Physics
A tiny, levitated glass sphere behaves like the hottest engine ever made
At an effective temperature of 13 million kelvins, the jiggling glass sphere could help scientists understand physics at the microscale.
Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
More Stories in Physics
- Quantum Physics
Discoveries that enabled quantum computers win the Nobel Prize in physics
In the 1980s, John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis demonstrated quantum effects in an electric circuit, an advance that underlies today’s quantum computers.
- Physics
These parachutes unfurl thanks to the Japanese art of kirigami
Parachutes inspired by Japanese paper cutting unfurl automatically and fall more predictably than standard parachutes.
- Physics
Here’s what might spark ghostly will-o’-the-wisps
Chemists have discovered tiny zaps of electricity moving between “swamp-gas” bubbles. Could they ignite methane gas to glow as dancing blue flames?
- Physics
Ice is more flexible than you think, a new nano-movie shows
Scientists have filmed nanoscale ice crystals adapting to trapped air bubbles without losing structural integrity.
- Particle Physics
A primordial black hole may have spewed the highest energy neutrino ever found
The Big Bang may have spawned these theoretical black holes, whose lives are thought to end in a burst of extremely energetic particles.
- Chemistry
A new book explores the link between film giant Kodak and the atomic bomb
In Tales of Militant Chemistry, Alice Lovejoy traces how film giants Kodak and Agfa helped produce weapons of war during the 20th century.
- Materials Science
Salt can turn frozen water into a weak power source
Experiments reveal that when slabs of salty ice are strained, electricity is generated, though practical uses are still a long way off.
- Physics
Scientists made a biological quantum bit out of a fluorescent protein
Researchers could use quantum effects to develop new types of medical imaging inside cells themselves.
- Physics
A ‘ringing’ black hole matches scientists’ predictions
Gravitational waves emitted after two black holes coalesced agree with theories from physicists Stephen Hawking and Roy Kerr.
