It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists. Quarks, gluons and corroborating e=mc2

Scientists resolve Einstein's E=mc2

Scientists corroborate Einstein's E=mc2, using supercomputers to envision space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice.

Led by Laurent Lellouch of the French Centre for Theoretical Physics, researchers from France, Germany and Hungary proved Einstein's 1905 formula by special computations.

Using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, the team performed calculations to estimate the mass of proton and neutron particles found in the nucleus of atoms.

The computations involve "envisioning space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice, with discrete points spaced along columns and rows," explained France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in a press release. Protons and neutrons include smaller particles called quarks, which are in turn bound by gluons. Since the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks five percent, the question is where is the missing 95 percent? The new study showed that the energy from movements and interactions of quarks and gluons can be converted into mass and vice versa, AFP reported.

Thereby proving that as Einstein had proposed in his 1905 Special Theory of Relativity, energy and mass are equivalent. The E=mc2 formula shows that mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass. Although the equation has been used many times and has been the inspirational basis for building atomic weapons, it is the first time that E=mc2 is resolved at the scale of sub-atomic particles.

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Pakistan ready for nuclear no first use offer

Pakistan is willing to commit to no first use of nuclear weapons, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday, calling for more trade and easier travel between his country and India to improve bilateral relations.

He even suggested a South Asian pact to prevent use of nuclear weapons in a region rife with political and social turmoil and militancy.

"I am glad I can say it with full confidence that I can get my parliament to agree upon that," Zardari told a conference in India through video conferencing from Islamabad.

"I'm against nuclear warfare altogether."

Tit-for-tat nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in 1998 fed global worries of an unchecked arms race in an unstable region, but the two countries have since desisted from more tests.

Immediately after detonating nuclear devices in 1998, New Delhi declared a moratorium on further tests and offered a no first use arrangement.

Pakistan had not reciprocated the Indian offer.

"This is pretty good news. Pakistan till now has been very reluctant to commit to no-first use," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a New Delhi-based strategic affairs expert.