Faeries And Iron

Theory that fairies are scared of metal due to the metal wielding Beaker invasion crushing the Neolithics.

The theory above in a tweet by Miles @mgdever is interesting but probably wrong. 

The Bell Beaker culture brought copper and bronze to Britons in the stone age, but the legendary aversion of fairies to metal is specifically an aversion to iron, with fairies sometimes wielding Bronze weapons.

The British Iron Age, however, started around 800 BCE, which is at a point when the Bronze Age culture brought by the Bell Beaker movement has collapsed and was being replaced by Celtic culture, although probably not with much population replacement.

The relatively shallow time depth of the Celtic languages supports the case for a language shift in Western Europe to the Celtic languages with the associated culture in the Iron Age, even though we know that there wasn't much population genetic replacement at that time. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the Urnfield archaeological culture. This implies that the original language of the Bell Beaker people has been lost except as a substrate in the Celtic language, and possibly in the Basque language (one of several theories).

A Possible Etymology Of "Cannabis"

The Aramaic phrase qaneh bosm (קְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם) "cannabis" (literally "aromatic cane") may be the ultimate source of the word "Cannabis" in English. Egyptians and other Afro-Asiatic language family speakers are known to have used hemp as a fiber plant, so the sourcing has some corroboration.

More detail, with pre-Greek Minoan as a possible bridge language, here.

Ancient Turtles Were Huge

At the dawn of the Holocene era, about 10,000 years ago, turtles as big as this one still existed on Earth.

The enormous giant tortoise Megalochelys atlas shows just how big it was compared to Rey. (Image by Jan Freedman)

Get the whole story at Twilight Beasts.

Some B Meson Decay Anomalies Disappear In Run-2 Data

The LHCb had detected a four sigma anomaly from the expected decays of B mesons into decays including two leptons of opposite charge in Run-1. But, the anomaly appears to have vanished once Run-2 data is included (original formatting of preprint abstract retained).

This is a big deal, because real anomalies, unlike experimental errors or flukes, should be significantly stronger when the size and robustness of the data set increases, not less significant. Anomalies the decline in significance as more data is collected are almost always flukes or experimental errors even if the results are sufficiently significant that they might otherwise constitute a notable anomaly.

The branching fraction and effective lifetime of B0(s)→μ+μ− at LHCb with Run 1 and Run 2 data

Mick Mulder, for the LHCb Collaboration

(Submitted on 9 May 2017)

After Run 1 of the LHC, global fits to b→sℓℓ observables show a deviation from the Standard Model (SM) with a significance of ∼ 4 standard devations. An example of a b→sℓℓ process is the decay of a B0s meson into two muons (B0s→μ+μ−). The latest analysis of B0(s)→μ+μ− decays by LHCb with Run 1 and Run 2 data is presented. The B0s→μ+μ− decay is observed for the first time by a single experiment. In addition, the first measurement of the B0s→μ+μ−effective lifetime is performed. No significant excess of B0→μ+μ− decays is observed. All results are consistent with the SM and constrain New Physics in b→sℓℓ processes.

Not every single pathway that is the subject of the anomalies tending to show lepton non-universality in B meson decays is ruled out by this result, but is does disfavor these hints of beyond the Standard Model physics.

Another result disfavoring the anomaly in B meson decays is here. So do these experiments. And these experiments. And these experiments. And these experiments. It is also disfavored by the frequency of Higgs boson decays to tau leptons.

Thus, while there is some experimental data that seems to show anomalies, finding a theory that can accommodate these data points while simultaneously being consistent with the substantial experimental evidence tending to show that there are not violations of lepton flavor universality, is quite challenging. As a result, even though the anomaly is putatively a four sigma effect, it is probably really just a statistical fluke, or a consequence of underestimating systemic error or look elsewhere effects, or is a consequence of a mistake in conducting the experiment or analyzing it.

Reactor Anomaly Ascribed To Sterile Neutrinos Isn't Real

The apparent reactor anomaly signal of a sterile neutrino is actually due to failure to properly model fission reactions from Uranium-235 and not from a sterile neutrino after all. This is in accord with other recent evidence pointing to the same conclusion. Furthermore, by not just ruling out this hypothesis, but providing an alternative explanation, this paper really puts the nail in the coffin of this idea. And, the lack of a sterile neutrino singlet not only impacts neutrino physics but also removes one of the more plausible dark matter candidates.

The Daya Bay experiment has observed correlations between reactor core fuel evolution and changes in the reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum. Four antineutrino detectors in two experimental halls were used to identify 2.2 million inverse beta decays (IBDs) over 1230 days spanning multiple fuel cycles for each of six 2.9 GWth reactor cores at the Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power plants. Using detector data spanning effective 239Pu fission fractions, F239, from 0.25 to 0.35, Daya Bay measures an average IBD yield, σ¯f, of (5.90±0.13)×10−43 cm2/fission and a fuel-dependent variation in the IBD yield, dσf/dF239, of (−1.86±0.18)×10−43 cm2/fission. 

This observation rejects the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino flux as a function of the 239Pu fission fraction at 10 standard deviations. The variation in IBD yield was found to be energy-dependent, rejecting the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino energy spectrum at 5.1 standard deviations. While measurements of the evolution in the IBD spectrum show general agreement with predictions from recent reactor models, the measured evolution in total IBD yield disagrees with recent predictions at 3.1σ. 

This discrepancy indicates that an overall deficit in measured flux with respect to predictions does not result from equal fractional deficits from the primary fission isotopes 235U, 239Pu, 238U, and 241Pu. Based on measured IBD yield variations, yields of (6.17±0.17) and (4.27±0.26)×10−43 cm2/fission have been determined for the two dominant fission parent isotopes 235U and 239Pu. A 7.8% discrepancy between the observed and predicted 235U yield suggests that this isotope may be the primary contributor to the reactor antineutrino anomaly.

F.P. An, et al., "Evolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay" (April 4, 2017).