All Stories by Peter Weiss
- Physics
Magnetic current flows solo
By exploiting quantum mechanical interactions, physicists have generated glows of the magnetic fields of electrons without corresponding flows of their electric charges.
- Physics
Wild Bunch: First five-quark particle turns up
Physicists have uncovered strong evidence for a family of five-quark particles after decades of finding no subatomic particles with more than three of the fundamental building blocks known as quarks.
- Physics
Hot Mama: Has matter’s mother paid a call?
Physicists have found new signs that fiery particle collisions within a giant accelerator 2 years ago created a state of matter identical to what might have been the stuff of the newborn universe.
- Materials Science
Fixed Focus: Adjustable lenses from liquid droplets
Seasoned with a pinch of salt, droplets of a polymer precursor become voltage-adjustable lenses that may cut costs in fiberoptic telecommunications.
- Physics
A new twist on ropes
The centuries-old craft of splicing sturdy ropes for ships and ocean rigs gets mathematical scrutiny, turning up new information about wear and tear.
- Tech
Tiny device brings out the best in sperm
A new device with potential use in fertility treatments separates robust sperm from stragglers by exploiting a phenomenon that occurs when two microscale fluid flows merge.
- Physics
Taking a shine to number 100
Scientists for the first time literally shed light on the properties of radioactive fermium.
- Physics
Reflections on Art
By dissecting famous paintings in new ways, scientists are testing the veracity of artist David Hockney's controversial theory that some masters of Renaissance art secretly used optical projection devices.
- Physics
Light Switch: Crystal flaws tune the wavelengths
By tweaking the crystal structure of the semiconductor gallium arsenide, researchers may have found a way to make cheaper components for fiberoptic networks.
- Physics
New particles pose puzzle
The discovery of two new subatomic particles with unexpectedly low masses is making physicists reconsider how fundamental particles called quarks interact.
- Materials Science
Melt-Resistant Metals: Carbon coating keeps atoms in order
Shrink-wrapped in carbon, nanoscale metal chunks melt at extraordinarily high temperatures, suggesting carbon coatings as a route to higher heat resistance for materials and devices.
- Physics
Crystal Bash: Shocking changes to light’s properties
Prized, light-manipulating microstructures known as photonic crystals may transform light in new and technologically tantalizing ways when jolted by shock waves.
