Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Very tiny, very cool
Physicists outline a scheme to build a ‘refrigerator’ that can cool to near absolute zero and is based on only a few particles.
- Chemistry
Deep-sea plumes: A rush to judgment?
A new report suggests a deep-sea plume of oil in the Gulf of Mexico has been gobbled up by microbes. But the scientist who described the incident doesn't "know" that. He can't — yet.
- Chemistry
Deep-sea oil plume goes missing
Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.
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- Chemistry
Superconductors go fractal
Oxygen atoms arrange themselves in a self-similar pattern to help conduct electricity without resistance.
- Physics
Blog: Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle still certain
Despite rumors to the contrary, a mainstay of quantum physics is just as (un)certain as ever.
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- Materials Science
Erasing wrinkles, the physicists’ way
Researchers study how folds and other creases disappear.
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- Particle Physics
New data suggest a lighter Higgs
Fermilab results heat up the race for an elusive particle.
- Math
Swarming locusts impossible to predict
A mathematical analysis shows that random factors underlie the insects’ movements across the landscape.
- Health & Medicine
Good vibrations: A greener way to pasteurize milk
Many people like the taste of raw – as in unpasteurized – milk. The problem, of course, is that germs may infect raw milk, so food safety regulations require that commercial producers heat-treat their milk. But food scientists at Louisiana State University think they’ve stumbled onto a tastier way to sterilize milk. They bombard it with sound waves.
