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The stinging cells of jellyfish, called nematocytes, have evolved to be one of the world’s most efficient predation tools. The nematocysts consist of a capsule and folded tubule, and use high pressure and acceleration for defense and locomotion and, more importantly, to capture prey. Inconsistencies in a previous conceptual explanation of the stinging cell mechanism were identified using a microfluidic system and mathematical models. Researchers will share their mathematical model of nemotocytes at the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017. The model demonstrates how environmental modifications can reduce the impact of jellyfish stinging capacity.

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The star-nosed mole has several unusual abilities. One of them is “sniffing” underwater by blowing bubbles and quickly re-inhaling them, detecting odors of its prey through the water. The moles’ “star” nose features a ring of tiny, pink tentacles and is the most sensitive known touch organ of any mammal. Researchers will present their work exploring the star-nosed moles’ unusual underwater sniffing ability during the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017.

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Plesiosaurs, who thrived during the early to middle Jurassic Period, used four paddlelike flippers of nearly equal size and musculature to swim. Despite the seemingly subpar engineering, the fossil record reveals that plesiosaurs were widespread and prolific. This inspired a team in the U.K. to explore how swimming with four flippers might be advantageous compared to two. They’ll present their work during the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017.

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If you’ve poured a stout beer into a pint glass, you may have wondered about the or physics behind the rapid rise of bubbles and three-color shift when dark, medium and light shades are all clearly visible, before it transitions to simply beer and foam. During the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017, researchers from will present their work exploring the fluid dynamics behind this type of bubble clustering in stout and nitrogenized stout beers and carbonated drinks.

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The fluffy dandelion seed head infuriates gardeners, but delights physicists. That’s because those seeds may lend key insights into the physics of parachutes, useful for designing small drones, or micro air vehicles. An interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Edinburgh will present their findings on the topic at the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21. Investigators reveal why, at low Reynolds numbers, the rules for big parachutes don’t apply to small dandelions.

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Sinus infections, inflammation and nasal congestion constantly plague Americans, often leading to unpleasant symptoms and even missed days of work. Traditional nasal spray anti-inflammatory medications attempt to treat the symptoms noninvasively, but are not very efficient in transmitting the active drug ingredients directly into the sinus cavities. Researchers from the University of North Carolina will present their research on the anatomy-based flow physics in nasal cavities which generate “magical” streamlines for sinus drug delivery at the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017.

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Pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses or fungi, cause harmful plant disease and often lead to the destruction of agricultural fields. With many possible dispersal methods, it can often be difficult to assess the damage of a pathogen’s impact before it’s too late. At the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, researchers from Virginia Tech will present their work on rain drop dispersal mechanisms of rust fungus on wheat plants.

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Cooking in a frying pan with oil can quickly become dangerous if “explosive” hot oil droplets jump out of the pan, leading to painful burns. But these droplets may be doing something even more damaging: contributing to indoor air pollution. A group of researchers exploring these “explosive droplets” will present their work to uncover the fluid dynamics behind this phenomenon during the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017.

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Germanium was the material of choice in the early history of electronic devices, and due to its high charge carrier mobility, it’s making a comeback. It’s generally grown on expensive single-crystal substrates, adding another challenge to making it sustainably viable for most applications. To address this aspect, researchers demonstrate an epitaxy method that incorporates van der Waals’ forces to grow germanium on mica. They discuss their work in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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Sometimes during catalytic hydrogenation, the partially hydrogenated products become volatile, melting and evaporating away before they can bind to more hydrogen atoms. Now, researchers have explored how and why this volatility varies during hydrogenation, suggesting that a previously underappreciated effect from carbon-hydrogen bonds in the molecule is the main culprit. The new analysis, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, can help chemists identify the ideal conditions needed for catalytic hydrogenation so they can better remove excess hydrogen.

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Is more always better? Researchers in Kyoto, Japan, sought to find out if that was the case for measuring magnetic field strengths. Their paper, appearing this week in AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing, examines whether a double H-coil method or a single H-coil method is a more accurate way to measure magnetic field strength.

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In motors, generators and similar electric machines, the electrical current that powers them generates magnetic fields that magnetize some of the metallic components. Choosing the right magnetic material is crucial for designing efficient machines, so researchers in Germany analyzed the existing system for characterizing soft magnetic materials, which are easily magnetized. To identify a better system for quality control, they looked at several factors that can affect the uncertainty inherent in the measurement of magnetic properties. Their results are in this week’s AIP Advances.

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Soft magnetic core engineering plays a key role in high-efficiency electric motors, but for higher-frequency applications, soft magnetic composites are also promising. Each stage of motor construction affects the material’s microstructure, and understanding the details of the microstructure is paramount to reaching higher efficiency for electrical motors. In this week’s AIP Advances, researchers created an advanced characterization method to closely examine microscale structural characteristics and changes during manufacturing processes using electron backscatter diffraction.

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Matter in the cores of old white dwarfs and the crusts of neutron stars is compressed to unimaginable densities by intense gravitational forces. The scientific community believes this matter is composed of Coulomb crystals that form at temperatures potentially as high as 100 million Kelvin. Researchers in Russia clarify the physics of these crystals this week in the journal Physics of Plasmas.

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Electrical physicists from Czech Technical University have provided additional evidence that new current sensors introduce errors when assessing current through iron conductors. The researchers show how a difference in a conductor’s magnetic permeability, the degree of material’s magnetization response in a magnetic field, affects the precision of new sensors. They also provide recommendations for improving sensor accuracy. The results are published this week in AIP Advances.

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The fluid properties of liquid, gases and even particles are constantly at work in our lives and around us. Covering topics including citrus fruit microjets, sinus pathways for drug delivery, the spread of pathogens by rain, and even beer bubbles, the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting, held Nov. 19-21, 2017, in Colorado, will uncover unique and puzzling mysteries of fluids and their applications.

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Nanosensors are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications, including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays out, and will discuss their work at the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 2017, in Tampa, Florida.

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The ruddy flakes of a rusted nail are a sure sign that an undesirable chemical reaction has occurred at the surface. Understanding how molecules and atoms behave with each other, especially at surfaces, is central to managing both desirable chemical reactions, such as catalysis, and undesirable reactions, like a nail’s corrosion. Yet the field of surface chemistry has been challenged for nearly 100 years to develop predictive theories for these reactions. Now there’s progress, thanks to some new approaches.

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Dazzling dragonfly wings may send poets rhapsodizing, but scientists yearn for a better understanding. In particular, they want to know the chemistry of the different layers giving rise to natural photonic crystals that help create color. Now, a collaboration of Brazilian researchers have teamed up with Minnesota experts to puzzle out the color mechanism of the male Amazonian glitterwing dragonfly.

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Researchers at the University of Maine have studied fungi, researching how these smallest of life forms break down giant trees, some of the few organisms able to do so. The team now focuses on generating new technology based on how living systems such as these do what they do. They will present their work during the AVS 64th International Symposium and Exhibition, in Tampa, Florida.

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There is a difference between male and female physics faculty salaries and the culture of physics is partly to blame, according to an article that is available for free this month from Physics Today. The article, "Salaries for female physics faculty trail those for male colleagues," identifies key factors influencing the gender pay gap and offers potential solutions that include changes in the culture in physics departments.

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While the creation of a paper swan using origami may be intriguing, the idea of creating 3-D circuits based on similar design principles is simply mindboggling. Researchers at the University of Chicago have focused on large scale synthesis and device fabrication using ultra-thin materials, which has led to improvements in 2-D models and the introduction of 3-D vertically integrated devices. They will present the details of their circuit construction and its potential applications at the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition.

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Accurate and accessible detection technologies are necessary to ensure continuous water quality control and early warning capabilities to avoid public safety catastrophes like the ongoing Flint water crisis in Michigan. During the AVS’s 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, in Tampa, Florida, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will present work about inventing a graphene-based sensing platform for real-time, low-cost detection of various water contaminants. The new sensor detects heavy metals, bacteria, nitrates and phosphates.

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Eighty years after the theoretical prediction of the force required to overcome the van der Waals’ bonding between layers in a crystal, engineering researchers at Tohoku University have measured it directly. They report their results this week in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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Rhythmic patterns and precise motions are key elements of proper swimming, and comparable demonstrations of this pattern repetition and power usage can be seen in a microscopic swimmer -- the amoeboid cell. The cell swimming shapes are now predictable to new levels of precision, thanks to advanced 3-D modeling. Researchers generated a 3-D model of an amoeba practicing pseudopod-driven swimming; they discuss their work in a cover article in this month’s Physics of Fluids.

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Polysilicon is the material most commonly used as a membrane for microphone devices today. But, in general, single-crystal and polycrystalline-silicon-based devices are brittle and prone to fractures that can cause interior defects during the fabrication processes. This has lead researchers to search for a replacement material. During the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 2017, in Tampa, Florida, researchers from will present their work with a potential replacement material that shows promise for MEMS microphones: amorphous metallic glass.

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In a presentation during the AVS 64th International Symposium and Exhibition, in Tampa, Florida, astrophysicists Rai Weiss and Michael Zucker will describe how LIGO scientists and engineers designed and constructed LIGO’s ingenious, ultra-high vacuum system. The system is an integral part of what makes it possible to identify gravitational waves, minute distortions in the fabric of space and time that propagate at the speed of light.

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When laser light is used to drive the motion of a thin, rigid membrane, the membrane vibrates in resonance with the light. The resulting patterns can be visualized through an array of quantum dots, where these tiny structures emit light at a frequency that responds to movement. The advance is reported this week in a cover article of Applied Physics Letters.

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In 2014, the Rosetta probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the nucleus of a comet and later land on its surface. The mission ended in 2016 with the probe’s dive into the comet but its close-up studies of the comet continue to yield scientific insights. In a presentation at the AVS 64th annual International Symposium and Exhibition, researchers will describe findings from Rosetta’s ROSINA instrument, which obtained the first detailed, in situ measurements of the chemical composition of a comet’s atmosphere, or coma.

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Solid-state batteries, which eschew the flammable and unstable liquid electrolytes of conventional lithium-ion batteries, could be a safer option. Now, researchers have demonstrated a new way to produce more efficient solid-state batteries. This proof-of-principle study may lead to safer and more compact batteries useful for everything from sensor networks to implantable biomedical devices. Researchers at the University of Maryland will present this work during the AVS 64th International Symposium and Exhibition, in Tampa, Florida.

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Among the diverse research studies being presented at this year’s 64th AVS International Symposium and Exhibition are two biomaterial interfaces sessions that feature some highly unusual applications of engineering. The first describes the use of stress forces -- more commonly employed to evaluate the failure mechanisms of materials and devices made from them -- to discover how barnacles stick to surfaces. The second explores the development of two novel mechanical systems, both smaller than the eye can see, for use with gas molecules: one to detect them with ultra-high sensitivity and the other to precisely measure their molecular weights.

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Diamond is largely recognized as the ideal material in wide bandgap development, but realizing its full potential in field-effect transistors has been challenging. Researchers incorporate a new approach by using the deep-depletion regime of bulk-boron-doped diamond MOSFETs. The new proof of concept enables the production of simple diamond MOSFET structures from single boron-doped epilayer stacks. This method increases the mobility by an order of magnitude. The results are published this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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Thin-film piezoelectrics, with dimensions on the scale of micrometers or smaller, offer potential for new applications where smaller dimensions or a lower voltage operation are required. Researchers have demonstrated a new technique for making piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems by connecting a sample of lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric thin films to flexible polymer substrates. They report their results in this week’s Journal of Applied Physics.

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Advances in materials science have improved the composition of materials used in photocathode production that can operate at visible wavelengths and produce a beam with reduced transverse electron momentum spread. Despite these advances, the surface roughness of the photocathode continues to limit beam properties. A research team created computer models to bridge the gap between theoretical and experimental studies to provide a better picture of the physics at the surface of the photocathode. The results are published this week in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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AIP and APS announced that Barry Simon of Caltech is the recipient of the 2018 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, which is awarded annually to honor significant contributions to the field. In recognizing Simon, the two organizations cited him “For his fundamental contributions to the mathematical physics of quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and statistical mechanics, including spectral theory, phase transitions, and geometric phases, and his many books and monographs that have deeply influenced generations of researchers.”

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The American Institute of Physics announced today the winners of its 2017 Science Communication Awards for Books, Articles, Writing for Children, and Broadcast and New Media: Timothy Jorgensen for Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation; Natalie Wolchover for “What No New Particles Means for Physics"; Antonia Banyard and Paula Ayer for Water Wow: An Infographic Exploration; and Noah Baker, Lorna Stewart, and Dog and Rabbit Animation Company for “Laureates in their own words-Physics.”

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Two researchers in the U.K., using laser-flash photography of microscopic droplet-particle collisions, have discovered that water droplets still have liquid tricks to reveal. Previous research has primarily examined droplet collisions with flat surfaces, such as a wall, but this research team examined the less studied case of a droplet having a head-on collision with a solid, spherical particle. They discuss their work in this week’s Physics of Fluids.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan have brought a new method into the sound-dampening fold, demonstrating an origami lattice prototype that can potentially reduce acoustic noise on roadways. The technique allows researchers to selectively dampen noise at various frequencies by adjusting the distance between noise-diffusing elements. They report their work this week in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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Physicists in France have proven theoretically that active sieving, as opposed to its passive counterpart, can improve the separation abilities of filtration systems. These new views on how active sieving could improve systems such as those used in water purification and dialysis were reported this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics. Active sieving also has the potential to filter molecules based on movement dynamics, opening up a whole new avenue in the field of membrane science based on the ability to tune osmotic pressure.

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The importance of proteins and metal ion interactions is well understood, but the mechanistic interactions between the two are still far from a complete picture. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, are working to quantitatively describe protein-ion interactions using what is called an atomic multipole optimized energetics for biomolecular applications force field. They describe their work in this week’s The Journal of Chemical Physics.

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AIP Publishing has announced its selection of Michael Keidar as the winner of the 2017 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics. The annual award is presented in collaboration with the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics to recognize outstanding plasma physics research by a Physics of Plasmas author.

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When frozen under extreme pressures and temperatures, ice takes on a range of complex crystalline structures. Many of the properties and behaviors of these exotic ices remain mysterious, but researchers recently analyzed how water molecules interact with one another in three types of ice and found the interactions depended strongly on the orientation of the molecules and the overall structure of the ice. The team describes their results in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

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Researchers have begun to use metamaterials, engineered composites that have unique properties not found in nature, to enhance the absorption rates of plasmonic absorbers, and a team in Japan used a trilayered metamaterial to develop a wavelength-selective plasmonic metamaterial absorber on top of a spintronic device to enhance the generation of spin currents from the heat produced in the mid-infrared regime. The research is reported this week in APL Photonics.

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Many asymmetric absorbers are currently based on a single-port system, where sound enters one side and is absorbed before a rigid wall. In this design, however, light and air are unable to pass through the system. But new research shows that asymmetric absorption can be realized within a straight transparent waveguide. The waveguide allows light transmission and air flow through the absorber, and is described this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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While some studies have supported the idea that the walls of the aorta are piezoelectric or ferroelectric, the most recent research finds no evidence of these properties. Researchers investigated by testing samples of pig aorta using a traditional setup, known as Sawyer-Tower, to detect ferroelectricity. Their experiments suggest the aorta has no special properties, and instead acts as a standard dielectric material that does not conduct current. They report their work in Applied Physics Letters.

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As microchips become smaller and faster, the shrinking size of their copper interconnects leads to increased electrical resistivity at the nanoscale. Finding a solution to this technical bottleneck is a problem for the semiconductor industry; one possibility involves reducing the resistivity size effect by altering the crystalline orientation of interconnect materials. Researchers conducted electron transport measurements in epitaxial single-crystal layers of tungsten as one potential solution. The work is published in this week’s Journal of Applied Physics.

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To reduce the burden of anemia, health officials need a better picture of the disease's global impact, an understanding made viable by a portable and affordable way to analyze blood. Researchers at the University of Washington developed a device smaller than a toaster that can detect the level of hemoglobin in whole blood samples using optical absorbance. The work is published this week in AIP Advances.

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Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent form of cardiac arrhythmia, affecting up to 6 million people in the U.S. alone. Common treatments for severe forms of the erratic beating phenomenon are controversial, and guided by detection methods that are not yet standardized or fully refined. But research from a group of cross-disciplinary scientists, published this week in the journal Chaos, offers a computational approach to understanding the important factors involved in measuring cardiac excitation waves.

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The stability of nanobubbles is well understood, but the mechanisms causing their eventual destabilization are still in question. Using molecular dynamics simulations, researchers in China explored the effect of surfactants -- components that lower surface tension -- on the stabilization of nanobubbles. They report their findings on the surprising mechanisms of destabilization for both soluble and insoluble surfactants this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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Nano-scale modeling of piezoelectric energy harvester offers a new nano-scale sensor design and demonstrates important design elements for efficient implementation.