Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
'Save Space Camp' drive prompted by virus reaches $1.5M goal
A fundraising drive has reached its goal of bringing in $1.5 million to save Space Camp from closing because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said.
Sustainable chemistry at the quantum level
Developing catalysts for sustainable fuel and chemical production requires a kind of Goldilocks Effect—some catalysts are too ineffective while others are too uneconomical. Catalyst testing also takes a lot of...
New Order to release 'Power, Corruption & Lies' reissue in October
New Order will release a "definitive edition" remastered box set of its 1983 album, "Power, Corruption & Lies."
Portable book lights to illuminate your favorite passages
All the lights you'll need to read in the dark. (Awar Kurdish via Unsplash /)Any avid reader knows that squinting to see the words on a page is detrimental to the literary...
Scientists build ultra-high-speed terahertz wireless chip
To enable data transmission speeds that surpass the 5th Generation (5G) standards for telecommunications, scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Osaka University in Japan have built a...
Molecular forces: The surprising stretching behavior of DNA
Experiments with DNA molecules show that their mechanical properties are completely different from what those of macroscopic objects - and this has important consequences for biology and medicine. Scientists has...
Drivers from the world's poorest cities who keep their windows down are exposed to 80 percent more air pollution
Car users from the world's least affluent cities are exposed to a disproportionate amount of in-car air pollution because they rely heavily on opening their windows for ventilation, finds a...
Spin wave detective story redux: Researchers find more surprising behavior in a 2-D magnet
A few months ago, a team of scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported something surprising about a 2-D magnetic material: Behavior that had long been...
Carbon footprinting and pricing under climate concerns
Marketers can lead how their companies can use the cost and demand effects of reducing the carbon footprint of their products to determine the profit-maximizing design.
Improved modelling of nuclear structure in francium aids searches for new physics
Thanks to new research, we now know with much greater certainty the nuclear magnetic moments of francium atoms.
Edison passing tournament could take place in November if coronavirus conditions improve
Annual Edison summer passing tournament was postponed because of COVID-19.
Pandemic portraits: Ian Byers-Gamber captures the art world from his car
Using a large-format camera in the front seat of his car, photographer Ian Byers-Gamber is taking portraits of L.A. artists during the pandemic.
The best USB hubs for charging your stuff
A place to plug in all your devices. (Amazon/)We’re all in the same situation: so many gadgets that are charged by a USB connection and not nearly enough ports to keep them...
All-terrain women’s sandals that take you from hiking to lounging
Sandals for your adventure. (Toa Heftiba via Unsplash/)In the past few years, sporty sandals have become more fashionable, and many have been designed in a larger range of fun colors. They’re also great...
Using entangled photons to play "quantum Go"
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has developed a form of the board game Go using entangled photons. They have posted a paper to the arXiv...
Breaking the absorption limit of silicon toward the short-wavelength infrared wavelength range via strain engineering
Silicon is widely used in the microelectronics industry although its photonics applications are restricted to the visible and partial near-infrared spectral range due to its fundamental optical bandgap. Researchers have therefore used recent...
Improved modelling of nuclear structure in francium aids searches for new physics
Thanks to researchers from The University of Queensland, we now know with much greater certainty the nuclear magnetic moments of francium atoms.
ATLAS experiment reports the observation of photon collisions producing weak-force carriers
During the International Conference on High-Energy Physics (ICHEP 2020), the ATLAS collaboration presented the first observation of photon collisions producing pairs of W bosons, elementary particles that carry the weak...
Researchers work with NM small businesses to test new respirator materials
A sandwich of materials tested by Sandia National Laboratories is being manufactured into N95-like respirators that could be used in local medical facilities. The project originated from the urgent need...
Physicist proposes way to record shutter speeds of molecule-glimpsing 'cameras'
Capturing frames of photosynthesis and other molecular gymnastics in action means reaching a shutter speed that makes fast look very, very slow—so fast that physicists are just now working their...
Cells under stress get into molecular 'traffic jams,' triggering a suicide pathway
When cells experience a high level of stress—for example, when they are exposed to too much UV light—ribosomes inside the cell collide and get into traffic jams. Now, Johns Hopkins...
Compressive shearing may start life on other planets
Massive compressive shearing forces generated by the tidal pull of Jupiter-like planets on their rocky ice-covered moons may form a natural reactor that drives simple amino acids to polymerize into...
Granderson: The power of peaceful protest—and war—in the Pac-12
The letter of demands, and threat of a boycott, sent by a group of Pac-12 football players last weekend called for payment of a debt long overdue, and it may...
Rafael Nadal to skip U.S. Open due to coronavirus concerns
Defending champion Rafael Nadal will skip this year's U.S. Open because of the coronavirus pandemic.
SpaceX: Nasa crew describe rumbles and jolts of return to Earth
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley describe returning to Earth from the ISS in SpaceX's vehicle.
The problem with microwaving tea
Through convection, as the liquid toward the bottom of a container warms up, it becomes less dense and moves to the top, allowing a cooler section of the liquid to...
Nanostructures modeled on moth eyes effective for anti-icing
Researchers have been working for decades on improving the anti-icing performance of functional surfaces and new work investigates a unique nanostructure, modeled on moth eyes, that has anti-icing properties. Moth...
Ultrafast lasers probe elusive chemistry at the liquid-liquid interface
Real-time measurements provide missing insight into chemical separations to recover cobalt, a critical raw material used to make batteries and magnets for modern technologies. Results track the dynamics of molecules...