Both thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are very important theories, but they are applicable to very different kinds of systems. Thermodynamics describes macroscopic systems where the number of particles is huge (around Avogadro’s number: 6.022×1023). On the other hand, quantum mechanics describes the behavior of microscopic particles. The regimes where these two theories can be applied […]
A lot of ink has been wasted in the last decades discussing whether string theory is a good description of nature or merely a mathematica construct with no connection at all with reality. However, the answer to this question actually lays at least in the middle of both options and for sure not any close […]
As you listen to music played in a guitar, you are getting much more than just plain sound. In fact, when the motion of the pulled strings translates into air waves, a big deal of information is carried along with the notes. You could say that mechanical properties of the musical instrument such as mass […]
Natural non-wetting structures, particularly lotus leaves (Fig. 1a), have inspired the development of synthetic liquid-repellent surfaces. These surfaces rely on the formation of a stable air–liquid interface, but present limited repellency to oils with high contact angle hysteresis, failure under pressure and inability to self-heal. The paper by Wong et al. presents a novel approach […]
Bikes are becoming a much more interesting mean of transport in urban areas due to the local policies to minimize traffic impact on the daily city life. City councils are building bike lanes, converting streets to mixed pedestrian-bike traffic, and similar solutions for encouraging the use of this clean mean of transport. However, this comes […]
Magnetoception, the fantastic ability to perceive magnetic fields. A skill though impossible for long. It was difficult to assume that a 0.5 Gauss Earth’s magnetic field (your fridge has one with 100 Gauss) could have some effect on living things. However, the magnetic field perception was supported since the very beginning by experimental observation and […]
Quantum mechanics and relativity constitute the two main revolutions in physics on the twentieth century. Furthermore, the counterintuitive character of quantum mechanics yields to a rich branch of different possible interpretations, and there are still many open questions. Not solving, but just defining these questions, was the main purpose of a conference entitled “Quantum physics […]
Disclaimer: What I will relate in this post is the result of my research during the last year and specially the results of my last paper, uploaded as a preprint to ArXiv.org with reference arXiv:1307.2060 . Apart from the self-promotion, I think this is interesting since it can give people an insight on how short […]
The locomotion of every moving system, alive or manufactured, is produced by the interaction between some movable components or appendages and the surrounding environment. This applies for every kind of surroundings: land, water or air. For water and air, Navier-Stokes equations allow predicting the interaction with the fluid with very high precision. In the case […]
Biomedicine • Materials • Neurobiology • Physics • Physiology
Human brain has about 85 billion neurons. Each neuron forms thousands of chemical and electrical synapses with other neurons. To record the synaptic activity of each neuron in the brain an intracellular probe with a millivolt scale is required. Glass electrodes are widely used, but they are fragile and they have high impedance. An intracellular […]