Browse Physics

A flash of laser light briefly excites electrons in graphite into a bonding state similar to diamond. Making the conversion complete could lead to new types of nanoscale circuits.

A century-old empirical law relates the number of times a material will survive a repeated stress to the size of the stress. A new model connects this law with steadily accumulating damage at the microscale.

An electric field could prevent a stressed material from developing cracks, according to a new theory. The field could nudge atoms moving around on the surface and thereby flatten out undulations that can grow into cracks.

A new porous material changes shape in response to a magnetic field and could be lighter and cheaper than others on the market.

Experiments with tiny beads mimicking atoms shed light on the mysterious atomic-scale rearrangements that occur when molten glass solidifies.

New details of the microscopic architecture of mother-of-pearl suggest how this material could have grown to be so strong.

A theory proposes a new way in which a material could allow magnetic and electric fields to influence one another–a property with great potential for new devices.

Quasicrystals–orderly but not-quite-crystalline structures–have mostly appeared in solids, but researchers have now made a larger-scale version with polymers.

Researchers demonstrated a tiny memory element controlled by lasers that can switch among four states, rather than the usual two.

A new theory explains the force produced by a drastically stretched rubber band. The standard theory works only for modest stretching.

A simpler neutron technique creates 3-dimensional images of metal objects and distinguishes one material from another.

With an ordinary laser and lens, a team heated a crystal at a record 10^18 degrees per second and precisely measured the properties of the blast.

A few atoms in uranium can vibrate energetically without disturbing neighboring atoms.

A device that precisely controls crystallization could help chemists and designers of novel materials.

Lava from a 2001 eruption may have carved rather than melted a channel through rock, upsetting conventional wisdom.

Two new high-performance metals–one super-strong, the other super-malleable–have several properties that could lead to cheaper and better manufactured products.

Neutrons can take the temperature of a shock wave racing through a solid and could provide a new tool for weapons research and planetary science.

An unusual material shrinks as it gets hotter because of complex vibrations in its crystal structure.

Carbon nanotubes are not simply rigid rods, but can bend into a variety of shapes with a simple water treatment.

Calculations from the fundamental laws of physics suggest that the Earth’s mantle remains mysterious.