Applied Physics

What Tetris Teaches Us About Self-Assembly And Solubility

Tetris stole hundreds of hours of our lives.  It’s about time it starts giving back.  Researchers at the Washington University of St. Louis have built a computer simulation that uses a modified Tetris game to explore self-assembly.  Their take on the clas ...

Article - Stephanie Pulford - May 14 2009 - 12:26pm

Metals that Pump water Uphill!

Just came across a really cool article, about a recent discovery where scientists have found a way to make a metal absorb water, transport it over distances just like a tree absorbs water from roots! I think this discovery can have numerous applications, a ...

Blog Post - Priyanka Dalal - Jun 3 2009 - 11:18am

Quantum Entanglement In The Mechanical World

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated entanglement—a phenomenon peculiar to the atomic-scale quantum world—in a mechanical system similar to those in the macroscopic everyday world. The work extends the b ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 3 2009 - 1:28pm

How Young Engineers Can Annoy Hiring Managers Less- Study

If you've ever been an engineering student, taught engineering or hired a young engineer, this will sound familiar: tales of students splitting up group projects so they don't have to work together or a student stating he didn't bother with ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 8 2009 - 9:21pm

Urban Myth- Fingerprints Improve Grip

Fingerprints are essential for crime dramas and look nicely distinct for each of us but what are fingerprints really for? According to Roland Ennos, from the University of Manchester, other primates and tree-climbing koalas have fingerprints and some South ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2009 - 7:29am

Lituus- Bach's Forgotten Horn Gets Recreated In The 21st Century

21st century computer modelling software has enabled a long-lost, trumpet-like instrument called the  Lituus to be recreated – even though no one alive today has heard, played or even seen a picture of this forgotten instrument- allowing a work by Bach to ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2009 - 8:30am

Quantum Mechanics Visible In Everyday Life?

At the quantum level, the atoms that make up matter and the photons that make up light behave in seemingly bizarre ways. Particles can exist in "superposition," in more than one state at the same time (don't look!), a situation that permitte ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 22 2009 - 11:40am

Dolphins And Delta Wings

Dolphins, whales and porpoises are perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility.  We know why that is- biologists expect that as a result of evolution- but to-date no one in physics had ever successfully analyzed how the animals' flippers interact wi ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 29 2009 - 10:04am

MANTRA- Monster Trucks For Really Smart Kids

Have a really smart kid who loves big trucks but you can't stand loud, growling voices with too much reverb in stadiums?   You're in luck.    MANTRA (The Manufacturing Technology Transporter) is a specially modified monster truck that is packed w ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 4 2009 - 12:29pm

Bumpy Roads And The Physics Of The 'Washboard' Phenomenom

Any road with a loose surface like or gravel or snow can develop ripples that make driving a very shaky experience. A team of physicists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom have recreated this "washboard" phenomenon in the lab with surpris ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2009 - 3:27pm