Recent Articles
Synopsis: Throwing Dust at Planet Formation
Astrophysicists dropped beads onto clumps of dust to better understand how planets coalesce from particulates. Read More »
Viewpoint: Cloud Drops Stick Together
An imaging probe on an airplane observes the clustering of water droplets in clouds, confirming a predicted effect that is correlated with rainfall. Read More »
Focus: How to Locate a Nanoparticle with Sub-angstrom Precision
Laser tricks allow nanoparticle position measurements with a record 0.6-angstrom uncertainty, which will be useful in future nanotech devices. Read More »
Synopsis: Ion Suppresses Rydberg Creation
Forming an ion in an ultracold atomic cloud delays the subsequent creation of a Rydberg atom until the ion wanders away. Read More »
Synopsis: Dark Matter Blowing Like a Hurricane
The dark matter in our stellar neighborhood may be moving at high speed, which might produce a signature that future dark matter searches could detect. Read More »
Synopsis: Detecting Nuclear Decay with Recoil
Small particles levitated in an optical trap can recoil from radioactive decays in a way that identifies their nuclear composition, a new theoretical study suggests. Read More »
Focus: How Cracks Interact with the Sounds They Make
The acoustic waves emitted by a propagating crack can affect the crack’s motion and the marks it leaves behind. Read More »
Viewpoint: Record Distance for Quantum Cryptography
An optical-fiber-based quantum cryptography scheme works over a record distance of 421 km and at much faster rates than previous long-distance demonstrations. Read More »
Synopsis: Gravity-Driven Flows in Two-Fluid Drops
The direction in which fluid circulates in binary drops doesn't change when the drops are tilted, implicating gravity—not surface tension—as the driver of flow in these systems. Read More »
