Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Element 117 earns spot on periodic table
Atoms jam-packed with 117 protons have been produced at a particle collider in Germany, confirming the discovery of a new element.
-
- Chemistry
Color-changing polymer maps fingerprints
Tiny beads of sweat may offer new way to identify people’s fingerprints.
- Materials Science
How fractals jam glassy materials
Understanding the intricate energy landscape of glasses could help to explain what happens when glassy materials are deformed or when coffee beans in a container jam.
- Quantum Physics
Major step taken toward error-free computing
Physicists have achieved nearly perfect control over a bit of quantum information, bringing them a step closer to error-free computation.
- Materials Science
Blender whips up graphene
Easy recipe makes large quantities of graphene using kitchen blender.
- Quantum Physics
Shor’s code-breaking algorithm inspired reflections on quantum information
Twenty years ago, physicists met in Santa Fe to explore the ramifications of quantum information.
- Physics
Laser kicks molecules into fastest ever spin
The powerful kick of a laser has spun molecules faster than they’ve ever been spun before: 10 trillion rotations per second, or 600 trillion RPM.
- Quantum Physics
Excitons’ motions captured in images
Scientists have observed how quasiparticles called excitons move.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum experts discuss the measurement problem: A transcript from 1994
A fairly complete transcript of a discussion about quantum physics on May 19, 1994, the last day of a workshop in Santa Fe, N.M., evolves into a more general discussion of the interpretation of quantum mechanics and the quantum measurement problem.
- Particle Physics
Exotic particle packs a foursome of quarks
Tetraquarks could help physicists understand the universe’s first generations of matter.
- Cosmology
Galaxy’s gamma-ray glow may expose dark matter
An excess of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way could be a signature of dark matter.
