Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Frilly bug feet inspire a water-striding robot
Ripple bugs’ nimble movements on the surface of water inspired a robot with automatically unfurling fans on its feet.
- Space
Astronauts need oxygen. Magnets could help
Adding a magnet could simplify the process of producing oxygen in space, making a crewed mission to Mars more feasible.
- Physics
Sunlight is all that’s needed to keep these tiny aircraft aloft
Sun-powered fliers could use photophoretic forces to hover in the mesosphere, gathering data from a region off limits to planes and balloons.
- Materials Science
Scientists re-create a legendary golden fabric from clam waste
Sea silk, once spun from endangered clams, may make a comeback — thanks to discarded fibers from a farmed species. The find could sustainably revive a fading art.
- Quantum Physics
A quantum computer goes to space
Quantum computers in space could be useful for communications networks or for testing fundamental physics.
- Health & Medicine
An injected gel could make drugs like Ozempic last longer
GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss are difficult for some people to inject weekly. A new slow-release gel, tested in rats, could help.
- Space
The biggest black hole smashup ever detected challenges physics theories
Gravitational waves spotted by LIGO reveal two black holes, 140 and 100 times the mass of the sun, merged to become a 225 solar mass behemoth.
- Physics
Scientists 3-D printed a tiny elephant inside a cell
The first structures ever 3-D printed inside living cells point to applications for biology research.
- Quantum Physics
‘Magic’ states empower error-resistant quantum computing
Special quantum states allow computers to perform the most difficult class of quantum computing operations.
- Physics
No player can return this killer shot. Physics explains how it works
Squash’s killer “nick shot” has a formula. It’s all about height and timing, a new study shows.
- Science & Society
A Supreme Court ruling on nuclear waste spotlights U.S. storage woes
Court ruling allows interim nuclear waste storage in Texas, but the U.S. still has no long-term plan for its 90,000 metric tons of spent fuel.
- Climate
This paint ‘sweats’ to keep your house cool
This experimental paint reflects sunlight, emits heat and mimics sweating to cool buildings without air conditioning, even in the tropics.
