Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males
Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.
- Physics
A static electricity mystery comes to the surface
Seemingly random charging of identical materials depends on the carbonaceous molecules stuck to their surfaces
- Plants
Tree tops sparkle with electricity during thunderstorms
Ultraviolet cameras captured faint electrical flashes from leaves and branches as storm charges built up in the atmosphere.
- Physics
When the pressure’s off, this superconductor appears to break records
A sudden release of pressure allowed a copper-based compound to superconduct at the highest temperature yet for atmospheric pressure, a study claims.
- Chemistry
This molecule puts a new twist on the Möbius strip
A molecule made of carbon and chlorine is half as twisty as the paper loops common in math classes.
- Physics
Here’s why sneakers squeak on the basketball court
Tiny, repeating detachments between sole and floor — thousands of times a second — create the distinctive squeak heard on the court, data show.
- Animals
Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders ensnare prey in webs
Rufous net-casting spiders can tune the stiffness and elasticity of their webs thanks to loops of silk, scanning electron microscope images reveal.
- Physics
Physicists dream up ‘spacetime quasicrystals’ that could underpin the universe
Quasicrystals are orderly structures that never repeat. Scientists just showed they can exist in space and time.
- Physics
A precise proton measurement helps put a core theory of physics to the test
After years of confusion, a new study confirms the proton is tinier than once thought. That enables a test of the standard model of particle physics.
- Physics
The only U.S. particle collider shuts down – so a new one may rise
The famed collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory has ended operations, but if all goes to plan, a new collider will rise from its ashes.
- Physics
A Greek star catalog from the dawn of astronomy, revealed
Researchers are using X-rays to discover invisible markings left on ancient parchment containing information from the Greek astronomer Hipparchus.
- Physics
A massive clump of dark matter may lurk in the Milky Way
Pulsating remnants of stars hint at a clump of invisible matter thought to be about 10 million times the sun’s mass.
