News tagged with mathematical physics

Mathematical physics reveal nature's formula for survival (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) -- The vascular system of a leaf provides its structure and delivers its nutrients. When you light up that vascular structure with some fluorescent dye and view it using time-lapse photography, details begin to ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (12) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

The new world of gamma-ray optics

Scientists discover that certain materials like silicon or gold exhibit a surprisingly large refractive index for extremely high energetic gamma-rays.

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Slicing mitotic spindle with lasers, nanosurgeons unravel old pole-to-pole theory

The mitotic spindle, an apparatus that segregates chromosomes during cell division, may be more complex than the standard textbook picture suggests, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Revealed: The fish that nearly sank Isaac Newton

A 300-year-old drawing of a flying fish that nearly scuttled Isaac Newton's world-changing opus on modern physics will be showcased in the Royal Society's online picture library, launched Thursday.

Other Sciences / Other

created Apr 19, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Vaccines for HIV: A new design strategy

HIV has eluded vaccine-makers for thirty years, in part due to the virus' extreme ability to mutate. Physical scientists and clinical virologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Ragon Institute ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Rapunzel, Leonardo and the physics of the ponytail

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research provides the first mathematical understanding of the shape of a ponytail and could have implications for the textile industry, computer animation and personal care products.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 13, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Hovering not hard if you're top-heavy, researchers find

Top-heavy structures are more likely to maintain their balance while hovering in the air than are those that bear a lower center of gravity, researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences ...

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

PhET simulations provide interactive learning tools

(PhysOrg.com) -- What causes a balloon to stick to a sweater? How do microwaves heat coffee? How is electricity generated from a bar magnet?

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers link patterns seen in spider silk, melodies

Using a new mathematical methodology, researchers at MIT have created a scientifically rigorous analogy that shows the similarities between the physical structure of spider silk and the sonic structure of ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Why Einstein was wrong about being wrong

If you want to get your mind around the research that won three astronomers the Nobel Prize in physics last week, it helps to think of the universe as a lump of dough - raisin-bread dough, to be precise - mixed, kneaded and ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 14, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (16) | comments 113

New equation predicts molecular forces in hydrophobic interactions

The physical model to describe the hydrophobic interactions of molecules has been a mystery that has challenged scientists and engineers since the 19th century. Hydrophobic interactions are central to explaining ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research team devises better method for mapping orbitals of molecules

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of physicists comprised of members from IBM Research in Switzerland and the University of Liverpool in the U.K. have figured out a way to improve on results obtained using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Acoustic cloaking device echoes advances in optical cloaking

Optical cloaking devices that enable light to gracefully slip around a solid object were once strictly in the realm of science fiction. Today they have emerged as an exciting area of study, at least on microscopic scales. ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Making quantum cryptography truly secure

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an advanced tool for secure computer-based interactions, providing confidential communication between two remote parties by enabling them to construct a shared secret key ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 14, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Ordered fear plays a strong role in market chaos

When the current financial crisis hit, the failure of traditional economic doctrines to provide any sort of early warning shocked not only financial experts worldwide, but also governments and the general public, and we all ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Jun 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 3 | with audio podcast