A funny thing happened when Sergio de la Barrera and his colleagues started playing around with sheets of graphene – they created a new type of “quasicrystal” with fascinating properties that could help scientists explore exotic kinds of physics. Read more in CIC News.
physics
Donna Strickland adjusts to her newfound fame as a research rock star
Canada’s newest Nobel laureate discusses the challenges of explaining her work, dealing with the attention, and what to wear to a Nobel ball. Winning a Nobel Prize is the pinnacle of a scientific career, but the unexpected early morning phone call brings with it a whole new set of challenges. For Donna Strickland, who won […]
Why a Brick Oven Is Best for Cooking Pizza
The science of heat transfer confirms the wisdom of Italian pizzaiolos. Connoisseurs of pizza know that there’s something special about a pizza cooked in a traditional wood-fired brick oven. But what is it that makes such a pie so much better than one cooked at home in a domestic oven? While sampling the local pizza […]
The microscope makers
A small community of scientists has taken a do-it-yourself approach to microscopy: when the right tool for the job doesn’t exist, make it. While pursuing a bioengineering PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Wesley Legant ran into a frustrating roadblock: he had ideas, but the equipment to carry them out didn’t yet exist. […]
Nature Outlook: Batteries
Batteries have the potential to transform the way we use energy, to make electric cars mainstream and to allow renewable energy sources, which tend to be intermittent, to be integrated into the power grid. Today’s best batteries are reaching their limits, but researchers are experimenting with new chemistries and designs. Read more in this Nature Outlook that […]
New Broom Technology Sweeps Through Curling World
Reversing a typical nylon curling brush’s fabric could dramatically change the sport. Even though the ice is still the same, and most of the 42-pound stones sent down the ice in each contest still come from the Scottish island of Ailsa Craig, there’s a technological controversy brewing in the world of curling. Top players are […]
Development Of Airplanes Is Like Biological Evolution, Engineer Says
Airplanes and birds may have followed similar pattern to increase efficiency. The development of passenger aircraft over the past century mirrors the evolution of flying animals, and shows that evolution is not just a biological phenomenon, according to a paper published today in the Journal of Applied Physics. Adrian Bejan, a mechanical engineer at Duke University […]
A drop in the river of time
Some things in science are worth waiting for. Sometime towards the end of this year, one of the rarest events in science is expected to occur. In a display case in the lobby of the physics department at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, a small drop of black tar distillate known as pitch […]
Spot of bother: have we been getting solar activity wrong?
For 400 years sunspot numbers have told us what the sun is up to. But wrinkles in the record have left solar scientists scratching their heads, until now. EVERY lunchtime, Gustav Holmberg leaves his desk at Lund University in Sweden to take part in a scientific ritual that stretches back to Galileo’s time. Back at his flat, […]
Pitch-drop custodian dies without witnessing a drop fall
John Mainstone, who for 52 years tended to one of the world’s longest-running laboratory experiments but never saw it bear fruit with his own eyes, died on 23 August after suffering a stroke. He was 78. Mainstone had been looking after the pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia since he arrived at the university […]