Browse Physics

The combination of stress and corrosion that can prove deadly in bridges and other structures also allows silicon to be sliced with the nanometer-scale precision required for the latest computer chips, according to simulations.

Theorists propose that a nanostructured material could show what happens when the structure of spacetime changes, as some cosmologists have suggested may have occurred in the early universe.

A property of light called orbital angular momentum can be directly measured by sending the beam through a triangular aperture and counting the spots that appear in the diffraction pattern.

A mathematical model for swarming locusts suggests that their random direction switches occur after small errors of many individuals add up to a large effect.

The first semiconducting laser was built in 1962. Its direct descendants made DVD players and a wide variety of other devices possible.

Water molecules driven into a cell membrane spontaneously generate holes through the membrane, according to simulations. The process has been used in the lab but not fully understood at the molecular scale.

The coldest antiprotons ever produced–which reached 9 kelvin–were cooled with a tried-and-true method for neutral atoms. The result is an essential step on the road to studying antihydrogen.

Researchers beat the quantum-mechanical fluctuations in an atomic clock by linking many atoms into an entangled quantum state and pushing the fluctuations into a realm that doesn’t influence the time measurement.

Simulations show that when a particle trapped in a fluid-filled pipe moves, it can affect distant particles in the pipe and even pull them in the opposite direction.

The mysterious slowing down of some newborn, fast-moving, black holes may result from gravitational waves emitted by a bulge in the event horizon.

The continuous trembling of the ground fits a simple mathematical description, according to an analysis of 20 years of data from 15 particle accelerators.

Drops of water striking a bed of grains can leave a wide range of crater shapes and sometimes a bigger impression at low and high impact speeds than at medium speeds. The work may help geoscientists identify ancient formations.

The patterns in two spinning tanks of fluid representing different parts of the Earth’s atmosphere can synchronize with only a small amount of thermal coupling, suggesting that heat flow can transmit weather cycles over long distances.

Experiments on microscopic beads suggest that crystals melt suddenly, with no liquid-solid coexistence phase, when the crystal is only a few layers thick–somewhere between 2D and 3D.

X-ray studies reveal the nanocrystalline structure of the essential solid ‘glue’ in concrete.

Data from a cluster of satellites maps the turbulence of the solar wind in three dimensions.

Simulations suggest that a set of cells in the eye can act like optical fibers to guide light through obscuring layers to the cells that detect light.

A network of light-guiding filaments could form a new and more flexible type of synthetic material for controlling light waves in advanced devices, according to simulations.

Fruit flies make acrobatic turns by controlling just one parameter, according to high-speed video data.

A ceramic surface with a “brush” of nanoscale pillars can tolerate a sudden change in temperature without cracking, which might be useful for high temperature industrial processes.