Browse Physics

Simulations of skiers predict the danger zones on the slopes.

The behavior of freezing transitions in glasses is related to the statistical properties of prime numbers.

Researchers have proved that extracting dynamical equations from data is in general a computationally hard problem.

A network model incorporates the way humans use a sense of orientation to make locally optimal decisions when they navigate city streets.

The discovery of ferroelecticity in mammalian tissue makes researchers wonder what its purpose is and what it may be useful for.

A new theoretical model of hair explains how the curliness and elasticity of hair fibers produce the characteristic shape of a ponytail.

Paper pyramids hovering in an oscillating air column enlighten us about the stability of flying insects.

Salt crystallizing on walls or old artifacts forms in discrete bunches, rather than coating the surface, because of an unexpected feedback effect, according to experiments and simulations.

An adiabatic quantum algorithm can calculate properties about graphs that cannot be efficiently computed on a classical computer.

Motion in an ice avalanche is strongly affected by the feedback effect of melting.

The behavior of the increasingly thin ice found in the Arctic Ocean can be modeled as a two-dimensional, granular gas.

A laser gyroscope measures extremely low-frequency wobbles in the Earth’s rotation.

How nodes connect to each other may explain why we don’t see certain classes of networks.

A new model explains how subterranean ice can grow into large sheets that lift the earth and damage roads and buildings.

The sea, rocks, and the shape of the coastline combine to cause erosion with fractal characteristics.

Noise has a distinct effect on how some mechanical systems learn and forget.

Spontaneous synchronization between an array of mechanical oscillators gives rise to an acoustic analog to the laser.

The paddling motion works not just for swimmers but also for fliers, as new high-speed video observations of fruit flies show.

To better interpret the information in images, electron microscopists are looking more closely at how an electron beam scatters inside of a specimen.

Photons (bosons) confined in a hollow waveguide containing an atomic gas could show spin-charge separation, which is more commonly associated with one-dimensional fermions.