Acoustic techniques are experimental or analytical methods that exploit the generation, propagation, and detection of sound or ultrasound waves to probe material, structural, or environmental properties. They encompass approaches such as acoustic emission monitoring, ultrasonic testing, impedance and resonance measurements, and acoustic spectroscopy. These techniques rely on wave–matter interactions (reflection, refraction, scattering, absorption) to infer parameters including elastic moduli, defect distributions, phase composition, flow characteristics, or biological tissue structure. Acoustic methods are widely used for nondestructive evaluation, in situ monitoring, and real-time sensing, often offering high sensitivity to microstructural changes and the ability to operate in opaque or complex media.
Light has an increasing number of applications in biology and medicine—it can be used to stimulate cell growth, manipulate neural signals, and treat some cancers—but it doesn't easily pass through tissue. Most methods to ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 13, 2026
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New research led by scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that the travel time of underwater sounds moving across the Arctic Ocean can be used to precisely measure ocean temperature under ...
Ecology
Mar 31, 2026
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A Jacuzzi for washing your tomatoes might seem odd, but new research finds that a bubble bath with a constant acoustic sound in the water may be the best chemical-free, gentle method for cleaning agricultural produce and ...
Biotechnology
Mar 26, 2026
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Phonons are the quantum units of mechanical vibration. They describe how motion propagates through a solid at the smallest possible scales, in much the same way that electrons describe electric currents. Because phonons can ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 25, 2026
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A research team led by the Museum für Naturkunde presents the first evidence that several bat species produce courtship songs in the immediate rotor-swept zone of wind turbines while circling around the nacelle. Data from ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2026
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512
Human fascination with bottlenose dolphins goes back thousands of years, at least as early as Greek mythology.
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2026
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Two recent studies suggest that fiber-optic cables laid directly on the moon's surface could potentially detect moonquakes, offering a simpler way to gather seismic data to support future human and robotic exploration.
Space Exploration
Mar 18, 2026
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29
A new experiment has uncovered the mechanism responsible for the screeching sound made by peeling sticky tape. Using a combination of ultrafast imaging and synchronized acoustic recordings, Sigurdur Thoroddsen and colleagues ...
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) have recently demonstrated the feasibility of using estrone-linked BODIPYs sonosensitizers for antimicrobial sonodynamic therapy (SDT). Their initial ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 25, 2026
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Acoustic frequency combs organize sound or mechanical vibrations into a series of evenly spaced frequencies, much like the teeth on a comb. They are the acoustic counterparts of optical frequency combs, which consist of equally ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 20, 2026
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