The Poop Emoji Got Gravity Right, Physicists Find
The poop emoji accurately captures the typical poop shape in nature formed by the downward pull of gravity.…
Scientists Just Turned Silkworm Silk Into a Near-Kevlar Supermaterial
Spider silk is reportedly five times stronger than steel. With some genetic adjustments, silkworm silk can get even…
Diamonds Get a Little Squishy at the Nanoscale. Here’s Why
Familiar materials will act differently at the smallest scales. Notably, diamonds—typically hard and brittle—grow strangely soft at the…
Liquids Crack With an Audible Snap, Study Finds
At the most fundamental levels, science often challenges common sense. And a new finding might be the most…
Physicists Say They’ve Cracked the Mystery of Volcanic Lightning
Volcanic lightning looks surreal: an arc of light rises from the volcanic crater, stretching out into the murky…
High-temperature superconducting dome mapped in nickelate thin films
Physicists hunting for new superconductors often look for a very specific shape hidden in their data—a dome. In…
Scientists Discover Time Crystals You Can Hold—and They Levitate
Last year, physicists created a time crystal—atomic arrangements repeating motion patterns—visible to the naked eye. But the latest…
Excitons Let Scientists Reshape Quantum Materials With Less Light
Light can do more than illuminate a material. In some cases, it can temporarily change how electrons move…
Scientists create Bose-Einstein condensate leading to a new fifth state of matter
In a Columbia University laboratory in New York, physicist Sebastian Will and his team have reached one of…
Proposed Magnetic Cloak Could Make Sensitive Tech Practically Invisible
Hospitals, power grids, aerospace systems, and scientific laboratories all host extremely sensitive technologies that allow the facilities to…
High-Tech ‘Bubble Wrap’ Lets You Hold Fire Without Getting Burned
Buildings can leak a lot of heat. Scientists think the remedy might come in the form of fireproof,…
New transparent window material could cut building energy loss by 50%
In most buildings, windows remain the most vulnerable part of the structure when it comes to energy loss.…