New ‘vacuum ultraviolet’ laser is 100 to 1,000 times more efficient than existing tech
The vacuum ultraviolet region is the area of the electromagnetic spectrum lying between X-rays and visible light. It…
Cambridge scientists capture electrons leaping across solar materials in 18 femtoseconds
A tiny burst of motion inside a molecule may be enough to shove an electron across a solar…
New platinum-free photocatalyst turns sunlight and water into renewable energy
A small beaker of water can look ordinary. Under the right light, it can also become a quiet…
Prosthetic arm blurs the line between machine and human body
A virtual forearm can bend in a blink. It can also take its time, easing toward a target…
NYU physicists create visible time crystals levitated by sound
A strange form of matter called a time crystal has fascinated physicists for about a decade. These systems…
Scientists develop a shelf-stable ‘smart’ plastic that hardens only when you trigger it
A bucket of liquid plastic that never hardens sounds like a fantasy in a factory. It is also…
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…
Scientists bend magnetic fields around real-world objects to create ‘invisibility cloaks’
For nearly 20 years, physicists and engineers have chased the idea of invisibility. Early efforts focused on hiding…
Scientists reduce the time for quantum learning tasks from 20 million years to 15 minutes
Learning how a physical system behaves usually means repeating measurements and using statistics to uncover patterns. That approach…
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.…
New tests show Jordan lead codices are not all modern fakes
For more than a decade, a set of tiny lead books from Jordan has sat in a strange…
Next-generation quantum sensor sees the magnetic world in unprecedented detail
In labs around the world, scientists chase forces too faint to see and too small to touch. They…