Physics

  1. Materials Science

    Fishy flash

    Fish alter the growth of crystals in their skin, making it supershiny.

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  2. Physics

    Scanner Darkly: Tiny venetian blinds enhance radiography

    Microscopic gratings that select scattered X rays might improve luggage screening and cancer detection.

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  3. Materials Science

    Life in Print

    Tissues printed with an ink-jet could provide patches for damaged organs, new cell-based materials for drug testing, new ways to probe cellular communication, living sensors, or even fuel cell–type batteries.

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  4. Physics

    Supercool, and Strange

    Scientists tracking H2O's highs and lows are finding new clues as to how and why the familiar substance is so odd. Recent research, for example, suggests that water may exist in two distinct liquid phases at ultralow temperatures.

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  5. Physics

    Dusty Fireball: Can lab-made blob explain ball lightning?

    Artificial cousins of ball lightning contain microscopic particles, just like a model says they should. With video.

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  6. Physics

    Bathtub Optics: Bending light also shifts it sideways

    When light bends at an interface, it also shifts depending on its polarization. With animation.

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  7. Physics

    Tiptoe acrobats get it just right

    Physicists have found that a water-skating insect leaps off the water surface by applying just the right amount of force. With video.

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  8. Physics

    Airy theory, but true

    Physicists have created a beam of light that bends in a curve.

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  9. Physics

    Light Swell: Optical rogue waves resemble oceanic ones

    Signals in optical fibers can combine into rare, short-lived spikes that resemble oceanic rogue waves.

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  10. Physics

    15 = 3 × 5: Photons do their first quantum math

    Physicists have performed the first calculation involving manipulation of the quantum states of photons, another step on the road to optical quantum computers.

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  11. Physics

    Sharper than expected

    A new technique beats the resolution limits of ordinary microscopes in a way that seems to defy conventional optical theory.

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  12. Physics

    Einstein Unruffled: Relativity passes stringent new tests

    The moon's orbit and the dilated time of speeding atoms give new meaning to 'Einstein was right.'

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