Physics

  1. Physics

    How physics can improve the urinal

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

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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.

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  8. 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.

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  9. 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.

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  10. 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.

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  11. 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.

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  12. Physics

    Quantum experiments with entangled photons win the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics

    Three pioneers in quantum information science share this year’s Nobel Prize in physics.

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