Wobbly polarity is key to preventing magnetic avalanches on disk drives

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Seagate Hard Drive
Push two magnets together and you'll set off an avalanche of activity, forcing atoms on each magnet to align their polarity with the intruding magnetic field. It may sound like a party trick for physicists, but you do it every time you press "Save" on your computer.


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All News summaries for July 16, 2007

Researchers team up to probe iron-arsenic superconductors with new instrument

7 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory are part of collaborative team that's used a brand new instrument at the DOE's Spallation Neutron Source to probe iron-arsenic compounds, the "hottest" new find ...

New spintronics effect could lead to magnetic batteries

Oct 10, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have recently discovered that heating one side of a magnetized nickel-iron rod causes electrons to rearrange themselves according to their spins. This so-called "spin Seebeck effect" ...

Ripple effect: Water snails offer new propulsion possibilities

Oct 09, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A UC San Diego engineer has revealed a new mode of propulsion based on how water snails create ripples of slime to crawl upside down beneath the surface.

Spallation Neutron Source sends first neutrons to 'Big Bang' beam line

Oct 09, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
New analytical tools coming on line at the Spallation Neutron Source, the Department of Energy's state-of-the-art neutron science facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, include a beam line dedicated to ...

Cosmic strings might emit cosmic sparks, answer cosmological questions

Oct 09, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- For astronomers, understanding what happened in the early moments of the universe could answer many questions in physics and astronomy. One possible player in the early universe is cosmic strings, which arise ...
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