Browse Physics

The efficient functioning of the brain cortex relies on a highly interconnected set of neuronal columns, which includes enough links between the most distant columns.

A new model shows that the nonuniform heating of ions in the solar wind may be explained by resonant interactions with a particular type of plasma wave.

The use of optical tweezers in a high-pressure experiment allows a more direct measurement of water viscosity in extreme conditions.

Vertical shaking of a liquid-filled container can generate a standing wave pattern of stars and polygons.

A statistical model favors an unexpected mechanism for avoiding duplicated genetic material in certain viruses.

By measuring the inertial forces that act on a laser system, researchers have been able to increase the stability of frequency emission by an order of magnitude over previous methods.

Entanglement of two atoms is achieved by the detection of a single photon.

The particle thought to be the Higgs boson seems likely to pass an important identity check.

Quantum information lost after a measurement can be recovered using quantum error correction methods.

Microparticles suspended in an optical cavity may be a new way to detect gravity waves.

Surface spectroscopy shows that a material long known as a Kondo insulator also exhibits the metallic surface states of a topological insulator.

According to new calculations, thin films of transition-metal oxides could be promising materials for high-efficiency solar cells.

A solid’s surface tension is usually difficult to separate from its bulk elasticity, but a new technique determines this property by measuring the contact angle of small droplets on a soft surface.

Complex networks of disk bearings rotating in unison have an easier time maintaining this synchronization when the mass and radius of each bearing obeys a simple relationship.

Time-reversing the signals generated by a nonlinear element could form the basis of a new secure communications protocol in the midst of chaotic waves.

Convective mixing of fluids goes faster when the container is tilted—a finding that may impact the choosing of geological sites for carbon dioxide storage.

A new theory attempts to explain the exceptionally long life of air nanobubbles on wet surfaces.

Defining a “temperature” for granular materials would allow them to be described with an equation of state.

In a crystal with an undulating lattice deformation, geometric phase-shift effects allow better control of x-ray propagation.

Metamaterials offer a way to enhance light-induced forces in waveguide-based optomechanical devices.