'Melting rock' models predict mechanical origins of earthquakes

Engineers at Duke University have devised a model that can predict the early mechanical behaviors and origins of an earthquake in multiple types of rock. The model provides new insights into unobservable phenomena that take ...

At the edge of chaos, powerful new electronics could be created

A phenomenon that is well known from chaos theory was observed in a material for the first time ever, by scientists from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. A structural transition in the ferroelastic material barium ...

Peculiar physics at work in the brain

In 1982, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Ken Wilson for his contribution to understanding what goes on in certain materials as they undergo a phase transition—like the transition between liquid water and steam. ...

New optical memory cell achieves record data-storage density

Researchers have demonstrated a new technique that can store more optical data in a smaller space than was previously possible on-chip. This technique improves upon the phase-change optical memory cell, which uses light to ...

Data storage using individual molecules

Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules ...

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