Feature Stories
Researchers fold origami with light
(Phys.org) -- Replacing the need for nimble fingers, researchers have demonstrated how to make origami using light of a specific wavelength. They call the new folding technique photo-origami, and it could ...
Two stopped light pulses interact with each other
(Phys.org) -- For the first time, physicists have experimentally demonstrated the interaction of two motionless light pulses. Because the stopped light pulses have a long interaction time, it increases the ...
Statistical analysis could predict bankrupt stocks
(Phys.org) -- During the 20-year period from 1989 to 2008, 21% of of all stocks listed in US stock markets became bankrupt. Since bankruptcies affect many investors and have played a large role in the recent ...
The shape of things, illuminated: Metamaterials, surface topology and light-matter interactions
(Phys.org) -- Finding new connections between different disciplines leads to new – and sometimes useful – ideas. That’s exactly what happened when scientists in the Department of Physics, Queens College, ...
Does the quantum wave function represent reality?
(Phys.org) -- At the heart of quantum mechanics lies the wave function, a probability function used by physicists to understand the nanoscale world. Using the wave function, physicists can calculate a system's ...
Quantum dot LEDs get brighter, more efficient
(Phys.org) -- While quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are not made of organic materials, they share many of the same advantages as organic LEDs (OLEDs). For instance, both QLEDs and OLEDs outshine ...
Adam's rib, revisited: Evolutionary divergence of mammalian sex chromosomes
(Phys.org) -- Males and females... Mars and Venus... XY and XX chromosomes -- all are common memes. At the same time, the evolution of therian (placental and marsupial) sex chromosomes is less widely understood. ...
Retroreflector transmits light with negligible power consumption
(Phys.org) -- In free-space optical communications (FSO), data is wirelessly transmitted by light propagating through open space. Among their applications, FSO systems are used for communications between spacecraft ...
Trade-off coding for quantum communication provides more benefits than previously thought
(Phys.org) -- In optical communication systems, the overall performance depends on the strategy used to transmit photons from one location to another. In previous attempts to optimize this performance, scientists ...
143 is largest number yet to be factored by a quantum algorithm
(Phys.org) -- While factoring an integer is a simple problem when the integer is small, the complexity of factorization greatly increases as the integer increases. When the integer grows to more than 100,000 ...
Particles magnetically 'click' to form superstructures
(Phys.org) -- Geomag, the popular children's toy, contains small metal spheres that can be magnetically connected with a click to build a variety of towers, bridges, and sculptures. In a new study, scientists ...
Lenses can bend light and sound in almost any direction
(PhysOrg.com) -- When an optical fiber is bent by 90° or more, the light begins to leak away, posing a problem for fiber optics communications. But by using special lenses that can bend light by not only ...
Noxious nanotech: Water-borne nanomaterials promote multidrug-resistance gene transfer
(PhysOrg.com) -- The arms race between effective antibiotic prophylaxis and closely related strains or species of bacteria is continually escalating. Bacteria can quickly develop genetic resistance to a range ...
Scientists investigate mystery of telephone cord buckles
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ranging in thickness from a few nanometers to several micrometers, thin films and coatings play a role in a wide variety of applications. The reflective metal layer on a mirror, the coatings ...
Physicists search for new physics in primordial quantum fluctuations
(PhysOrg.com) -- Inflation, the brief period that occurred less than a second after the Big Bang, is nearly as difficult to fathom as the Big Bang itself. Physicists calculate that inflation lasted for just ...