Physics

  1. Tech

    Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink

    Rewritable paper could save money, preserve forests and cut down on waste — and all without using any ink.

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  2. Climate

    Thunderstorms can generate powerful radiation

    Thunderstorms don’t just hurl lightning bolts. Some churn out high-energy radiation that can be seen by spacecraft. This radiation offers scientists a glimpse of the inner workings of thunderclouds.

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  3. Physics

    Picture This: Christmas from space

    Satellite images show that cities brighten during holidays. Charting such changes can point to factors affecting energy use and contributing to global warming.

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  4. Physics

    Light robs galaxy of star-making gas

    Stars form from clouds of hydrogen and other gases. Astronomers have found the light from newborn stars can drive off that gas. That action can starve a galaxy of the ingredients needed to make more stars.

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  5. Brain

    Magnets may make helmets safer

    Magnets in sports helmets could repel players’ heads as they move toward a collision. This should reduce the risk of the hard hits that lead to concussions.

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  6. Physics

    New particle may help probe strongest force in the universe

    A newfound subatomic particle should allow scientists to better understand the strong force that holds together the nucleus of every atom.

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  7. Physics

    Detecting a single proton

    Doctors typically use magnetic-resonance imaging, or MRI, to see tissues and organs inside the body. Physicists can harness a similar technology. And they did that to spotlight something even smaller — a single proton. But followup analyses, reported in January 2015, forced a retraction of their original claim.

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  8. Physics

    Raindrops break the speed limit

    Raindrops shouldn't be able fall faster than what is known as their terminal velocity. But no one told the rain. Researchers have found droplets breaking that speed limit.

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  9. Physics

    Escape from a lab-built black hole

    In the 1970s, physicist Stephen Hawking suggested that some particles could escape a black hole. An experiment now shows how, using a lab-made black hole ‘made’ from sound.

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  10. Physics

    How science saved the Eiffel Tower

    The Eiffel Tower was an engineering masterpiece. But Parisians initially thought it too ugly to let stand for more than 20 years. So Eiffel made the tower a bastion of science. And that would soon ensure that the structure was too valuable to tear down.

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  11. Chemistry

    Sunlight might have put oxygen in Earth’s early air

    High-energy bursts of ultraviolet light can break apart carbon dioxide, yielding oxygen gas. The experiment may mimic what happened on Earth billions of years ago.

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  12. Physics

    Nobel goes for creating the ‘nanoscope’

    A regular microscope can’t bring into focus the nanoscale molecules from which cells are built. Using lasers and fluorescent molecules, three scientists found a way to view these tiny features. Their reward: the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

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