Carbon copying the 'Stradivarius' sound

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's every violinmaker's dream to produce an instrument to rival the sound of a Stradivarius but now researchers at The University of Nottingham are trying to do just that… using acoustic physics and carbon ...

'Masters of light' win Nobel Physics Prize

Charles Kao, Willard Boyle and George Smith won the 2009 Nobel Physics Prize Tuesday for pioneering "masters of light" work on fibre optics and semiconductors, the Nobel jury said.

Using fibre-optic cables to detect earthquakes

Fibre-optic cables can be used to detect earthquakes and other ground movements. The data cables can also pick up seismic signals from hammer shots, passing cars or wave movements in the ocean. This is the result of a study ...

Nylon finally takes its place as a piezoelectric textile

Nylon might seem the obvious go-to material for electronic textiles—not only is there an established textiles industry based on nylon, but it conveniently has a crystalline phase that is piezoelectric—tap it and you get ...

Power thrust for spider silk

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spiderman would definitely have an easier time of things with this spider silk - for example, if he had to stop a getaway car moving off at 100 kilometres per hour. A five-millimetre-thick thread would do ...

Manipulating light on a chip for quantum technologies

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of physicists and engineers at Bristol University has demonstrated exquisite control of single particles of light — photons — on a silicon chip to make a major advance towards long-sought-after ...

Green method developed for making artificial spider silk

A team of architects and chemists from the University of Cambridge has designed super-stretchy and strong fibres which are almost entirely composed of water, and could be used to make textiles, sensors and other materials. ...

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