In molecular materials like water, the structural units that make up the liquid state can also dictate the properties of the frozen solid. But what about monatomic liquids that are composed of single atoms, rather than molecules? It is tempting to think of such liquids as completely unstructured, like gases in slow motion, but this […]
Read article: Ultracold plasmas come of age
During the past decade, the availability of simple, effective methods for laser cooling and trapping has enabled enormous advances in the experimental study of atoms in their ground state. Until quite recently, however, these techniques have had much less impact on investigations of highly excited atoms – and almost none on plasmas. Several laboratories have […]
Now another observation of atomic and planetary systems behaving in surprisingly similar fashion has been reported by Robert Birtcher and Sandrine Schlutig at Argonne National Laboratory, US, and Stephen Donnelly of Salford University, UK (Phys. Rev. Lett. 2000 85 4968). In the March issue of Physics World, Kai Nordlund of the University of Helsinki in […]
Read article: The flood-plains of Ganymede
Icy lava could have created the flat regions on Jupiter's largest moon
Current flow in the new metallic superconductor could be explained by an old theory
More cash on the cards for European R&D
Read article: Turbulent times for fluids
Turbulence is highlighted by imaging methods from high-energy physics
The physics community loses two luminaries in as many weeks
Read article: The hunt for new dimensions
The gravitational attraction between closely spaced objects could reveal new dimensions
Ultrashort laser pulses could probe processes that occur almost instantaneously
