Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
How fractals jam glassy materials
Understanding the intricate energy landscape of glasses could help to explain what happens when glassy materials are deformed or when coffee beans in a container jam.
- Quantum Physics
Major step taken toward error-free computing
Physicists have achieved nearly perfect control over a bit of quantum information, bringing them a step closer to error-free computation.
- Materials Science
Blender whips up graphene
Easy recipe makes large quantities of graphene using kitchen blender.
- Quantum Physics
Shor’s code-breaking algorithm inspired reflections on quantum information
Twenty years ago, physicists met in Santa Fe to explore the ramifications of quantum information.
- Physics
Laser kicks molecules into fastest ever spin
The powerful kick of a laser has spun molecules faster than they’ve ever been spun before: 10 trillion rotations per second, or 600 trillion RPM.
- Quantum Physics
Excitons’ motions captured in images
Scientists have observed how quasiparticles called excitons move.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum experts discuss the measurement problem: A transcript from 1994
A fairly complete transcript of a discussion about quantum physics on May 19, 1994, the last day of a workshop in Santa Fe, N.M., evolves into a more general discussion of the interpretation of quantum mechanics and the quantum measurement problem.
- Particle Physics
Exotic particle packs a foursome of quarks
Tetraquarks could help physicists understand the universe’s first generations of matter.
- Cosmology
Galaxy’s gamma-ray glow may expose dark matter
An excess of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way could be a signature of dark matter.
- Quantum Physics
Robert Redford film foretold Shor’s quantum computing bombshell
Twenty years ago, Peter Shor showed how quantum computers could break secret codes, turning the movie Sneakers from fiction to fact.
- Quantum Physics
Small step taken for quantum communication
A single atom can change the state of a photon, which may help build quantum networks.
- Physics
Meet Big Bird, highest-energy neutrino ever detected
Big Bird, the neutrino, struck the Antarctic ice with a record 2 million billion electron volts of energy.
