Net tightens round the Higgs boson
Results presented at the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics in mid-July provide strong hints that the Higgs boson, one of the holy grails of particle physics, is lurking just ...
Econophysicists find a forum
The meeting gave the pioneers of “econophysics”, such as Jean-Phillippe Bouchard, János Kertész, Rosario Mantegna and Eugene Stanley, an official forum to present and debate thei...
New angle for optical memories
The medium is made of nanocrystals of zinc sulphide doped with samarium. Although the nanocrystals are only 3 nanometres long, they clump together into larger particles to form a powder that can be us...
Slow period upsets pulsar theories
Inside a pulsar the neutrons are thought to decay into protons and electrons, which are then accelerated by the pulsar’s powerful magnetic field. Since protons and electrons are charged particle...
Heat can produce ultrasound
Currently most ultrasound devices convert an electrical signal directly into mechanical vibrations through the piezoelectric effect. But these devices only operate over a narrow frequency range and ha...
Dropping atoms gives precise value of g
Atomic interferometers use lasers to place atoms into superpositions of different quantum states. These states acquire different phases as they move in a gravitational field, and this phase difference...
Plasma forms new forms of matter
Colloidal plasmas contain three different components – electrons, ions and charged microspheres. Although these unusual plasmas can be studied in the laboratory, researchers have only been able ...
A double-slit experiment in a single molecule
Photons from the laser can excite electrons in the water molecules into a so-called anti-bonding state. Molecules in this state can adopt one of two distorted shapes, both of which can dissociate into...
Read article: A double-slit experiment in a single molecule
Foreign scientists lead US science
An earlier report from the National Research Council has already expressed concern that the US may not retain its leadership in science and technology. The report speculated that the supply of foreign...
The mystery of Neptune’s rings
Neptune’s ring arcs were first observed by the Voyager spacecraft in 1984. In the absence of some external source of stability the rings would have been expected to decay within a matter of mont...
