Physics

Smaller Is Stronger- And Here's The Science Reason Why

As structures made of metal get smaller — as their dimensions approach the micrometer scale (millionths of a meter) or less — they get stronger. Scientists discovered this phenomenon 50 years ago while measuring the strength of tin "whiskers" a f ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 3 2008 - 10:30am

Light From Crystals Means Next Generation LED Modules

For the past 40 years, light-emitting diodes have been successfully employed wherever small amounts of light are needed. Present-day applications include car indicators, reversing and brake lights. However, the efficiency and luminosity of LEDs have never ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2008 - 11:13am

Unleashing A Magnetic Tornado For Superconductivity

An international research team has discovered that a magnetic field can interact with the electrons in a superconductor in ways never before observed. Andrea D. Bianchi, the lead researcher from the Université de Montréal, explains in the January 11 editio ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 11 2008 - 1:05pm

Is Hydrogen Absorption An Empirical Test Of String Theory?

Cosmologists at the University of Illinois say ancient light absorbed by neutral hydrogen atoms could be used to test certain predictions of string theory- but they'll need a gigantic array of radio telescopes to do it, somewhere in the neighborhood o ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 28 2008 - 4:57pm

Dark Energy: Is The Theory Of Gravity Wrong?

Ten years ago, astronomers made the stunning discovery that the universe is expanding at a faster pace today than it did in the past. “Explaining why the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating is certainly the most fascinating question in mode ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 30 2008 - 2:26pm

Optical Atomic Clocks Use Light Oscillation To Keep Precise Time

Optical clocks might become the atomic clocks of the future. Their "pendulum", i.e. the regular oscillation process which each clock needs, is an oscillation in the range of the visible light. As its frequency is higher than that of the microwave ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 5 2008 - 8:15pm

How Crystal Changes From Insulator To Conductor

Squeeze a crystal of manganese oxide hard enough, and it changes from an electrical insulator to a conductive metal. In a Nature Materials report, researchers use computational modeling to show why this happens. The results represent an advance in computer ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 5 2008 - 5:20pm

Stochastic Cooling And Racing Ahead Of The Speed Of Light

When something is moving close to the speed of light, the fastest anything can move, sending ahead information in time to make mid-path flight corrections sounds impossible. Not quite, say physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particl ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 6 2008 - 10:38am

Listening For Black Holes

Black holes are massive gravitational fields in the universe that result from the collapse of giant stars. Because black holes absorb light, they cannot be studied using telescopes or other instruments that rely on light waves. However, scientists believe ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2008 - 10:21pm

The Mysteries Of Sandcastles Unlocked

Anyone trying to build sandcastles on the beach will need some degree of skill and imagination, but not an instruction manual. The water content is actually relatively unimportant to the mechanical properties of the sand. This observation, which is borne o ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 17 2008 - 4:30am