| News
Live Another Day: African insect survives drought in glassy state
When dehydrated, the larvae of an African fly replace the water in their cells with a sugar, which solidifies and helps keep cellular structures intact.
March 29, 2008
Love Code: A twist of light only mantis shrimp can see
Alone in the animal kingdom, these crustaceans signal their presence to potential mates with circularly polarized light.
March 22, 2008
Holding up
New software pinpoints the weak spots in Michelangelo’s David.
March 22, 2008
Black Hole of Light: Laser pulses create model of event horizon
Physicists have created the optical analog of a black hole’s surface of no return, a setup that could help test whether actual black holes glow.
March 8, 2008
True Blue: Electron jumps make protein shine like an LED
A protein thought to be fluorescent instead emits light the way an LED does, suggesting that some living things might do the same.
March 1, 2008
Wish List: FY ‘09 budget proposal ups physical sciences
President Bush’s proposed 2009 federal budget would boost R&D in the physical sciences while reining in biomedical research.
(With other Science News staff)
February 9, 2008
Scanner Darkly: Tiny venetian blinds enhance radiography
Microscopic gratings that select scattered X rays might improve luggage screening and cancer detection.
January 26, 2008
Dusty Fireball: Can lab-made blob explain ball lightning?
Artificial cousins of ball lightning contain microscopic particles, just like a model says they should.
January 19, 2008
Bathtub Optics: Bending light also shifts it sideways
When light bends at an interface, it also shifts depending on its polarization. With animation.
January 12, 2008
Light Swell: Optical rogue waves resemble oceanic ones
Signals in optical fibers can combine into rare, short-lived spikes that resemble oceanic rogue waves.
December 15, 2007
15 = 3 x 5: Photons do their first quantum math
Physicists have performed the first calculation involving manipulation of the quantum states of photons, another step on the road to optical quantum computers.
December 8, 2007
Base Load: Currents Add Detail to DNA Structure
The first precise measurements of DNA’s sideways conductivity confirm its similarities with semiconductors.
December 1, 2007
Einstein Unfruffled: Relativity Passes Stringent New Test
The moon’s orbit and the dilated time of speeding atoms give new meaning to ‘Einstein was right.’
November 24, 2007
Rock, Paper, Toxins
A computer model simulates a kind of rock-paper-scissors competition among three species of virtual bacteria
November 3, 2007
Let There Be Aluminum-42: Experiment Creates Surprise Isotope
In experiments that created the heaviest isotope yet of magnesium, an unexpected isotope of aluminum also showed up
October 27, 2007
Axion Gone: New tests find no sign of anomalous particle
New experiments contradict earlier claims of the discovery of the axion, a possible constituent of cosmic dark matter
October 20, 2007
Mice, Magnetism, and Reactions on Solids
The 2007 Nobel prizes in the sciences recognized research in genetics, materials science, and surface chemistry.
(With Nathan Seppa and Sarah Williams)
October 13, 2007
Nanotube Press: Printing Technique Makes Nanotransistors
A new technique for printing networks of carbon nanotubes on a wide range of surfaces is a step toward mass production of nanotubes devices
September 22, 2007
Alliance of Opposites: Electrons and Positrons Make New Molecule
Positronium, consisting of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, has been made into a molecular form
September 15, 2007
Crueltyfree: Counting Photons without Killing Them 
A delicate quantum measurement counts photons without destroying them
August 25, 2007
A Moment in the Life of a Cell: Microscopic Scan Images without Intruding
A laser technique similar to a CAT scan produces 3-D images of living cells without the need for chemical staining
August 18, 2007
Newton’s Dusty Mirror: Old Experiment Inspires Ultrafast Imaging
An experiment devised by Isaac Newton inspires a modern successor, in which X rays capture the image of a microscopic explosion
August 11, 2007
Crinkle Wrinkle
Wrinkles reveal a thin film’s thickness and elasticity
August 4, 2007
Slick Serpent
Oil poured into a pan of the same liquid drags along a surrounding air layer, which can make it skip in and out of the surface before it mixes in
July 28, 2007
Pulling Strings: Stretching Proteins Can Reveal How They Fold
Unfolding a single protein by pulling on its ends reveals the molecular forces that make it fold up
July 14, 2007
Dropping the Ball: Air Pressure Helps Objects Sink into Sand
A ball plunges deeper into sand under atmospheric pressure than under a vacuum, because the presence of air allows sand to flow like a liquid
July 7, 2007
Biowarfare: Engineered virus can invade bacterial film
A genetically engineered virus not only kills bacteria but makes an enzyme that breaks up the biofilm in which the bacteria live
June 30, 2007
Beyond Ethanol: Synthetic fuel offers promising alternative
A faster, simpler manufacturing technique could make a synthetic biofuel into an even stronger competitor to ethanol
June 23, 2007
Improbability Drive: Focus on rare actions speeds chemical simulations
A new algorithm speeds simulations of chemical reactions by focusing on rare but crucial molecular motions
June 16, 2007
Nanotech Bubbles
Creating large-scale, regular arrays of nanoscale components is now almost as easy as blowing bubbles
June 9, 2007
Magnetic Logic: Electron Spins Could Do Cool Calculations
Novel circuits use electrons as tiny bar magnets to process information
June 2, 2007
Dark Power: Pigment Seems to Put Radiation to Good Use
The pigment melanin may enable certain fungi to convert dangerous radiation into usable energy
May 26, 2007
Cleaning Treasures: Safer Solvents for Restoring Frescoes
Solvents in nanoscale droplets can be used to clean centuries-old frescoes, saving them from the unintended consequences of previous restorations
May 19, 2007
Degrees of Quantumness: Shades of Gray in Particle-Wave Duality
Light can be made to act as if it’s composed of particles, waves, or something in between
May 12, 2007
Quantum Loophole: Some Quirks of Physics Can Be Good for Science
Physicists have found a way to almost double measurement precision when using photons to gauge distances
May 5, 2007
Northern Exposure: The Inhospitable Side of the Galaxy?
Our solar system’s periodic motion from one side of the galaxy to the other could expose life on Earth to massive amounts of cosmic rays and cause recurring, catastrophic mass extinctions
April 21, 2007
Quantum Capture: Photosynthesis Tries Many Paths at Once
The wavelike behavior of energy in chlorophyll might explain how plants are so efficient at using solar energy
April 14, 2007
Formula for Panic: Crowd-Motion Findings May Prevent Stampedes
The physics of pedestrian flows could help prevent stampedes such as the one that killed hundreds during a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2006
April 7, 2007
Is Your Phone Out of Juice? Biological Fuel Cells Turns Drinks Into Power
A new type of fuel cell uses natural enzymes to produce small amounts of electricity from sugar
March 31, 2007
Closer to Vanishing: Bending Light as a Step toward Invisibility Cloaks
Invisibility cloaks may be a long shot, but new optical tricks could help in the design of future computers
March 24, 2007
Warming Up to Criticality: Quantum Change, One Bubble at a Time
Physicists can now observe matter as it gradually turns into a Bose-Einstein condensate–the exotic state of matter that displays quantum behavior at macroscopic scales
March 17, 2007
|
