Physics

Physics

Physicists explain how to execute a nearly splashless dive

A pocket of air lets elite divers pull off the rip entry, breaking through the water without sending it flying.

Physics

How physics can improve the urinal

Urinals built with curves like those in nautilus shells eliminate the splash-back common with conventional commodes.

Plants

Why dandelion seeds are so good at spreading widely

Individual seeds on a dandelion flower are programmed to let go for a specific wind direction, allowing them to spread widely as the wind shifts.

Physics

Zapping tiny metal drops with sound creates wires for soft electronics

Wearable medical devices and stretchable displays could benefit from a way to use high-frequency sound to create liquid metal wires.

Physics

Crowdsourced cell phone data could keep bridges safe and strong

Accelerometers and GPS sensors in smartphones could provide frequent, real-time data on bridge vibrations, and alert engineers to changes in integrity

Animals

Here’s how polar bears might get traction on snow

Microstructures on the Arctic animals’ paws might offer extra friction that keeps them from slipping on snow, a new study reports.

Animals

Insect swarms might generate as much electric charge as storm clouds

Honeybees flying over a sensor measuring atmospheric voltage sparked a look into how insect-induced static electricity might affect the atmosphere.

Climate

Wind turbines could help capture carbon dioxide while providing power

Turbulent wakes from wind turbines can concentrate CO₂ from cities and factories, making it easier to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

Earth

Particles from space provide a new look inside cyclones

Cosmic rays that smash into the atmosphere make muons that are sensitive to changing air pressure inside storms.

Physics

Protons may be stretchier than physics predicts

Studying how quarks inside protons move in response to electric fields shows that protons seem to stretch more than theory says they should.

Health & Medicine

Cooperative sperm outrun loners in the mating race

Sperm that swim in clusters travel more directly toward the uterus, while overcoming fluid currents in the reproductive tract.

Humans

Here’s where jazz gets its swing

Swing, the feeling of a rhythm in jazz music that compels feet to tap, may arise from near-imperceptible delays in musicians’ timing, a study shows.