Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Needling Cells: Stem cells could take their cues from silicon nanowires
Scientists have grown mouse stem cells on a bed of silicon nano-needles, hoping that they will be able to guide the cells' development through electrical stimulation.
- Materials Science
Heal thyself—again and again
A new self-healing material can repeatedly repair damage at the same spot.
- Physics
Magnetic Logic: Electron spins could do cool calculations
Novel circuits use electrons as tiny bar magnets to process information.
- Physics
Carbon’s mysterious magnetism
An X-ray experiment has yielded the most conclusive evidence to date that carbon can be magnetic.
- Physics
The dance of the electron spins
Physicists have used a novel measuring technique to track the motions of electron spins in a tiny magnet as its polarity flips, with north and south poles changing places.
- Physics
Broadband vision
Cells that act like optical fibers could explain why vertebrate retinas have sharp vision despite being mounted backwards.
- Physics
Spinning into Control
High-speed flywheels could replace batteries in hybrid vehicles and help make the electrical grid more reliable.
- Physics
Invisible Trail: Analyzing the vortices in the wake of a bat
Flying bat generate lift and thrust with their wings much differently than birds do.
- Physics
Degrees of Quantumness: Shades of gray in particle-wave duality
Light can be made to act as if it's composed of particles, waves, or something in between.
- Physics
The Hunt for Antihelium
Scientists have been searching about 30 years for a single nucleus of helium made from antimatter, and although the discovery would imply that whole antimatter galaxies exist, the researchers' time could be running out.
- Physics
Quantum Loophole: Some quirks of physics can be good for science
Physicists have found a way to almost double measurement precision when using photons to gauge distances.
- Physics
Exploring Time
This new educational site offers time-lapse and high-speed video clips, 3D scientific animations, and other visually stunning features that reveal how events unfold on different timescales—from billionths of seconds to billions of years—and take place too quickly or too slowly for the human senses to perceive. Go to: http://www.exploringtime.org
