From studies of “geometric frustration,” scientists learn how paper folds under pressure.
Tag: Physics
The Skin-Deep Physics of Sidewinder Snakes
A close-up on snake skin helped scientists work out what might help certain snakes navigate sandy surfaces.
Hypersonic Superweapons Are a Mirage, New Analysis Says
Two scientists find revolutionary claims about the evasion of detection and defenses to be “nonsense.”
Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work on Black Holes
The prize was awarded half to Roger Penrose for showing how black holes could form and half to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for discovering a supermassive object at the Milky Way’s center.
Mapping the Social Network of Coronavirus
To slow the virus, Alessandro Vespignani and other analysts are racing to model the behavior of its human host.
Transformative? New Device Harvests Energy in Darkness
It doesn’t generate much power, but it works during the one time of day that solar cells can’t: night.
Most Wikipedia Profiles Are of Men. This Scientist Is Changing That.
Jessica Wade has added nearly 700 Wikipedia biographies for important female and minority scientists in less than two years.
Wired Bacteria Form Nature’s Power Grid: ‘We Have an Electric Planet’
Electroactive bacteria were running current through “wires” long before humans learned the trick.
Zhores Alferov, 88, Dies; Nobel Winner Paved Way for Laser Technology
A Russian who shared the 2000 physics prize with Americans after they had engaged in a Cold War “laser race.” The work led to DVDs and cellphones.
Women in Rare Company Accept Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry
“It is truly an amazing feeling when you know that you have built something that no one else ever has and it actually works,” said Donna Strickland, only the third woman to win the physics prize.