Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
Mount Vesuvius turned this ancient brain into glass. Here’s how
Transforming the brain tissue to glass would have required an extremely hot and fast-moving ash cloud, lab experiments suggest.
- Physics
Squishy materials reveal new physics of static electricity
The charge transferred when identical objects touch depends on their history, scientists find.
- Physics
A weird ice that may form on alien planets has finally been observed
High-pressure experiments generated the first direct observation of plastic ice, which has qualities of both crystalline ice and liquid water.
- Physics
A cosmic neutrino of unknown origins smashes energy records
A deep-sea detector glimpsed a particle with 220 million billion electron volts of energy — around 20 times as energetic as any neutrino seen before.
- Animals
How mantis shrimp deliver punishing blows without hurting themselves
A mantis shrimp's punch creates high-energy waves. Its exoskeleton is designed to absorb that energy, preventing cracking and tissue damage.
- Materials Science
The best way to cook an egg — in 32 minutes
It’s hard to cook both the white and the yolk of the egg to the right temperature. Scientists have found a new method, called periodic cooking.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum mechanics was born 100 years ago. Physicists are celebrating
Quantum physics underlies technologies from the laser to the smartphone. The International Year of Quantum marks a century of scientific developments.
- Particle Physics
A tiny neutrino detector scored big at a nuclear reactor
A compact method of detecting neutrinos provides new tests of physics theories and could lead to new reactor-monitoring methods.
- Earth
Ghostly white northern lights present new auroral mystery
These mysterious whitish-gray glows in the northern lights might be cousins of the mauve light streak known as STEVE.
- Physics
Hula-hooping robots reveal the physics behind keeping rings aloft
The gyrations of hoop-slinging robots reveal that hourglass-shaped objects are best at keeping a hoop in the air.
- Particle Physics
Cosmic rays could help reveal how tornadoes form
Subatomic particles called muons could measure pressure changes in supercell thunderstorms and the twisters they kick up.
- Particle Physics
A major new neutrino experiment is nearing completion
The JUNO experiment, which will study the ways of the electrically neutral subatomic particles, will be the largest of its kind.
