Browse Physics

Simulations show that breaking ocean waves contribute most of their energy to the air, rather than the water, which could affect cloud formation and climate evolution.

Shape-preserving waves that create a depression in the surrounding medium are observed in water for the first time.

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

Laboratory-scale experiments reveal a profound statistical similarity between the fracture of heterogeneous materials and earthquakes.

The 1965 discovery of the isolated waves known as solitons—which appear in many physical systems—was a direct result of the new computer technology available for numerical simulations.

Spin-orbit-coupled cold atomic gases are proposed as a model system for observing the signatures of quantum chaos.

Researchers explain where those X- and Y-shaped waves at the shore come from.

According to network theory, decentralizing a power grid to accommodate more energy sources may improve the synchronization of its components.

The universal shape of necking liquids as they form drops has been measured experimentally.

Experiments and simulations lead to a new model for the curling of a thin strip, which could be useful for plant growth and micromechanics.

An image analysis program reveals the biomechanics of walking with coffee.

Large numbers of neurons can, according to a computational model, distinguish the timing of aural cues more finely than individual cells.

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

Bumblebee flight patterns reveal how the presence of spiders causes bees to modify their foraging strategies.

Using a simplified airplane seating arrangement, theorists have found that boarding time is less dependent on the number of passengers than one might expect.

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

A study of the American Physical Society journals shows that the way in which papers lose relevance over time has a strong influence on the citation statistics.

A new, secure way to send messages camouflages them inside the same kind of self-organizing patterns that appear in vegetation patterns and the stripes on animal coats.

Simulations explain why the first wave of a tsunami is sometimes less devastating than the subsequent waves. A resonance effect can boost the waves that come later.

According to new calculations, prolonged chemical oscillations that occur in the metabolic process of glycolysis can be linked to a single enzyme.