University of Chicago physicists have succeeding in creating a vortex knot—a feat akin to tying a smoke ring into a knot. Linked and knotted vortex loops have existed in theory for more than a century, but creating them in the laboratory had previously eluded scientists.
MIT and Brookhaven Lab physicists measured fleeting electron waves to uncover the elusive mechanism behind high-temperature superconductivity.
Geneva 1 March 2013. Experiments at CERN1’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are set to present their latest results at the Moriond conference, which begins tomorrow in the Italian town of La Thuile, and runs until 16 March. Although all of the LHC experiments will present results, eyes will be on the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, which will give updates on the analyses of the new particle whose discovery was announced last July.
Physicists make the first direct measurements of the polarization states of light. Using a recently developed technique, their work both overcomes some important challenges of Heisenberg’s famous Uncertainty Principle and also is applicable to qubits, the building blocks of quantum information theory.
University of Virginia physicist Lou Bloomfield has developed a new type of silicone rubber that may have widespread applications, including shoes, prosthetics, sporting goods and toys.
Scientists at Amherst College and The University of Texas at Austin have established new limits on “long-range spin-spin interactions” between atomic particles. To make the study possible, the team created the first map of electron polarization within Earth induced by the planet’s geomagnetic field.
Magnetic shielding may enable ion drives to power new deep space missions.
Experimentalists have recently confirmed that SmB6 is the first true 3D topological insulator—as originally predicted by JQI/CMTC☨ theorists in 2010.
NYU physicists have developed a method for moving microscopic particles with the flick of a light switch. Their work relies on a blue light to prompt colloids to move and then assemble—much like birds flock and move together in flight.
The physics of a bouncing ball is well understood, but a liquid-filled ball can still surprise scientists.
The science of spintronics may enable converting a magnetic field into electrical energy.
Researchers make secure bidding possible by using the properties of the quantum world
A collaboration with major participation by physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has made a precise measurement of elusive, nearly massless particles, and obtained a crucial hint as to why the universe is dominated by matter, not by its close relative, anti-matter.
Forget solid, liquid, and gas: there are in fact more than 500 phases of matter. In a major paper in today’s issue of Science, Perimeter Faculty member Xiao-Gang Wen reveals a modern reclassification of all of them.
Geneva, 17 December 2012. This morning CERN completed the first LHC proton run. The remarkable first three-year run of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator was crowned by a new performance milestone. The space between proton bunches in the beams was halved to further increase beam intensity.
An international team led by Xiang-Feng Zhou and Artem R. Oganov, PhD, theoretical crystallographers in the Department of Geosciences and Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, have established the structure of one of the most important high-energy-density materials, magnesium borohydride or Mg(BH4)2. Their findings, “First-Principles Determination of the Structure of Magnesium Borohydride,” have been published in the December 13 edition of Physical Review Letters.
Two $3,000,000 special Fundamental Physics Prizes have been awarded to Stephen Hawking and to seven scientists who led the effort to discover a Higgs-like particle at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The winner of the 2013 Fundamental Physics Prize will be announced at a ceremony at CERN on March 20, 2013.
A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the possibility that our universe might be a computer simulation run by our descendants. Now, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea holds water.
An international team of scientists, using the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, has revealed the three dimensional structure of a key enzyme that enables the single-celled parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness) in humans.
European funding agencies for astroparticle physics celebrate today the successful work of the ASPERA European funded network and the launch of the newly founded APPEC, the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium.
Sandia National Laboratories' researchers use Sandia's unique multiphase shock tube to study how densely clustered particles disperse during an explosion.
A rising bubble ring; a coiling stream of honey; droplets bouncing on the surface of a vibrating liquid; and what happens inside a kettle when the water boils are some of the images and videos on display in the 2012 Gallery of Fluid Motion, hosted by the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) in connection with their recent annual meeting.
Sound waves are commonly used in applications ranging from ultrasound imaging to hyperthermia therapy, in which high temperatures are induced, for example, in tumors to destroy them. In 2010, researchers at Caltech led by Chiara Daraio, a professor of aeronautics and applied physics, developed a nonlinear acoustic lens that can focus high-amplitude pressure pulses into compact “sound bullets.” In that initial work, the scientists demonstrated how sound bullets form in solids. Now, they have done themselves one better, creating a device that can form and control those bullets in water.
A new approach to invisibility cloaking may one day be used at sea to shield floating objects – such as oil rigs and ships – from rough waves. Unlike most other cloaking techniques that rely on transformation optics, this one is based on the influence of the ocean floor’s topography on the various “layers” of ocean water. At the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting, being held November 18-20, 2012, in San Diego, Calif., Reza Alam, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, will describe how the variation of density in ocean water can be used to cloak floating objects against incident surface waves.
By fabricating graphene structures atop nanometer-scale “steps” etched into silicon carbide, researchers have for the first time created a substantial electronic bandgap in the material suitable for room-temperature electronics.
Penguins that face the bitter cold and icy winds of Antarctica often huddle together in large groups for warmth during storms. Mathematicians have created a model that shows how the penguins share heat fairly in the huddle.
Plants lack muscles, yet in only a tenth of a second, the meat-eating Venus fly trap hydrodynamically snaps its leaves shut to trap an insect meal. This astonishingly rapid display of botanical movement has long fascinated biologists. Commercially, understanding the mechanism of the Venus fly trap's leaf snapping may one day help improve products such as release-on-command coatings and adhesives, electronic circuits, optical lenses, and drug delivery.
To help planes fly safely through cold, wet, and icy conditions, a team of Japanese scientists has developed a new super water-repellent surface that can prevent ice from forming in these harsh atmospheric conditions. Unlike current inflight anti-icing techniques, the researchers envision applying this new anti-icing method to an entire aircraft like a coat of paint.
Supercharging is a technique no longer confined to automotive enthusiasts.
People with perfect pitch seem to possess their own inner pitch pipe, allowing them to sing a specific note without first hearing a reference tone. This skill has long been associated with early and extensive musical training, but new research suggests that perfect pitch may have as much to do with genetics as it does with learning an instrument or studying voice.
Concern is growing that human-generated noise in the ocean disrupts marine animals that rely on sound for communication and navigation. In the modern ocean, the background noise can be ten times louder than it was just 50 years ago. But new modeling based on recently published data suggests that 200 years ago – prior to the industrial whaling era -- the ocean was even louder than today due to the various sounds whales make.
An acoustic navigation system being developed by a team of University of Texas at Austin researchers studying the science of sound propagation inside burning buildings may one day become a life-saving addition to firefighters’ arsenal of tools.
Japan’s Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear disaster that occurred in 2011 -- a result of the strongest earthquake on record in the country and the powerful tsunami waves it triggered -- underscored the need for a method to monitor the status of nuclear fuel rods that doesn’t rely on electrical power.
Researchers at ORNL have found that nitrogen atoms in the compound uranium nitride exhibit unexpected, distinct vibrations that form a nearly ideal realization of a physics textbook model known as the isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator.
Hard collisions can lead to player concussions, but the physics of how the impact of a helmet hit transfers to the brain are not well understood. A research team from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., has created a simplified experimental model of the brain and skull inside a helmet during a helmet-to-helmet collision.
Global temperatures directly affect the acidity of the ocean, which in turn changes the acoustical properties of sea water. New research suggests that global warming may give Earth’s oceans the same hi-fi sound qualities they had more than 100 million years ago, during the Age of the Dinosaurs.
Noise can be distracting, especially to a person trying to concentrate on a difficult task. Studying annoying noises helps architects design better building environments and policy makers choose effective noise regulations. To better understand how short noise bursts affect humans’ mental state, researchers from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln played quarter-second-long white noise clips to test subjects as they worked on arithmetic problems.
Miss hitting the “sweet spot” on a baseball bat and the resulting vibrations can zing your hands. Bat companies have tried for decades to reduce these painful shocks with limited success. But Daniel Russell, a professor in the graduate program in acoustics at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, has figured out that bat vibrations between 600 and 700 hertz (Hz) cause the most pain and that specifically tuned vibration absorbers are the best at combatting the sting.
Earthquakes sway buildings, buckle terrain, and rumble – both audibly and in infrasound, frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. New computer modeling by a team of researchers indicates that most of the low-frequency infrasound comes from an unexpected source: the actual “pumping” of the Earth’s surface. The researchers confirmed their models by studying data from an actual earthquake.
Nano-ribbons of silicon configured so the atoms resemble chicken wire could hold the key to ultrahigh density data storage and information processing systems of the future.
Researchers at Drexel University have identified the physical forces in red blood cells and blood vessels underlying the painful symptoms of sickle cell disease. Their experiment, the first to answer a scientific question about sickle cell disease using microfluidics engineering methods, may help future researchers better determine who is at greatest risk of harm from the disease.
A team of Weizmann Institute researchers combined two low-temperature supersonic beams to produce chemical reactions in quantum conditions, near absolute zero. The method, a first, confirms longstanding theories.
Understanding blackbody radiation – electromagnetic emissions that play a role in a broad range of physical systems – is an important part of physics instruction at both the high school and college levels. A new iPad app helps explain this to students.
University of Adelaide applied mathematicians have extended Einstein’s theory of special relativity to work beyond the speed of light.
CERN is today showcasing its science at the Frankfurt Book Fair. As well as a range of books looking at the science of CERN and the LHC, the Laboratory will unveil a new interactive LHC time tunnel display and announce a collaboration with games developer Rovio to develop new educational resources for children linked to their award-winning Angry Birds game.
Photos reveal how water droplets placed on a cold surface freeze to a sharp point that sprouts a “forest” of tree-like ice crystals.
Researchers have discovered a star that whips around the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy in record time, completing an orbit every 11.5 years. The finding, appearing today in the journal Science, points ahead to groundbreaking experiments involving Einstein's general theory of relativity. Those tests will be fully enabled by the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), slated to begin observations next decade.
With enough information, physics can predict a great deal about the world around us, and that includes the fall of the ball in the game of roulette.
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