Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Quantum Physics
Commercial quantum computer fails to impress in new test
Fifteen million dollar D-Wave machine runs no faster than traditional computer in head-to-head challenge.
- Physics
Supercooled liquid water hits record low
Weird supercooled water well below its freezing point viewed with ultrafast laser.
- Tech
Robo-fly steadies flight with onboard sensor
Scaling a robot to the size of a fly and stabilizing its flight with onboard sensors offers clues to how live insects stay steady in mid-air.
- Physics
Energy-efficient laser works at room temperature
A room-temperature polariton laser, which requires little electricity, could improve electronics and medical devices.
- Quantum Physics
How to build a quantum-entangled superclock
A blueprint for a quantum-entangled superclock suggests that such a device could enable startlingly precise measurements of Earth’s terrain.
- Materials Science
New invisibility cloak hides in the fog
A simple invisibility cloak relies on hazy environments to mask objects.
- Physics
Precision measurement of antimatter made
The charge of antihydrogen atoms is essentially neutral, even out to eight decimal places, a new precision measurement made at CERN shows.
- Chemistry
Decay of Leonardo da Vinci drawing reflected in light
Light that bounces off a Leonardo da Vinci drawing, widely considered a self-portrait, has revealed extensive chemical damage that causes yellowing.
- Life
A new twist on a twist
Nature abounds with perfect helices. They show up in animal horns and seashells, in DNA and the young tendrils of plants. But helix formation can get complicated: In some cases, the direction of rotation can reverse as a helix grows.
- Materials Science
Jets of salty water make cellulose strands stronger
When blasted by jets of water, nanoscale fibers of cellulose align to form ultra-tough strands that rival the strength of steel, a new study shows.
- Quantum Physics
Maybe classical clockwork can explain quantum weirdness
Nobel laureate Gerard ’t Hooft proposes that a classical cause-and-effect reality underlies the probabilistic strangeness of quantum physics.
- Quantum Physics
The least physics you need is a lot in ‘Quantum Mechanics’
Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman walk readers through the basics needed to understand the quantum realm.
