Physicists create supernova in a jar

A team of physicists has mimicked a supernova -- an explosion of a star -- in miniature. In a certain type of supernova, the detonation starts with a flame ball buried deep inside a white dwarf. The flame ball is much lighter than its surroundings, so it rises rapidly making a plume topped with an accelerating smoke ring. In their experiment, the researchers created a smaller version of this process by triggering a special chemical reaction in a closed container that generates similar plumes and vortex rings.....