qubits reach the standard for quantum error correction

26 Jan 2022

High fidelity: the silicon quantum computer chip created by the Riken–QuTech team. (Courtesy: RIKEN)

An important threshold in quantum error correction has been reached using silicon-based qubits. The feat was performed by three independent research groups, who used the spins of individual electrons or nuclei to create quantum logic gates, which carried out operations with over 99% fidelity. Silicon is widely used in the microelectronics industry, so this development could lead to quantum computers based on the large-scale integration of silicon devices.

 

Long-range quantum entanglement measured at last

22 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

An artistic depiction of both works. In the background: spin liquids. (Courtesy: Google Quantum AI)

Physicists have measured long-range quantum entanglement in special, topologically ordered phases of matter for the first time. This feat, which was achieved independently by two research groups using coupled superconducting circuits and arrays of atoms, could aid the development of robust memories for quantum computers.

 

Airborne viruses could be protected by phase transitions in droplets and aerosols

25 Jan 2022

Survivors: Artist’s impression of Sars-CoV-2 virions, which cause COVID-19. (Courtesy: iStock/RomoloTavani)

Phase transitions within protein-rich aerosols and droplets may protect viruses at low humidity levels, which could explain why respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 can often spread efficiently in dry air. That is the conclusion of Ryan Davis of Trinity University in Texas and colleagues, who have observed a structural transition in aerosols that occurs as humidity falls.

 

Optical tweezers hold nanoparticles in superfluid helium

21 Jan 2022 Hamish Johnston

Superfluid focus: Schematic showing how a laser (green) is fired at a gold surface in a superfluid to create nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are then held in optical tweezers, which are created by focussing another laser (red) in the superfluid. (Courtesy: Yosuke Minowa/Osaka University)

Optical tweezers have been used to manipulate nanoparticles within superfluid helium at a chilly 1.4 K. The experiment is described as the “first successful application of optical tweezers at ultralow temperatures,” by Yosuke Minowa – who achieved the feat along with colleagues at Osaka University in Japan. The researchers believe that their work could lead to a better understanding of the interface between the classical and quantum worlds.

 

Quantum dots are no longer on the blink

27 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

MIT chemists have come up with a way to control the unwanted blinking of quantum dots. (Courtesy: Jiaojian Shi, Weiwei Sun, and Hendrik Utzat, Keith Nelson and Moungi Bawendi, et. al)

Quantum dots have many applications, but they would be even more useful if the light they emit wasn’t so blinking random. Thanks to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this goal is now within reach. By finding a means of keeping quantum dots from blinking on and off – a problem that has blighted these nanoscale chunks of semiconducting material since their discovery – the MIT team paved the way for new, precision applications, including single-photon sources for quantum cryptography and biological imaging.

 

Astronomers watch the death of a red supergiant in real time

17 Jan 2022

For the first time, astronomers have captured the death of a red supergiant star in real time: revealing a dramatic surge in brightness in the months preceding its final explosion. For researchers of the Young Supernova Experiment, led by Wynn Jacobson-Galán at the University of California, Berkeley, the event was far more violent than would be expected from previous observations. The result could transform astronomers’ conceptions of how massive stars spend the last few months and days of their lives.

 

NASA successfully deploys landmark James Webb Space Telescope

10 Jan 2022 Michael Banks

Champagne moment: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission operations team celebrates the successful deployment of the infrared observatory. (Courtesy: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA has successfully installed the primary mirror of the $10bn James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – marking a significant step towards a fully functioning infrared observatory. Over the weekend of 8 and 9 January, engineers unfolded the 6.5 m primary mirror, which is made up of 18 hexagonal segments. Over the coming weeks, the telescope will carry out further orbital manoeuvres, with engineers carefully aligning each mirror segment as well preparing the scientific instruments to become operational.

Quantum physicist David Deutsch bags Isaac Newton Medal and Prize

30 Nov 2021 Michael Banks

Quantum pioneer: David Deutsch has won the IOP’s 2021 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize (Courtesy: Lulie Tanett)

The quantum physicist David Deutsch has won the 2021 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize for “founding the discipline named quantum computation and establishing quantum computation’s fundamental idea, now known as the ‘qubit’ or quantum bit”. Presented by the Institute of Physics (IOP), which publishes Physics World, the international award is given annually for “world-leading contributions to physics”.

 

Quantum computers take on quarks

17 Jan 2022

Strong force: Quantum computers could help astrophysicists simulate the behaviour of nuclei in the aftermath of the Big Bang. (Courtesy: iStock/vitacopS)

The strong nuclear force is what holds atomic nuclei together, and our current mathematical understanding of it has led to remarkable insights into the nature of matter. Still, certain questions – such as the matter composition of the very early universe – have eluded physicists’ best efforts, and computer simulations of these regimes are intrinsically limited even with the largest conceivable classical machines.

 

Machine- Learning the Landscape (Lecture 3) by Yang-Hui He

KAVLI ASIAN WINTER SCHOOL (KAWS) ON STRINGS, PARTICLES AND COSMOLOGY (ONLINE) ORGANIZERS Francesco Benini (SISSA, Italy), Bartek Czech (Tsinghua University, China), Dongmin Gang (Seoul National University, South Korea), Sungjay Lee (Korea Institute for Advanced Study, South Korea), Cheng Peng (KITS-UCAS, China), Pavel Putrov (International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy), Loganayagam R (ICTS-TIFR, India), Aninda Sinha (IISc, India (Chair)), Tadashi Takayanagi (YITP, Kyoto University, Japan) and Masahito Yamazaki (Kavli IPMU, The University of Tokyo, Japan) DATE : 10 January 2022 to 23 January 2022

 

Meet the winners of the Physics World 2021 Breakthrough of the Year award

16 Dec 2021 Hamish Johnston

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, I chat with the winners of the Physics World 2021 Breakthrough of the Year award.

Commercial AI system enables autonomous detection of vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy

05 Jan 2022

Patient imaging: The EyeArt AI system provides safe and accurate detection of diabetic retinopathy. (Courtesy: Eyenuk)

An artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify diabetic retinopathy (DR) without physician assistance, including the most serious form that puts patients at risk of blindness, has outperformed expectations in a clinical trial. The commercial system successfully detected the presence and severity of the disease in 97% of eyes analysed.

 

Wearable device provides advance warning of epileptic seizures

06 Jan 2022

Predicting epileptic seizures: Data recorded by wearable sensors are uploaded regularly to cloud storage and analysed using deep learning. Patients also uploaded data from their responsive neurostimulation devices and the intracranial EEG data were reviewed for seizure activity. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/Sci. Rep. 10.1038/s41598-021-01449-2)

Data from a wearable wristband monitoring device can forecast epileptic seizures about 30 minutes before they occur, according to research published in Scientific Reports. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic advise that their preliminary study is the first to report successful seizure forecasting with non-invasive devices in ultralong-term recordings of epileptic patients during their normal daytime activities. The study shows that reliable seizure forecasting is possible without directly measuring brain activity.

 

Indefatigable wonder: how Brian Cox’s latest show conveys the immense scale of the cosmos

13 Jan 2022 Laura Hiscott

Taken from the January 2022 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline "Indefatigable wonder". Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app.

Laura Hiscott reviews the new television show Universe, presented by Brian Cox, which was broadcast in October and November last year and is now available on BBC iPlayer

Sense of space The locations where Universe was filmed are often used as analogies to describe the physics of astronomical events. (Courtesy: BBC/Brian Cox/Poppy Pinnock)

Brian Cox’s latest blockbuster television series, Universe, has an ambitious title. In German – a wonderfully to-the-point language – the word for universe is “All”. So perhaps his show could have been called Everything. Indeed, Cox has an awful lot to get through in the five hour-long episodes. We start with Sun and stars before moving on to the search for life on other planets. The Milky Way and other galaxies are next, followed by black holes and the Big Bang.

 

NASA launches flagship $10bn James Webb Space Telescope

25 Dec 2021 Michael Banks

Lift off: The James Webb Space Telescope launches (courtesy: ESA/CNES/Arianespace)

NASA has successfully launched its much anticipated $10bn James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The mission took off today aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana, at 12:20 GMT. It will now make its way to Lagrange point L2 – a place in space some 1.5 × 106 km away from the Earth in the exact opposite direction from the Sun.

 

Droplets bounce off each other in new triple Leidenfrost effect

10 Jan 2022

Leidenfrost expert: Felipe Pacheco-Vázquez in his lab at the Autonomous University of Puebla. (Courtesy: BUAP)

A new type of Leidenfrost effect that causes droplets of different liquids to bounce off each other when placed on a hot surface has been discovered by researchers in Mexico and France. Led by Felipe Pacheco-Vázquez at the Autonomous University of Puebla, the team found that this behaviour stems from the three simultaneous points of contact between the two droplets and the surface – creating what the team has called a triple Leidenfrost effect.

 

Cutting through the quantum hype, why the Stark effect should be renamed

02 Dec 2021 Hamish Johnston

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, the science writer Philip Ball and Physics World’s Margaret Harris have a lively discussion that cuts through the current hype about quantum computing and focuses on the realities facing the nascent industry.

 

Start-up innovation drives UK’s emerging quantum economy

12 Jan 2022 Sponsored by National Quantum Computing Centre

The UK’s quantum computing ecosystem is gathering momentum, with a clutch of early-stage companies attracting significant investor funding to build the quantum computers of the future

Grand aim: Universal Quantum's long-term ambition is to build a million-qubit quantum computer based on its trapped-ion technology platform (Courtesy: Universal Quantum)

The strategic focus on quantum science and engineering in the UK has over the last few years generated a vibrant community of start-up companies that are aiming to build the quantum computers of the future. “We’re seeing that quantum ecosystem grow very rapidly,” says Michael Cuthbert, director of the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), a new facility that is now being built on the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire.

 

3D printing makes a smaller, lighter cold atom trap

08 Nov 2021 Ruaridh Smith

Additive advantage: A magneto-optical trap (MOT) constructed with 3D-printed components. (Courtesy: Somaya Madkhaly)

A team led by physicists at the University of Nottingham, UK has created a 3D-printed magneto-optical trap (MOT) capable of holding more than 2 × 108 rubidium atoms at temperatures a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. The demonstration shows that 3D printing, which is more formally referred to as additive manufacturing (AM), can meet the demands of highly precise cold-atom experiments, potentially paving the way for portable quantum devices based on this technology.

 

The science and scientists of Don’t Look Up, low-cost optical technique is improving healthcare

13 Jan 2022 Hamish Johnston

The sci-fi film Don’t Look Up is an end-of-the-world satire that has garnered both praise and scorn from viewers, critics, and scientists. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, we explore the scientific themes of the film and give our verdicts on how A-list actors Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio played two hapless astronomers who discover a comet that could destroy the Earth.

 

Chalcogenide glasses open up to visible and ultraviolet wavelengths

07 Dec 2021 Isabelle Dumé

A metasurface made of arsenic trisulphide nanowires (yellow) transmits an incoming near-infrared frequency (red) as well as its third harmonic ultraviolet frequency (violet), which would normally be absorbed by the material. (Courtesy: Duke University)

A new, nanostructured version of a material known as a chalcogenide glass could find its way into a wide variety of optoelectronics applications thanks to its unusual transparency. Although chalcogenide glasses are already employed in detectors, lenses and optical fibres for near- and mid-infrared photonics applications, their use in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum has been limited because they strongly absorb light at these wavelengths. A team from Duke University

 

Ultra-large crystals of 2D tungsten disulphide grown for the first time

12 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Single-crystal WS2. (Courtesy: Institute for Basic Science)

Researchers in China and Korea have grown large-scale single-crystal monolayers of a two-dimensional material, tungsten disulphide (WS2), for the first time. The crystals, which were grown on a sapphire substrate, measured more than 3 cm across, and could become an alternative platform to silicon in next-generation semiconductor technology.

 

Graphene could boost the performance of atom chips

13 Jan 2022

Flatpack solution: schematic of a Z-shaped graphene electrode sandwiched between two thin layers of boron nitride (green slabs). The ultracold atoms are represented by the red cloud. (Courtesy: K. Wongcharoenbhorn et al/Physical Review Letters)

The performance of atom chips could be greatly enhanced by replacing 3D metal wires with 2D conducting sheets of graphene, calculations by researchers in the UK, Germany, and Austria have revealed. Led by Mark Fromhold at the University of Nottingham, the team showed how the move to graphene could significantly reduce electronic noise in the conductors while lowering the attraction between atoms and chip surfaces.

 

Atomically thin lasers shine for the first time at room temperature

06 Dec 2021

Room-temperature emission: The device comprises two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) encapsulating a tungsten diselenide (WSe2) monolayer encapsulated with a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) layer. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/H Shan et al Nat. Commun. 10.1038/s41467-021-26715-9)

A two-dimensional semiconductor crystal just three atomic layers thick has emitted laser-like light. Crucially, this emission happened at room temperature: a significant improvement over previous cryogenic experiments. Coherent light generation from these ultrathin crystals paves the way for creating novel nanolasers, as well as opening doors for an emerging field of two-dimensional materials called valleytronics.

Exciton–polaritons

 

Automated radiotherapy planning: a deep transfer learning approach

10 Jan 2022

Plan comparisons: Clinical radiotherapy plan for an adrenal cancer case (left) and a plan predicted by the transfer learning model (right). The predicted plan achieves comparable quality to the clinical plan, but with a slightly higher maximum target dose. (Courtesy: Phys. Med. Biol. 10.1088/1361-6560/ac3c14)

Another challenging cancer site – another difficult radiation treatment to plan. Scientists at Duke University Medical Center and UNC Charlotte have developed a deep transfer learning model that automates radiotherapy planning for some of these tricky-to-plan cancers. They published their methods in Physics in Medicine & Biology.

Why transfer learning?

 

Electron’s wave nature constructed in the lab at last

09 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Charges are accelerated away from each other by the fluctuating electric field from a terahertz laser. (Courtesy: Brian Long)

Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the US have reconstructed a representation of the electron’s wave nature – its Bloch wavefunction – in a laboratory experiment for the first time. The work could have applications in the design and development of next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices.

 

Comparison of models of the early universe with the cosmological data II by Shiv Sethi

PHYSICS OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE (HYBRID)

ORGANIZERS: Robert Brandenberger (McGill University, Canada), Jerome Martin (IAP, France), Subodh Patil (Leiden University, Netherlands) and L. Sriramkumar (IIT - Madras, India)

DATE: 03 January 2022 to 12 January 2022 VENUE: Online and Ramanujan Lecture Hall

 

Strain guides the flow of excitons in 2D materials

08 Jan 2022 Isabelle Dumé

The two-dimensional crystal on top of the microscopically small wire. (Courtesy: Florian Dirnberger)

Using a technique known as strain engineering, researchers in the US and Germany have constructed an “excitonic wire” – a one-dimensional channel through which electron-hole pairs (excitons) can flow in a two-dimensional semiconductor like water through a pipe. The work could aid the development of a new generation of transistor-like devices.

 

Matterhorn sways to a seismic beat, interstellar propulsion system remains science fiction, goldfish drives a car

07 Jan 2022 Hamish Johnston

Swaying to the beat: the Matterhorn oscillates at 0.42 Hz. (Courtesy: Zacharie Grossen - Camptocamp.org/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Matterhorn, an Alpine peak that straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy, is one of the most iconic mountains in the world. Isolated at the head of the Zermatt Valley, climbing the perfectly shaped mountain, which has a summit height of 4470 m above sea level, is on the to-do list of thousands of climbers – and some physicists. In 2019, an international team of scientists set out to take a closer look at the Matterhorn and installed several seismometers at different locations to record its movement.