Latest News
Our pick of the latest physics stories from around the world wide web.
English wine gets help from space
05/11/2009
A number of English vineyards have signed up to make use of a satellite imaging service to boost harvests.
Sand patterns baffle scientists
29/10/2009
With nothing more than beads in a glass box, physicists have revealed yet another mysterious property of granular solids, now recognized by scientists as a unique state of matter, like solids or gases.
Solar superpower: Should Europe run on Sahara sun?
26/10/2009
Giant electricity plants in the Sahara desert could provide 15 per cent of Europe's power. But there may be better solar solutions closer to home
Tuesday is the rainiest day
23/10/2009
Analysis of historical data shows there is a genuine reason to detest that day - and disproves the pessimistic assumption that it rains more at weekends.
'Quick test' for airport liquids
20/10/2009
Scientists say they have developed a quick technique for detecting liquids that could be used as explosives.
Lizards filmed walking on water
13/10/2009
Remarkable slow-motion footage has been taken of two lizards that seem to do the impossible - walk on water.
Nobel honours 'masters of light'
06/10/2009
Three scientists who corralled light to transform our communications systems share this year's physics Nobel Prize.
Space radiation hits record high
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01/10/2009
Our solar system's natural shields are letting in a flood of cosmic rays, resulting in record-high radiation levels that pose a hazard to space missions.
Locust flight simulator helps robot insects evolve
29/09/2009
A locust flight simulator could be the key to perfecting the ultimate surveillance machine: an artificial flying insect.
Spacecraft see 'damp' Moon soils
24/09/2009
Data from three spacecraft, including India's Chandrayaan probe, shows that very fine films of water coat the particles that make up the lunar dirt.
Mayans 'played' pyramids to make music for rain god
22/09/2009
Rain reveals that Mexican pyramids could have been built to be musical instruments for the gods.
Too much radiation for astronauts to make it to Mars
17/09/2009
Radiation may be the biggest hurdle to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and could put a damper on a recently proposed mission to Mars orbit.
Xbox speeds up research results
15/09/2009
Researchers have harnessed the powerful silicon chips used in the Xbox 360 console to solve scientific conundrums.
Upgraded Hubble telescope snaps dazzling new images
10/09/2009
The first batch of images taken since Hubble's repair in May includes portraits of celestial dragons and giant butterflies.
Egyptian temples followed heavenly plans
08/09/2009
Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned so precisely with astronomical events that people could set their political, economic and religious calendars by them.
Microscopes zoom in on molecules at last
01/09/2009
Decades after the first microscope pictures of atoms, take a look at the first ever close-up of a molecule.
Magic ink offers full-colour printing in an instant
26/08/2009
An ink that produces colour in the same way as birds and insects could be used for super-fast full-colour printing.
Gigantic jets blast electricity into upper atmosphere
24/08/2009
Scientists have photographed "upwards lightning", a rarely-seen phenomenon where electricity from storms flows into the upper atmosphere.
Global warming could change Earth's tilt
21/08/2009
The planet's spin axis will shift as rising ocean temperatures cause water to expand and redistribute itself, a new study suggests.
How to turn seawater into jet fuel
19/08/2009
The US navy has shown it can take carbon dioxide and hydrogen from the ocean and turn it into fuel – but this is far from free energy.
Amino acid found on a comet for the first time
18/08/2009
NASA's Stardust mission confirms that some of the building blocks of life were delivered to the early Earth from space.
Planet found orbiting its star backwards for first time
13/08/2009
The planet is also the most bloated yet detected – its low density and strange path might both be traced back to a close encounter with a planetary sibling.
Skywatchers set for meteor shower
11/08/2009
Skygazers are getting ready to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on Wednesday.
Myth of raindrop formation exploded
22/07/2009
For 100 years, physicists have struggled to find a mechanism that produces both large and small raindrops during the same rain shower – now high-speed video seems to have come up with an answer.
Unidentified object punches Earth-sized hole in Jupiter
21/07/2009
An Australian man alerts NASA to a scar in the gas giant's atmosphere caused by a comet or asteroid cras.
The first Earthling to journey to Mars - Conan the Bacterium
13/07/2009
Specimens of brewer's yeast and microbes are to be transported to Mars' moon Phobos to see if they can survive in space.
Nasa satellites reveal extent of Arctic sea ice loss
10/07/2009
The first study of the thickness of Arctic ice shows that the permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has dramatically reduced.
Interplanetary internet gets permanent home in space
07/07/2009
A new protocol which could one day handle deep-space communications is now being tested aboard the International Space Station.
Record-breaking solar cells are tailored to their location
02/07/2009
Solar cells tuned to particular wavelengths make the most of the light at different places on Earth, boosting efficiency to record levels.
Physics brings realism to virtual reality
29/06/2009
The latest multi-core processors and smart software create virtual worlds governed by real physics.
Magnetic 'superatoms' promise tuneable materials
26/06/2009
Breakthrough paves the way for nano-scale building blocks that could be used to make faster computer processorsand denser memory storage.
'Lightbulb' molecule has a bright future
25/06/2009
A single molecule that reliably emits white light could speed the development of low-energy LEDs for the next generation of light sources and displays.
Computer-generated sound effects make a splash
09/06/2009
The sound effects for computer-generated movies are still recorded from real life, but modelling the physics of the real world could change that – see and hear the results for yourself.
Early rocks to reveal their ages
08/06/2009
A new technique has been helping scientists piece together how the Earth's continents were arranged 2.5 billion years ago.
