Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Warming Up to Criticality: Quantum change, one bubble at a time
Physicists can now observe matter as it gradually turns into a Bose-Einstein condensate—the exotic state of matter that displays quantum behavior at macroscopic scales.
- Materials Science
The New Black: A nanoscale coating reflects almost no light
A "carpet" of microscopic filaments sprayed onto a surface can prevent it from reflecting light, a potentially useful trait for technologies from solar cells to fiber-optic communications.
- Physics
Breaking a molecule’s mirror image
The theory of entanglement explains a newly observed behavior in a symmetrical hydrogen molecule: When the molecule fractures, the directions in which its constituent particles move are not always random.
- Physics
Waves from the Big Bang: Upcoming detectors may view newborn universe
Ripples in space-time may soon give scientists a glimpse of the universe as it looked a tiny fraction of a second after its birth.
- Physics
The mystery of the missing mass
Researchers found that, for one kind of particle at least, being located inside a nucleus slightly reduces its mass.
- Materials Science
Microstructures make a beetle brilliant
Engineers looking to make a variety of surfaces whiter and brighter could learn a few things from a lowly beetle.
- Materials Science
Savvy Skins
Researchers are developing new coatings that incorporate multiple functions, offer chemical reactivity, or act in response to stimuli in the environment.
- Physics
Solving a 400-year-old supernova riddle
Astronomers have determined that Kepler's supernova, the last stellar explosion witnessed in our galaxy, belongs to the class known as type 1a.
- Physics
Global Number Cruncher
With a colorful, animated slide show, this Web site introduces visitors to the way vast streams of physics data will flow, starting later this year, from the world’s most powerful particle accelerator to 7,000 physicists around the world. Potentially packed with revelations about matter, energy, and the universe, some 15 million-billion bytes of information per […]
- Materials Science
Electrode Enhancements: New materials may boost fuel cell performance
Two teams have independently discovered ways to dramatically improve the materials used in the electrodes of fuel cells.
- Physics
Cellular Contortionist
Mounting, but controversial, evidence suggests that DNA flexes more easily than previously thought, with potentially important implications for genetics, cell biology, and nanotechnology.
- Physics
Snow Crystals
This Web site, created by Caltech physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht, is all about snow crystals and snowflakes. With many beautiful images, it provides a guide to snowflakes, information on growing snowflakes, an introduction to the physics of snowflake formation, and ideas for snow and ice activities. Go to: http://www.snowcrystals.com/
