All Stories by Peter Weiss
- Tech
Electronics in the Round: Mixing plastic and silicon yields form-fitting circuitry
Investigators used ordinary integrated-circuit fabrication techniques to pattern arrays of silicon-based transistors onto a flat, deformable sheet of plastic.
- Materials Science
A Cut above the Ordinary: Low-tech machining yields coveted nanostructure
A new finding that machining of metals imparts a hard, fine-grained structure to turnings and other scraps may lead to less costly but more durable parts for cars and other applications.
- Physics
Violent chemistry saps sonobubble energy
In liquids agitated by sound waves, imploding gas bubbles get cooled when atoms recombine, making the bubbles unlikely nuclear reactors.
- Tech
Micromachine runs on nuclear power
Radioactivity creates electric fields that wiggle a tiny lever.
- Physics
Scaling energy barriers to save data
Researchers demonstrate a promising new way to make semiconductor-based memory that doesn't erase when the power goes off.
- Physics
Sunlight Sponge? Energy trackers gauge water vapor’s wild dance
Atmospheric water vapor takes in more solar radiation than has been indicated by measurements and models, but laser probes of highly agitated water molecules suggest that the vapor doesn't absorb enough radiation to explain the discrepancy fully.
- Tech
Shrinking toward the Ultimate Transistor
Scientists demonstrate transistor action in an atom—or two.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Twist: X’s may mark spots where black holes merge
If whacked by a companion black hole, a big, jet-emitting black hole may spew superhot plasma in a new, crosswise direction.
- Physics
Law and Disorder: Chance fluctuations can rule the nanorealm
A tug-of-war in a water droplet demonstrates that random fluctuations wield more than enough muscle to give nanoscale machines trouble.
- Physics
Heavy Suspicion: Elemental discoveries trace to fake data
A prominent physicist has lost his job following allegations that he fabricated the evidence underpinning his team's now-discredited discovery of elements 116 and 118.
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- Tech
Software bugs cost big bucks
An epidemic of software errors in industrial computer programs is costing the United States $60 billion per year.
