All Stories by Peter Weiss
- Physics
Magnets, not magic, make gas bulbs bad
Once as baffling as black magic, the random failures of glass bulbs used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) now appear to stem from unexpected magnetization of the glass.
- Physics
Path to new elements now looks steeper
Making novel, superheavy elements is harder than was previously expected, according to a new experiment, but the findings may also help physicists better choose which atoms to smash into which.
- Tech
Microjaws chomp cells to change them
A tiny, new biomedical device operates on such a small scale that it can grab individual red blood corpuscles in its jaws.
- Tech
Nervy chip may open window into brain
Researchers have built a simple circuit that blends living neurons with silicon-based transistors.
- Physics
Constant Changes
Evidence from the early universe that one of the so-called constants of nature, known as alpha, was once slightly smaller than it is today hints that the laws of physics themselves may vary over time and space.
- Physics
Atomic Crowds Tied by Quantum Thread
Quantum states of record numbers of atoms—entire atom clouds—get blended together by physicists wielding a new, relatively simple technique in quantum telecommunications and computing.
- Physics
Model may expose how friction lets loose
Rather than just grinding past each other, sliding surfaces may tremble with minuscule ripples that overcome friction as they move along.
- Tech
Designing planet rovers that tumble
Before the decade is out, towering wind-driven balloons may roam the Martian surface, traveling far more extensively than wheeled rovers do.
- Tech
Futuristic engine proves its mettle
A miniature missile shot from a cannon has demonstrated for the first time in free flight that a futuristic jet engine called a scramjet can propel itself.
- Materials Science
Speed demon gets hooked on silicon
A method for coating silicon with high-performance semiconductors such as gallium arsenide may make faster, low-power microcircuits both cheaper and more widespread.
- Tech
The Seeing Tongue
Blind people can now use their tongues to see, albeit crudely, thanks to prototype technology that involves licking arrays of electrodes attached to video cameras.
- Physics
Window Opens into Strange Nuclei
By creating peculiar atomic nuclei that contain not just protons and neutrons but also pairs of rare nuclear particles with so-called strange quarks inside, researchers are shedding new light on the fundamental structure of matter and how it behaves under extreme conditions, as in neutron stars.
