In most materials, heat prefers to scatter. If left alone, a hotspot will gradually fade as it warms its surroundings. But in rare states of matter, heat can behave as a wave, moving back and forth somewhat like a sound wave that bounces from one end of a room to the other. In fact, this […]
Ernest Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in November 1939 “for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements”. His invention was based on generating a spiral accelerated trajectory of protons governed by a simple alternating radio frequency voltage together with […]
Humanity’s emissions of greenhouse gases have caused rapid global warming at a rate unprecedented in at least the past 2,000 years. Rapid global warming has been accompanied by increases in the frequency and intensity of heat extremes over most land regions in the past 70 years. While human activities cause emissions of a number of […]
Hopfions, magnetic spin structures predicted decades ago, have become a hot and challenging research topic in recent years. The first experimental evidence has just been presented in Nature . A deeper understanding of how different components of materials function is important for the development of innovative materials and future technology. The research field of spintronics […]
Evaporation is happening all around us all the time, from the sweat cooling our bodies to the dew burning off in the morning sun. But science’s understanding of this ubiquitous process may have been missing a piece all this time. In recent years, some researchers have been puzzled upon finding that water in their experiments […]
Infodynamics Author: Melvin M. Vopson, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Portsmouth The simulated universe theory implies that our universe, with all its galaxies, planets and life forms, is a meticulously programmed computer simulation. In this scenario, the physical laws governing our reality are simply algorithms. The experiences we have are generated by the computational […]
Einstein Authors: Valerio Faraoni, Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Bishop’s University and Andrea Giusti, Postdoctoral fellow, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Einstein’s theory of gravity — general relativity — has been very successful for more than a century. However, it has theoretical shortcomings. This is not surprising: the theory predicts its own failure at spacetime […]
The strength of the wind has an important influence on ocean circulation. This is particularly true for extreme events such as storm fronts, tropical storms and cyclones. These weather patterns, which last from a few days to a few weeks, will change in the future due to climate change. In particular, the average energy input […]
Voyager II, a NASA solar system exploration spacecraft launched in 1977, measured highly unusual magnetic fields around Uranus and Neptune. Scientists considered exotic states of so-called superionic ice as a possible explanation due to these states’ increased electrical conductivity. A new work demonstrates the existence of the previously undiscovered Ice XIX phase. It shows that […]
Phase transitions and their related phenomena lie at the core of modern statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics. At equilibrium, an intriguing aspect of second-order phase transitions is that systems with distinct order parameters can be described by the same set of static critical exponents, a hallmark of universality. Thomas Kibble’s research on phase transitions […]