Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Maxwell’s demon faces the heat
A device inspired by an 1867 thought experiment fails to break the second law of thermodynamics, which governs the flow of heat and the drive toward maximum disorder.
- Physics
Final chapter published in decades-long Gravity Probe B project
It took more than 50 years, but an experiment testing general relativity has finally come to a close.
- Earth
Don’t flip out: Earth’s magnetic poles aren’t about to switch
Earth’s waning magnetic field is returning to its long-term average, not heading toward a catastrophic magnetic reversal, new lava analysis suggests.
- Planetary Science
Bright minds, antineutrinos and more reader feedback
In the November 28, 2015, issue of Science News, readers discussed humanizing science, frog mating calls, antineurtrinos and Martian dust storms.
- Quantum Physics
More tests confirm quantum spookiness
New experimental results confirm and strengthen evidence for the “spooky” reality of quantum physics.
- Physics
Water droplets spontaneously bounce, sans trampoline
Initially stationary water droplets can bounce on an extremely water-repellent surface as if on a trampoline.
- Physics
Water droplets spontaneously bounce, sans trampoline
Initially stationary water droplets can bounce on an extremely water-repellent surface as if on a trampoline.
- Science & Society
Quantum spookiness, magnetic mysteries and more feedback
Letters and comments from readers on quantum spookiness, Earth's magnetic field, and more.
- Particle Physics
Antiprotons match protons in response to strong nuclear force
The first study of how antiprotons interact with each other reveals yet again that particles of antimatter behave just like their ordinary matter counterparts.
- Tech
Electronic skin feels the heat, hears the sound
Electronic skin inspired by human fingertips detects texture, pressure, heat and sound.
- Physics
Acoustic tractor beam reels in objects like the Death Star
A platform tiled with ultrasound-emitting speakers can get small objects to hover, spin, move around and get reeled in as if pulled by a tractor beam.
- Quantum Physics
Light mimics hotel with limitless vacancies
By mimicking a mathematician’s method for creating vacancies in a hotel with an infinite number of rooms, physicists may have found a way of increasing the amount of data that can be carried via light.
