Physics

  1. Physics

    Taking a shine to number 100

    Scientists for the first time literally shed light on the properties of radioactive fermium.

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  2. Physics

    Reflections on Art

    By dissecting famous paintings in new ways, scientists are testing the veracity of artist David Hockney's controversial theory that some masters of Renaissance art secretly used optical projection devices.

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  3. Physics

    Light Switch: Crystal flaws tune the wavelengths

    By tweaking the crystal structure of the semiconductor gallium arsenide, researchers may have found a way to make cheaper components for fiberoptic networks.

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  4. Physics

    New particles pose puzzle

    The discovery of two new subatomic particles with unexpectedly low masses is making physicists reconsider how fundamental particles called quarks interact.

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  5. Materials Science

    Melt-Resistant Metals: Carbon coating keeps atoms in order

    Shrink-wrapped in carbon, nanoscale metal chunks melt at extraordinarily high temperatures, suggesting carbon coatings as a route to higher heat resistance for materials and devices.

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  6. Materials Science

    Zeolites get an organic makeover

    Scientists can now incorporate organic groups into the framework of zeolites, a kind of inorganic crystal.

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  7. Materials Science

    Nanofluid Flow: Detergents may benefit from new insight

    Fluids containing nanoscale particles spread and readily lift oil droplets off a surface.

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  8. Physics

    Crystal Bash: Shocking changes to light’s properties

    Prized, light-manipulating microstructures known as photonic crystals may transform light in new and technologically tantalizing ways when jolted by shock waves.

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  9. Physics

    Seeking the Mother of All Matter

    World's mightiest particle collider may transform less-than-nothing into a primordial something.

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  10. Materials Science

    Apollo attire needs care

    Advanced spacesuits protected astronauts far from Earth just 30 years ago, but the materials have already deteriorated.

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  11. Physics

    Soap Bubbles in Space

    While aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Don Pettit took some time off to experiment with soap bubbles and films. This NASA Web page presents the surprising and startling results of his soapy ventures in a zero-g environment. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/25feb_nosoap.htm

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  12. Physics

    Not even bismuth-209 lasts forever

    Touted in textbooks as the heaviest stable, naturally occurring isotope, bismuth-209 actually does decay but with an astonishingly long half-life of 19 billion billion years.

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