All Stories by Davide Castelvecchi
- Tech
Energy forest
Silicon nanowires can at least double the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries.
- Physics
Tiptoe acrobats get it just right
Physicists have found that a water-skating insect leaps off the water surface by applying just the right amount of force. With video.
-
- Math
Tied Up in Knots
Physicists have shown that tumbled strings will form surprisingly complex knots, helping explain how knots spontaneously form in nature.
- Physics
Light Swell: Optical rogue waves resemble oceanic ones
Signals in optical fibers can combine into rare, short-lived spikes that resemble oceanic rogue waves.
- Physics
15 = 3 × 5: Photons do their first quantum math
Physicists have performed the first calculation involving manipulation of the quantum states of photons, another step on the road to optical quantum computers.
- Physics
Sharper than expected
A new technique beats the resolution limits of ordinary microscopes in a way that seems to defy conventional optical theory.
- Tech
Tractor beam
Magnetic nanoparticles selectively bind to specific bacteria and can drag them out of a liquid.
-
Base Load: Currents add detail to DNA structure
The first precise measurements of DNA's sideways conductivity confirm its similarities with semiconductors.
- Chemistry
Hydrogen makers
A new bioreactor produces hydrogen hundreds of times as fast as previous prototypes.
- Physics
Einstein Unruffled: Relativity passes stringent new tests
The moon's orbit and the dilated time of speeding atoms give new meaning to 'Einstein was right.'
- Tech
Crystal clear
Growing nanowires directly on a crystal might lead to high-density memory chips and transparent LEDs
