Physics

Limitless: Paul Thibado holds prototype energy-harvesting chips. (Courtesy: Russell Cothren) The rippling thermal motion of a tiny piece of graphene has been harnessed by a special circuit that delivers low-voltage electrical energy. The system was created by researchers in US and Spain, who say that if it could be duplicated enough times on a chip,

Space communications: an illustration of the new concept for using light to communicate in space. (Courtesy: Yen Strandqvist/Chalmers University of Technology) The most sensitive receiver to date for picking up optical signals in free space has been designed and demonstrated by researchers in Sweden. Peter Andrekson and colleagues at Chalmers University of Technology say they

A linear accelerator with the portal dosimetry panel (EPID) deployed. (Courtesy: Murillo Bellezzo, Maastro Clinic) Radiation therapy is a complex procedure, with a series of equipment and dosimetry checks performed before every treatment to ensure its safety and accuracy. However, there’s still potential for errors to occur during the actual radiation delivery, such as changes

Taken from the October 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Heaven sent Space exploration has led to technological benefits here on Earth. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Sven Hansche) I’ve always been somewhat of an amateur astronomer. Despite having lived most of my life

Star struck: Betelgeuse’s sudden drop in brightness, dubbed the “great dimming”, has enthralled astronomers since it was first observed late last year (Courtesy: ESO/M. Montargès et al.) An international team of astronomers has proposed a telescope to monitor the bright star Betelgeuse to provide clues about the cause of its sudden drop in brightness. The

Priya Saini is a medical physicist in the radiological physics department of SMS Medical College and Hospitals in Jaipur, India. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact us

Join the audience for a live webinar at 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. EST on 12 November 2020 exploring the Penta-Guide 2.0 software and why it is the preferred daily alignment tool Want to take part in this webinar? The QUASAR™ Penta-Guide Phantom is recognized globally as the preferred tool for commissioning and daily testing of

Researchers are using the CLARA electron accelerator at the Daresbury Laboratory to study the potential of very high-energy electrons for radiotherapy. (Courtesy: STFC) Very high-energy electrons (VHEEs), typically defined as those above 40 MeV, provide a potential new radiotherapy modality with dosimetric advantages. Beams of such electrons penetrate deep into the patient, enabling treatment of

MRI biomarker: objectively segmented diffuse white matter abnormality (red) in the periventricular white matter displayed in sagittal (A), coronal (B), and axial orientations (C) in a 26 weeks’ gestation very preterm infant. (Courtesy: Nehal Parikh) A new software quantification tool has been developed by researchers in the US for analyzing white-matter abnormalities in very preterm

Zhifeng Ren, director of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH. Credit: University of Houston With the world’s reserves of light oil diminishing, oil companies are increasingly turning to heavier varieties – which make up 70% of global oil reserves – to meet rising energy demands. Existing extraction technologies for heavy oil are, however, inefficient,

Emmy Noether: a new book celebrates the life of the mathematician. (Courtesy: Kids Can Press) Tuesday was Ada Lovelace Day, which celebrates achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Named after the 19th-century polymath Ada Lovelace, the annual initiative also seeks to engage with the challenges of attracting more women into STEM

Pressure-temperature (P-T) phase diagram of a NaYbSe2 single crystal. Courtesy: Run-Ze Yu Researchers in China report that they have observed both superconductivity and an insulator-to-metal transition in sodium ytterbium (III) selenide (NaYbSe2) simply by applying pressure to it. This inorganic substance, which is also a quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidate, could therefore become a new

Inside XENON1: the bottom array of photomultiplier tubes and the copper structure that creates the electric drift field. (Courtesy: XENON1T collaboration) In June of this year, physicists working on the XENON1T dark-matter detector announced the measurement of a curious signal in their experiment — which comprises 2 tonne of ultrapure xenon. The signal had a statistical

Join the audience for a live webinar at 5 p.m. GMT/1 p.m. EDT on 28 October 2020 exploring the theoretical studies of molecular and heterogeneous electrocatalysis Want to take part in this webinar? Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions play a vital role in a wide range of electrochemical processes. This talk will focus on theoretical

Join the audience for a live webinar at 3 p.m. BST on 20 October 2020 exploring how elemental and molecular characterizations combined can help solve issues across many applications Want to take part in this webinar? Combining elemental and molecular characterization enables better and faster research in many real-world applications. Applications such as pharmaceuticals, environment,

With quantum computing the focus is often on the long term potential for these devices to leave classical computing in the dust. But what about the rudimentary quantum systems that are already being developed by technology companies? What are the latest advances in the field? And what might these systems be able to achieve in

The phases of hydrogen. Courtesy: Source: I F Silvera/Harvard University At pressures of millions of atmospheres, hydrogen – normally an excellent insulator thanks to the tightly-bound electrons in the H2 molecule – becomes an electrical conductor. Its exact transition point is, however, the subject of much debate, with the results of several recent experiments seemingly

By: Hannah Pell On September 22, 2020, NASA and the U. S. Space Command announced that they were tracking an unidentified piece of space debris that appeared to be hurtling toward the International Space Station (ISS). It was predicted to pass by within only a few kilometers, dangerously too close to chance, at 5:21 p.m.

Taken from the October 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Graduate student Rosemary Teague and undergraduate Amber Yallop share their non-traditional degree pathways, some difficult choices they made along the way, and what a future in physics looks like for

Effusive volcano: lava flowing down the slopes of Mount Mayon in the Philippines. (Courtesy: Top1963/CC BY-SA 3.0) The formation of nanometre-sized crystals can – even in low concentrations – temporarily change the viscosity of magma and lead to violent volcanic eruptions. That is the conclusion of geophysicists in the UK, Germany and France, who say

Assembly of the LIONTRAP Penning-trap system.© MPIK Physicists in Germany say they have made the world’s most precise measurement of the deuteron mass by comparing it to the mass of the carbon-12 nucleus. The new work, which was carried out by confining deuterons (which are nuclei of deuterium, or “heavy” hydrogen) and carbon-12 nuclei with

Simulated CT images of a COVID-19 XCAT phantom at three different radiation dose levels, representing (top left) 50, (top right) 25 and (lower left) 5 mAs settings. The lower right image shows a chest radiographic image of the same model. (Courtesy: American Roentgen Ray Society, American Journal of Roentgenology) Medical imaging devices and methods are

Unsettled forecast The UK’s messy, complex weather presents a challenge for autonomous vehicles. (Courtesy: iStock/trendobjects) Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are supposed to be the future. So far, though, much of the work involved in building that future has focused on places like California and Arizona, where rain is rare and roads are wide and spacious. How,

The INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS). Courtesy: INFN-LNGS Our everyday experience shows that the macroscopic world is different from the quantum one. Unlike quantum particles, the objects in our daily existence do not, for example, exist in a superposition of different states. Traditionally, physicists explain the transition between the two worlds by saying that

Snowy scene: the location in Vermont where the distribution of microfibres in snow was measured. (Courtesy: Rachael Miller) I grew up in Canada, which has two things in abundance: electric clothes dryers and snow. So, I was immediately drawn to a paper in PLOS ONE by Kirsten Kapp and Rachael Miller that quantifies the number

Upper limit: a US Navy F/A-18 travelling near the speed of sound in air. The white halo comprises water droplets that have condensed from the air because of the sudden drop in pressure behind the shock cone around the aircraft . (Courtesy: John Gay/US Navy) The upper limit on the speed of sound in solids

In this episode we look at the ground-breaking research on black holes that led to Roger Penrose,  Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez winning the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics. On hand are experts Laura Nuttall of the University of Portsmouth and the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaboration, who studies gravitational waves from merging black holes and Harvard University’s

Supermassive test: this simulation of the region around M87 shows the motion of plasma as it swirls around the black hole. The bright thin ring that can be seen in blue is the edge of the shadow. (Courtesy: L Medeiros/C Chan/D. Psaltis/F Özel/University of Arizona/Institute for Advanced Study) Einstein’s general theory of relativity has triumphed

By: Hannah Pell On 23 January 2020, the Doomsday Clock was calibrated to 100 seconds before midnight — the closest it has even been — by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the organization in charge of the clock. Because the Doomsday Clock is set no sooner than annually, this decision was made even before

The study employed kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring (KIM) to monitor prostate motion during high-dose radiotherapy delivered in five fractions. Treatment was adapted to the measured motion using either real-time MLC tracking or gating with couch shifts. (Courtesy: Julia Johnson) Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), in which high radiation doses are delivered over just a few fractions, requires

Roger Penrose is one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics. The British mathematical physicist was honoured for his discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity. In this interview with Physics World’s Tushna Commissariat, recorded in 2015, Penrose looks back to the early years

New laureates: Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez have won the the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics. (Courtesy: IOP Publishing/Tushna Commissariat; CC-BY-SA H Garching; UCLA/Christopher Dibble) The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their work on black holes. The prize is worth 10

Originally written for https://www.tamiawilliams.com/blog  - TamiaWilliams  Image: 5 Year Old Drip (Bobo hair ties, Clear skin & Sunday’s best), 2001  This is my mom’s favorite picture of me as a child. On the back, it’s dated Oct/Nov 2001 – Tamia – 5yrs old. I have no recollection of this day, when the picture was taken

Ancient observations, modern explanation: Robert Alicki (left) and Alejandro Jenkins (right). Alicki holds a bust of Thales, the pre-Socratic philosopher who described magnetic and “amber” effects as evidence of a material’s soul. Credit: Maria Alicka Shuffling around on a carpet to give someone an electric shock might seem like the oldest trick in the book,

Nordic device: Artistic image of the Aalto University graphene bolometer controlled by electric field. (Courtesy: Heikka Valja) Two graphene-based bolometers that are sensitive to detect single microwave photons have been built by independent teams of physicists. The devices could find a range of applications in quantum technologies, radio astronomy and even in the search for

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics will be announced on Tuesday 6 October. In the run-up to the announcement, Physics World editors have picked some of the people who they think have been overlooked for a prize in the past Collaborators: Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in 1912, a few years into their 30-year working relationship. The

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics will be announced on Tuesday 6 October. In the run-up to the announcement, Physics World editors have picked some of the people who they think have been overlooked for a prize in the past. Missing out: should Nicola Cabibbo have shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for Physics (Courtesy: ICTP Photo Archive)

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast Google’s Sergio Boixo explains why the tech giant is building its own quantum computers. Boixo will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming Quantum 2020 virtual conference, and we will be interviewing other plenary speakers in future episodes of the podcast. Next up is Ramon Barthelemy

New twist: a smeared out signal can transform into a soliton, depending on the laser powers and the twist angle of the optical moiré lattice. (Courtesy: Fangwei Ye) Moiré lattices — wherever they form – are full of surprises. Superimpose two or more 2D periodic patterns on top of each other with a slight twist,

Boron neutron capture therapy, which targets cancer at the cellular level, is under development by several companies worldwide. (Courtesy: Hanna Koivonoro, Neutron Therapeutics) Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), a technique that deposits highly targeted radiation into tumour cells, was first investigated as a cancer treatment back in the 1950s. But the field remains small, with

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics will be announced on Tuesday 6 October. In the run-up to the announcement, Physics World editors have picked some of the people who they think have been overlooked for a prize in the past. Overlooked: Chien-Shiung Wu in 1963 at Columbia University. (Courtesy: Smithsonian Institution) The 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics

New Advantage: D-Wave’s latest quantum computer. (Courtesy: D-Wave Systems) The Canadian quantum computer maker D-Wave Systems has unveiled its latest platform, which contains a whopping 5000 qubits. Called Advantage, the system can be accessed via the company’s Leap 2 cloud service, which was launched earlier this year. The system is designed for use by businesses

Staying cool: the new electrocaloric devices show potential for air conditioning. Courtesy: iStock/KMNPhoto) Ever-growing in their use, air conditioning systems use refrigerants that are powerful greenhouse gases. But independent teams in Europe and the US reckon they may have found a more environmentally friendly way to keep cool by using electricity to soak up heat

 What makes skin so tough? Originally published: May 4 2015 – 11:45am, Inside Science News Service By: Lisa Marie Potter, Contributor (Inside Science) — Skin has to be flexible enough to jump, crawl, and kick with us. It also has to be resilient enough to withstand our falls, scrapes, and cuts. Scientists have marveled at skin’s strength for

The new issue of your favourite magazine examines the benefits of virtual meetings Revolutionary rocket?: The October 2020 issue of Physics World also looks at a new kind of engine. When it comes to scientific conferences, we’ve all been affected by the restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. But even when the pandemic is over, as

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics will be announced on Tuesday 6 October. In the run-up to the announcement, Physics World editors have picked some of the people who they think have been overlooked for a prize in the past. Astrophysics pioneer: Jocelyn Bell Burnell (centre) thinks she missed out on a Nobel prize for

Fading fast: the Greenland Ice Sheet. (Courtesy: Jason Briner) Over the next eighty years global warming is set to melt enough ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet to reverse 4000 years of cumulative ice growth – with rates of ice-loss more than quadruple even the fastest melt rates during the past 12,000 years. These stark conclusions come

The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics will be announced on Tuesday 6 October. In the run-up to the announcement, Physics World editors have picked some of the people who they think have been overlooked for a prize in the past. Nobel celebrations at CERN: should ATLAS, CMS and LHC physicists have shared the 2013 award?