Alan Cross

Dr. Alan Cross, STEM education enthusiast, CPD trainer, facilitator, researcher, writer, external examiner, all views are my own

[Nerys Tudor Jones @NerysTudor]

*NEW COURSE* in Powys. Join us on 17th June for a practical D&T and STEM day in Ysgol Trefonnen in Llandrindod Wells. Details and booking here: https://t.co/FY5y885E1M
Using numeracy skills in relevant contexts. Using tools safely. #resilience #perseverence #analyticalthinking

[Philosophy Of Physics @PhilosophyOfPhy]

According to the laws of physics, the universe tends toward disorder. Yet, within these microscopic boundaries, particles organize into cells, defying chaos to create structure, purpose, and life. Every cell is a tiny, beautiful rebellion against entropy.

[Noirchick In Old Hollywood @Noirchick1]

The precious bit of film shows of Stan Laurel visiting his father, Arthur Jefferson, during the 1932 visit to England by Laurel and Hardy. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

This woman moved in for a closer shot of a shoal of sardines

What happened next blew her mind

[Alan Cross @AlanBryceCross]

@ShiningScience Yet again science is poised to explain in more detail! Ps it’s not god.

[Cosmos Archive @cosmosarcive]

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

— Nikola Tesla

[Alan Cross @AlanBryceCross]

How dare Farage and Badenoch attempt political gain from the awful death of this poor boy!

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

So despite Henry's dad making it clear that they "do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension”, Farage uses his death in an emergency address to create division for his own gain.

An awful politician.

[Holy Family Year 2 🌺 🧡 @HolyFamilyYear2]

In maths we are using weighing scales to help us with Capacity. Year 2 have been investigating the mass of different objects ⚖️ @HolyFamilyScho1 #HFb10Maths

[JAMES WEBB @jameswebb_nasa]

Você está mais próximo do tamanho de todo o universo observável do que da menor escala conhecida da natureza, o comprimento de Planck.

Apenas reflita.

[TheNewPhysics @CharlesMullins2]

🚨 BREAKING NEWS:
SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED A 392-YEAR-OLD SHARK STILL SWIMMING IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.

This Greenland shark was born around 1634 the same era as the first European settlers in North America.
It has been gliding through the freezing Arctic depths for nearly four centuries.

Why this matters:
• Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrates on Earth
• They grow extremely slowly only about 1 cm per year
• They reach sexual maturity at around 150 years old
• This one was radiocarbon-dated using the proteins in its eye lens (which never degrade)

The deeper implication is staggering:
While humans are racing to understand aging and longevity, this shark has been quietly living through the entire modern era from the invention of the telescope to the first Mars landings without ever surfacing.

It has seen more history than almost any other animal alive today.
What does it feel like to know a creature born in the 1600s is still swimming in our oceans right now?

Follow for more frontier biology and mind-bending discoveries.

[Curiosity @CuriosityonX]

🚨: Scientists found an enzyme that clears arterial plaque and may reverse heart disease

[Alan Cross @AlanBryceCross]

@Science_TechTV Maths is the language we invented to quantify and analyse the universe . We deserve the credit!

[Amazing Physics @amazing_physics]

Voyager hit a 90,000°F wall at the solar system’s edge

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft crossed a boundary called the heliopause — the outer edge of the Sun’s influence, where the solar wind meets interstellar space. But what it found there surprised scientists: a region of intensely heated plasma reaching temperatures of 30,000–90,000°F (17,000–50,000°C).

This wasn’t a solid wall. It was a turbulent boundary zone where particles from the Sun slow down and pile up against the pressure of interstellar space. As they compress, their energy increases, heating the plasma to extraordinary temperatures.

But here’s the strange part: despite those extreme temperatures, this region wouldn’t feel hot to a human. The plasma is incredibly sparse — far emptier than any vacuum we can create on Earth — so there are too few particles to transfer heat effectively. In other words, it’s a “hot” region that wouldn’t actually burn you.

Voyager’s instruments detected a sharp drop in solar particles and a rise in cosmic rays, confirming it had crossed into interstellar space. At the same time, it picked up subtle vibrations in the plasma — like ripples traveling through an invisible ocean — allowing scientists to measure its density and temperature for the first time.

This boundary acts as a protective shield. The heliosphere deflects a large fraction of harmful cosmic radiation, helping make life on Earth possible. Beyond it lies the raw environment of the galaxy.

Now more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, Voyager 1 continues to send back data from this frontier. It’s the most distant human-made object ever built — still exploring a region no spacecraft had ever reached.

At the very edge of our solar system, space isn’t empty or calm.

It’s a violent, invisible boundary — and we’ve only just begun to understand it.

Learn more:
“Voyager 1 Observes Low-Energy Galactic Cosmic Rays in a Region Depleted of Heliospheric Ions.” Science, 2013.

📸Credit: NASA/JPL

[TheNewPhysics @CharlesMullins2]

🚨 PHYSICISTS JUST OBSERVED “QUANTUM RAIN” FOR THE FIRST TIME AND IT’S ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS EVER SEEN.

In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists have captured the first-ever images of quantum rain: tiny droplets of quantum matter falling in perfect vertical streams, glowing with interference patterns that only exist in the quantum world.

The left side shows the red quantum rain. The right side shows the blue interference pattern it creates.

Why this matters:
• This is the first direct observation of quantum droplets behaving like macroscopic rain
• It shows quantum effects (wave interference, coherence) at scales we can actually see with the naked eye
• It bridges the gap between the bizarre quantum world and our everyday classical reality
• This could lead to new types of quantum sensors, simulators, and even quantum rain-based technologies

The deeper implication is enormous:
We are no longer just studying quantum mechanics in invisible particles.
We are now watching quantum physics fall from the sky like rain.

What happens when we can control and harness “quantum rain” the same way we control regular rain?

Follow for more frontier physics and quantum discoveries.

[Science & Nature @Sci_Nature0]

They lowered a camera deep into an underground crab colony… and what they uncovered inside the hole left everyone speechless 😳🦀
You won’t believe the shocking twist at the end.

[Alan Cross @AlanBryceCross]

Just about to start the 24th Free Primary Science Leadmeet!

[Quantum Tech ⚛ @QuantumTech_X]

It is impossible to travel to Mars, This video explains exactly why.

[Physics-astronomy @Physicsastronmy]

This isn't just an animation-it's the actual orbital path of Star S2 around the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way, Sagittarius A*.

For 27 years, astronomers tracked S2 as it danced around a 4.1-million-solar-mass "invisible" object.

The mind-blowing part?

Look closely at the orbit. It doesn't trace a perfect, closed loop. Instead, the orbit itself rotates over time, creating a flower-like pattern. This is called Schwarzschild Precession.

According to Newton, gravity should keep the orbit in a fixed ellipse. But Einstein's General Relativity predicted that in extreme gravity, space-time is so warped that the orbit must space-time is so warped that the orbit must shift. In 2020, the VLT (Very Large Telescope) finally confirmed this shift, proving Einstein's theory holds up even at the edge of a black hole!

[Mike Hudema @MikeHudema]

In 1985, Carl Sagan told Congress that continuing to burn fossil fuels will increase global temperature, cause climate change, melt glaciers and ice sheets, and cause sea level rise. Imagine if we had listened to him them.

No time to wait. #ActOnClimate

#climate