Category: Writing for Other Sites
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In Soviet Russia, material compresses *you*
Most solids compress when squeezed, though the effect isn’t very large for most technologically important materials (metals, ceramics, and so forth). A few rare materials exhibit negative compressibility: they expand in the direction the force is exerted, though again the effect is small. However, researchers figured out a way to produce extraordinarily large negative compressibility,…
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Boosting solar cell efficiency with wires smaller than the wavelength of light
Researchers working on the next generation of photovoltaic solar cells—cells that convert sunlight directly into electrical current—are looking toward exotic materials (which are expensive) or more common substances, but use subtler methods to extract energy. A new study used a basic semiconductor material, already in use in solar cell research, but made it into a…
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Straight outta Compton…
(This was my original title for my article, but my editors evidently didn’t like it. I guess I’m too old school. Ahem. Moving right along.) As you may know, quantum physics shows that matter has both a wavelike and particle-like character. When you combine quantum physics and special relativity, you find that a particle at…
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4,096 miniature antennas on a chip send shaped light
Phased arrays consist of multiple antennas, all driven from a single source. By combining the output from all those antennas, you can make the light very directional, or give it a particular shape. Typically, phased arrays use radio light: big radar installations use them, as does the Very Large Array (VLA) of radio telescopes. A…
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Maybe you could be the one to discover the next Earth
The orbiting Kepler observatory has been a remarkably successful project since its inception. By watching one small patch of the sky continuously, Kepler has enabled astronomers to discover upward of 2300 possible exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars. While many of those candidates likely are not actually planets, follow-up observations have confirmed 854 exoplanets as of December…
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Bad news for some planets in binary star systems?
How quickly things can change in science: just a few years ago, we were barely able to talk about the diversity of planetary systems. Now, we are able to distinguish between planets orbiting in tight binary systems from those in wide binaries. Additionally, exoplanets in tight binaries can orbit either both stars together (circumbinary, or Tatooine-like…
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Why do half of Andromeda’s satellite galaxies orbit in a plane?
Our local group of galaxies—known imaginatively as the Local Group—has two huge galaxies: the Milky Way and M31, also known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Both of these galaxies are large enough to have a number of satellites, including the substantial Magellanic Clouds and M33 (Triangulum Galaxy). However, most satellites are dwarf galaxies, very faint and…
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Quantum entanglement between La Palma and Tenerife
Quantum entanglement is a weird concept in a theory full of weird concepts. A typical experiment goes as follows: you prepare a pair of photons such that their polarizations are complementary. A subsequent measurement on one photon will reveal the outcome of a related measurement on the other photon—no matter how widely they are separated.…
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The band has stopped playing, but we keep dancing
The band has stopped playing, but we keep dancing The world keeps turning, the world keeps turning. –Tom Waits A lot of nonsense has been written over the years about various “prophecies” predicting the end of the world, including stuff by people who should know better. What you see in newspapers, magazines, and TV shows…
Bowler Hat Science 