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First-ever videos show how heat moves through materials at the nanoscale and speed of sound

Using a state-of-the-art ultrafast electron microscope, University of Minnesota researchers have recorded the first-ever videos showing how heat moves through materials at the nanoscale traveling at the speed of sound.

The research, published today in Nature Communications, provides unprecedented insight into roles played by individual atomic and nanoscale features that could aid in the design of better, more efficient materials with a wide array of uses, from personal electronics to alternative-energy technologies.

Princeton graduate student creates program that helps stabilize fusion plasma

Imène Goumiri, a Princeton University graduate student, has worked with physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) to simulate a method for limiting instabilities that reduce the performance of fusion plasmas. The more instabilities there are, the less efficiently doughnut-shaped fusion facilities called tokamaks operate. The journal Nuclear Fusion published results of this research in February 2016. The research was supported by the DOE's Office of Science.

Physicists build engine consisting of one atom

An article in the latest edition of the journal Science describes an innovative form of heat engine that operates using only one single atom. The engine is the result of experiments undertaken by the QUANTUM work group at the Institute of Physics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in collaboration with theoretical physicists of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

Generation of tailored magnetic materials

Every day, new technologies require more precision in the intrinsic properties of the materials used. To meet increasingly specific requirements, physicists are interested in a generation of artificial materials, the properties of which can be controlled.

'Weirdest martensite': Century-old smectic riddle finally solved

ITHACA, N.Y. - Using the latest computer game technology, a Cornell-led team of physicists has come up with a "suitably beautiful" explanation to a puzzle that has baffled researchers in the materials and theoretical physics communities for a century.

Physics professor James Sethna has co-authored a paper on the unusual microstructure of smectics - liquid crystals whose molecules are arranged in layers and form ellipses and hyperbolas - and their similarity to martensites, a crystalline structure of steel.

Great Barrier Reef risks losing tolerance to bleaching events

A new study has found that Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals were able to survive past bleaching events because they were exposed to a pattern of gradually warming waters in the lead up to each episode. However, this protective pattern is likely to be lost under near future climate change scenarios.

A single-atom magnet breaks new ground for future data storage

EPFL scientists have built a single-atom magnet that is the most stable to-date. The breakthrough paves the way for the scalable production of miniature magnetic storage devices.

Forest discovery: Trees trade carbon among each other

Forest trees use carbon not only for themselves; they also trade large quantities of it with their neighbours. Botanists from the University of Basel report this in the journal Science. The extensive carbon trade among trees - even among different species - is conducted via symbiotic fungi in the soil.

Probing the transforming world of neutrinos

Every second, trillions of neutrinos travel through your body unnoticed. Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are difficult to study because they very rarely interact with matter. To find traces of these elusive particles, researchers from Caltech have collaborated with 39 other institutions to build a 14,000-ton detector the size of two basketball courts called NuMI Off-Axis Electron Neutrino Appearance, or NOvA.

Europa's heaving ice might make more heat than scientists thought

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Jupiter's moon Europa is under a constant gravitational assault. As it orbits, Europa's icy surface heaves and falls with the pull of Jupiter's gravity, creating enough heat, scientists think, to support a global ocean beneath the moon's solid shell.

BEPCII luminosity sets world record as 1×10^33/cm^2/s

At 22:29 pm, April 5th, the luminosity of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII) reached 1×1033cm-2s-1, a new landmark in the performance of the BEPCII-- 100 times better than before it was upgraded. This is also the highest luminosity yet achieved for such an accelerator in this energy region.

Chemical weathering controls erosion rates in rivers

Chemical weathering can control how susceptible bedrock in river beds is to erosion, according to new research. In addition to explaining how climate can influence landscape erosion rates, the results also may improve scientists' ability to interpret and predict feedbacks between erosion, plate tectonics and Earth's climate.

The research, led by The University of Texas at Austin, was published in Nature on April 14, 2016.

Scientists discover how to control heart cells using a laser

Scientists from MIPT's Laboratory of the Biophysics of Excitable Systems have discovered how to control the behaviour of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) using laser radiation; this study will help scientists to better understand the mechanisms of the heart and could ultimately provide a method of treating arrhythmia. The paper has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Iowa State physicist analyzes first electron neutrino data from NOvA Experiment

AMES, Iowa - Mayly Sanchez clicked to a presentation slide showing the telltale track of an electron neutrino racing through the 14,000-ton Far Detector of the NOvA Neutrino Experiment.

Since that detector started full operations in November 2014, two analyses of data from the long-distance experiment have made the first experimental observations of muon neutrinos changing to electron neutrinos. One analysis found 11 such transitions. And, Sanchez wrote on her slide, "All 11 of them are absolutely gorgeous."

Thick-skinned bed bugs beat commonly used bug sprays

The global resurgence in bed bugs over the past two decades could be explained by revelations that bed bugs have developed a thicker cuticle that enables them to survive exposure to commonly used insecticides, according to University of Sydney research published today in PLOS ONE.

Bed bugs are blood suckers that produce intense bites and cause significant financial heartache in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Understanding why they have again become so common may help develop new strategies for their control.