Physics
- Physics
Student radiation experiment goes to space
The Exploration Design Challenge asked students to design shields that would protect astronauts from radiation. Teachers can still involve classes in the challenge.
- Physics
Quark quartet forms exotic particle
Quarks are important building blocks of matter, usually bound together as pairs or triples. Now some have formed a quartet. Scientists confirmed the existence of a particle made of four quarks stuck together. Such strange stuff may have been more common in the earliest universe, the scientists say.
- Space
Dead star makes a lens for its companion
Much like the lens on a camera, the intense gravity of a newfound white dwarf bends light. In this case, it is distorting light emitted by the star it orbits.
- Physics
World’s coolest ‘clock’ is also crazy-accurate
This is the time to beat — the world’s most accurate atomic clock ever. At its heart is a ‘fountain’ of cesium atoms chilled nearly to absolute zero!
- Physics
Explainer: How lasers make ‘optical molasses’
Light can bump an atom. Bump it from several different directions at once and even a fast-moving atom will instantly freeze its motion — and chill it to a temperature of nearly absolute zero.
- Physics
Sending student science to space
Two teachers describe how they worked with the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program to get middle-school scientists excited about research and space.
- Physics
Filter lets in only the right light
Scientists have built a light filter that only permits light coming from one desired angle to pass through. Built from alternating layers of transparent materials, it could help minimize the glare in telescopes and cameras or boost the efficiency of solar cells.
- Earth
The quake that shook up geology
North America’s biggest earthquake struck 50 years ago. Here’s what science has learned about Earth since the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake.
- Space
Waves from the birth of time
Inflation is the idea that in the split-second after the Big Bang, the universe exploded into huge-ness. Although the hypothesis is 30 years old, evidence to confirm it had been lacking. Until now.
- Physics
Laser tweezers grab nano bits
An optical fiber, a bit of gold and a laser make up a new type of tweezers. Scientists may soon use it to pick up and move around individual viruses or proteins.
- Earth
Earthquake-triggered lightning?
An experiment with beads offers support for the claim that a rare type of lightning may accompany some quakes.
- Physics
Temperature ‘lock’ for new hard drives?
A novel material can alter how easy it is to change data stored on it, based on temperature. One immediate application: more secure hard drives for computing.
