Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Lasing Beyond Light
Laser physicists have set their sights on new types of waves — manufacturing beams of sound, creating plasma swells and looking for ripples in spacetime.
- Physics
Inventing the Light Fantastic
The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life.
- Physics
Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real
Science News reporter Ron Cowen's Q&A with Nobel laureate and laser-technology pioneer Charles Townes.
- Materials Science
Physicists untangle the geometry of rope
Equations explain why winding fibers together does the job, no matter what they’re made of.
- Physics
The backstory behind a new element
Science News contributing editor Alexandra Witze describes what it took to synthesize ununseptium, element number 117.
- Physics
Colliding dust grains charge each other up
Physicists propose a way that cloud particles can electrify themselves.
- Life
Fruit flies turn on autopilot
High-speed video reveals the aerodynamics behind the insects’ maneuverability.
- Chemistry
Superheavy element 117 makes debut
An international team of researchers fill a gap in the periodic table, and lay another stepping stone along the path to the “island of stability.”
- Physics
LHC revs up
The world’s most powerful atom smasher achieves its most energetic collisions yet.
- Physics
Bar codes could be next to check out
New radio frequency tags would use nanotechnology to identify and track products.
- Chemistry
Building a cheaper catalyst
Using perovskite instead of platinum in catalytic converters could shave many hundreds of dollars off the cost of a diesel car.
- Chemistry
BPA found beached and at sea
Food chemists have been showing for years that bisphenol A, an estrogen-mimicking building block of polycarbonate plastics and food-can coatings, can leach into food and drinks. But other materials contain BPA – and leach it – such as certain resins used in nautical paint. And Katsuhiko Saido suspects those paints explain the high concentrations of BPA that he’s just found in beach sand and coastal seawater around the world.
