Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Vision Quest
Increasing numbers of people with less-than-perfect vision can now wear contact lenses, thanks to innovations in lens design and materials.
- Materials Science
In glass, fast crowds boogie to brittle end
New experiments suggest that a coordinated dance involving more and more molecules may help explain the puzzling transformation from liquid to the molecular gridlock of solid glass.
- Physics
Lasers act on cue in electron billiards
Electrons torn from atoms by a laser beam can shoot back into the atom and knock loose other electrons like balls in a billiard game, a finding that may have applications in nuclear fusion, particle acceleration, and fundamental physics experiments.
- Physics
Magnets trap neutrons for a lifetime
A new device that uses magnets to trap neutrons may enable physicists to measure more precisely how quickly free neutrons decay, a time period with implications for understanding both the weak force and the early universe.
- Physics
U.S. time now flows from atom fountain
The United States has switched to the atomic fountain clock, which sets itself according to the resonant frequency of rising and falling balls of cold cesium.
- Physics
Old data yield new signs of extra force
Several experimental findings that conflict with predictions of the prevailing standard model of particle physics suggest that nature may include another force beyond the four known ones.
- Physics
Catch a Wave
Detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity may finally occur, thanks to a new generation of laser-based observatories.
- Physics
Electrical superball pulls itself together
A strong electric field can drive tiny particles of a superconductor to bind themselves together into a remarkably sturdy ball.
- Materials Science
Tiny gems on steps find future in films
The discovery of diamond-crystal seeds on steps in silicon may lead to long-sought, large wafers of pure, single-crystal diamond for electronics and other uses.
- Physics
Computers Crunch Quantum Collisions
Physicists have mathematically described what happens when an electron collides with a hydrogen atom, accomplishing a longstanding goal.
- Physics
Time’s arrow may make U-turns in universe
Time may run backwards for isolated chunks of matter in our universe and that reversed state could be probed gently from the forward-going realm without disturbing the time arrow.
- Physics
Matter waves: Be fruitful and multiply
For the first time, physicists induced atoms to amplify a selected matter wave in a manner analogous to a cascade of photons amplifying the characteristic electromagnetic wave of an optical laser.
