Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
BP oil rig’s sinking and gushing crude raise questions
Around 10 p.m. local time on April 20, the Deepwater Horizon — a floating oil-drilling platform leased to British Petroleum — suffered an explosion and fire about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. While the aftermath of that devastating accident is now being observed and chronicled in painful detail, even the most basic features of what triggered it remain sketchy.
- Physics
Making clouds with lasers
Inspired by a classic particle physics experiment, researchers get water droplets to condense by shooting a light beam skyward.
- Physics
Reverse engineering a quantum compass
Physicists propose a method that could explain how birds’ magnetic-sensing organs work.
- Space
Measuring the weakest of forces
Precise measurements could be used to map tiny fluctuations in the surface properties of materials.
- Physics
Army takes gun acoustics beyond ‘bang’
Dissecting the sound of weapon fire may give soldiers an edge.
- Materials Science
Infection, kill thyself
Scientists devise wound dressings that trick bacteria into suicide.
- Physics
Lasing Beyond Light
Laser physicists have set their sights on new types of waves — manufacturing beams of sound, creating plasma swells and looking for ripples in spacetime.
- Physics
Inventing the Light Fantastic
The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life.
- Physics
Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real
Science News reporter Ron Cowen's Q&A with Nobel laureate and laser-technology pioneer Charles Townes.
- Materials Science
Physicists untangle the geometry of rope
Equations explain why winding fibers together does the job, no matter what they’re made of.
- Physics
The backstory behind a new element
Science News contributing editor Alexandra Witze describes what it took to synthesize ununseptium, element number 117.
- Physics
Colliding dust grains charge each other up
Physicists propose a way that cloud particles can electrify themselves.
