Physics

  1. Physics

    Glacier found to be deeply cracked

    A new study finds deep fissures in Alaska ice that could affect future responses to melting.

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  2. Physics

    Being single a real drag for spores

    Launching thousands of gametes at once helps a fungus waft its offspring farther.

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  3. Tech

    Tiny tools aren’t toys

    Enzyme-based machinery could have medical applications.

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  4. Math

    Potato chips: A symptom of the U.S. R&D problem

    Last year, U.S. consumers spent $7.1 billion on potato chips — $2 billion more than the federal government’s total 2009 investment on research and development. There’s something wrong, here, when Americans are more willing to empty their wallets for the junk food that will swell their waistlines than for investments in the engine driving the creation of jobs, economic growth and national security.

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  5. Tech

    Everything really is relative

    Two tabletop experiments demonstrate the time-warping principle at the human scale.

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  6. Tech

    A compass that lights the way

    Researchers develop a highly sensitive optical instrument for measuring magnetic fields.

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  7. Physics

    String theory entangled

    Scientists forge an intriguing mathematical link between black holes and the physics of the very small.

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  8. Tech

    Tar sands ‘fingerprint’ seen in rivers and snow

    A new study refutes a government claim (one echoed by industry) that the gonzo-scale extraction of tar sands in western Canada — and their processing into crude oil — does not substantially pollute the environment.

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  9. Physics

    Very tiny, very cool

    Physicists outline a scheme to build a ‘refrigerator’ that can cool to near absolute zero and is based on only a few particles.

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  10. Chemistry

    Deep-sea plumes: A rush to judgment?

    A new report suggests a deep-sea plume of oil in the Gulf of Mexico has been gobbled up by microbes. But the scientist who described the incident doesn't "know" that. He can't — yet.

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  11. Chemistry

    Deep-sea oil plume goes missing

    Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.

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  12. Physics

    As the icicle turns

    Drip by drip, a new machine freezes out an existing theory.

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