How Does a Tiny Gold Mass Gravitate?

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The gravitational field generated by a tiny millimetr sized gold mass is completely fascinating to me. The real challenge was to very carefully monitor the noise and also to restrict measurements to times where there was less noise. We think we can make our apparatus sensitive to the level of going down another factor of thousands. If we are small enough, then the hope is that we can manipulate these very small objects even in a way that they obey the laws of quantum physics.

Physicists examine the gravitational pull between two tiny masses, and how fossil lampreys could shake-up the field of vertebrate evolution.

In this episode:

00:47 Gravity, on the small scale

This week, researchers have captured the smallest measurement of gravity on record, by measuring the pull between two tiny gold spheres. This experiment opens the door for future experiments to investigate the fundamental forces of nature and the quantum nature of gravity.

Research Article: Westphal et al.

News and Views: Ultra-weak gravitational field detected

07:37 Research Highlights

Research shows that people often don’t know when a conversation should end, and the cuttlefish that show remarkable self control.

Research Highlight: How long should a conversation last? The people involved haven’t a clue

Research Highlight: Arms control: cuttlefish can pass the ‘marshmallow test’

10:18 Lamprey evolution

The larval stage of lamprey growth has long been thought to resemble the kind of early animal that all vertebrates evolved from. However, new research looking at the fossils of lamprey species suggests that this popular hypothesis may be incorrect.

Research Article: Miyashita et al.

17:38 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, glow-in-the-dark sharks, and scientists’ reflections on the nuclear industry 10 years on from Fukushima.

The Guardian: 'Giant luminous shark': researchers discover three deep-sea sharks glow in the dark

Nature Comment: Nuclear energy, ten years after Fukushima

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Video: Deep-sea soft robots

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