Physics

  1. Physics

    A teeny device can measure subtle shifts in Earth’s gravitational field

    No bigger than a grain of rice, the heart of the instrument is the latest entrant in the quest to build ever tinier gravity-measuring devices.

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  2. Psychology

    Timbre can affect what harmony is music to our ears

    The acoustic qualities of instruments may have influenced variations in musical scales and preferred harmonies.

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  3. Physics

    50 years ago, superconductors were warming up

    Superconducting temperatures have risen by about 250 degrees since the 1970s, but are still too cold to enable practical technologies.

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  4. Particle Physics

    Forests might serve as enormous neutrino detectors 

    Trees could act as antennas that pick up radio waves of ultra-high energy neutrinos interactions, one physicist proposes.

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  5. Physics

    ‘Countdown’ takes stock of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile

    Physicists grapple with their role as stewards of the United States’ aging nuclear weapons in the new book by Sarah Scoles.

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  6. Physics

    Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa considers himself an apostle of science

    After big contributions in accelerator physics, Sekazi Mtingwa has been focused on opening science for everyone.

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  7. Physics

    Here’s how scientists reached nuclear fusion ‘ignition’ for the first time

    The first fusion experiment to produce an energy excess required meticulous planning and also revealed a long-predicted heating phenomenon.

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  8. Plants

    Here’s why blueberries are blue

    Nanostructures in a blueberry’s waxy coating make it look blue, despite having dark red pigments — and no blue ones — in its skin, a new study reports.

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  9. Tech

    ‘Nuts and Bolts’ showcases the 7 building blocks of modern engineering

    Science News reviews Roma Agrawal's book, which updates the classic list of simple machines and reveals the heart and soul of engineering.

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  10. Physics

    A pivotal quantum theory holds up even in extreme electric fields 

    Quantum electrodynamics, which describes how charged particles and light interact, works in the strong fields around highly ionized uranium atoms.

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  11. Animals

    Parrots can move along thin branches using ‘beakiation’

    The movement involves swinging along the underside of branches with their beaks and feet, similar to how primates swing between trees.

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  12. Physics

    A predicted quasicrystal is based on the ‘einstein’ tile known as the hat

    The einstein tile can cover an infinite plane only with a nonrepeating pattern. A material based on it has features of both crystals and quasicrystals.

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