Los Alamos study hopes to characterize and optimize ventilator treatment for Covid-19
Cross-disciplinary scientists and engineers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are working to learn how Intrapulmonary Percussive Ventilation (IPV) helps clear mucus from blocking the airways of the human lung, a common reaction to the Covid-19 virus.
Multi-messenger astronomy offers new estimates of the size of neutron stars and the rate of the universe's expansion
A combination of astrophysical measurements has allowed researchers to put new constraints on the radius of a typical neutron star and provide a novel calculation of the Hubble constant that indicates the rate at which the universe is expanding.
Striking gold: Advanced Photon Source enables catalysis research at small scales
By examining tiny particles of gold with powerful X-ray beams, scientists hope they can learn how to cut down on harmful carbon monoxide emissions from motor vehicles.
Jeffrey Newman: Then and Now / 2010 Early Career Award Winner
Physics professor Jeffrey Newman at the University of Pittsburgh is improving the methods for calculating the distances and developing target strategies for Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument experiments. These activities are supporting the search for answers about dark energy.
Big step with small whirls
Skyrmions are small magnetic objects that could revolutionize the data storage industry and also enable new computer architectures. However, before they can be utilized in such applications, there are still a number of challenges that need to be overcome. A team of Empa researchers has now succeeded for the first time in producing a tunable multilayer system in which two different types of skyrmions - the future bits for "0" and "1" - can exist at room temperature, as they recently reported in the renowned journal Nature Communications.
Scientists get the most realistic view yet of a coronavirus spike's protein structure
The first detailed images of coronavirus spikes in their natural state, while still attached to the virus and without using chemical fixatives that might distort their shape, provide quicker, more realistic snapshots of the infection apparatus.
PNNL Researchers Track Radioiodine's Chemical Evolution
PNNL researchers are examining the volatile radioisotope iodine as it evolves in the atmosphere and as it lands on a filtering surface. A more detailed understanding of the interactions and chemical evolution of radioiodine could help first responders' decision-making after the release of volatile iodine into the environment, which happened following nuclear power plant accidents in 1986 at Chernobyl and in 2011 at Fukushima.
Q&A with Junhong Chen: Argonne's lead water strategist addresses questions on managing our precious water resources
Argonne's Junhong Chen discusses how Argonne's wide-ranging expertise combined with use of artificial intelligence and world-class research facilities can solve problems in water science and engineering.
Astrophysicist Catherine Cesarsky Selected as 2020 Tate Award for International Leadership in Physics Winner
The American Institute of Physics announced the winner of the 2020 John Torrence Tate Award for International Leadership in Physics to French astrophysicist Catherine Cesarsky. Named after the celebrated American physicist John Torrence Tate, the Tate medal was established in 1959 and is awarded by AIP every two years to non-U.S. citizens for their leadership, research contributions, and service to the international physics community. Previous winners include Fabiola Gianotti, Roald Sagdeev, and Jean Tran Thanh Van.
IdPhO 2020 results announced
The national teams of Russia and China have finished first at the International distributed Physics Olympiad. The unofficial rating of countries also features Singapore, Indonesia, and Romania among the top five gold medal winners. On Dec. 15, the awards ceremony finalized IPhO 2020 -- held in a distributed format for the first time in history -- uniting 45 countries despite the pandemic.
The Mass of Human-Made Materials Now Equals the Planet's Biomass, Weizmann Institute Finds
The Weizmann Institute's Prof. Ron Milo has shown that the mass of materials humans produce is now equal to that of all living things on Earth - and we're doubling that rate every 20 years. He warns that we are at the crossover point and must all "take responsibility."
First measurement of single-proton interactions with the MicroBooNE detector
The MicroBooNE neutrino experiment at Fermilab has published a new measurement that helps paint a more detailed portrait of the neutrino. This measurement more precisely targets one of the processes arising from the interaction of a neutrino with an atomic nucleus, one with a fancy name: charged-current quasielastic scattering.
Major upgrade to Fermilab accelerator complex gets green light
The U.S. Department of Energy has formally approved the scope, schedule and cost of the PIP-II project at Fermilab. The PIP-II accelerator will become the heart of Fermilab's upgraded accelerator complex, delivering more powerful proton beams to the lab's experiments and enabling deeper probes of the fundamental constituents of the universe.
LED lights found to kill coronavirus: Global first in fight against COVID-19
Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have proven that the coronavirus can be killed efficiently, quickly, and cheaply using ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). They believe that the UV-LED technology will soon be available for private and commercial use.
Device Mimics Life's First Steps in Outer Space
A device developed by scientists at the CY Cergy Paris University and Paris Observatory promises insight into how the building blocks of life form in outer space. In Review of Scientific Instruments, the scientists detail how VENUS -- an acronym of the French phrase "Vers de Nouvelles Syntheses," which means "toward new syntheses" -- mimics how molecules come together in the freezing darkness of interstellar space.
Fast Walking in Narrow Corridors Can Increase COVID-19 Transmission Risk
Simulations have been used to predict droplet dispersal patterns in situations where COVID-19 might be spread and results in Physics of Fluids show the importance of the space shape in modeling how droplets move. The simulations are used to determine flow patterns behind a walking individual in spaces of different shape. The results reveal a higher transmission risk for children in some instances, such as behind quickly moving people in a long narrow hallway.
'Chaotic' Way to Create Insectlike Gaits for Robots
Researchers in Japan and Italy are embracing chaos and nonlinear physics to create insectlike gaits for tiny robots -- complete with a locomotion controller to provide a brain-machine interface. Biology and physics are permeated by universal phenomena fundamentally grounded in nonlinear physics, and it inspired the researchers' work. In the journal Chaos, the group describes using a system of three nonlinear differential equations as a building block for central pattern generators to control the gait of a robotic insect.
The Mask Matters: How Masks Affect Airflow, Protection Effectiveness
Even though it has been widely known that wearing a face mask will help mitigate the community spread of COVID-19, less is known regarding the specific effectiveness of masks in reducing the viral load in the respiratory tracts of those wearing them. In Physics of Fluids, researchers examined the effect of wearing a three-layer surgical mask on inspiratory airflows and the mask's effects on the inhalation and deposition of ambient particles in the upper respiratory airways.
Five Prominent Figures in Science and Engineering Join AIP Foundation Board of Trustees
A Nobel laureate, a "father of the internet," the first African American administrator of NASA, a former chief technology officer of one of the U.S. Department of Energy's national research laboratories, and a chemist who is the executive director of The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation -- these five renowned scientists are coming together to join the board of trustees for the AIP Foundation with France Cordova at its helm as founding chair.
Development of permanent magnets to simplify stellarator design forges ahead
A quick look at recent research on development of permanent magnets to simplify design and construction of stellarator fusion facilities.
One's trash, another's treasure: fertilizer made from urine could enable space agriculture
In extreme environments, even the most ordinary tasks can seem like unsurmountable challenges.
New findings could improve understanding of potentially damaging solar storms
When fast-moving particles from the sun strike the Earth's magnetic field, they set off reactions that could disrupt communications satellites and power grids. Now, PPPL scientists have learned new details of this process that could lead to better forecasting of this so-called space weather.
Righting a wrong, nuclear physicists improve precision of neutrino studies
Led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a new study clears up a discrepancy regarding the biggest contributor of unwanted background signals in specialized detectors of neutrinos.
High-rate Li-ion batteries demonstrate superior safety
As the inevitable growth of transport electrification continues, the types of batteries that will be used in such vehicles, their charging parameters, infrastructure and timeframes are key considerations that will speed up the transition to electrification.
Scientists Say Farewell to Daya Bay Site, Proceed with Final Data Analysis
The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment collaboration - which made a precise measurement of an important neutrino property eight years ago, setting the stage for a new round of experiments and discoveries about these hard-to-study particles - has finished taking data. Though the experiment is formally shutting down, the collaboration will continue to analyze its complete dataset to improve upon the precision of findings based on earlier measurements.