Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum communication takes a new twist
A three-kilometer transmission of light above the Vienna skyline demonstrates that scientists can use the twistiness of light to encode delicate quantum information.
- Physics
Revamping the metric measure of mass
The units of the metric system are on track for a 2018 makeover.
- Materials Science
Stretchy fiber lets electrons flow
Folded layers of carbon nanotubes allow an elastic fiber to conduct electrical current when stretched.
- Materials Science
Stretchy fiber keeps electrons flowing
Folded layers of carbon nanotubes allow an elastic fiber to conduct electrical current when stretched.
- Physics
Elusive particle shows up in ‘semimetal’
Weyl fermions, which resemble massless electrons, have been spotted inside tantalum arsenide. Their discovery comes 86 years after they were proposed.
- Particle Physics
LHC reports pentaquark sightings
Two particles discovered at the Large Hadron Collider are composed of five quarks, not two or three like nearly every other known quark-based particle.
- Astronomy
Source of blazars’ super brightness comes into focus
Astronomers take a close look at a blazar, a galaxy whose central black hole emits gamma rays and other high-energy material toward Earth.
- Physics
Swimming bacteria remove resistance to flow
The collective motion of swimming bacteria can virtually eliminate a water-based solution’s resistance to flow.
- Physics
The arrow of time
Gravity may explain how time always runs forward, even though the laws of physics should permit it to run backward.
- Physics
Magnetic test boosts case for record-setting superconductor
New measurements bolster the case that hydrogen sulfide is superconducting at about 200 kelvins, roughly 40 kelvins higher than any other known material.
- Physics
In retirement, Nobelist takes up moon bouncing
A lifelong amateur radio enthusiast, Joseph Taylor sends signals via the moon.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum dots get a second chance to shine
Quantum dots, semiconductor particles that can emit a rainbow of colors, have been put to work observing living cells, with possible benefits for medical diagnosis.
