Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
A teeny device can measure subtle shifts in Earth’s gravitational field
No bigger than a grain of rice, the heart of the instrument is the latest entrant in the quest to build ever tinier gravity-measuring devices.
- Psychology
Timbre can affect what harmony is music to our ears
The acoustic qualities of instruments may have influenced variations in musical scales and preferred harmonies.
- Physics
50 years ago, superconductors were warming up
Superconducting temperatures have risen by about 250 degrees since the 1970s, but are still too cold to enable practical technologies.
- Particle Physics
Forests might serve as enormous neutrino detectors
Trees could act as antennas that pick up radio waves of ultra-high energy neutrinos interactions, one physicist proposes.
- Physics
‘Countdown’ takes stock of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile
Physicists grapple with their role as stewards of the United States’ aging nuclear weapons in the new book by Sarah Scoles.
- Physics
Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa considers himself an apostle of science
After big contributions in accelerator physics, Sekazi Mtingwa has been focused on opening science for everyone.
- Physics
Here’s how scientists reached nuclear fusion ‘ignition’ for the first time
The first fusion experiment to produce an energy excess required meticulous planning and also revealed a long-predicted heating phenomenon.
- Plants
Here’s why blueberries are blue
Nanostructures in a blueberry’s waxy coating make it look blue, despite having dark red pigments — and no blue ones — in its skin, a new study reports.
- Tech
‘Nuts and Bolts’ showcases the 7 building blocks of modern engineering
Science News reviews Roma Agrawal's book, which updates the classic list of simple machines and reveals the heart and soul of engineering.
- Physics
A pivotal quantum theory holds up even in extreme electric fields
Quantum electrodynamics, which describes how charged particles and light interact, works in the strong fields around highly ionized uranium atoms.
- Animals
Parrots can move along thin branches using ‘beakiation’
The movement involves swinging along the underside of branches with their beaks and feet, similar to how primates swing between trees.
- Physics
A predicted quasicrystal is based on the ‘einstein’ tile known as the hat
The einstein tile can cover an infinite plane only with a nonrepeating pattern. A material based on it has features of both crystals and quasicrystals.
