Physics
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Diatom Menagerie
Materials scientists are trying to coerce diatoms into making silicon-based microdevices with specific features.
- Physics
Grainy Geyser: Tall squirts reveal sand’s liquid ways
Dropping a steel ball into fine, loosely packed sand produces towering jets of grains.
By Peter Weiss - Materials Science
DNA coordinates assembly of glassy nanoscale structures
Chemists use DNA as a scaffold to construct miniature rings and rods out of silica.
- Materials Science
Cool Magnet: A little bit of iron gives magnetic refrigeration a boost
An improved material moves magnetic refrigeration one step closer to commercial reality.
- Physics
Misbehavin’ Meson: Perplexing particle flouts the rules
The discovery of what appears to be a new subatomic particle with bizarre properties is challenging theorists' understanding of how matter behaves.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
New pass at neutrino mass
The first experiment to create neutrinos in an accelerator and then beam them a long distance has found a long-awaited, new form of evidence that those fundamental particles weigh something.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Why the thinnest sticky hairs rule
The foot hairs of geckos and other creatures that can walk on ceilings may be microscopic because only such slender hairs offer optimal adhesion, regardless of shape.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Teleporting Matter’s Traits: Beaming information quantum-style
Physicists have transferred a quantum state from one atom to another by manipulating a mysterious, atom-to-atom quantum link called entanglement.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Squashed spheres set a record for filling space
Modestly deformed spheres can stack with unexpected compactness.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Corralling the Mass Maker: Hunting ground shifts for elusive particle
Hunters of the most eagerly sought particle in high-energy physics, the Higgs boson, are gleaning fresh clues about where and how to look from a new finding about another fundamental particle called the top quark.
By Science News - Physics
Light Projects
This colorful, interactive Web site provides a lively introduction to the nature of light and spectra. A product of Project LITE (Light Inquiry Through Experiments) at Boston University, the site offers a variety of applets, activities, and materials on topics ranging from color mixing and afterimage effects to moire patterns and geometrical optics. A fascinating […]
By Science News - Materials Science
Nice Threads
Once researchers figure out how to spin strong fibers out of carbon nanotubes, real-world applications such as long-distance power-transmission cables, lightweight aircraft materials, and electronic textiles become feasible.