Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
Waterproof Coats: Materials repel water with simplicity, style
Researchers have produced new types of water-repelling surfaces, including one that's colorful and another made of inexpensive plastic.
- Materials Science
Technique may yield vocal cord stand-in
A plastic material used in some biological implants could someday form a foundation for tissue that can repair or replace human vocal cords.
- Materials Science
Ceramic rebounds from stressful situations
The ceramic titanium silicon carbide can fully recover after being compressed to a degree that would leave most ceramics shattered and most metals permanently deformed.
- Physics
New equation fits nitrogen to a T
An elaborate, new equation that yields more accurate values for nitrogen's properties might have a multimillion-dollar impact in the cryogenic fluids industry.
- Physics
Gecko toes tap intermolecular bonds
For scurrying upside down on smooth ceilings and other gravity-defying feats, lizards known as geckos may exploit intermolecular forces between the surface and billions of tiny stalks under their toes.
- Physics
Electronic Acrobats: Tidily tweaking electrons’ twirls
The first demonstration of three-dimensional, electrical control of a quantum property of electrons known as spin marks an important step toward a new type of spin-based electronics and, possibly, quantum computers.
- Materials Science
Ancient seal technology shows its age
Modern technologies reveal than an ancient method of engraving tough quartz in Mesopotamia was adopted some 1,500 years later than scholars had thought.
- Materials Science
Natural Healing: Nanothread mesh could lead to novel bandages
A new material made from clot-promoting protein fibers may serve as a wound covering that speeds healing and never needs removing.
- Physics
Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity
A dense bundle of carbon nanotubes develops a voltage difference along its length when immersed in a slow-flowing liquid.
- Materials Science
Microscopic glass ribbons provide molecular labels
A new type of barcode too small to see with the naked eye holds promise for biomedical research, law enforcement, and everyday life.
- Physics
Powers of Ten
Florida State University’s “Molecular Expressions” Web site offers a fascinating sequence of images, each one 10 times bigger or smaller in scale than the one preceding or following it. The journey ranges from a view of the universe 10 million light years away from the Milky Way to an impressionistic glimpse of a diminutive sea […]
- Physics
Quantum computers to keep an eye on
A primitive ion-based computer exploiting the weirdness of quantum mechanics has taken an important step forward in problem solving.
