Physics
- Materials Science
Miniature Motor: Nanotubes central to new rotating device
Researchers have used miniature, nested cylinders, called multiwalled carbon nanotubes, to make a motor only 300 nanometers long.
- Physics
Mastering the Mixer
Almost anything can happen when a batch of grains or powders is mixed—including striking, swirling patterns and spontaneous, total separation—so researchers are playing with beads, salt, sand, and other particles in simple tumblers to find out what's going on.
- Materials Science
Tiny Labs: Polymers on silicon chip catch, release proteins
In a step toward a new laboratory-on-a-chip technology, researchers have grown a dense polymer film on a silicon wafer that takes up and releases proteins on command.
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- Physics
Magnetic current flows solo
By exploiting quantum mechanical interactions, physicists have generated glows of the magnetic fields of electrons without corresponding flows of their electric charges.
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- Physics
Wild Bunch: First five-quark particle turns up
Physicists have uncovered strong evidence for a family of five-quark particles after decades of finding no subatomic particles with more than three of the fundamental building blocks known as quarks.
- Materials Science
Microbial Materials
Microorganisms can be coaxed into producing high-tech components and can themselves serve as valuable ingredients in new classes of materials.
- Physics
Through the Looking Glass
A proposed universe of unseen material, where every ordinary particle has a shadowy counterpart, could explain several conundrums in cosmology.
- Materials Science
Cathedral has weathered London’s acid rain
A decrease in acid rain seems to be responsible for newly reported reduced deterioration rates of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
- Materials Science
Easy Repair: Novel structural model heals with heat
The vertebrate spine has provided inspiration for making new structures that heal when heated.
- Materials Science
Lithium Sees the Light: Images of tiny ion may help battery designers
An electron microscope has captured images of tiny lithium ions for the first time.
