Physics News Graphics Sorted by Date

Physics News Graphics Index by Date

Nano-Champagne(October 16, 2008)
Electron micrographs of the iron oxide nanotubes.

Flexible Display(October 16, 2008)
Organic light emitting diodes make possible a variety of flexible displays.

Penrose Tilings(October 16, 2008)
Quasicrystal

NIST atom trap(October 16, 2008)
Trapped atoms make possible high-precision atomic clocks

Strongly-bound Ultracold Molecules(October 15, 2008)
For the first time tightly bound molecules in large numbers have been held at very low temperatures.

Nobel Prize Winner(October 7, 2008)
Picture of Yoichiro Nambu, one of the three 2008 physics Nobel Prize winners.

Strongest Material(July 28, 2008)
A new experiment is the first to directly measure the strength of graphene, and it is now considered the world?s strongest material.

On Very Thing Ice(June 4, 2008)
Ice only a few nm thick has for the first time been imaged in the act of forming into a sheet

New Form of Helium(May 28, 2008)
An experiment in Italy has for the first time observed directly nuclear-fragments consisting of two protons.

Xenon Ketchup(May 15, 2008)
Data recovered from the wreck of the Space Shuttle Columbia helps scientists understand how the viscosity of fluids can change dramatically

Carbon Dioxide in Collision(April 23, 2008)
A new study provides the best understanding yet of how carbon dioxide molecules absorb infrared radiation even in the act of colliding other molecules

Carbon Dioxide in Collision(April 24, 2008)
A new study provides the best understanding yet of how carbon dioxide molecules absorb infrared radiation even in the act of colliding other melecules

Carbon Dioxide in Collision(April 23, 2008)
A new study provides the best understanding yet of how carbon dioxide molecules absorb infrared radiation even in the act of colliding other molecules

Atom Wave Cloaking(March 17, 2008)
A new scheme would make a region of space invisible to atom waves

World's Smalles Diamond Ring(March 13, 2008)
Australian scientists have made a diamond ring only 4 microns across

World's Smallest Diamond Ring(March 14, 2008)
Australian scientists have made a diamond ring only 5 microns across.

Atom Wave Cloaking(March 12, 2008)
A new scheme would make a region of space invisible to atom waves

Fractal Plant Tumor(February 28, 2008)
A new study looks at fractals in time and space

Darkest Object(February 5, 2008)
A nanotube array is the darkest object ever made in the lab

Neutrinos and Non-proliferation(February 4, 2008)
Tiny neutrino detectors will let international inspectors monitor reactor output.

Mesons inside Nuclei(January 22, 2008)
A new calculation shows why carbon-14's halflife is so long, permitting archeologists to use for carbon dating

Acoustic Cloaking(January 11, 2008)
Physicists imagine an object invisible to sound waves.

Vibrating Capsid(January 3, 2008)
Scientists try to learn the resonant frequencies of viral capsids, the better to destroy them.

Helium-8(December 21, 2007)
A new experiement has measured the charge-radius of the He-8 isotope

Helium-8(December 21, 2007)
A new experiment has measured the charge-radius of the He-8 isotope

Digital Drop Sorting(Nov. 12, 2007)
A new microfluidic chip sorts drops electrostatically

Acoustic Quantum Dots(September 7, 2007)
Acoustic waves in a Gas surface can be used to move electrons around a microchip

Gravity Imprint of Sumatra Earthquake(August 28, 2007)
The GRACE satellite measures gravity at places around the Earth and can show the effect of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Nuclear Antenna(August 28, 2007)
A new theory suggests that intense laser light could interact with strong electric fields near atomic nuclei to produce muons.

Light-Driven Electricity(August 21, 2007)
Laser light can be used to drive electricity.

Single Atom Spins(August 20, 2007)
The spin properties of single atoms can be measured.

Ferromagnetic Superconductor(August 3, 2007)
A new material is both superconducting and ferromagnetic under conditions of ordinary pressures and warmer temperatures than before.

Creating Heaviest Hydrogen(July 24, 2007)
Researchers in France have made the heaviest yet isotope of hydrogen

Spontaneous Separation of Charged Grains(July 11, 2007)
A new experiment shows how two populations of charged grains can unmix themselves through electrostatic forces

All-Optical Magnetic Recording(June 25, 2007)
All-optical recording may speed up data encoding.

Polonium Structure(June 12, 2007)
A new theory explains why polonium possesses a simple cubic structure, the only element to do so.

Ripping Fluids(May 16, 2007)
Some fluids, if you slice them quickly enough, act like a solid

90-nm Resolution MRI(April 30, 2007)
A new device at IBM-SAn Jose produce MRI images with better-than-100-nm resolution

The APS March Meeting of 1987 - The "Woodstock of Physics"(February 26, 2007)
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity

Nanotube Repair(February 7, 2007)
Scientists have now determined how carbon nanotubes can repair themselves so quickly

High School Physics Enrollment Hits Record High(January 10, 2007)
U.S. high school students are taking physics in record numbers, the AIP Statistical Research Center reports.

Cranked Nuclei(December 28, 2006)
A new experiment achieves nuclei with spins as high as 65 units.

Guided Atom Laser(December 20, 2006)
An atom laser can now emit its atom waves sideways on a quasi-continuous basis.

X-Ray Rainbow(December 11, 2006)
For the first time an X-ray beam has been spread out into a rainbow of X-ray "colors"

Turbulence in Space(November 22, 2006)
Turbulence in space has been directly measured for the first time

Baryonic Periodic Table(October 23, 2006)
Scientists at Fermilab have discovered the heaviest baryons ever

First Antimatter Chemistry(October 9, 2006)
A new experiment at CERN looks at slow antiprotonic hydrogen.

Paser(September 12, 2006)
The first demonstration of the idea of particle acceleration by stimulated emission of radiation.

Artificial-Muscle Display(September 6, 2006)
Tunable diffraction gratings based on artificial muscles could bring a new generation of color displays.

Optical Antenna(September 5, 2006)
A device, mounted right on the face of a commercial diode laser, allows 800-nanometer-wavelength light to resolve structures only 40 nanometer in size.

Metallic Water(August 30, 2006)
Under some conditions of high pressure and temperature, water is expected to act like a metal.

Sharpest Manmade Thing(August 9, 2006)
A new etching method allows needles to be tapered down at the end to the width of a single atom.

Measuring Gravity at the Micron Scale(August 9, 2006)
Quantum and gravity measurements mix for the first time.

Chemical Transistor(July 24, 2006)
A fast-acting, sensitive transistor is triggered by chemical signals, not electrical signals.

BEC Magnetometer(July 17, 2006)
Bose-Einstein condensates can be used in producing a high-sensitivity, high-resolution magnetometer.

SASER(June 2, 2006)
New advances in producing an acoustic equivalent of lasers

Double Quantum Dot(April 11, 2006)
Sound waves can be used to send an electron from one quantum dot to another.

Sharper X-Ray Imaging(April 11, 2006)
Hard X-rays can be focused to a line only 30 nanometer across.

Sunlight on a Chip(April 4, 2006)
Phosphors can turn light from a blue LED into a beam of warm white light.

Black Hole Merger(March 28, 2006)
New computer simulations do the best job ever of depicting what happens to spacetime when two black holes merge.

Submersible Hologram Microscope(March 28, 2006)
Micron-resolution pictures of marine organisms recorded in the ocean using a holographic microscope.

DNA Traversing through a Tiny Pore(March 22, 2006)
Researchers are testing fundamental properties of individual biomolecules such as DNA by moving them through nanometer-scale pores.

CMB Polarization Map(March 17, 2006)
The Inflation scenario of the big bang passes long-awaited test with new cosmic microwave background data.

Atom Wire(February 27, 2006)
Wires only one atom wide and 150 atoms long can support a strange type of electricity.

Hostile Takeover of Small Fluid Vortices(February 27, 2006)
Scientists have determined that large circulation patterns such as hurricanes drain the energy of smaller vortices to sustain themselves.

Z Pinch Machine(February 27, 2006)
A new temperature record was set recently at the Sandia's Z machine.

Sharper Electron Microscope Pix(February 17, 2006)
A new addition to electron microscopes will improve contrast for difficult-to-image biological subjects.

Cosmic Ray Air Shower(February 6, 2006)
Incoming cosmic rays might create miniature black holes in the atmosphere

Superhydrophobic Surface(February 6, 2006)
An upside-down hydrofoil effect helps to reduce drag

Dumbbell-Shaped Nucleus(January 19, 2006)
The beryllium-10 nucleus behaves a lot like a molecule: it can be thought of as two alpha particles held together by some extra neutrons.

Crusty Quark Stars(January 3, 2006)
A new idea about quark star surfaces

Art in Crystallography(December 29, 2005)
A new annual competition showcases visual-art works dealing with the science of crystals.

Beetle Photonic Crystal(December 21, 2005)
The outer shell of the Hoplia coerulea beetle is a photonic crystal

Stargazing on Mars(December 15, 2005)
NASA's Mars rovers are now offering some striking views of the planet's night sky, including shooting stars, lunar eclipses, and possibly cosmic rays.

Optical Vortex(November 22, 2005)
A new device will help astronomers to observe extrasolar planets directly.

Helium Nanodroplets(November 15, 2005)
Tiny droplets of helium can be used to chill molecules of nitrogen oxide for making extremely clear spectra.

Skunk Cabbage Controls Its Internal Temperature(November 8, 2005)
A species of lily can maintain its internal temperature even below the freezing point.

Waveguide for Slow Light(November 8, 2005)
A column of cold atoms are used as waveguide for slowing and focusing light.

Color Superconductivity(November 1, 2005)
A new form of superconductivity might exist at the heart of highly compressed stars.

Cheerios Effect(Sept. 15, 2005)
A drawing pin floating upturned on water. The deformation of the interface in this case is opposite to that around a bubble or near a wall that has been wetted.

Thermodynamic Evidence for Fermi Superfluidity(July 5, 2005)
In efforts to find a superfluid state in ultracold Fermi gases, researchers are making measurements of the gas's thermodynamic properties such as its heat capacity.

Room Temp Liquid Sodium(May 5, 2005)
Sodium has the most extensive negative melting curve ever observed

Solid State Refrigerator(April 13, 2005)
An on-chip solid-state refrigerator can chill large chunks of matter

Relaxation Oscillator(April 7, 2005)
The heart of the world's smallest electric motor consists of metallic blobs sitting on a carbon nanotube

Wet Biotransistor(April 7, 2005)
The single-protein biotransistor in a wet environment has been created

240 Electrons Set in Motion(March 3, 2005)
Light can be used to excite all 240 valence electrons in a C-60 molecule

Light With Orbital Angular Momentum(February 23, 2005)
Light with a property called "orbital angular momentum" has unique and very useful properties.

Nuclides Galore(November 24, 2004)
A single nuclear collision experiment has produced more than 1400 nuclides.

Splitting Up Cooper Pairs(November 3, 2004)
Researchers have split up Cooper pairs in a copper wire and sent the two electrons down separate wires.

How Atoms Release Their Stress(October 19, 2004)
Researchers have experimentally observed that atoms can shed their excess energy by giving it to a neighbor.

Dust Crystal at 40,000 K(October 19, 2004)
Crystals of dust particles can form even at a temperature of 40,000 K.

Imaging Veins(October 12, 2004)
Subcutaneous blood flow can be imaged and re-projected on a patient's arm, helping a nurse in the task of finding a vein.

An MRI Wind Tunnel(October 4, 2004)
Researchers have introduced a technique for using magnetic resonance imaging to measure high-speed fluid flows.

The Helium-6 Nucleus(September 28, 2004)
The radius of the helium-6 nucleus has been determined for the first time with great accuracy.

Antenna for Visible Light(September 16, 2004)
Nanotubes can be used to catch visible light the way antennas catch radio waves.

Meson-Quark Model of the Nucleus(September 2, 2004)
A new nuclear model uses the best parts of the quark picture and meson picture of nuclear matter.

Optical Funnel for Focusing Atoms(August 26, 2004)
A new device can focus cold neutral atoms with a funnel of light.

Artificial Tubes Mimic Naturally Occurring Structures(July 30, 2004)
Scientists have created strikingly complex artificial versions of tubes found in caves and the ocean floor.

Swimming Bacteria Stir Up Fluid(July 22, 2004)
Contrary to previous belief, groups of swimming bacteria can significantly mix a fluid.

Braiding Patterns in Flowing Streams(July 14, 2004)
Researchers have explained how a beautiful pattern in water streams can sometimes form.

Nanotube Water(June 21, 2004)
Water molecules arrange themselves strangely inside carbon nanotubes.

Evidence for Superfluidity in an Atom-Based Fermi Gas(April 13, 2004)
Pictures and movies of an ultracold lithium-6 gas acting like a "perfect jelly".

Multilevel Memory(March 9, 2004)
A molecular form of data storage can register information in more than just the traditional 0 and 1 states.

Self-Assembled Fluidic Machines(March 9, 2004)
A system of tiny gears can not only assemble itself but can be reconfigured to meet new requirements.

Attogram Mass Detection with a Cantilever(February 18, 2004)
An oscillating cantilever setup can be used to measure a particle's mass with attogram precision.

Light Emitting Transistor(December 30, 2003)
University of Illinois researchers have produced the world's first light emitting transistor (LET).

Criss-Crossing Laser Beams Zoom Electrons Along(December 22, 2003)
Crossing two high-intensity laser beams has some interesting effects that may help bring laser-based particle accelerators closer to practical use.

One-dimensional BEC(December 18, 2003)
A true one-dimensional atomic system, in the form of a Bose-Einstein condensate, has been made, for the first time.

Quark Spin in the Proton(December 18, 2003)
Researchers have discovered the orientations of quark spin in a proton.

Micro-Origami and Micromirrors(November 4, 2003)
Micro-origami may soon speed and simplify the manufacture of tiny microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices.

Playing Nanoguitars(October 28, 2003)
A nanoguitar, devised at Cornell years ago, has been "played" for the first time by shooting laser light at the silicon "strings."

Micromotor(October 28, 2003)
An MIT lab has made tiny motor that will provide electric power for portable microscale devices.

When Water and Alcohol Mix(October 14, 2003)
New x-ray studies show that water and methanol like to form organized, low-entropy clusters when they successfully mix.

Left Handed Material at Work(October 14, 2003)
Materials with a negative index of refraction are starting to live up to their promise.

Non-Contact Friction(September 4, 2003)
Two bodies can interact frictionally without actually touching.

The Big Rip(August 27, 2003)
A new cosmological model predicts that all bound systems, whether atoms or galaxies, will eventually fly apart.

Ultracold Fermi Gas(August 27, 2003)
Fermionic atoms can pair up at microkelvin temperatures.

Like-Charge Attraction Between Biomolecules(August 14, 2003)
Certain biomolecules of the same type, such as groups of actin proteins, can attract each other even though each >molecule has the same sign of electric charge.

Proton Shape(July 22, 2003)
The proton is spherical in average, but can be kneaded by its presence in a nucleus

Making Movies Inside Tissue(July 16, 2003)
A new imaging system relies on infrared light to take photos at varying depths inside living tissue, revealing structure that would otherwise be visible only after slicing the tumor into sections or irradiating it with ionizing x-rays.

Mottness(July 8, 2003)
Studying the ways in which cuprate materials become "Mott" insulators helps to understand how the same materials, in very different circumstances, can become good superconductors.

Ultra-intense Light Filaments(July 8, 2003)
Intense laser light has been successfully sent through laboratory "fog" that approximates atmospheric conditions.

Pentaquark(June 30, 2003)
A particle consisting of 5 quarks has been discovered for the first time.

Atoms that Climb Uphill(June 26, 2003)
Contrary to contemporary thought regarding the behavior of atoms deposited on thin films, under some conditions atoms climb up large crystal protrusions.

A New Twist on Spheromaks(June 12, 2003)
New experiments show that plasma spheromaks arise when a kink in a magnetic field twists into a corkscrew, and a puff of plasma breaks loose.

Color-Filtered STM(May 30, 2003)
Researchers have developed a method for filtering atom-scale microscopy images that enables them to better see desired atoms and chemical bonds.

Physics Olympiad, US Team 2003(May 21, 2003)
Twenty-four physics olympians visit the Air and Space Museum and their congressional representatives.

Perfect Insulin Crystal(May 7, 2003)
The discovery of mechanisms responsible for perfect insulin crystals may lead to improved crystal growth for medicines, microelectronics, and chemistry.

It Doesn't Take Much to Break Up Uracil(May 7, 2003)
Uracil, one of the base units in RNA molecules, one of the fundamental building blocks of living cells, can be broken apart by electrons possessing surprisingly little kinetic energy.

Carbon Nanowire inside a Carbon Nanotube(April 30, 2003)
A carbon nanowire, a one-dimensional string of carbon atoms threaded through a carbon nanotube, has been observed for the first time.

BEC Bragg Explosion(April 22, 2003)
A Bose Einstein condensate (BEC), held in place by an "optical lattice" of laser light, can scatter from this same lattice, creating a sort of explosion.

Femtogram Mass Detection(April 22, 2003)
The mass of microscopic particles can be determined by the change it produces to the resonant frequency of a cantilever to which the particle attaches.

Blood Vessel Networks(March 19, 2003)
A new mathematical model accurately describes the formation of blood vessel networks.

Sharpest Optical Image of Molecular Vibrations(March 18, 2003)
Researchers have made the sharpest optical images ever of molecular vibrations, revealing details as small as 20 nanometers in the process.

Shaking up Nanoparticles(February 27, 2003)
Agitating tiny metal particles suspended in fluids leads to intricate patterns that may point the way to self-assembling, nanoscale structures.

Tunable Optical Fibers(February 27, 2003)
Optical fibers have, for the first time, been tuned using liquid uptake in microfluidic channels.

Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography(February 13, 2003)
Ultraviolet beams from a synchrotron are testing out the lithographic procedures for producing the next generation of integrated circuits.

Cool Butterfly Photonic Crystals(January 27, 2003)
Natural photonic crystals add flash to some butterfly wings. New research suggests that butterflies at higher elevations may forgo the crystals and opt for dull brown wings in order to stay warm.

Non-Equilibrium BEC(January 13, 2003)
A BEC, created in such a way that initially not all atoms are at the same temperature, will oscillate in a characteristic way.

X-Ray Interferometry(January 6, 2003)
Interference has been carried out with x rays in a Fabre-Perot interferometer for the first time.

Lopsided Expansion of an Ultracold Gas(December 27, 2002)
Physicists have witnessed a bizarre, lopsided expansion of an ultracold atomic gas.

Self-Assembly of a Bacteria's Flagellum(December 27, 2002)
A sequence of steps shows how bacteria assemble a flagellum, which allows them to swim.

Tuning Carbon Nanotubes(December 23, 2002)
An electrode scheme has been used to discover the resonant mechanical frequencies of carbon nanotubes.

Chip-Based Protein Studies(December 13, 2002)
The flow of ions in and out of cells can be studied with a new chip-based platform.

Longest-Lived Atomic State Measured(December 4, 2002)
By watching atoms in a distant planetary nebula, scientists have determined the lifetime of the longest-lived atomic state ever measured.

Ferric Rings(November 26, 2002)
A new form of magnetic cooling has been discovered.

Bi-photon de Broglie Wavelength(November 13, 2002)
The wavelength of an entangled photon pair has been measured directly in an interference experiment for the first time.

Making Anti-Hydrogen(October 29, 2002)
An apparatus combines positrons with anti-protons to make neutral anti-hydrogen atoms.

Registry at Organic/Inorganic Interface(October 28, 2002)
For the first time, scientists have imaged in detail the crucial interface where an inorganic crystal is growing on, and in registry with, an inorganic material.

Noninvasive EEG(October 21, 2002)
EEGs can be performed without the need of invasive electrodes.

Neutron Holography(October 15, 2002)
Atomic-scale neutron holography is now possible.

3-D Ink Structure(October 7, 2002)
Novel inks allow printers to draw in three dimensions.

Legacy of the Laser Diode(October 4, 2002)
Physicists are celebrating the 40th birthday of the semiconductor or "diode" laser, the kind of laser that is now used in DVD players, compact disk players, barcode scanners and fiber optic communications.

Solar Surgery(September 25, 2002)
Sunlight can be collected outdoors and transported to an indoor operating room and used for surgical purposes

Pions Deform the Proton's Charge Cloud(September 16, 2002)
New experimental evidence suggests that pions, quark-antiquark pairs, may play a larger part in deforming a high-energy proton's cloud than do the proton's own quarks.

Self-Assembled Nanotube Network(September 13, 2002)
Nanotubes strung across silicon pillars might serve as a nano-neural net.

Hyper-Focusing a Sound Wave(September 13, 2002)
Using a technique called "time-reversed acoustics," researchers have focused a sound wave to a tiny spot, much smaller than allowed by traditional methods.

Self-Assembled Nanotube Network(September 13, 2002)
Nanotubes strung across silicon pillars might serve as a nano-neural net.

DNA Laser Film(August 29, 2002)
A laser in which fluorescent dye molecules reside in a DNA matrix has been demonstrated.

Laser-Driven Ion(August 26, 2002)
For the first time laser light has been used to produce, through plasma acceleration in a sample, a beam of energetic heavy ions, such as fluorine and carbon, at energies as high as 100 MeV.

Nanotube Diagnostic X-Ray Source(July 9, 2002)
A new design avoids the hot cathode used in conventional diagnostic x- ray devices to produce a cool, focused source of x rays.

Leaf Vein Networks(July 2, 2002)
A simple mechanical model is helping researchers to understand the patterns formed by leaf veins.

Ballistic Magnetoresistance(June 26, 2002)
A new, potent form of magnetoresistance operates at room temperature.

Microrocket(May 29, 2002)
A new "micro-rocket" joins up with the other components needed for producing a microsatellite.

Nonmagnetic Read-Head Sensors(May 14, 2002)
Areal densities of 115 Gb/in^2 have been achieved using nonmagnetic read-head sensors.

Soliton Train in Bose-Einstein Condensates(May 7, 2002)
In the latest stunning demonstration of the wavelike nature of matter, researchers have made "bright solitons" in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Mapping a Pore Fractal(February 26, 2002)
A fractal geometry of the empty space inside a porous material has been mapped for the first time.

Spiral Waves Break Hearts(January 29, 2002)
Experiments and simulations stress the importance of communication between heart cells in promoting healthy cardiac rhythms.

Two Fractal Dimensions(January 22, 2002)
An important growth process, diffusion-limited aggregation, is characterized by not one but two fractal dimensions.

Nuclei Go Through Phases(January 8, 2002)
Experimental evidence that a nucleus containing many neutrons and protons undergoes a change of phase--from a "liquid" to a "gas"--has been obtained for the first. time.

A Climatic Roller Coaster(January 7, 2002)
In what could be the latest identified example of a phenomenon called stochastic resonance, researchers have found evidence that abrupt ice-age warming events could have been triggered by random fluctuations, or "noise," in the North Atlantic ocean.

Acoustic Lens(January 2, 2002)
Scientists in Spain are the first to use a "sonic crystal" to focus sound waves at audible frequencies.

Dendrimer Laser(December 21, 2001)
Dendrimer lasers, which use fluorescing dye molecules lodged at the center of immense, branching polymer molecules, are now so intense that the can operate without the need for building up laser emission with the use of end mirrors.

The Nevatron, A Neutral Atom Storage Ring(December 14, 2001)
Neutral atoms, guided around small chips by current-carrying wires, can now be loaded into, and circulate several times, a storage ring.

Diffracted X-Ray Tracking(December 7, 2001)
X-Ray Tracking is a method for monitoring the rotary motion of single DNA molecules with picometer accuracy

Quantum Holography(November 21, 2001)
Quantum holography is a newly proposed technique for viewing hidden objects.

Sound-Activated Filter(November 6, 2001)
Sound waves lead to an efficient, switchable fluid filter.

X-Ray Flash Fly Photography(October 31, 2001)
X-ray photographs of flies reveal the characteristics of energy bursts emitted by the exploding wires in an X-pinch machine.

The Birth of a CO₂ Molecule(October 12, 2001)
In work that might provide insights into improving pollution-control devices, researchers have witnessed, at the single-molecule level, how carbon dioxide forms in a common chemical reaction on a metal surface

Swarming Bacteria(October 3, 2001)
The common soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis commences a curious migration behavior when it is exposed to elevated levels of ultraviolet light.

Black Hole Search at LHC(September 25, 2001)
Computer display of a hypothetical decay of a mini black hole in a collider detector.

Nanosprings(August 29, 2001)
Researchers have transformed boron carbide nanowires into helix-shaped "nanosprings" which may have a host of potential applications.

A Nuclear Lighthouse (July 19, 2001)
The Nuclear Lighthouse Effect provides a beacon of information about atoms.

Stretching Chains of Gold Atoms (July 3, 2001)
Researchers push engineering analysis to its limits by measuring the properties of chains formed of individual gold atoms.

Watching an Optical Tornado Reverse Its Spin (July 2, 2001)
For the first time, researchers have observed in detail a reversal in the spin of an optical vortex, a light beam with a central dark core.

All-Optical BEC (June 28, 2001)
For the first time a Bose-Einstein condensate of neutral atoms has been created in a trap which uses only laser beams to confine the atoms, not magnetic fields.

Chaos Hotspots on the Weather Map (June 13, 2001)
In efforts to improve weather forecasting, a multidisciplinary University of Maryland team has developed a technique that determines the location of chaos "hotspots," regions in which small changes in conditions are believed to magnify most quickly into large perturbations in the weather.

Acoustic Crystallization (June 1, 2001)
Ultrasound can be used to crystallize helium.

Perforated Diamonds (June 1, 2001)
Perforated diamonds hold up well to high pressures in diamond anvil cells.

Physics Olympiad Team 2001 Photographs
(May 26,2001) Photographs of the 2001 Physics Olympiad Team

Lighter than Air Plasma Bends Intense Electron Beam
A collaboration of physicists in California has shown that a rarified plasma, a million times less dense than air, can bend or "refract" an intense, high-energy electron beam that can ordinarily burn a hole through several millimeters of steel.

Bose-Einstein Vortices (May 10, 2001)
MIT researchers have created and magnified an array of vortices in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

BEC Papers (10 May, 2001)
The number of papers published in past years in the area of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) has grown quickly.

Two-photon Laser (7 May, 2001)
A laser in which two photons are emitted by each atom, has been driven into a chaotic regime, with possible
nonlinear optics applications possible.

Ultrasound Bandgap Materials (26 April, 2001)
Ultrasound bandgaps are to sound waves what semiconductors are to electrons and photonic band gap materials are to photons.

Complex Patterns in Microfluidic Channels (26 April, 2001)
Surprisingly intricate flow patterns may develop under certain conditions in microfluidic channels.

Carbon Nanotube Lighting (20 April, 2001)
Nanotubes are at the heart of a new type of lighting that soon may rival conventional fluorescent tubes.

Fermions vs Bosons Near Absolute Zero (23 March, 2001)
Trapping clouds of the two fundamental kinds of particles in nature, physicists have observed the striking differences between them at low temperatures.

Using the Moon as a Cosmic Ray Detector (20 March, 2001)
Some high energy cosmic rays create detectable Cerenkov radiation when they graze the soil on the lunar surface.

Most Spherical Thing (7 March, 2001)
A measurement of the electric dipole moment of mercury atoms shows that any separation of positive and negative charge would have to occur at the level of 10^-30 meters or less.

Gamma Ray Hologram (27 February, 2001)
A new procedure allows atomic-scale real-space gamma-ray holograms to be formed.

Surface Plasmon Molecules (23 February, 2001)
New research provides a detailed explanation for a baffling effect in which much larger-than-expected amounts of light passed through a metal barrier with tiny openings just a fraction of the light's wavelength.

Tungsten Trapped in a Silicon Cage Cluster (21 February, 2001)
Recently discovered arrangements of silicon atoms known as cage clusters are the
semiconductor equivalent of fullerenes, and may lead to novel materials and applications.

The Sharkskin Problem (20 February, 2001)
In efforts that can improve the quality of plastics, researchers have directly visualized how plastics can develop "sharkskin," a rough surface containing a repeated pattern of ridges.

Atomic Slide Puzzle (13 February, 2001)
The motion on a crystal surface arises from multiple interactions with rapidly moving vacancies (holes where atoms are missing from the lattice) leading to large displacements of atoms embedded in the surface, a phenomenon reminiscent of the translation of pieces in a slide puzzle toy.

Negative Heat Capacity (7 February, 2001)
The temperature of a cluster of sodium atoms can actually go down when energy is added.

Polymer Superstrings (1 February, 2001)
Under certain conditions, microscopic polymer droplets can coalesce into 10-cm-long strings that can potentially be used for numerous applications such as polymer wires.

Stopping Light (18 January, 2001)
Harvard physicists have stopped light in a vapor of rubidium atoms and have succeeded, for the first time, in transferring a coherent message from a light pulse to an atomic system.

Light Powered MEMS Rotor (12 January, 2001)
Tiny structures that spin when illuminated by laser beams may soon power micromachines.

Two-Proton Decay in Ne-18 (26 December, 2000)
Researchers may have finally detected elusive dual-proton emission from an excited neon isotope, potentially providing new insights to the force that holds atomic nuclei together.

A Jiggling Black Hole (20 December, 2000)
Numerical studies show that two colliding black holes will merge into one, oscillating body.

Atom Optics: Magnetic Conveyor Belt (13 December, 2000)
A conductor pattern laid down on a substrate can be used to transport and position tiny atom clouds.

Atom Optics: Beamsplitter on a Chip (13 December, 2000)
One of several new atom optics devices: a planar beam splitter.

Vortices Within Vortices (12 December, 2000)
Vortices within vortices spawn yet more vortices.

Random Noise and Blood Pressure (12 December, 2000)
A new experiment shows that a system in the human body that regulates blood pressure can be enhanced by the addition of random electrical noise in the nervous system.

Single Molecule STM Chemistry (September 22, 2000)
A new experiment tests how dust grains coalesced into planetesimals in the early solar system.

Trilobite Molecules (September 14, 2000)
New research predicts the existence of a giant two-atom molecule with an electron cloud resembling a trilobite, the ancient, hard-shelled creature which lived in the Earth's seas over 300 million years ago

Planetesimal Experiment (September 14, 2000)
A new experiment tests how dust grains coalesced into planetesimals in the early solar system.

Braided Light (August 31, 2000)
A new theory predicts that two beams of light can twine around each other in a plasma environment.

Rubidium fountain clock (August 25, 2000)
Experimental setup for an atomic clock employing laser-cooled rubidium atoms.

Pyramid Pixels (August 23, 2000)
Pyramid-shaped, organic pixels for displays can now be made without cumbersome mask technology.

Nonmolecular Nitrogen (August 23, 2000)
Molecular nitrogen can be squeezed until it dissociates into single atoms.

Crystal Growth Starts Flat (August 21, 2000)
Using an atomic-force microscope, researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville have produced the first sequence of molecular-scale images of the very earliest stages of crystal growth.

Two-Dimensional Turbulent Flows Leak Significant Energy (July 31, 2000)
To better understand the atmosphere, the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, and other "two-dimensional" fluids, researchers have studied how energy gets dissipated in a turbulent soap film.

Superconducting Transistor (July 12, 2000)
An Oxford-Naples group has developed a superconducting device with transistor-like properties including large current amplification.

New Nuclear Resonance (July 5, 2000)
A new form of nuclear resonance has been observed for the first time.

Self-Assembled Actin-Membrane Tubules (June 29, 2000)
Researchers have made self-assembling multilayer tubules with intriguing properties, such as a curious resemblance to the outermost components of bacterial cell walls.

Cloud Falls into Milky Way (June 29, 2000)
New measurements suggest that most deuterium was produced in the aftermath of the big bang.

Atomic Scale Locomotives (June 22, 2000)
The nano-factories of the future will need a nano-locomotive to move them about. See the movie!

First Collisions at RHIC (June 15, 2000)
See one of the first collisions of gold ions at Brookhaven's new RHIC facility.

Metallic Deuterium (June 9, 2000)
Scientists at Livermore National Lab have the strongest evidence yet for metallic deuterium

Global Image of Earth's Plasmasphere (June 2, 2000)
A new satellite records the first global pictures of the Earth's plasmasphere.

Physics Olympiad, US Team 2000 (May 24, 2000)
Photographs from the training camp and from a breakfast meeting on Capitol Hill, where members of the US team for the 2000 International Physics Olympiad met with their congressional representatives.

Muon Precession used for mapping magnetism. (May 18, 2000)
Muon spins can be used to map magnetic fields inside superconductors.

Microlaser made of powder (May 18, 2000)
Smallest powder laser also operates at room temperature

Femtonewton Force Measurements (May 11, 2000)
The mechanical properties of DNA molecules have been measured with femtonewton precision, 100 times better than before.

New Gravitational Constant (April 29, 2000)
The best yet measurement of the gravitational constant, G, provides a higher precision mass for the Earth.

Laser Produced Protons (April 28, 2000)
Laser beams can create beams of protons.

Megaverse (April 28, 2000)
How can one detect the presence of extra dimensions?

Exploiting Quantum "Spookiness" to Encrypt an Image (April 24, 2000)
Employing the latest variation of the physics-based data-encryption scheme known as quantum cryptography, an Austrian research team securely transmitted an image of the "Venus" von Willendorf, one of the earliest known works of art.

Early Cancer Detection with White Light (March 28, 2000)
Applying a powerful physics technique, MIT researchers have demonstrated a method for detecting the earliest stages of cancer in the epithelium--the inner lining of the body where 85 percent of all cancers begin.

The First "Left-Handed" Material (March 21, 2000)
A new composite material made from rods and copper washers has bizarre optical properties.

Halo Orbits (March 16, 2000)
A combination of gravitational and electromagnetic forces might make for novel "halo orbits" near a planet.

Maximally Random Jamming (March 3, 2000)
A new theory of how spheres can jam into a container

Snowballs in Hell (March 3, 2000)
High pressure allows water to stay solid at much higher temperatures.

Free Electron Laser at 93 nm (March 3, 2000)
DESY's free electron laser has produced light with a wavelength of only 93 nm.

Formation of a Net-Negatively Charged Liquid Spray (February 22, 2000)
Instantaneous realization of an electrically charged mist emerging from an orifice.

NEAR photographs Eros (February 17, 2000)
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendevous (NEAR) spacecraft is the first to be put into orbit around an asteroid.

DNA Canyon (February 11, 2000)
Attaching a short DNA molecule to two metal electrodes, Dutch researchers have found evidence that DNA acts as a semiconductor for electrical charge.

New State of Nuclear Matter (February 9, 2000)
Evidence for a new state of nuclear matter comes from high energy collision experiments at CERN

Hot, Dense Nuclear Matter (February 8, 2000)
Striving to uncover clues about the early universe, scientists worldwide are smashing together heavy ions to produce hot and dense states of nuclear matter that may not have existed naturally since shortly after the Big Bang.

Quantum Mirage (February 8, 2000)
Electron waves moving inside an elliptical "quantum corral" interact with a non-existent atom.

D-Wave SQUID (February 8, 2000)
The d-wave nature of high-temperature superconductivity has been directly exploited in designing a SQUID magnetometer for the first time.

Vibration-induced droplet atomization (January 10, 2000)
Placing large, 10 millimeter droplets on a vibrating surface converts them into an extremely fine spray in a fraction of a second.

Scanning Gate Spectroscopy (January 10, 2000)
The use of a gated probe helps to sharpen STM spectroscopy of small gold clusters.

Neutron Trap (January 10, 2000)
Neutrons have been confined in three dimensions, in a magnetic trap, for the first time.

Two-Electron Prison Break (January 10, 2000)
Electrons do not act alone when intense light liberates two of them from the prison of an atom.

Superconducting balls (December 27, 1999)
Superconducting particles can form themselves into a larger ball under the action of an electric field.

Two-Dimensional Colloids Seemingly Defy Coulomb's Law (December 21, 1999)
When tiny latex beads attach on cell-membrane-like structures, they seemingly defy Coulomb's law, which says that opposite electrical charges always attract each other.

Competing Arrows of Time (December 17, 1999)
A new theory suggests that in some regions of space time might run backwards.

Sand as Maxwell's Demon (December 10, 1999)
Sand, agitated within a two-chambered vessel, with a small hole allowing passage between the chambers, sorts itself into a hot granular gas on the one side and a cool granular gas on the other side.

Cooperative Evaporation (December 7, 1999)
An array of micro-droplets evaporate in a coordinated way.

Underwater Volcano Erupts (November 29, 1999)
The Axial Volcano, 200 miles offshore the Oregon-Washington coast, has been closely watched by geophysics using a battery of instruments.

Color Nanotube Display (November 24, 1999)
Carbon nanotubes, used as emitters of electrons, have been fashioned into a full-color display.

Swirled Sphere Magic Numbers (November 24, 1999)
For certain "magic" numbers of spheres swirled in a dish, the spheres congregate into solid-like shell structures with stable rings.

Kinky Nanotube Electronics (November 18, 1999)
Kinks in carbon nanotube wires create useful electronic properties.

Subsea Electron Currents (November 17, 1999)
Currents of electrons deep within the "Fermi sea" inside a metal or semiconductor can be pumped without any direct net bias.

A Tabletop Alternative to Cyclotrons (November 15, 1999)
University of Michigan researchers have developed a method for using a tabletop laser to generate a beam of high-speed ions potentially useful for cancer therapy and electronics manufacturing.

Laser Light In, MeV Protons Out (November 11, 1999)
By shining an ultrashort laser pulse on a tiny spot, researchers can create intense streams of high-speed ions potentially useful for cancer therapy and electronics manufacturing.

Ultrasound Diagnosis of Burns (November 11, 1999)
In an important development for medical ultrasound, researchers can now take ultrasound pictures of the inside of the body--including painful areas containing serious burns--with devices that do not require physical contact with the patient.

Award-Winning Fluids Figures (November 10, 1999)
We select three of the figures chosen as winners of a competition sponsored by the journal Physics of Fluids.

Io Sodium Jet (November 9, 1999)
New images recorded by the Galileo spacecraft map the fast spray of sodium atoms coming from Jupiter's moon Io.

Red Phase Oxygen (November 9, 1999)
Detailed studies of "red phase oxygen," an unusual form of solid oxygen made from molecules consisting of four oxygen atoms.

Origin of M87 Jet Near a Black Hole (November 2, 1999)
Radio maps of the core of galaxy M87 show the place where a massive jet originates.

Zigzag Gold Chain (November 2, 1999)
New simulations suggest that very thin gold nanowires are actually zigzag shaped.

Mach Cones in Dusty Plasmas (November 1, 1999)
Shock waves in a dusty plasma

Nanotriodes (October 22, 1999)
Vacuum tube technology makes a comeback in the form of 10-nm-wide electron emitters used as a cathode in what can be called a vacuum ballistic electron transistor (VBET).

Gravity's Gravity (October 22, 1999)
A pendulum helps scientists to understand the gravity generated by the gravitational field itself.

Nanotube Diode (October 18, 1999)
A single carbon nanotube, bestriding three gold electrodes, has been made into a diode by doping one half of the nanotube.

The Fundamental Forces (October 12, 1999)
A chart of the four fundamental forces in the standard model of particle physics, which was put on a more mathematically solid footing by the winners of the 1999 Physics Nobel Prize.

Buckeyball Orientation (October 11, 1999)
Images of individual carbon-60 molecules sitting on a silicon substrate

Sinusoidal Microstructures (October 8, 1999)
Tiny washboard structures on polymer films will be useful for producing diffraction gratings, detectors, and a variety of microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices.

Crab Nebula in X Rays (October 5, 1999)
See the Crab Nebula at four different wavelengths

Ribosome Image (September 30, 1999)
The largest molecular structure ever imaged with x-ray crystallography.

Chilled Mirrors (September 30, 1999)
Radiation pressure from laser light can be used to "cool" the thermal motion of mirrors by a factor of 20.

Vortices in a Bose Einstein Condensate (September 23, 1999)
Quantized vortices have been observed in Bose Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms.

Visualizing orbitals (September 17, 1999)
The likelihood clouds of electrons around copper atoms can be directly imaged using x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.

Laser-Based Isotope Separation (September 17, 1999)
Using a tabletop laser that can deliver an enormous amount of power for a very short time, researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a new way to separate different isotopes of an element.

Clay Oscillons (September 17, 1999)
Oscillons, strange stationary structures, have been observed in milk-like colloidal fluids.

Freestanding Carbon Nanotubes (September 13, 1999)
Freestanding single carbon nanotubes can now be grown on a grid pattern.

An Ultracold Gas of Fermion Atoms (September 9, 1999)
Promising tabletop insights into such things as neutron stars and white dwarfs, physicists have created the coldest atomic gas yet of fermions--a class of matter which includes many of the building blocks of nature.

Dark Matter Spike (September 1, 1999)
The black hole at the center of our galaxy might be helping to annihilate the presumed dark matter located thereabouts.

Epilepsy Model (August 26, 1999)
A new model of epilepsy suggests that the onset of seizure is related to the speed of communication between neurons.

Needles Excavate Flat Transistors (August 9, 1999)
AFM probes can etch out planar transistors by tapping a layer of electrons buried beneath the surface.

Antiprotons at solar maximum (July 21, 1999)
Antiprotons will be more welcome within the inner solar system after Solar Maximum.

Quantum Non-Demolition (July 16, 1999)
How to look at a photon without destroying it.

East-West Neutrino Asymmetry (June 21, 1999)
Earth's magnetic field causes an east-west asymmetry in the arrival of cosmic-ray-generated neutrinos.

Helium-6 and Di-neutrons (June 21, 1999)
Helium-6 nuclei harbor 2-neutron entities, and and can transfer them to Helium-4 nuclei during collsions.

US Physics Olympiad Team (June 9, 1999)
A group of 24 high school Physics students constitute the US team for the International Physics Olympiad.

Two New Super-Heavy Elements Discovered (June 7, 1999)
Two new superheavy elements have been discovered

Third Harmonic Microscope (June 2, 1999)
A new method using nonlinear optics allows the imaging of low-contrast biological samples.

Sculpted Wavepacket (May 20, 1999)
Short laser pulses can be used to shape the wave packet of an electron inside excited atoms.

Atomic Steering Committee (May 14, 1999)
Physicists have discovered what makes many surfaces so rough: a "steering committee" of atoms already on the surface.

Genealogical Trees (May 14, 1999)
The statistical properties of genealogical trees are not unlike those of granular materials.

Watching Pacemakers Emerge in a Petri Dish (May 10, 1999)
Putting cells in a petri dish under the right conditions causes them to form a biological network in which one or more pacemakers emerge.

Writing Words on an Atom (May 3, 1999)
Demonstrating of the huge amount of information that can be stored even in a single humble atom, physicists show how to write a word on hydrogen.

Photos From The APS Centennial (April 27, 1999)
A gallery of photographs from the largest physics meeting of all time.

Microphone and Radio Components May Lead to a Real-Life Dick Tracy Watch (April 21, 1999)
Researchers have made significant progress in constructing a microphone and single-chip radio for what could someday be parts of a real-life Dick Tracy watch.

Atom Lasers: The Next Generation (March 31, 1999)
Pictures of 4 atom laser beams.

Laser-Induced Fission (March 30, 1999)
Intense laser light can be used to produce nuclear fission and also created positrons.

Direct CP Violation (March 19, 1999)
The decays of K mesons have revealed a very rare phenomenon linked with the preponderance in the universe of matter over antimatter.

Digital Friction (March 15, 1999)
A striking stepwise change in friction occurs when an atomic force microscope probe is scraped across a monolayer of strandlike molecules.

Pinpoint Laser Polymerization (March 15, 1999)
Highly focused laser light, absorbed two photons at a time, can be used to sculpt microstructures.

Chaotic Granular Mixing (March 10, 1999)
Chaotic mixing of granular materials at record speeds.

Nanobalance (March 8, 1999)
Vibrating carbon nanotubes can directly weigh viruses and other tiny particles

Parity Non-Conservation in Atoms (March 5, 1999)
Particle physics experiments can be performed on a tabletop

Transistor Hologram (February 26, 1999)
Electron holography can provide maps of the electrostatic potential inside a transistor.

Wire-Guided Atoms (February 26, 1999)
Atoms can be guided along and around a current-carrying wire.

Tunable X-ray Waveguide (February 19, 1999)
Efficient air-filled waveguides can now channel x-rays at synchrotron sources.

3D Photonic Crystal (February 4, 1999)
First 3D photonic crystal will be useful in optical integrated circuits.

Hydrogen Bonds Have Covalent Properties (January 13, 1999)
New experiments confirm for the first time that the hydrogen bonds that hold together groups of water molecules possess part of the identity of the bonds that exist within a water molecule.

The Neolithic Transition in Europe (December 23, 1998)
Migrating farmers at the time of the Neolithic diffused into Europe much as salt diffuses through water.

Quasi-2-Dimensional Atom Gas (December 23, 1998)
A nearly planar array of laser-cooled atoms has been created for the first time.

MRI of a Single Mammalian Cell (December 11, 1998)
Magnetic resonance images of single rat cells show the potential for MRI to monitor organ rejection and study how natural killer cells attach to tumors.

The Critical Current of Superconductors (November 30, 1998)
The first microscopic images, in real space, of a superconductor near the precise moment at which it loses its ability to carry current without electrical resistance.

Collapse in Granular Material (November 20, 1998)
Agitated steel balls can be "cooled," after which then can form clusters and even collapse into a sort of granular "crystal."

Stressed-out disks (November 20, 1998)
Changes in the polarization of reflected light can reveal the stresses between interacting disks in a two-dimensional granular material.

Cosmic rays and Earth's Climate (November 9, 1998)
Galactic cosmic rays might influence Earth's climate

Simulating a Solar Eruption (November 3, 1998)
Laboratory simulation of a solar eruption.

Stacked LED's (October 30, 1998)
Stacked organic LEDs can now produce full color.

Conductivity of single molecule is measured (October 28, 1998)
The conductivity of a single molecule can be measured directly by using the molecule to bride the break in a wire.

Low-Field MRI (October 16, 1998)
MRI can be performed at very low magnetic fields with good spatial resolution.

Gammasphere (October 12, 1998)
Nobelium-254--the heaviest nucleus ever studied.

Gammasphere (October 12, 1998)
Nobelium-254--the heaviest nucleus ever studied.

DNA-Membrane Self Assembly (October 2, 1998)
Mixing together DNA molecules and artificial versions of the membranes that form the protective coverings of cells result in highly organized structures with many potential technological applications.

Misjudgment in a Bird Flock (September 24, 1998)
Physicists have been studying the remarkable process of how a flock of birds moves flawlessly as an organized group, even if the individual birds make frequent misjudgments.

Rotating Bacteria (September 24, 1998)
Certain kinds of bacteria line themselves up and move in a circular pattern.

Measuring Planck's Constant (September 15, 1998)
Device for making precision measurements of one of the most fundamental constants in modern physics.

Writing with a Nanopencil (September 10, 1998)
Nanotubes can be used as wear-resistant pencils at the nanometer scale.

Turbulence in Soap Films (August 14, 1998)
False-color image of turbulence in a soap film.

Using atom waves to measure gravity gradients (July 28, 1998)
Dual atom interferometers are used to measure gravity gradients.

Studying Bose Einstein Condensation in Hydrogen (July 17, 1998)
Probing Bose-Einstein condensation in hydrogen takes two photons, not just one.

The Persistence of Weather (July 15, 1998)
The way weather on one day is related to weather, days or even years later is similar in many places around the world.

Unification of forces with new dimensions (July 10, 1998)
The existence of extra spacetime dimensions might permit the physical forces to become unified at energies much lower than was previously thought.

Newton Rings (June 24, 1998)
Newton rings reveal laser ablation on a picosecond scale.

Flutter and Tumble: The Physics of Falling Paper (June 18, 1998)
Tackling a problem that is too difficult even for physics to explain fully, scientists have performed the first rigorous experimental tests of how paper falls in two dimensions.

Smart Pixels (June 17, 1998)
Researchers have made "smart pixels" composed entirely of carbon-based materials.

Nanoscale Electrochemistry (June 16, 1998)
Using electrodes immersed in an electrically conducting solution, researchers have created nanometer-scale features on a gold surface.

New Colloid Structures (June 11, 1998)
Scientists have discovered new structures that can exist in biologically important materials known as colloids.

The Search for Magnetic Monopoles (June 11, 1998)
Physicists are actively looking for signs of long-hypothesized particles known as monopoles.

The Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Detector (June 3, 1998)
Located in Japan, this detector studies the invisible, elusive particles known as neutrinos.

The Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Detector (June 3, 1998)
Located in Japan, this detector studies the invisible, elusive particles known as neutrinos.

Supernova 1987A (June 2, 1998)
Hubble Telescope image of Supernova 1987A.

The First Snapshot of an Extrasolar Planet? (June 2, 1998)
Hubble Telescope image of what may be the first snapshot of a planet outside our solar system.

Alignment of Single Molecules During a Collision (May 26, 1998)
Physicists now have the ability to learn how the alignment of single molecules during a collision can affect the outcome of the collision.

Three-Body System of Charged Particles (May 20, 1998)
Learn about a "three-body system" of three interacting charged particles.

Carbon Nanotube Transistor (May 13, 1998)
A transistor based on a single, nanometer-scale molecule composed of carbon atoms.

Sodium-Iodide Crystallite (May 11, 1998)
An STM image showing what happens when you place some sodium and iodine atoms together on a copper surface.

Flattened Carbon Nanotube (May 11, 1998)
This computer-drawn figure shows the view within a carbon nanotube flattened in order to form a flexible "nanoribbon."

Electron Waves in a Plane (May 11, 1998)
In this image, electron waves are seen to be breaking around two atom-sized defects.

Quantum Corral (May 11, 1998)
Image of a stadium-shaped "quantum corral" made by positioning iron atoms on a copper surface.

Boron-Nitride Nanotube (May 11, 1998)
A computer simulation of the view down a boron-nitride nanotube.

The Strongest Gravitational Fields Ever Measured (April 27, 1998)
The satellite known as the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorerhas observed the most intense gravitational fields yet measured

Nuclear Shapes (February 25, 1998)
Some of the different shapes that a nucleus can exhibit.

Chart of Nuclides (February 25, 1998)
A chart showing the regions for stable and radioactive nuclei.

Some Radioactive Decays (February 25, 1998)
A diagram that depicts some of the radioactive decays that a nucleus can undergo.

Quantum Tunneling Transistor (February 4, 1998)
A transistor that exploits an electron's ability to pass through normally insurmountable energy barriers.

Localization of Light (January 23, 1998)
Physicists have demonstrated that light waves can be confined to very small spaces in certain materials.

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (January 21, 1998)
An aerial view of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) being built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY.

Novel Wave Symmetries in Fluids (January 21, 1998)
Unique new wave patterns on a fluid surface.

The B Factory (January 21, 1998)
A schematic drawing of the B Factory under construction at the Stanford Linear Acclerator Center.

Cosmic Infrared Background (January 12, 1998)
Images of the infrared glow from the early universe.

Neutrino Tomography of the Earth (January 5, 1998)
A proposed scheme for using neutrinos to measure radioactive deposits inside the Earth.

Metallic and Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes (January 5, 1998)
A microscope determines whether nanoscopic tubes of carbon are metallic or semiconducting.

Quantum Teleportation (December 12, 1997)
See how physicists transferred the properties of one object to a second, remote object.

Acoustic Compressor (December 3, 1997)
See how ultrapowerful sound waves can replace mechanical parts in air conditioners and refrigerators to compress gas molecules.

Trojan Electrons (December 1, 1997)
See how a quantum-mechanical electron can transform into a planet-like object

Superconducting Quantum Dots (December 1, 1997)
See an image of tiny aluminum superconducting disks, 0.1 to 2 millionths of a meter in size, sitting atop a semiconductor

Penning Trap (November 21, 1997)
See a diagram of a Penning trap, a device that uses electric and magnetic fields to trap charged particles.

Measuring Blob Sizes in the Cosmic Microwave Background (October 22, 1997)
New measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have detected smaller-scale variations in the CMB than previously possible.

A Reversible Metal-Insulator Film (October 20, 1997)
Chemical physicists have made the first solid material that switches between metal and insulator properties reversibly without changing its chemical makeup, and at room temperature and pressure.

Nanodiamonds (October 8, 1997)
Physicists have created nanometer-scale diamonds--without the usual requirement for subjecting carbon to high pressures--by squeezing onionlike structures of carbon with beams of ions.

Prospective Superfluid Molecular Hydrogen (October 7, 1997)
Physicists at the University of Illinois have predicted that a new type of superfluid is possible--one involving molecules of hydrogen rather than atoms of hydrogen.

Gravito-Optical Surface Trap (September 25, 1997)
See a diagram of a gravito-optical surface trap, a device that uses the force of gravity to help trap and cool atoms.

Liquid Magnetic Froths (September 25, 1997)
Liquid magnetic froths create patterns that are reversible with magnetic fields.

The Rarest Observed Decay of the K Meson (September 18, 1997)
The rarest known decay of the K meson has been observed.

Newly Identified Top-Quark Decay Modes (September 11, 1997)
Learn about two newly identified decay routes for the top quark.

Self-Sorting of White Blood Cells (September 11, 1997)
White blood cells sort themselves by type in an artificial environment similar to human capillary networks.

Frost Heaving (September 2, 1997)
Learn about the process of frost heaving, a poorly understood phenomenon in which ice columns grow upward against the force of gravity.

Quark Stars (August 26, 1997)
Learn how neutron stars can transform into 'quark stars' containing exotic particles such as hyperons and strange quarks.

Trapping Single Particles with Nanoelectrodes (August 26, 1997)
See images of single nanoparticles trapped between electrodes separated by just billionths of a meter

Measuring Bond Rupture Forces with the Atomic Force Microscope (August 15, 1997)
See how the atomic force microscope can measure the forces required to tear apart two complementary strands of DNA.

Viewing Tiny Electric and Magnetic Fields in Real Time (August 8, 1997)
See how tiny electric and magnetic fields can be imaged in real time.

Nanoguitar (July 30, 1997)
See the world's smallest guitar--it's approximately the size of a single red blood cell.

Amorphous Solid Water (July 17, 1997)
Amorphous Solid Water

First Pictures Taken With Space-Based Radio Telescope (July 8, 1997)
The space-based telescope HALCA has helped to make some of the sharpest images of celestial objects at radio wavelengths.

Mars Pathfinder Images (July 8, 1997)
See an image of the Mars surface recorded by the Pathfinder in 1997.

New Evidence for D-wave Superconductivity (June 23, 1997)
IBM researchers have found evidence supporting a leading theory of high-temperature superconductivity known as the 'd-wave' model.

Sending Digital Data with a Photon (June 19, 1997)
Researchers have theoretically determined how much information can be stored in a quantum particle such a photon.

Cubane (June 17, 1997)
Cubane is a new molecule made of eight carbon atoms and eight hydrogen atoms.

A Mother Star and Her Children (June 12, 1997)
A Hubble Space Telescope instrument has recorded a stunning image of six baby stars surrounding their mother, a bright, massive star.

Did Cosmic Snowballs Create Earth's Water Supply? (May 30, 1997)
Images from NASA spacecraft suggest the idea that small water-filled comets enter the Earth by the thousands every day.

How a Top Quark is Made (May 23, 1997)
Here's a particle decay that leads to the production of a top quark and its antimatter twin.

Photon Conveyor Belt (May 13, 1997)
Animation depicting a technique for effectively transporting a single photon across a semiconductor material.

The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (April 23, 1997)
Diagram of CEBAF, a new US accelerator facility aiming to probe the boundary between the tiny scale of the atomic nucleus and the even tinier scale of the quarks and gluons which make up individual particles in the nucleus.

First Images of DNA in Sperm Cells (April 2, 1997)
Using special x-ray beams, researchers have been able to see the DNA molecules inside animal sperm cells.

Electromigration in Aluminum Wires (April 2, 1997)
Using tiny x-ray beams, researchers have seen, in real time and at microscopic scales, how aluminum wires can get degraded by the flow of electric current.

A "One-Size-Fits-All" Surface for Semiconductors (March 31, 1997)
Researchers at Cornell have designed a 'universal' surface that can accommodate normally incompatible electronic devices on a single chip.

Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (March 24, 1997)
Promising to be one of the major new microscopes of the future, the MRFM can potentially image biological objects in their natural environments at atom-scale resolution.

Atom-Laser Beam: Interference Patterns (January 28, 1997)
Collections of atoms can behave like waves which can combine with other wavelike collections of atoms to produce interference patterns.

Atom Laser Beam (January 28, 1997)
First images showing a laser-like beam of sodium atoms.

MIT's Atom Laser: How It Works (January 28, 1997)
This diagram shows how the MIT device produces laser-like beams of atoms.

Peeking at a Bare Electron (January 16, 1997)
Physicists have penetrated the cloak of "virtual particles" normally surrounding the electron to learn more about the basic properties of the particle itself.

Laser Manipulation of Artificial Membranes (November 20, 1996)

Gravitomagnetic Induction (November 14, 1996)
Rotating objects can create "gravitomagnetic fields" which warp space and time.

Nanoscale Abacus (November 5, 1996)
Researchers have built a molecule-scale abacus which can actually carry out calculations.

Wavepackets, Molecules, and Playground Swings (October 21, 1996)
The behavior of quantum-mechanical wavepackets can be understood by making a comparison to a set of playground swings.

Wavepackets and Standing Waves (October 21, 1996)
See a visual depiction of a 'wavepacket,' a single composite wave made up of several individual waves combining with each other in a consistent fashion over time.

Superfluid Helium-3 (October 11, 1996)
See how atoms of the isotope helium-3 can form a superfluid, a liquid which flows without inner friction.

Fusion at the National Ignition Facility (September 20, 1996)
A 3-D rendering of the National Ignition Facility, slated to carry out next-generation nuclear fusion experiments.

Oscillons (September 12, 1996)
Oscillons are stable clumps of particles which bob up and down in granular materials such as sand.

3-D Video Display (September 6, 1996)
See an image of a three-dimensional, full color video display.

Manipulating Native Atoms on a Surface (September 3, 1996)
Using a scanning tunneling microscope, researchers can now move around the native copper atoms on a surface,

The Pearling Instability (August 15, 1996)
The Pearling Instability is an important phenomenon in membranes made of biological materials.

The Sonoluminescence Process (August 5, 1996)
A depiction of sonoluminescence, the conversion of sound energy into light.

Earth's Inner Core (August 5, 1996)
Earth's core spins independently of the rest of the planet, researchers have discovered.

Sonoluminescence and Medical Ultrasound (July 29, 1996)
Some of the sound energy used in medical ultrasound may be converted into flashes of light.

Sonoluminescence Photo (July 26, 1996)
Photograph of a cell producing sonoluminescence, in which sound energy is converted into light.

Is the Universe Birefringent? (April 15,1997)
Studying astronomical data, a research group has argued that light in the universe may behave slightly differently when travelling in different directions.