Feature Stories
Physicists investigate structural properties of spider webs
Feb 08, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "Although the orb web of a spider is a lightweight structure, it seems to be a highly optimized structure, presumably as a result of evolution from the Jurassic period or earlier," explain ...
Exploring the characteristics of viscoelastic fluids
Feb 04, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are many microorganisms out there, navigating through complex biological fluids. “One of the most common migrations takes place with spermatozoa as it navigates the female reproductive tract,” Joseph ...
Artificial magnetic fields for light could illuminate correlated quantum systems
Feb 03, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In general, the field of many-body physics involves the interactions and collective behavior of large numbers of particles. Scientists have made significant progress in exploring this field, ...
Creating a quantum gas
Feb 01, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "One of the many reasons people study ultracold gases is for their potential as model quantum systems," Deborah Jin tells PhysOrg.com. "There is a need to model quantum many-body systems because a lot of ...
Physicists Investigate Possibility of an 'Unhiggs'
Jan 28, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest goals of the LHC is to discover the Higgs boson, the only particle in the Standard Model that has not yet been observed. In general, physicists are pretty confident that ...
Using degrees of freedom to get hyperentanglement
Jan 27, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest challenges scientists are grappling with today is the creation of an efficient quantum computer. There are a number of models out there, and hundreds of scientists and researchers around ...
Making Quantum Behavior Observable Using Optical Levitation
Jan 26, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of modern physics is figuring out how to realize and take advantage of strange quantum behaviors in progressively larger and more complex systems. Progress ...
A Lawyer's View of the Risk of Black Hole Catastrophe at the LHC
Jan 22, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Just bringing up the topic of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) creating a black hole that destroys the Earth might seem unscientific and out of place on a science news website. After all, the ...
Water still has a few secrets to tell
Jan 21, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- We are used to thinking of water as a substance with relatively few secrets left. Its basic structure has been studied by high school students for decades, and water is considered essential ...
Graphene-Based Nanomat Could Lead to Next-Generation Catalysts
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jan 19, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have found a new use for graphene, the single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms that resembles chicken wire. Ever since graphene was first observed in 2004, its large surface area, ...
Going Beyond Moore's Law by Using the Third Dimension
Jan 18, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have demonstrated a new microwire fabrication technique in which microwires self-assemble themselves in a three-dimensional template made of nematic liquid crystals. Amidst concerns ...
Scientists Identify Transition Between Easy and Difficult Tasks
Jan 12, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the primary ways in which we as humans can manipulate our environment involves working with our hands, using them to point, reach, and handle tools such as pens, needles, and screwdrivers. ...
Physicists Solve Difficult Classical Problem with One Quantum Bit
Jan 08, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Quantum information algorithms have the potential to solve some problems exponentially faster than current classical methods. However, most research on quantum information systems has concentrated ...
Scientists Investigate How Fireflies Emit Different Colors of Light
Jan 07, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are more than 2,000 species of fireflies around the world, many of which are best known for their bioluminescence. Fireflies, which are not flies but beetles, produce flashes of light ...
Using CNTs as infrared sensors
Jan 04, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Semiconductors provide the bases for many different avenues of device research. Indeed, many of the technological devices that are commonplace in our society are reliant on semiconductors. However, as we ...
