Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Between the Sheets: In reactors and nanotubes, errant atoms get a grip
A new computer simulation predicts that neutron irradiation of graphite displaces atoms and bonds in unexpected ways.
- Materials Science
Invent by Number: Researchers predict, then produce superior titanium alloys
Researchers have developed a new method or making titanium-based alloys with many qualities far superior to those in any alloy previously known.
- Physics
Fusion device crosses threshold
By sparking thermonuclear reactions, a machine called Z has joined the big leagues among potential technologies for producing power from controlled nuclear fusion.
- Physics
Light rambles through room-temperature ruby
Researchers have dramatically slowed light within a solid at room temperature.
- Physics
Attractive atoms pick up repulsive habits
Rubidium atoms intrinsically attract each other, but new experiments near absolute zero have induced the atoms to repel each another instead.
- Physics
Rare Events: Exotic processes probe the heart of matter
Physicists have for the first time unambiguously detected and measured the rates of certain reactions among protons, neutrons, and simple atomic nuclei.
- Physics
Why is antimatter absent? Hunt heats up
Two new particle accelerators built to help discover why there's matter instead of antimatter in the universe are closing in on an answer at record speed.
- Materials Science
A New Cool: Prototype chills fast and electrifies, too
Researchers have incorporated an efficient thermoelectric material into a prototype device that can cool or produce electricity.
- Physics
Snowflake Central
Stunning photos, fascinating historical material, and an informative snowflake physics primer highlight this Web site, which is devoted to natural and designer snow crystals. Assembled by Caltech physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht, the site includes tips on how to photograph snow crystals and spotlights efforts to study how snow crystals form. Go to: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/.
- Materials Science
A Hard Little Lesson: Squeezed nanospheres grow superstrong
A substance not known for its hardness—silicon—becomes one of the hardest of materials when formed into ultrasmall spheres.
- Physics
Origins at CERN
Starting on Nov. 11, the Exploratorium in San Francisco begins a series of Webcasts taking viewers to research laboratories around the world where scientists are investigating the origins of matter, the universe, Earth, and life itself. The first programs come from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, location of the world’s […]
- Materials Science
A new carbon nanotool springs to life
Physicists have pulled out the inside cylinders of multiwall carbon nanotubes, as if expanding a telescope, indicating how the devices may serve as tiny bearings and springs in future nanomachines.
