Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Particle Physics
Year in review: Neutrinos leave tracks in ice
The IceCube experiment has started to pinpoint the birthplaces of some high-energy neutrinos.
- Planetary Science
Ancient moon’s mega magnetic field explained
Apollo-era moon rocks reveal ancient lunar magnetic field was at least as powerful as the one surrounding modern Earth.
- Materials Science
Carbon supplants silicon in electronic medical sensors
Prototypes of electronic medical devices constructed from organic materials are noninvasive yet offer similar performance as silicon-based health sensors.
- Physics
Assaulting ink drops for science
A pulse of laser light obliterates a free-falling ink drop in an image from the American Physical Society’s 2014 Gallery of Fluid Motion competition. The work may help engineers build the next generation of computer chips.
- Physics
Material borders support unusually warm electronic superhighways
The interface between a conductive wafer and an iron-containing film is a high-temperature superconductor, which transmits electrons without resistance.
- Physics
Negative mass might not defy Einstein
Repulsive matter could have played a role in the early universe, a computational study finds.
- Particle Physics
Two new particles found at Large Hadron Collider
Physicists with the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment have identified two new particles called Xi_b'- and Xi_b*-.
- Quantum Physics
Milestone algorithm runs on quantum computer
An algorithm proposed two decades ago that demonstrated the benefit of using quantum mechanics to solve certain problems has finally been run on a quantum computer.
- Materials Science
Batteries become safe to swallow with spongy covering
Quantum-inspired coating switches from a conductor to an insulator to prevent injury from swallowed batteries.
- Materials Science
‘Impermeable’ graphene yields to protons
Graphene sheets, impermeable to all atoms and molecules, can be penetrated by protons, new study shows.
- Cosmology
Gamma rays offer mixed messages on identity of dark matter
Conflicting results from Fermi telescope puzzle astronomers about dark matter’s true identity.
- Physics
Magnetic detector identifies single protons
An MRI-like machine can scan an individual proton, raising prospects that a similar technique could eventually image biological molecules one by one.
