Neutron flashes may forecast earthquakes
Seismic activity could be predicted by bursts of neutrons from the Earth's crust
Author archive
Metal superconductors reach new high
Magnesium diboride surprises scientists with its high transition temperature
Chirality crops up in nuclear physics
Contrary to expectations, nuclei can be left- or right-handed
Twisters turn up the current in superconductors
Vortices in resistance-free current flow could explain a strange current effect
Vortices multiply in superfluid helium-II
Now Demosthenes Kivotides, Carlo Barenghi and David Samuels at the University of Newcastle in the UK have discovered another surprising feature of liquid helium. They have predicted that the coupled motion of the normal and superfluid components can give rise to an intriguing structure that contains three vortex rings (Science 2000 290 777). In the […]
X-rays reveal some novel optical activity
The so-called optical activity of materials has been studied extensively since then, so it is perhaps surprising that there is anything new to discover. However, José Goulon of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, and co-workers at the ESRF, the University of Paris and Purdue University in the US have recently observed […]
Silicon lasers start to take shape
Devices made from silicon dominate the microelectronics industry, so silicon should be the material of choice for anyone designing new electronic devices that will be integrated with microelectronic circuits. This also applies to the optoelectronic devices that act as gateways between the electronic realm and the worlds of photonics and optical communications. Most optoelectronic components […]
Read article: Silicon lasers start to take shape
Black holes go supersonic
Now Luis Garay, James Anglin, Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller at the University of Innsbruck in Austria have proposed a realistic way to make an artificial “sonic” black hole in a tabletop experiment (L J Garay et al. 2000 Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 4643). In the February issue of Physics World, Ulf Leonhardt of the […]
Speed skating for water droplets
Super-fast drops could improve printing, lithography and surgical techniques
Old riddle illuminates solar system’s birth
Ancient paradox lends a hand to modern astronomy
Copyright © 2026 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors