Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Super Silicon: Top semiconductor turns into a superconductor
A heavy dose of boron transforms silicon, the superhero material of electronics, into a superconductor.
- Physics
Heavy finding
Physicists have discovered never-before-seen subatomic particles related to protons and neutrons but laden with exotic, heavy subparticles called bottom quarks.
- Materials Science
Dribble Quibble: Experiments find that new basketball gets slick
According to preliminary results from a study at a physics lab, a new basketball for professional players bounces less elastically, veers more when it bounces, and becomes more slippery when damp than does a leather ball.
- Physics
First teleportation between light and matter
Physicists have for the first time transmitted quantum states between atoms and light.
- Physics
Electromagnetism could ease the flow in oil pipelines
A few minutes of exposure to a magnetic or electric field sharply reduces crude oil's viscosity for hours at a time.
- Physics
Vanishing Actor: Physicists unveil first invisibility cloak
The first functional invisibility cloak, which operates at microwave frequencies, has emerged from the laboratory.
- Physics
Fit to Be Tied
Two new books present scathing critiques of string theory, which holds that the universe has 11 dimensions and that its fundamental building blocks are ultratiny loops of energy known as strings.
- Physics
Hawking at CERN
Physicist Stephen Hawking visited the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in late September 2006. The CERN Web site offers a glimpse of Hawking’s visit and video of two lectures that he presented, one for a general audience on the origin of the universe and the other for a specialist audience on the “semi-classical birth […]
- Materials Science
A nanotechnology report card
Research on how nanotechnology affects human health and the environment must be expanded, a National Research Council report concludes.
- Physics
Hot Stuff: A usually ultracold, odd state forms when warm
An exotic quantum state that had previously appeared only under conditions of astonishing cold has made its room-temperature debut.
- Materials Science
Rice-straw sweaters
Textile scientists have for the first time extracted from rice straw natural cellulose fibers that can be spun into yarn.
- Physics
Solid Surprise: High-pressure oxygen takes unpredicted form
X-ray analysis of oxygen crystals under high pressure indicated that the substance's two-atom molecules aggregate into groups of four, a crystalline structure that has never been seen before and isn't predicted by current quantum theory.
