Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Tight deadline
Light behaves like waves or particles, but it doesn’t know what it will do in advance.
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- Astronomy
When Worlds Collide
Parallel universes aren’t supposed to be observable, but a cosmic crash might leave a visible sign of their existence.
- Chemistry
Slippery when dry
Surfaces that mimic the back of an African beetle can collect water from fog.
- Physics
Catching the cell in action
A light microscope with high resolution may enable scientists to view the 3-D structures within living cells.
- Chemistry
Phlegmatic molecules
Time-lapse snapshots of molecules show that they change shapes less often than theory predicted.
- Materials Science
Like the Nobel, Only Norwegian
Two weeks from now, an astrophysicist, neuroscientist, and nanoscience researcher will each be named to receive $1 million Kavli Prizes.
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- Physics
John Wheeler (1911-2008)
SN Editor in Chief Tom Siegfried remembers the late physicist John Wheeler, who coined the term "black hole" in 1967, with excerpts from conversations the two had engaged in over the past two decades.
- Math
Less is more
Researchers have shown that a grip that’s too tight can be counterproductive, especially on a microscopic object — but the findings could apply to fields ranging from ecology to sociology.
- Physics
Gödel, Escher, Chopin
Musical theorists see inuitive links between musical chords and geometries.
- Climate
Air Pollution Can Be So Cool — ing
Fossil-fuel pollution has been offsetting global warming to the tune of about 30 percent per year. Cleaning up that pollution, a must, threatens to accelerate warming unless humanity changes its fuel-use strategy.
