Browse Physics

Ionization experiments with benzene and similar organic molecules show evidence for short-lived electronic couplings, which resemble the Cooper pairs that carry current in superconductors.

Two-dimensional simulations provide the first element-by-element accounting of the fluid and grain flow in an underwater avalanche.

Simulations on neural networks show that one single neuronal spike in a sequence of billions can affect how information is processed.

Intertwined loops of DNA can stably bind tiny particles together, giving researchers a new tool for coaxing particles into larger assemblies.

Microwave signals in an entangled state can be generated and then spatially separated on a single chip, enabling quantum communication with microwave technology.

A laser-based scheme allows cooling of molecules down to their lowest electronic, vibrational, and rotational state.

Tubulelike structures form when multiple nanoparticles adhere to the inner or outer surfaces of a spherical membrane.

A simple robot demonstrates the timing and motion necessary to make the highest jumps, with parallels to human jumping.

Snapshots of a molecule dissociating into atomic fragments are captured with x-ray laser pulses.

A quantum twist on digital holography offers improved imaging and the chance to reach new and difficult wavelength regions.

A theoretical model of sunspots shows that their occasional disappearance may be due to a combination of fluctuations in the Sun’s polar magnetic field and outer layer flows.

Few mathematical tools exist for describing non-equilibrium systems, but new methods may emerge from the study of a simple transport model.

Orderly flow in fluid extracted from a living cell results from the spontaneous organization of randomly-oriented, microscopic forces.

The protein shells surrounding large viruses have built-in tension that determines their shapes.

Experimental data in combination with calculations show why some organic semiconductors have intrinsically different mobilities for electrons and holes.

A carefully prepared light beam can either push or pull tiny particles, like the much larger tractor beams of science fiction.

First-principles calculations predict a new class of ferroelectrics.

The discoverers of element 117 have followed through with a year-long study of the lifetime and decay products of the newest superheavy element.

Researchers propose how to realize time crystals, structures whose lowest-energy states are periodic both in time and space.

David Wineland and Serge Haroche, who studied photons and atoms in new ways, have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics.