Physics
- Physics
Peer Pressure in Numbers: Physicists model the power of social sway
A mathematical model of peer-influenced behavior may help explain some unexpected patterns that have been observed in financial data and bird populations.
- Physics
Relativity and Gravitation
Learn more about the hot Big Bang, relic radiation, black holes, cosmic strings, inflation, and other topics at the frontiers of cosmology research. Offered by the Cambridge University relativity and gravitation research group, this Web site features illustrated explanations of key concepts, colorful movies, and a link to Stephen Hawking’s pages. Go to: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/
- Physics
Violent chemistry saps sonobubble energy
In liquids agitated by sound waves, imploding gas bubbles get cooled when atoms recombine, making the bubbles unlikely nuclear reactors.
- Physics
Hunting for Higher Dimensions
Inspired by recent theoretical insights, physicists at accelerators and gravitational laboratories are searching for clues to dimensions beyond the four dimensions of space-time.
- Physics
Melting nuclei re-create Big Bang broth
The seething primordial matter that existed in the first microseconds after the Big Bang may have briefly reappeared in fireballs created at a European particle accelerator.
- Materials Science
Spinning Fine Threads: Silkworms coerced to make better silk
The caterpillars that spin commercial silk can make tougher or more elastic threads, depending on how fast they're forced to spin.
- Physics
Scaling energy barriers to save data
Researchers demonstrate a promising new way to make semiconductor-based memory that doesn't erase when the power goes off.
- Physics
Spectral atom rings in
Electron waves can generate a phantom atom when a real atom is placed at the right spot inside an elliptical quantum corral, or loop of atoms, arranged on a surface.
- Physics
Ultracold molecules form inside superatom
The formation of molecules within an ultracold gas of atoms called a Bose-Einstein condensate could be a step toward fluids in which molecules share the same quantum state.
- Materials Science
Vision Quest
Increasing numbers of people with less-than-perfect vision can now wear contact lenses, thanks to innovations in lens design and materials.
- Physics
Black hole recipe: Slow light, swirl atoms
Whirling clouds of atoms may swallow light the way black holes do, possibly giving scientists a way to test the general theory of relativity in the lab, not just in outer space.
- Physics
Sunlight Sponge? Energy trackers gauge water vapor’s wild dance
Atmospheric water vapor takes in more solar radiation than has been indicated by measurements and models, but laser probes of highly agitated water molecules suggest that the vapor doesn't absorb enough radiation to explain the discrepancy fully.
