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Friction has memory, say physicists

Giant lasers pass new milestone towards fusion energy

Fusion energy output at NIF is double input kinetic energy

Compensator expands global access to advanced radiotherapy

A ring-based compensator system enables intensity-modulated radiotherapy without the need for complex multileaf collimators

Silicon carbide LEDs make bright single photon sources

Discovery of new colour centres in SiC confirms once again that it is a good material out of which to make qubits

Research news

3D printed biomaterial promotes tissue regeneration

Photoacoustic CT looks to replace mammography

Photo of the EcoLink wildlife overpass in 2014, soon after its construction. Courtesy: By Benjamin P. Y-H. Lee (University of Kent). [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Smoke from El Niño fires subdued dawn chorus in Singapore

Printed metal-polymer conductors make stretchy biodevices

Applications include cardiac patches, wearable glove keyboards, soft robotics and medical implants

Ambitious climate targets could protect millions from heat waves

Fraction of world population exposed to severe heat waves every five years becomes three times larger under 2 °C warming

Super spins appear in carbon sheet

Researchers say they have seen evidence for spin superfluidity and very long distance spin transport in a graphene antiferromagnet for the first time

Cost of fossil fuel investment is too high

Fossil fuel investment is not just bad for the global climate. It could also be dangerous for investors, and for national economies.

Software creates personalized ‘virtual brain’ models

Researchers have created virtual models of the brain individually tailored to patients' functional MR images

Silicon nanowires sense single ion channel currents

Nanoelectronic devices that detect the tiny ion currents behind individual action potentials can be CMOS compatible

Warming up for the World Cup

Roberto Carlos of Brazil scores against France

Football and its physics connections

Putting a scientific spin on the FIFA World Cup

How physics can improve your football

Scientists have worked out how to maximise the length of a soccer throw-in

Image of the FIFA 2018 tournament ball being tested

Physics of footballs, FIFA 2018 World Cup probabilities revealed

EGU 2018: how to distinguish football celebrations from dancing

I’m a football fan…get me out of here

Physics World podcasts

Sterile neutrinos, climate change and smart cities

A computer-generated image of the International Prototype kilogram (IPK)

Getting the measure of measurement

Explore in depth

Riding the gravity wave

Benjamin Skuse reviews On Gravity: a Brief Tour of a Weighty Subject by Anthony Zee

Alternatives to plastic packaging by Sulapac.

100% biodegradable packaging company expands

Aiming to reduce plastic waste in food packaging, Sulapac joins forces with Fazer

The carrot and the stick

How intellectual property strategy can help start-ups attract investors and deter competitors

Tracing the spread of cancer

Endomagnetics co-founder Simon Hattersley on starting a company that makes magnetic nanoparticle systems for detecting cancer

Hunting submarines from the air

Aircraft play an important role in searching for submarines in the ocean depths. Jason Furlong and John Ryder describe how physics helps them hunt the unseen enemy

The asteroid trillionaires

With private companies turning their attention to the riches of asteroids, the first trillionaire could be made in space. Andrew Glester explores the challenges of mining sp...

The wow and the woo

Jean Bricmont's latest book Quantum Sense and Nonsense "exists in a superposition of states", writes Philip Moriarty

Nanotechnology in action

Read our special collection to explore some of the challenges and opportunities associated with turning advances in nanotechnology into commercial products

Video showcase

Photo of David Smeulders from TU Eindhoven

Testing the waters in New Orleans

Smart cities, the Dutch approach

Latest articles

UK space sector set for take-off

Joanna Hart from the Harwell Space Cluster outlines how the UK space industry has an international outlook

The power of images

Enrico Sacchetti says that photography can be an effective way to communicate science to the general public

Riding the gravity wave

Benjamin Skuse reviews On Gravity: a Brief Tour of a Weighty Subject by Anthony Zee

The dark-energy deniers

20 years after discovering that the universe is expanding with increasing speed, scientists still argue about whether dark energy explains it. Keith Cooper explores the deba...

The carrot and the stick

How intellectual property strategy can help start-ups attract investors and deter competitors

Elekta Unity receives CE mark

The Elekta Unity high-field MR-linac is now CE marked for commercial sales and clinical use in Europe

100% biodegradable packaging company expands

Aiming to reduce plastic waste in food packaging, Sulapac joins forces with Fazer

Avoiding strife on Mars, the physics of football, calling all psychic pets

Excerpts from the Red Folder

Set to be complete in 2026, the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider will increase the discovery range for new particles by around 20-30% over the current LHC

CERN begins major upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider

HL-LHC will see the collider's luminosity increase by a factor of 10

Astrophysicists pin down jet from merging neutron stars

Faint gamma ray signal is a result of off-axis observation

Integrated platform supports advances in radiation therapy workflow

The SunCHECK platform from Sun Nuclear combines patient-specific and machine-based quality assurance

Tracing the spread of cancer

Endomagnetics co-founder Simon Hattersley on starting a company that makes magnetic nanoparticle systems for detecting cancer

Printed ferromagnetic domains help make fast-moving robot

Tiny device, which can roll, jump and grasp objects, might be used in a host of biomedical applications, like minimally invasive surgery or targeted drug delivery

US politicians call for a national quantum-computing strategy

Two new bills will be considered by Congress

Image of a sexual harassment complaint form

Ethics
News

Urgent reform needed to tackle sexual misconduct in science

National Academies report finds that current policies have failed to halt the issue

Green Electric Plug. Digitally Generated Image isolated on white background. Courtesy: iStock/alxpin

Africa-Europe concentrating solar power link: a solar land grab?

The “desert solar” idea has been around for some time but some see it as neo-colonial

Developing clinical partnerships

Translating scientific advances into benefits for patients requires input from clinicians, basic scientists and industry experts, writes Steve Smye

Big data framework seeks treatment targets for Alzheimer’s disease

Big data framework finds a mitochondrial complex that plays a major part in the development of Alzheimer’s disease

International Day of Light

To celebrate the first ever International Day of Light, this special collection explores the success and commercial impact of research into optics, photonics and lasers

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