Measuring tiny forces with light

Photons are bizarre: They have no mass, but they do have momentum. And that allows researchers to do counterintuitive things with photons, such as using light to push matter around.

Physicists detect the enigmatic spin momentum of light

Ever since Kepler's observation in the 17th century that sunlight is one of the reasons that the tails of comets to always face away from the sun, it has been understood that light exerts pressure in the direction it propagates. ...

Video: SDO sees active region outbursts

This close-up video by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows an active region near the right-hand edge of the sun's disk, which erupted with at least a dozen minor events over a 30-hour period from Nov. 3-5, 2015.  

Video: Hefty Prominence Eruption Observed by SDO

A mass of solar material gathered itself into a twisting mass, spun around for a bit, then rose up and broke apart over a 10-hour period on Oct. 13, 2015. Prominences are unstable clouds of gas tethered above the surface ...

Short wavelength plasmons observed in nanotubes

The term "plasmons" might sound like something from the soon-to-be-released new Star Wars movie, but the effects of plasmons have been known about for centuries. Plasmons are collective oscillations of conduction electrons ...

Solving an organic semiconductor mystery

Organic semiconductors are prized for light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photovoltaic cells. As they can be printed from solution, they provide a highly scalable, cost-effective alternative ...

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 ...

The origins of handedness in life

Handedness is a complicated business. To simply say life is left-handed doesn't even begin to capture the blooming hierarchy of binary refinements it continues to evolve. Over the years there have been numerous imaginative ...

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