Best of Last Year—The top Phys.org articles of 2017

It was another great year for science, particularly physics, as evidenced by a study conducted by U.K., Canadian and Italian researchers who revealed substantial evidence of a holographic universe. They published what is ...

Can poor air quality mask global warming's effects?

During the 20th century, the average temperature of the continental United States rose by almost 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 degree Celsius)—everywhere, that is, except in the Southeast. There, until the 1980s, the temperature ...

Swift gamma-ray burst mission marks ten years of discovery

(Phys.org) —NASA's Swift spacecraft lifted off aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., beginning its mission to study gamma-ray bursts and identify their origins. Gamma-ray bursts are ...

Noise protection: Multifunctional and aesthetical

Noise abatement is growing in importance, thus, the demand for better acoustic building components raises. Scientists are developing new solutions: aesthetically good looking and flexibly applicable microperforated sound ...

Study explains the mystery of ball lightning

(Phys.org)—Sightings of ball lightning have been made for centuries around the world – usually the size of a grapefruit and lasting up to twenty seconds – but no explanation of how it occurs has been universally accepted ...

New lasing technique inspired by brightly colored birds

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Yale University have succeeded in building a new kind of laser based on the way brightly colored birds show their colors. Building on the new approach to creating laser beams, whereby holes ...