Physics
- Materials Science
Bright Future
Energy-efficient, semiconductor-based chips called light-emitting diodes will begin to illuminate homes and offices within the next decade, displacing power-hungry incandescent and fluorescent lighting.
- Physics
Dr. Feynman’s Doodles
A new U.S. postage stamp honoring physicist and folk hero Richard P. Feynman sports curious squiggles, invented by Feynman, that were rejected at first but soon became a major tool of physicists everywhere for picturing the behaviors and calculating the properties of matter and energy.
- Materials Science
Lube Tune-Up: Motor oil from recycled plastic could improve automotive-fuel efficiency
Chemists have developed a technique for making high-performance lubricating oils from recycled plastic.
- Physics
Probing chemical signatures in an earthy way
Scientists have performed nuclear magnetic resonance analysis using Earth's magnetic field.
- Materials Science
Whisking Whiskers: Nanobrushes sweep up
Researchers have made microscopic brushes with carbon nanotube bristles.
- Materials Science
Micropower Heats Up: Propane fuel cell packs a lot of punch
Portable electronic devices such as laptops and MP3 players could soon run on miniature fuel cells that consume propane.
- Physics
Quantum Diaries
What’s it like being a physicist? For the “World Year of Physics” in 2005, more than 30 physicists from around the world are providing occasional glimpses of their lives throughout the year via blog entries, video clips, and photos. Go to: http://interactions.org/quantumdiaries/
- Materials Science
Tissue Tether: Improved conducting plastic could boost nerve-regeneration success
Biomedical engineers aim to repair damaged nerves with a chemically modified conducting polymer that stimulates the growth of nerve cells.
- Physics
Molecular Anatomy Revealed
Using ever-faster lasers to zap the electron clouds in atoms and molecules, scientists are making major strides toward observing and controlling the elementary quantum transformations that underlie all of chemistry.
- Physics
Quantum Bull’s-Eye: Particle-mass prediction hits the mark
By precisely predicting the mass of a subatomic meson, physicists have demonstrated they have the computational know-how to calculate real-world details from quark basics.
- Physics
Galactic data shore up a constant
Alpha, a constant of nature found to vary in some astrophysical studies, actually holds steady, according to the first survey of galaxies used to evaluate alpha's constancy.
- Physics
Scales tilt against five-quark particles
Studies that fail to find purported five-quark particles, or pentaquarks, are stacking up quicker than studies that claim to have found such particles, suggesting that they might not really exist.
