In an instant, the bomb obliterated everything. The tower it sat on and the copper wires strung around it: vaporized. The desert sand below: melted. In the aftermath of the…
Category: Physics
Morphing noodles start flat but bend into curly pasta shapes as they’re cooked
This pasta is no limp noodle. When imprinted with carefully designed arrangements of grooves, flat pasta morphs as it cooks, forming tubes, spirals and other shapes traditional for the starchy…
Capturing the sense of touch could upgrade prosthetics and our digital lives
On most mornings, Jeremy D. Brown eats an avocado. But first, he gives it a little squeeze. A ripe avocado will yield to that pressure, but not too much. Brown…
Microscopic images reveal the science and beauty of face masks
Studying fabrics at very high magnification helps determine how some face masks filter out particles better than others. And the close-ups reveal an unseen beauty of the mundane objects that…
This soft robot withstands crushing pressures at the ocean’s greatest depths
Inspired by a strange fish that can withstand the punishing pressures of the deepest reaches of the ocean, scientists have devised a soft autonomous robot capable of keeping its fins…
How one physicist is unraveling the mathematics of knitting
Physicist Elisabetta Matsumoto is an avid knitter and has been since taking up the hobby as a child. During graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, Matsumoto came…
A robot arm toting a Venus flytrap can grab delicate objects
A new robotic grabber is ripped straight from the plant world. The device, made with a severed piece of a Venus flytrap, can grasp tiny, delicate objects, researchers report January…
The diabolical ironclad beetle can survive getting run over by a car. Here’s how
The diabolical ironclad beetle is like a tiny tank on six legs. This insect’s rugged exoskeleton is so tough that the beetle can survive getting run over by cars, and…
The first room-temperature superconductor has finally been found
It’s here: Scientists have reported the discovery of the first room-temperature superconductor, after more than a century of waiting. The discovery evokes daydreams of futuristic technologies that could reshape electronics…
Fundamental constants place a new speed limit on sound
Sound has a speed limit. Under normal circumstances, its waves can travel no faster than about 36 kilometers per second, physicists propose October 9 in Science Advances. Sound zips along…
