Best of Last Year—The top Phys.org articles of 2016

(Phys.org)—It has been another great year for physics as a team at the University of California, Irvine confirmed the possible discovery of a fifth force of nature—an unknown subatomic particle that, if proven to exist, ...

Comet dust—planet Mercury's 'invisible paint'

A team of scientists has a new explanation for the planet Mercury's dark, barely reflective surface. In a paper published in Nature Geoscience, the researchers suggest that a steady dusting of carbon from passing comets has ...

Soot suspect in puzzling mid-1800s Alps glacier retreat

Scientists have uncovered strong evidence that soot, or black carbon, sent into the air by a rapidly industrializing Europe, likely caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps.

Foundations of carbon-based life leave little room for error

Life as we know it is based upon the elements of carbon and oxygen. Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State University, is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those two elements ...

Bilayer graphene works as an insulator

A research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of "bilayer graphene" (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics.

Supramolecules get time to shine

(PhysOrg.com) -- What looks like a spongy ball wrapped in strands of yarn -- but a lot smaller -- could be key to unlocking better methods for catalysis, artificial photosynthesis or splitting water into hydrogen, according ...

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