Physics
- Physics
Explainer: Understanding waves and wavelengths
A wave is a disturbance that moves energy from one place to another. Only energy — not matter — is transferred as a wave moves.
- Physics
There’s science to making great fried rice
Scientists report finding the physics that seems to explain how chefs can quickly fry rice over a hot flame without burning the food.
- Animals
Analyze This: Shimmering colors may help beetles hide
Delve into data showing how brilliant colors that shift as a viewer — or predator — moves may help iridescent insects blend in.
- Physics
How to temporarily ‘fossilize’ a soap bubble
Here’s how to freeze a soap bubble in midair. Warning: The environment needs to be frosty, and even then it can take a certain amount of trial and error.
- Health & Medicine
Experts rethink need for X-ray shielding of patients
For close to 70 years, workers who perform X-ray scans of the body have been advised to shield sensitive tissues with lead 'aprons.' That may soon stop.
- Materials Science
New twist can hush — even cloak — some sounds
Swiss engineers developed clear, spiral structures to make a new sound-dampening system. Those twists block some vibrations and lets others through.
- Animals
Drones might one day capture a dolphin’s breath in midair
High-speed footage of dolphin spray reveals that droplets blast upward at speeds close to 100 kilometers per hour.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Decibel
A decibel is a unit of measurement that describes a sound’s volume. It’s used for sounds that are in the range of human hearing.
- Math
Color-changing fibers help unravel a knotty problem
Experiments with colorful fibers helped scientists discover a few simple rules on why the strength of various types of knots differs.
- Materials Science
Here’s how to hide some objects from heat-sensing cameras
A special coating that conceals temperature information from heat-detecting cameras might someday be used as a privacy shield.
- Materials Science
Self-powered surface may evaluate table-tennis play
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology built a 'smart' surface on which to play table tennis. It can track the location, speed and direction of the ball.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Quark
These subatomic particles are the building blocks of bigger particles, including the protons and neutrons found in an atom’s nucleus.
