Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Materials Science
Sunlight + gold = steaming water (no boiling needed)
Nano-gold is the new black, at least when it comes to absorbing heat. When tiny gold particles get together, they become energy super-absorbers — turning them black.
- Earth
Cool Jobs: Mapping the unknown
Scientists find different ways of exploring places humans will never visit — and drawing maps to help us better understand such mysterious places.
- Computing
Feeling objects that aren’t there
A new technology uses high-frequency sound waves to create virtual objects you can feel. Its uses include better video games and safer driving.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Wavelength
When something travels as a wave — such as light — scientists can measure it by its wavelength, the distances between the peaks.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Watt
Say Watt? This is a unit used to measure the flow of energy being used.
- Brain
When smartphones go to school
Students who use smartphones and other mobile technology in class may well be driven to distraction. And that can hurt grades, studies show.
- Physics
Gravity waves detected at last!
Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves 100 years ago. Now scientists have detected them coming from the collision of two black holes.
- Physics
Explainer: What are gravitational waves?
Albert Einstein had predicted that large catastrophes, like colliding black holes, should produce tiny ripples in the fabric of space. In 2016, scientists reported finally detecting them
- Physics
How to catch a gravity wave
Physicists have just announced finding gravity waves. The phenomenon was predicted a century ago by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Here’s what it took to detect the waves.
- Earth
Bubbles may have sheltered Earth’s early life
For Earth’s earliest inhabitants, a bubble on the beach would have been the next best thing to a safety blanket.
- Earth
News Brief: Why rainbows can lose some hues
When the sun is right near the horizon, such as at sunset, its light travels through the most atmosphere. When there’s also plenty of water in the air, this can rob colors from a rainbow, scientists now report.
- Physics
Boom! Sounding out the enemy
Armistice Day marked the end of the Great War. But what arguably won the war was acoustics — the science of sound. It allowed Allied troops to home in on and rout the enemy.
