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Light dancing on glass

By Stephen Ornes / May 15, 2013

This image, taken with a powerful microscope, shows tiny, individual crystals of bismuth telluride. A new structure made from this material lets light travel easily and without interruption along its surface. Credit: A13ean/Wikipedia

New type of material lets light travel across its surface without interruption

Posted in Light & Radiation, Physics, Technology & Engineering | Tagged conductor, Cornell University, crystal, electrons, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, getinvolved, Haifa, insulator, Ithaca, Jacob Taylor, Joint Quantum Institute, light, materials science, Michal Lipson, Mordechai Segev, New York, photons, physics, superconductor, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, topological insulator, topology, University of Maryland

Sound cloak

By Stephen Ornes / April 14, 2013

Caption: This strange-looking cage can hide an object inside it from being detected by sound waves. Credit: L. Sanchis et al

New device hides objects from sonar

Posted in Physics, Technology & Engineering | Tagged acoustics, cloak, echo, getinvolved, Invisibility, José Sánchez-Dehesa, noise cancellation, noise cancelling, sonar, sound waves, submarines, topstories

A smarter scan

By Stephen Ornes / February 5, 2013

Tiny patterns cut into this narrow copper strip filter microwaves. This new, simple technology makes it possible to take digital pictures faster, with less computer time required. And it could be used to help make airport scanners smarter, faster and cheaper. Credit: J. Hunt/Duke

Scientists introduce a cheap and smart new device that gathers data in a flash

Posted in Physics | Tagged airports, cloaking, Duke University, electromagnetic radiation, getinvolved, Houston, imaging, Imperial College, John Pendry, Kevin Kelly, materials science, metamaterials, Rice University, scanning, screening, security, technology, topstories

Helium: Not so super after all

By Stephen Ornes / November 2, 2012

As a gas, helium glows yellow-pink when an electric current is added. Scientists recently reported that they’d made a mistake in a 2004 study that found the element was a supersolid. Turns out helium as a solid isn’t so super. Caption: Pslawinski

An exciting discovery in physics turns out to be merely a case of mistaken identity

Posted in Physics | Tagged atoms, École Normal Supérieure, energy, Eunseong Kim, friction, getinvolved, helium, materials science, matter, Moses Chan, Penn State University, physics, Sébastien Balibar, superfluids, supersolids, topstories

Higgs — at last!

By Alexandra Witze / September 6, 2012

Physicists capture the long-sought Higgs particle, which explains why other particles have mass

Posted in Physics | Tagged Big Bang, CERN, feature, Higgs boson, Joe Incandela, mass, particle, topstories

Elephant songs

By Stephen Ornes / August 20, 2012

Elephants sometimes communicate with sounds below the range of human ears. Researchers recently found that air rushing through the larynx can create the superlow sounds. Credit: Angela S. Stoeger

Scientists figure out how elephants make their low, low rumble

Posted in Physics | Tagged getinvolved, infrasonic, infrasound, physics, sound, Sound waves; infrasound; infrasonic; elephant; larynx; Christian Herbst; University of Vienna; Peter Wrege; evolution; adaptation

No more bubble trouble

By Stephen Ornes / August 6, 2012

Bottlenose dolphins can tell the difference between noisy echoes bounced off of bubbles and other echoes, including those bounced off of prey. Now scientists have figured out a way to tell apart the noises, too. Credit: Emma Jugovich, NOAA

Dolphin’s clicks help scientists sort through confusing underwater noises

Posted in Physics | Tagged acoustics, animals, birds, bubbles, communications, dolphins, echoes, echolocation, engineering, getinvolved, Grant Deane, mammals, mathematics, nonlinear, physics, reptiles, reptiles/birds/mammals, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sonar, sound, Timothy Leighton, University of Southampton

Walking on water

By Stephen Ornes / July 30, 2012

his cornstarch and water goo looks like a liquid, but put your hand on the surface and pull up, like a researcher here, and the goo sticks and rises with your hand (before gravity takes over and it drops). That's because in motion, this goo becomes thick and heavy like a solid. Credit: University of Chicago

Scientists explain why a liquid can sometimes act like a solid

Posted in Physics | Tagged classification of matter, colloid, fluids, getinvolved, Heinrich M. Jaeger, liquids, matter, non-Newtonian, Phases, physics, science fair, Scott Waitukaitis, solids, solutions/intermolecular forces, states of matter, topstories, University of Chicago, water

Planetary paparazzo

By Stephen Ornes / April 20, 2011

Flying circles around Mercury MESSENGER, shown in an artist’s drawing, will spend 12 months in orbit around Mercury. . Credit: NASA

NASA satellite snaps historic photographs of Mercury

Posted in Physics | Tagged forces, getinvolved, gravitation, gravitation/circular motion, gravity, photography, physics

Wet-dog physics

By Stephen Ornes / November 8, 2010

Wet, hairy animals shake at just the right speeds to get rid of water

Posted in Physics

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