Physics

Physicists worldwide showed spirit and innovation, but 2020 can’t end soon enough. Physics World editor-in-chief Matin Durrani looks back at the year that’s coming to an end. (Courtesy: iStock/photo_Pawel) I remember receiving one of those “hilarious” WhatsApp messages in mid-March just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold and everyone was going slightly mad. Signed

By Rebecca and Chrystian Vieyra As teachers, students, and their families have navigated online learning this year, science education has taken a bit of a hit. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported that only 38% of teachers who responded to a survey said that they had been able to engage their students

Maps of regional lung expansion in (left) a mouse with cystic fibrosis-like disease and (right) a healthy littermate. (Courtesy: Monash University) This year has been a year like no other. In 2020, many physicists turned their research efforts towards tackling the pandemic. Within medical physics, researchers worked to develop improved diagnostics and potential treatments for

Eye in the sky: data from the Jason-3 satellite was used in the study. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Third-degree tides – tiny sea-level fluctuations once known only locally from measurements made by tidal gauges – have been mapped out across the globe by geophysicist Richard Ray at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, US. As well

Heat sssssensorsss A large-eyed green pit viper. The pit organs are small depressions between the snake’s nostrils and eyes. (Courtesy: iStock_TommyIX) Regular readers of Physics World know that we have a penchant for materials and nanotechnology research. I developed my fondness for materials physics when I did a PhD many years ago on the magnetic

Tin is a commonplace metal that’s used industrially in a thousand different ways. From the solder that holds your computer’s motherboard together to the PVC plumbing under your sink, tin compounds are everywhere. In spite of its versatility, tin possesses an interesting physical property which is responsible for its tendency to wear down over time

Courtesy: iStock/agsandrew This pandemic-blighted year isn’t going to top anyone’s list of favourites, but looking on the bright side for a moment, 2020 has seen some remarkable advances in quantum science and technology. Here are a few of the highlights from subfields ranging from quantum fundamentals to quantum computing. The most precise thermometer possible How

Little wing: the sensor is made from tiny hollow spheres that are deposited on the surface of a chip. The largest gap between spheres is about 2 microns in size. (Courtesy: RMIT University) Photonic nanostructures found on the wings of some butterflies have inspired researchers in Australia to create a new and highly accurate sensor

Taken from the December 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. In this article (originally published in Lateral Thoughts, Physics World’s regular column of humorous and offbeat essays, puzzles, crosswords, quizzes and comics, which appears on the back page of the

Taken from the December 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Metaphorical Christmas Emma Chapman’s new book uses familiar elements of the holiday season to help explain the earliest stars. (Courtesy: iStock/da-kuk) With Christmas looming just around the corner, it will

Let it snow: Brighten up your holiday season with some quizzing. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/ESB-Professional) 1. It’s dark at the North Pole in winter. Fortunately, Santa’s reindeer have exceptional eyesight. Which wavelengths of light can they see? A Ultraviolet B Infrared C Microwave D All of the above 2. In 2019, researchers at the University of Manchester calculated

By Lindsay Olson Scientific Adviser:  Dr. Don Lincoln Curator: Georgia Schwender  As Fermilab’s first artist in residence, my workspace had some unusual supplies for an artist’s studio. Pinned to my idea board I had a list of subatomic particles, quotes from popular physics books, the names of inspiring physicists, and a picture of Nobel Laureate

In this episode, Andrew Glester is joined by Physics World journalists to discuss some of 2020’s best physics books, along with their favourite examples of physics featuring in television and film this year. For more information about all of the media discussed, you can revisit these reviews that have appeared in Physics World during 2020.

From left to right: Rong Tan, Yajing Shen and Xiong Yang from City University of Hong Kong are developing magnetically driven millirobots. (Courtesy: Xiong Yang) It is thrilling to live at a time when robots the size of small insects, known as millirobots, can open up new avenues of research. Such millirobots can be finely

Jin-Woo Han is Senior Scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Along with colleagues Meyya Meyyappan, Myeong-Lok Seol and Jungsik Kim, he has designed a nanoscale complementary vacuum field emission transistor (VFET). In this interview Han explains why his team is interested in VFETs and the challenges involved in creating the devices

Capillary condensation in atomic-scale channels. Courtesy: Zisong Ma, Yan Liang (USTC) When water vapour spontaneously condenses inside capillaries just 1 nm across, it behaves according to the 150-year-old Kelvin equation – defying predictions that this pre-quantum-era formula would inevitably break down at the atomic scale. This is the finding of researchers at the University of

Dutch scientists journeyed close to the North Pole to pursue a question that has baffled scientists for generations: Why is Rudolph’s nose red? Image Credit: Kia Krarup Hansen You may recall the most famous reindeer of all, though you might not have realized that a species of reindeer really does have a particularly rosy snout. In

A beam transformed: Optical transforms like tight focussing and total internal reflection, which gives rise to an evanescent field, can lead to out-of-plane polarization components and transverse spin, even for totally unpolarized input light. (Courtesy: Konstantin Bliokh/Diane Roth) It’s been almost a century since Wolfgang Pauli mooted the idea of “hidden rotation”: a new quantum

Dose and dose-rate distributions produced for multiple treatment beams using (left) intensity-modulated proton therapy and (right) simultaneous dose and dose-rate optimization (SSDRO) for a 10 Gy fraction. The plan quality was best for the SDDRO method using nine beams. (Courtesy: Med. Phys. 10.1002/mp.14531) The primary goal of radiotherapy is to deliver a large radiation dose

Radiation therapy providers in the US need to start preparing now for the introduction of the Radiation Oncology Alternative Payment Model (RO-APM) Alignment matters: Accuray is confident that its emphasis on hypofractionated and ultrahypofractionated radiotherapy will prove to be a good fit for the RO-APM. (Courtesy: Accuray) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Through the looking glass: the ALICE detector at CERN is currently being upgraded and may soon provide further insights into hyperon interactions. (Image: Julien Ordan/CERN) Collisions between high-energy protons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN have given physicists a first glimpse at interactions involving exotic particles called hyperons. Researchers working on the ALICE

Join the audience for a live webinar at 6 p.m. GMT/1 p.m. EDT on 27 January 2021 exploring the detection of multiple pathogens in easily accessible biological samples Want to take part in this webinar? The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the global need for inexpensive, simple-to-use pathogen tests accessible to individuals on a

Disagreements remain over spectral data, but the debate now considers pathways for life to survive the extreme conditions on Venus Turbulent world Computer simulated global view of Venus’ northern hemisphere (Courtesy: NASA/JPL) Do researchers still think that phosphine – a supposed signature of life – is present in the clouds of Venus? Could such a harsh environment

The content highlighted in this article has been created and hosted by Physics World’s corporate partners. It is free to read but you will be asked to share your contact details with the relevant partner first before being granted access immediately afterwards. Welcome to the latest in a new series of sponsored articles showcasing some

The Physics World 2020 Breakthrough of the Year has been awarded to an international team for creating a silicon-based material with a direct band gap that emits light at wavelengths used for optical telecommunications. This video provides a brief overview of the research and the applications it might enable in the coming years.

Atomic-scale image of two interacting donors in silicon. Credit : CQC2T Two-qubit gates – the central building blocks of quantum computers – operate by exploiting tunnelling interactions between qubits. A team of researchers in Australia has now found a way to optimize these interactions in silicon by determining where the qubits should be positioned within

Fault lines: a section of the Haiyuan fault that was ruptured by the 1920 earthquake. (Courtesy: Liu-Zeng Jing) On 16 December 1920 at about 7 p.m. local time, a magnitude-7.9 earthquake ripped along 240 km of fault in north-central China, razing two cities to the ground and severely damaging five others. It was one of

It’s a typical December scenario: The family trip to the tree lot. The Fraser Fir tied to the roof of the car. Dad under the branches screwing the stand to the trunk. And the inevitable wobbling of the 7-foot holiday embellishment as it threatens to topple over and onto the floor, scattering needles everywhere. When

Vortex flow: still from a simulation video showing how air from a sneeze can envelope a face shield. (Courtesy: Fujio Akagi/Isao Haraga/Shin-ichi Inage/Kozaburo Akiyoshi) Vortex rings created when a person sneezes can transport virus particles to the noses of people wearing face shields – according to fluid dynamics simulations done by Fujio Akagi and colleagues

Taken from the December 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Intuition is a funny thing. Loosely defined as the ability to know something without recourse to “conscious reasoning”, it is the notion that we can rely on “gut instinct” or

The experimental measurement of the fine-structure constant. © Pierre Cladé, Saïda Guellati-Khélifa and Tatsumi Aoyama The most precise measurement ever of the fine-structure constant has placed new constraints on theories that predict the existence of “dark sector” particles. The new value, which researchers in France measured using clouds of cold rubidium atoms, provides a stringent

You can now play a video game called Quantum Odyssey, which teaches all you need to rigorously understand quantum computation. Understanding the logic (set of rules, laws) followed by the building blocks of our Universe is no trivial matter – even more, to use this very logic and create meaningful computation, such as solving a

With MR-guided radiotherapy systems such as the Elekta Unity now available for clinical use, is there a future for adaptive radiotherapy without an MR-linac? (Courtesy: Elekta) The clinical introduction of MR-guided radiation therapy has brought high-contrast soft-tissue imaging into the radiotherapy workflow. MRI can visualize tumour targets and surrounding organs with high accuracy, delivering the

Taken from the December 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Inside view Kellie Gerardi returning from a successful microgravity research flight. (CC BY 4.0 Kellie Gerardi) When the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon in 1969 the whole world

In-flight video still from BOBCAT during liquid helium transfer at an altitude of 130,000 feet. Credit: NASA Balloon-borne telescopes can observe a wealth of astrophysical phenomena that ground-based instruments cannot, but onerous cooling requirements limit how much equipment can be taken aloft. Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center found a way to minimize this

Reconstructed vortex rings inside a magnetic micropillar. Credit: Claire Donnelly Researchers have observed three-dimensional magnetic vortex rings in a real-world magnetic material for the first time. Contrary to theoretical predictions, these rings – which are spin configurations within the material’s bulk – are remarkably stable and could move through the material like smoke rings move

A team led by investigators at MGH has developed a low-cost, compact, portable and low-power “head only” MRI scanner that could be mounted in an ambulance, wheeled into a patient’s room, or put in small clinics or doctors’ offices around the world. (Courtesy: Massachusetts General Hospital) MRI is the standard modality for assessing neurological disorders,

Ultracold reactions: shadows of atoms trapped in layers of an optical lattice, before they are paired into ultracold potassium-rubidium molecules. (Courtesy: Ye Group/JILA) A new technique to cool reactive molecules to temperatures low enough to achieve quantum degeneracy – something not generally possible before – has been created by researchers in the US. In this

Protein trio: what can we learn from molecular music? (Courtesy: Holger87/CC BY-SA 3.0) Protein folding is a process that is crucial to life and understanding its intricacies is an important challenge of computational biology. In many fields of science, converting data into sounds has helped researchers deal with complex patterns. Now, an international team of

By: Hannah Pell In the 2004 movie National Treasure, the main character Ben Gates — a historian, cryptographer, and treasure hunter played by Nicholas Cage — is determined to solve the generational mystery passed down to him from his grandfather. The only clue that Ben has is: The secret lies with Charlotte. Based on this,

The IOP’s Teacher Training Scholarship programme provides an attractive route into physics teaching for recent graduates as well as mid-career scientists and engineers working across a range of industries Back to school: Alastair Miatt (above) says the industry perspectives gained throughout his career at Jaguar Land Rover now help him to make physics relatable to

Like much of the world, scientists thrive on coffee. It’s not just because of the caffeine though, it turns out that even spilled coffee fuels research. Most people are annoyed by nagging coffee stains, but to physicist Sidney Nagel they were inspiration. If you’re a coffee lover (or you live with one), I guarantee that

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features a lively chat about some of the best physics done this year as we unveil our Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2020. Our choices run the gamut from medical physics to particle astrophysics – and we even have two “Holy Grails” in the fields of superconductivity and semiconductor

Each December, Physics World selects its Top 10 Breakthroughs of the year. Watch this video to find out which research has made it onto this year’s shortlist. On Thursday 17 December, one of the ten will be crowned Physics World’s Breakthrough of the Year 2020. In addition to having been reported in Physics World in 2020, our

Ultrasound absorbers: false-colour 3D representation of a 0.21×0.28 mm wing section of the moth Lasiocampa quercus showing the structure, diversity, and arrangement of base scales (orange) and cover scales (blue and yellow). (Courtesy: Simon Reichel/Thomas Neil/Zhiyuan Shen/Marc Holderied) Natural acoustic metamaterials found on the wings of some moths could help the insects avoid being eaten

Thumbs-up for randomness David Drahi in the quantum optics lab. (Courtesy: David Drahi) While world events are often difficult to predict, true randomness is surprisingly hard to find. In recent years, physicists have turned to quantum mechanics for a solution, using the inherently unpredictable behavior of photons to generate the truly random numbers that underpin

They sniff out drugs, cadavers, missing people, explosives, and even cancer. Dogs are more than man’s best friend, they are some of the best chemical detectors in existence. They are so good that by modifying a commercially available explosives detector to act like a dog’s nose, researchers were able to make the detector much more

New spin on topology: spin guided light scattering has been observed in a liquid crystal (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Serg-DAV) Just as topological insulators provide protection to electrons travelling along their edges and surfaces, photons can also be topologically protected. This can occur when photon scattering modes are associated with just one spin state. Now, researchers in India