Precious metal tracks nanoplastics

Tiny plastic particles measuring about 100 nanometres (millionths of a millimetre) are used in many products, for example, to encapsulate dye or aromatic substances or as additives to shampoos and cosmetics. Many of them ...

Determining the composition of microplastic in water

Physicists from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University have developed and applied a method of identifying microplastic collected in sea waters. The spectroscopy method determines the chemical composition of contaminants ...

Water plays unexpected role in forming minerals

Large crystals growing in water often form from tiny nanocrystals continually attaching together. During attachment, these tiny particles snap to the surface, like LEGO bricks. A bit of torque is needed to rotate the particles ...

Image: The colors in Saturn's rings

Saturn's rings display their subtle colors in this view captured on Aug. 22, 2009, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The particles that make up the rings range in size from smaller than a grain of sand to as large as mountains, ...

Physicists design a model of Martian winter

A team of researchers from MIPT and their German and Japanese colleagues have designed a numerical model of the annual water cycle in the Martian atmosphere. Previously, the scientists focused their research on relatively ...

Quantum speed limit may put brakes on quantum computers

Over the past five decades, standard computer processors have gotten increasingly faster. In recent years, however, the limits to that technology have become clear: Chip components can only get so small, and be packed only ...

Sea spray losing its sparkle?

Atmospheric aerosols are tiny particles that scatter and absorb sunlight but also influence climate indirectly through their role in cloud formation. One of the largest sources of aerosols is sea spray which is produced over ...

Calculating 'old' and 'new' water runoff

Just ahead of a rainstorm, Cody Ross might run out to an agricultural research site as part of his graduate work. He'll need to get some dye into an injection well. The point? To evaluate the path that water follows from ...

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