Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Quick-Change Surface: Material repels water on command
Researchers have modified a gold surface so that it switches from a water-attracting mode to a water-repelling one on command.
- Materials Science
Fracture Protection: Nanotubes toughen up ceramics
The addition of carbon nanotubes to a ceramic material dramatically improves its fracture resistance.
- Materials Science
Carbon nanotubes beam electrons
Researchers have taken a step toward using carbon nanotubes as electron sources in devices such as high-resolution electron microscopes.
- Materials Science
Gold Deposits: Scientists design nanoparticle films
In a step toward a cheaper, easier way to connect computer chips to computers, scientists have patterned semiconductors with a film of extremely small gold particles.
- Materials Science
Gold Deposits: Scientists design nanoparticle films
In a step toward a cheaper, easier way to connect computer chips to computers, scientists have patterned semiconductors with a film of extremely small gold particles.
- Physics
Prying apart antimatter
Matter and antimatter look reassuringly alike in physicists' first investigations of energy levels of antihydrogen atoms.
- Physics
Prying apart antimatter
Matter and antimatter look reassuringly alike in physicists' first investigations of energy levels of antihydrogen atoms.
- Physics
Getting Warped
While museum displays such as simulations of warped space-time acquaint visitors with the ideas behind Albert Einstein's scientific discoveries, other galleries of artifacts, letters, and even film footage reveal the multifaceted man that Einstein was.
- Physics
Identity Check: Elusive neutrinos morph on Earth, as in space
Strengthening a challenge to the prevailing theory of particle physics, measurements of elusive particles called antineutrinos from nuclear reactors suggest that no neutrino types, be they matter or antimatter, have stable identities.
- Physics
Icicle waves go with the flow
A new model of icicle growth may explain the strange fact that ripples often found on those icy spikes typically sit about 1 centimeter apart, whether the icicles themselves are big or small.
- Materials Science
Nanotube ID: New signatures aid nanotech progress
Researchers have developed a means for rapidly distinguishing among 33 semiconducting varieties of carbon nanotubes.
- Physics
Cold War Conductor: Ultracold plutonium compound shows no resistance
Researchers studying the crystalline properties of radioactive plutonium have discovered the first plutonium-based superconductor.
