Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
The Hunt for Antihelium
Scientists have been searching about 30 years for a single nucleus of helium made from antimatter, and although the discovery would imply that whole antimatter galaxies exist, the researchers' time could be running out.
- Physics
Quantum Loophole: Some quirks of physics can be good for science
Physicists have found a way to almost double measurement precision when using photons to gauge distances.
- Physics
Exploring Time
This new educational site offers time-lapse and high-speed video clips, 3D scientific animations, and other visually stunning features that reveal how events unfold on different timescales—from billionths of seconds to billions of years—and take place too quickly or too slowly for the human senses to perceive. Go to: http://www.exploringtime.org
- Physics
Putting Einstein to the test
A NASA mission has found new evidence for Einstein's theory of gravity, but its final results have been delayed by unexpected problems.
- Physics
Fermilab could beat CERN to the punch
A new particle accelerator starting up next year in Switzerland should finally discover the origin of mass, unless an older U.S. machine does it first.
- Physics
Liquid origami
A French team has created the first mini-origami figures that fold themselves around droplets of water.
- Physics
Tiny particles baffle physicists, again
An experiment failed to confirm the existence of a new elementary particle called the sterile neutrino, but its results could still point to some new physics.
- Physics
Toward imaging single biomolecules
Experiments have given additional evidence that a future generation of X-ray sources called free-electron lasers may be able to image single biomolecules.
- Physics
This is your brain on a chip
Biophysicists have put neurons on a chip and induced them to form multiple patterns of synchronized firing, the mechanism at the basis of memory.
- Physics
Quantum Capture: Photosynthesis tries many paths at once
The wavelike behavior of energy in chlorophyll might explain how plants are so efficient at using solar energy.
- Materials Science
Color-tunable sunglasses
Engineers have developed sunglasses that can change from dark, filtering hues to clear—and back—at the flip of a switch.
- Materials Science
Taken for a Spin
Considering silk from the spider's perspective may offer the best chance of replicating these creatures' tough threads.
