Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- 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.
- Physics
Hot Mama: Has matter’s mother paid a call?
Physicists have found new signs that fiery particle collisions within a giant accelerator 2 years ago created a state of matter identical to what might have been the stuff of the newborn universe.
- Materials Science
Material mimics mother-of-pearl in form and substance
A new synthetic material is so strong and tough that it might one day be used to construct artificial bones or even auto parts.
- Materials Science
Fixed Focus: Adjustable lenses from liquid droplets
Seasoned with a pinch of salt, droplets of a polymer precursor become voltage-adjustable lenses that may cut costs in fiberoptic telecommunications.
