Custom-made artificial mother-of-pearl

Natural mother-of-pearl, such as mussels, is one of the hardest, most stable and stiff natural materials. Researchers have always been fascinated by it. The structure of mother-of-pearl is exquisite under the electron microscope; ...

Laser creates a miniature magnetosphere

Magnetic reconnections in laser-produced plasmas have been studied to understand microscopic electron dynamics, which is applicable to space and astrophysical phenomena. Osaka University researchers, in collaboration with ...

NASA-funded balloon launches to study Sun

On Jan. 18, 2016, the GRIPS balloon team sent their instrument soaring towards the stratosphere above Antarctica, suspended underneath a helium-filled, football-field sized scientific balloon. GRIPS, short for Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter ...

Tracking down nano-size current loops using polarized neutrons

Determining the origin of high-temperature superconductivity is probably the single most important challenge faced today by solid-state physicists. This despite 30 years of extensive research efforts. High temperature superconductors ...

Trapping vortices key to high-current superconductors

If we are to see the promised benefits of high-temperature superconductors, such as low-loss motors and generators or maglev trains, we will need superconductors that can carry very large currents.

Magnetic memories on the right track

Computer hard drives store data by writing magnetic information onto their surfaces. In the future, magnetic effects may also be used to improve active memory in computers, potentially eliminating the need to 'boot up' a ...

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