Physical Sciences
POSTS FROM 2026
The Microbial Invention of Electricity
Leonid Digel discusses the one source of energy that is shared by all living things.
Monday, 12 January 2026
POSTS FROM 2024
Cosmic Connections
Correlation is a central tenet of efforts to explore the structure of the early universe and an indispensable tool for cosmologists. Yoann Launay argues that correlation does not imply causation, but connection.
Monday, 23 September 2024
Can Art Change How We Communicate Climate Data?
Emily Goniea explores interpretations of climate data and the role of arts in the future of public outreach for climate science.
Wednesday, 4 September 2024
Quantum birds and their sixth sense
Andy Song and Yena Seo explain the theory behind how magnetoreception could work in migratory birds
Wednesday, 10 January 2024
POSTS FROM 2023
Beyond The Periodic Table
Mickey Wong explores the origins of radioactivity and why this means that superheavy elements are unlikely to exist
Monday, 24 July 2023
Frontiers at the Large Hadron Collider
Manuel Morales Alvarado writes about the importance of the work at the LHC in the progression of high energy physics and its impact on wider society
Tuesday, 18 July 2023
POSTS FROM 2022
Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making
Bethan Charles considers Ploszajski's journey into materials science
Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Eco-Mining for the Future: The Changing Face of Lithium Extraction
Matthew Morris discusses the need to make lithium extraction greener and how we are bringing this closer to home in more ways than one
Thursday, 16 June 2022
Scientific Discovery, Imperialism and the Geological Map
Octavia Rooks charts the concept of discovery and the role of mapping in colonialism
Thursday, 13 January 2022
Hidden Figures: The Erasure of Scientific Labour and the Hope of Decolonisation
For the FOCUS article of Issue 52, Gianamar Giovanetti-Singh, Rory Kent, and Swathi Nachiar Manivannan discuss who is excluded from the narratives surrounding scientific practice - and who benefits from this exclusion.
Tuesday, 4 January 2022
POSTS FROM 2021
Geology Rocks! — How Rock Collections Shaped the Understanding of the Earth
Juliane Borchert explores the history of the Sedgwick Museum
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Arteries of the Earth: Why Rivers Run Everything
Will Knapp and Séan Thor Herron investigate how scientists study the importance of river systems throughout Earth's history
Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Synchrotron Science: A Deep Dive into the Atomic World
Fran Seymour explores the creation of synchrotron light in accelerators and its many usages
Tuesday, 6 July 2021
Remote Sensing: the Key to Reducing Seismic Hazard?
Natalie Forrest discusses how satellite data can shed light on seismic processes
Tuesday, 22 June 2021
Animal Magnetism
Susanne Mesoy investigates the mechanisms of magnetoreception
Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Illuminating the Northern Lights
Lucy Hart explains how the solar wind creates the Northern Lights
Thursday, 10 June 2021
A Sprinkling of Gold Dust: Fairytale or Modern Science?
William Hotham writes about gold nanoparticles
Thursday, 3 June 2021
Improved With Crystals
Evelyna Wang explores the intricacies of crystal formation and their many uses
Thursday, 20 May 2021
A Mathematician, A Monster, And A Game With No Players
Maria Julia Maristany takes a look inside the marvelous and magical mind of John Horton Conway
Thursday, 13 May 2021
The Music of Black Holes
Owain Salter Fitz-Gibbon discusses how sound waves from a violin resemble gravitational waves emitted from black holes
Thursday, 29 April 2021
The Electrifying World of Energy Harvesting
Liam Ives explores how we can harness the wasted energy from everyday processes.
Thursday, 22 April 2021
Peanut Butter Diamonds
Elizabeth Brown reveals an unlikely source of diamonds
Thursday, 28 January 2021
POSTS FROM 2020
Ion-blocking polymers offer sunny horizons for solar power
Pip Knight takes a look at what materials are on the horizon for solar power
Tuesday, 1 December 2020
Plan-demic: Decoding Disease Dynamics
Shavindra Jayasekera explores how mathematical modelling can inform plans for controlling the spread of infectious diseases
Thursday, 12 November 2020
Negative Mass and the Dark Universe
Alex Byrne considers the bizarre idea of negative mass, and why it might explain the missing 95% of the Universe
Tuesday, 3 November 2020
Beneath the layers: exploring the unique properties of hybrid superlattices
Pip Knight explores the exciting possibilities that hybrid superlattices offer, and the novel technologies on the horizon that it enables
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Energy from (almost) nothing: a review of polymer-based nanogenerator technology
Pip Knight explores the future of nano-generator technology, the potential materials we could make them out of, and the plethora of applications that sit on our horizon. Artwork by Natalie Saideman
Tuesday, 1 September 2020
Going Deep to Reach the Stars
Tatjana Baleta explores the deep sea and its relationship to outer space.
Thursday, 2 April 2020
FOCUS: Our Place in the Universe
Maeve Madigan, Philip Clarke and João Melo explain the central concepts behind the 2019 Physics Nobel Prize. The first half...
Monday, 23 March 2020
J.J, Is your Corpuscle My Electron?
How the story of the electron shows that the language of ‘discovery’ in science is misleading and problematic.
Thursday, 20 February 2020
POSTS FROM 2019
Scientists capture the first image of a black hole event horizon
A network of eight radio telescopes spanning locations in various continents, from Antarctica to Europe and South America, called the Event Horizon...
Sunday, 14 July 2019
Sulawesi: A Seismological Mystery
The Sulawesi earthquake should not have produced tsunamis, but it did. Ben Johnson speaks to Professor James Jackson about how it happened, and how we could prepare for future incidents
Thursday, 20 June 2019
A Bohmian Rhapsody
Mrittunjoy Guha Majumdar talks Bohmian mechanics, the 'causal interpretation' of the strange world of quantum mechanics.
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Let's Talk About Soil
Kasparas Vasiliauskas looks under our feet at some of the Earth's most overlooked material.
Thursday, 9 May 2019
How the Antarctic is used as a Neutrino Detector
Maeve Madigan discusses how and why we can leverage Antarctic ice to find some of the most elusive particles in the known Universe.
Thursday, 2 May 2019
Most distant planetary flyby in history
The NASA probe captured photographs of the distant object
Monday, 29 April 2019
Drought and the Collapse of the Maya
James Kershaw discusses whether new data is raining on, or could prove, this fashionable hypothesis
Thursday, 25 April 2019
The Future of Earth is Up in the Air
James Weber explains the role of positive feedback loops and how they could lead to runaway environmental disaster
Thursday, 18 April 2019
POSTS FROM 2018
Peering into the Past
Dan Brubaker and a mishmash of know-nothings convene at the Dr Ralph L Buice, Jr Observatory, Atlanta
Thursday, 4 October 2018
Why Limit Ourselves to Silverware?
Think goldware, zincware and copperware! Bianca Provost explains what Professor Mark Miodownik's work can tell us about materials and food
Thursday, 20 September 2018
Breaking up at Sea:
The Great Collapse of an Ice Shelf
Dr Alison Banwell tells Silas Yeem Kai Ean and Seán Thór Herron how ice shelves break up
Monday, 3 September 2018
Liquid-liquid Phase Transition Observed for the First Time
Esther Pilla reports on the state of water research
Thursday, 16 August 2018
A Laser Game Controller for the Cambridge Science Festival
James Macdonald describes designing a system to control video games with lasers.
Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Ambling in the Arctic: a geological expedition in remote Greenland
Victoria Honour discusses Arctic camping, bear alarms, and the solidification of magma on her recent expedition to the Skaergaard intrusion
Sunday, 11 February 2018
Marie Curie, 150 years on
First woman to be a professor at a French University; first to receive a Nobel Prize; only recipient of two...
Monday, 1 January 2018
POSTS FROM 2017
A Look Behind the Ice Sheet: The Polar Museum's Greenland Exhibit
Uummannaq: A Century of Exploration
Thursday, 23 November 2017
Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Detection of Gravitational Waves
Theo Steele explores the science behind this year's Nobel Prize
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Cambridge’s Latest Nobel Prize
Max Wilkinson explores the science behind this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
What if We Touched Mars?
Patrick Lundgren reflects on the scientific and moral implications of humanity’s dream of space exploration coming true.
Friday, 7 July 2017
Lord Martin Rees: the Future and Catastrophe
Lord Martin Rees is a former Master of Trinity College and an accomplished cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995, and was President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Lord Rees spoke to Gabija Maršalkaite and Deyan Mihaylov.
Friday, 7 July 2017
Shakes and the City
Seán Thór Herron talks to Dr Emily So about preparing for earthquakes in urban areas
Sunday, 18 June 2017
The Last Lunar Explorer: An interview with Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon
Jackson Howarth (from LUUSci at the University of Leeds) chats with Gene Cernan
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Exploring our Amazing Universe from Cambridge - The Joy of Observing the Night Skies
Andrew Sellek discusses how astronomers and amateurs alike observe the sky at night
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
FOCUS: AI and the power of the neuron
Alex Bates looks at how neurobiology has inspired the rise of artificial intelligence
Monday, 13 March 2017
Tissue Engineering Scaffolds: Guiding the rise of Cell Therapies
Oran Maguire explains how engineering and cell biology are carving out a new field
Sunday, 5 March 2017
POSTS FROM 2016
Want to be the next Einstein?
In case you somehow managed to miss it, physicists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in the U.S. have detected gravitational waves for the first time.
Monday, 15 February 2016
Northern lakes are the dominant methane source
New estimates place methane emissions from Arctic lakes and ponds north of 50°N latitude as the main source of all...
Thursday, 21 January 2016
Honey bee welfare and virus warfare
The decline in bee populations is causing large concerns not only among ecologists but also among agricultural managers and economists....
Thursday, 7 January 2016
POSTS FROM 2015
Plate tectonics thanks to plumes?
“Knowing what a chicken looks like and what all the chickens before it looked like doesn’t help us to understand...
Thursday, 26 November 2015
Is the flickering of a far-away star caused by comets or aliens? (It’s probably not aliens.)
NASA’s Kepler space telescope was launched in March 2009 with the goal of discovering Earth-like exoplanets. It also may have...
Thursday, 5 November 2015
Postcards from Pluto: Blue skies, red water ice, and more
If we ever travel to Pluto, we might be greeted by blue skies. (This is, of course, assuming we came...
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Huge Hydrogen Cloud Bleeding from Nearby Planet
The Hubble Space Telescope has detected a huge hydrogen cloud, dubbed “The Behemoth”, evaporating from a Neptune-sized planet in a...
Monday, 13 July 2015
Activities can have good or bad impact on sleep depending on their type
Have you ever slept like a stone after training or racing? A new study by the University of Pennsylvania used...
Friday, 19 June 2015
Earth organisms survive under low-pressure Martian conditions
Methanogens are among the oldest and simplest organisms on earth having evolved approximately 3.5 billion years ago. They are highly resilient microbes...
Monday, 15 June 2015
Deep fried ice cream comet anyone? Hope it doesn’t hit us in (baked) Alaska on a Sundae (sorry).
Astronomers may have discovered why comets, like deep fried ice cream, have an outer crust but a colder, more porous inner core.
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
POSTS FROM 2014
Flu: How viral infection causes intestinal disease
Why do we often suffer from vomiting and diarrhoea during an influenza? Influenza is an infectious respiratory disease, whereas vomiting and diarrhoea are symptoms of a gastrointestinal disease. Researches have now found the mechanism by which they are connected.
Monday, 15 December 2014
Probe successfully lands on comet for the first time in history
On the 12th of November at 16.00 GMT hours a mission launched by The European Space Agency succeeded on landing...
Monday, 17 November 2014
New method for finding water on mars
A young Washington-based undergraduate student Katie Wall, aged 21, has been looking for evidence that water influences crystal formation in...
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Top Headline Grabbers of the Past Ten Years
In celebration of BlueSci’s tenth anniversary, Joanna-Marie Howes revisits the past ten years of influential scientific stories
Monday, 13 October 2014
Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Past Ten Years
In celebration of BlueSci’s tenth anniversary, Joanna-Marie Howes revisits the past ten years of influential scientific stories
Monday, 13 October 2014
Ten Years of Nobels
For over 100 years, Nobel Prizes have recognised those conferring “the greatest benefit on mankind”. Meanwhile, the Ig Nobel Prizes...
Monday, 13 October 2014
Feature: Voyager 1: breaching the final frontier of the Solar System
Simon Watson describes Voyager 1’s journey of a lifetime
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Feature: Our Colourful History
Rhian Holvey explores how colour has shaped our history
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Cover: Turbulent encounters
Dhiren Mistry discusses the turbulence we encounter every day
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Can sugar affect your memory?
Western diet consumption, high in fat and sugar, is known to be linked to many negative health outcomes including diabetes...
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Why?
My decision to start writing about cutting-edge Physics research, bringing it to as wide an audience as possible, is based on the assumption that people would be interested in reading about it.
Friday, 11 April 2014
A face-specific mechanism for recognising people in the brain?
Humans are amazingly skilled at recognising faces. A recent study suggests that the brain has a unique mechanism specialized for...
Monday, 31 March 2014
Probable hydrogen river observed flowing through space
Astronomers from West Virginia University have spotted what could be a hydrogen river floating through space. Galaxies have different shapes,...
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Arts and Science: Counting Out Loud
Matthew Dunstan explores the complex interplay between language and numbers
Monday, 3 February 2014
POSTS FROM 2013
New theory to propagate seeds of life in asteroids
A new look at the early Solar System has introduced an alternative to the long-taught and accepted theory that explains...
Friday, 22 November 2013
Birds pay attention to speed limits, study shows
European birds decide how soon to fly away from a car according to the speed limit of the road, a...
Friday, 8 November 2013
Life on Earth has 1.75 billion years left on the clock.
Our home planet will remain habitable for a further 1.75 billion years new research suggests. During this time, Earth will...
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
New moon on Neptune
In an age when we are observing new planets around distant stars almost every day, it is stunning to realise...
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Voyager 1 crosses the magnetic highway out of our solar system
The Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered an unexpected region at the edge of our solar system which has become known as the “Magnetic Highway”, 18.5 billion km from the Sun.
Monday, 29 July 2013
Focus: A World of Music
BlueSci explores the phenomenon of music—what it is, where it comes from and why we do it
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Feature: Have You Heard the Northern Lights?
Shane McCorristine examines the eerie sounds made by the glowing sky
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Observing the birth of a planet
An international team of astronomers appear to have made the first observations of a planet being born. The team, led...
Friday, 15 March 2013
Art and Science: Art, Maths and the Universe
Zac Kenton discusses the mathematical basis of the great artist M.C. Escher
Friday, 25 January 2013
History: HMS Challenger
Amelia Penny explores the expedition of the HMS Challenger which marked the beginning of oceanography
Friday, 25 January 2013
Science and Policy: Anything but Elementary
Matthew Dunstan looks back at the history of the naming of elements
Friday, 25 January 2013
Focus: Lazy Universe
BlueSci explores the universal principle of energy minimisation across the sciences
Friday, 25 January 2013
Feature: Digging for Dinosaurs
Amelia Penny discusses the importance of the fossil record, and the impact of fossil-hunters on our historical knowledge
Friday, 25 January 2013
Feature: The Journey of the Bicycle
Karsten Koehler explores the history of the bicycle, and how our understanding of the physics of cycling has developed over time
Friday, 25 January 2013
POSTS FROM 2012
History: Life on Mars
Hugo Schmidt reveals the advances made in the field of Astrobiology
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Behind the Science: Written in the Stars
Matthew Dunstan explores the life of controversial physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Concussions cause brain ageing?
The first sign that concussion can prematurely age the brain by breaking down its signalling pathways has been found by...
Friday, 17 August 2012
Away from the Bench: Science on Ice
Hugo Schmidt talks to Pierre Dutrieux and Paul Holland about science at the South Pole.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Arts & Science: Dreaming up Science
Beth Venus looks at how thought experiments have explained scientific phenomena.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Focus: Higher, Faster, Stronger
BlueSci explores the role of science in pushing the boundaries of human physical ability.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Feature: Type ‘L’ for Love
Jordan Ramsey reveals how computers are being used to simulate love and investigate our choice of life partners.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Feature: Symmetry in Science
Jack Williams discusses symmetry in nature and its fundamental place in the Universe.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Cover: Deducing Diffractions
Lindsey Nield explains the science behind this issue’s front cover.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Final flight of Discovery
After a year of decommissioning, NASA’s flagship Space Shuttle Discovery has made its final flight, this time within Earth’s atmosphere...
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
How to detect traces of explosives
Scientists at the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in Trivandrum, India, have developed a simple method for detecting attogram (10-18 g) quantities of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT).
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Feature: Powering East Africa from below
Tom Bishop explores the potential of geothermal energy in Africa.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
‘Great Lake’ on Jupiter’s moon may harbour life
Scientific analysis of the surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, suggests that warm water rises from its deep oceans to form shallow nutrient-rich lakes that could support life.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Arts & Science: Writing the Future
Matthew Dunstan investigates the role of science fiction in shaping science fact
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
History: Science’s Royal Beginnings
Nicola Stead takes a look back at the origins of the Royal Society and its founding members
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Behind the Science: Computers, Codes and Cyanide
Jordan Ramsey explores the persecuted genius of computing pioneer Alan Turing
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Science & Policy: The Race to the Edge
Beth Venus discusses the future of manned space missions
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Focus: Intelligence
BlueSci looks at the science of human intelligence: how do we test it, what controls it, and how do we even define it?
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Feature: The Eccentric Engineer
Sarah Amis looks into the life of one of the world’s most innovative, yet troubled, inventors
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Cover: Creating Crystals
Lindsey Nield looks into the story behind this issue’s cover image
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
New metal is world’s lightest material
A team of researchers has developed a ‘micro-lattice’ material that is approximately 100 times lighter than polystyrene.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Earth's survival, thanks to the sacrifice of a gas giant
New research published by Dr. David Nesvorny of the Southwest Research Institute provides strong evidence that the solar system may initially have had five giant gas planets, as opposed to the current four.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
POSTS FROM 2011
Interview: Dr Rupert Soar - Fungus Farming to Freeform Construction.
Nick Crumpton talks to Rupert Soar about termite-inspired buildings, sustainable architecture and the future of construction.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Review: Frank Close - Physics, Prizes and Phantom Particles
Winning a Nobel Prize in neutrino physics, is all about longevity. That was the message of Professor Frank Close OBE to a joint audience from BlueSci, Cambridge University's Science Magazine, and the Cambridge University Physics Society.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Stars send out distress flares
Astronomers have revealed that stars send out distress flares as they’re torn apart by black holes.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Temporal cloaks mask our perception of reality
Through a remarkable feat of physics, researchers at Cornell University have been able to hide an event in time by...
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Review: Ten Top Tips for Televisual Triumph
Why do journalists often get their facts wrong when they report on science stories?
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Radar can now see us through walls
Since the development of RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging) in 1940, its ability to pinpoint fixed objects and determine the...
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
New observations question our understanding of dark matter
According to the standard cosmological model, dark matter plays an important role in the description of our universe. Dark matter...
Monday, 31 October 2011
Bigger than the Big Bang - 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics
The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess, whose efforts during the 1990s led to the astonishing conclusion that the rate of expansion of the Universe is increasing.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Discoverer of quasi-crystals wins Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize for chemistry has gone this year to Dan Shechtman, the man who discovered quasi-crystals – materials that...
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Weird and Wonderful
A selection of the wackiest research in the world of science
Monday, 3 October 2011
Away from the Bench: Skeletons and Flame Tornadoes
Aaron Barker explains how certain types of CHaOS can be fun and informative
Monday, 3 October 2011
Science & Policy: Reactive Politics
Rose Spear analyses the varying global stances on nuclear energy
Monday, 3 October 2011
Perspective: Colliding at Colossal Costs
Richard Thomson gives his opinion on whether the Large Hadron Collider is worth its substantial investment
Monday, 3 October 2011
Arts & Science: Caring for Art
Tim Middleton uncovers the role of science in the storage and conservation of paintings
Monday, 3 October 2011
History: Science in Print
Helen Gaffney explores the rise of popular science magazines
Monday, 3 October 2011
Behind the Science: The Father of Forecasting
Lindsey Nield reflects on the life and voyages of Admiral Robert Fitzroy
Monday, 3 October 2011
Focus: Beneath the Surface
BlueSci looks at an endlessly fascinating and increasingly useful world deep below
Monday, 3 October 2011
Feature: A Bolt from the Blue
Simon Page reveals the colourful side of one of chemistry’s more dangerous reactions
Monday, 3 October 2011
Feature: Eye-popping Films
Aaron Barker looks into the physics behind 3D cinema
Monday, 3 October 2011
Feature: The Age of Endeavour
Vicki Moignard recalls the captivating history of the Space Shuttle
Monday, 3 October 2011
BlueSciFilm: Interview with Lord Martin Rees
Sita Dinanauth interviews Lord Martin Rees; Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College on his career in astrophysics research and his many prestigious accolades.
Monday, 12 September 2011
New material offers superior rate performance for batteries
Battery technology could soon see a vast improvement due to the discovery of a new material that could increase power, energy density and safety, as well as reduce charge time.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Superconductor model fits with extreme correlation
Physicists at the University of California have developed a technique that helps to explain the behaviour of electrons in a high-temperature superconductor.
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Enceladus plumes come from underground ocean
Direct sampling of water plumes jetting into space from Saturn’s moon Enceladus suggest that liquid water exists in large underground reservoirs.
Friday, 1 July 2011
Serendipitous supercapacitors
The unexpected discovery of a new three-dimensional porous carbon material could allow supercapacitors to rival the performance of the standard lead-acid battery.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
BlueSciFilm: Understanding ocean currents
BlueSciFilm interview Natalie Roberts, PhD student in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, about her work as a paleoceanographer, studying circulation of water around the Atlantic and its association with climate change.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Weird and Wonderful
A selection of the wackiest research in the world of science
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Behind the Science: Women Who Led the Way
Jessica Robinson uncovers some of the pioneering female scientists
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Focus: Small Channels, Big Ideas
BlueSci explores microfluidic technology and its dazzling array of applications
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Feature: Mountains - Go with the Flow
Alex Copley explains how fluid dynamics can help us understand geology
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Antihelium discovered in STAR experiment
Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have detected 18 examples of antihelium, breaking their own a world record for the heaviest particle of antimatter ever found.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
The search for antimatter
This month the space shuttle Endeavour will make its final journey after a loyal 19 years service and its last...
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Renewable petroleum to the rescue
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have taken a step closer to making a renewable hydrocarbon fuel.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Metamaterials for superheroes
The invisibility cloaks of comic books may not be all that far-fetched according to a paper recently published in the journal Nature. Their origins lie with the 19th Centrury physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
MESSENGER spacecraft begins historic Mercury orbit
A space probe launched over six and a half years ago has achieved orbit around the planet Mercury, an engineering and scientific milestone for NASA.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Polymer failure
Researchers at Duke University in the United States have shown for the first time how soft polymers can break down when exposed to high electric fields.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Avoiding stereotypes
Researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a method that uses novel organic catalysts to produce pure chiral products...
Monday, 7 March 2011
How much is too much?
Phosphorus is now one of the major causes of water pollution in the Western world. A new study has found...
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
New class of magnetic atomic clusters discovered
Atomic clusters are particles containing a small number of atoms, which often possess unique properties that make them different from...
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Twirly-whirly electrons
Transmission electron microscopes (TEM) are used to study and image a wide variety of materials due to their sub-nanometre resolving power. In a TEM electrons are shot through an object and adsorption, deflection and energy loss of the electrons is measured.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
New theory reveals fractal nature of arithmetic
A full mathematical description of partition numbers, the basis for addition, has long eluded mathematicians. Ken Ono of Emory University...
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Deep space monitored by world’s largest telescope
Giant radio telescopes in the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been used together for the first time...
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Behind the Science: An Ordinary Genius
Ian Fyfe uncovers the personal life of Albert Einstein
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Feature: Climbing Space
Mark Nicholson discusses the science behind the fiction of the space elevator
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Feature: The Blue Screen of Death
Wing Yung Chan traces the imperfect path to the perfect program
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Small-scale earthquakes hit Britain
Mention earthquakes and most people will think of places such as Japan and California, where major damaging earthquakes happen once...
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
An average approach to managing risk
New research suggests that there may be a serious flaw in the way that many investors approach risk. A report...
Friday, 14 January 2011
Enjoying the VISTA
2011 is already proving to be a significant year for astronomy. In addition to a conjunction of the planets, a partial solar eclipse and the Quadrantid meteor shower we have obtained spectacular new images of both the Andromeda galaxy and our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
The goldilocks body temperature
A new mathematical model has shed light on why mammals spend so much energy staying warm-blooded, a phenomenon that has long been poorly understood.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Scientific balloons launched from Antarctica
NASA and the National Science Foundation of the United States are launching a series of large high-altitude scientific balloons on...
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
POSTS FROM 2010
Carbon hot-house planet examined by NASA’s Spitzer
The blazing-hot exoplanet Wasp 12b has revealed its black stripes as its carbon-rich composition helps it live up to its...
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Creative problem-solving for computers
Have you ever had one of those ‘light bulb moments’ - flashes of insight that present you with an instant...
Friday, 17 December 2010
Closing the gender gap
Education researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder have claimed success in reducing the gender performance gap in physics exams using only a simple writing exercise.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Let there be light
Scientists from the University of Bonn in Germany have developed an entirely new source of light, based on a quantum...
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Behind the Science: The Man Who Weighed The Earth
Anders Aufderhorst-Roberts describes the life of the eccentric genius Henry Cavendish
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Icy Mars mystery - solved?
Scientists believe that they have finally found a theory to explain the phenomena of disappearing ice on Mars, also shedding light on the planet's water cycle.
Monday, 11 October 2010
On the origin of complexity
Theoretical models have suggested that complexity comes with a cost, and the simplest organisms are the best at adapting to their environment. How then, have the most complex plants and animals evolved?
Friday, 8 October 2010
Quarks: strange, colourful and now, apparently, dancing randomly
The world of quarks is a bizarre one. Seemingly everyday words are employed to provide tangible names for otherwise abstract...
Friday, 8 October 2010
New mathematical model to aid biodiversity conservation
A new theory of species diversity has been developed that predicts the number of species in an ecological community by mathematically accounting for the interdependent properties of individual species as well as those of the environment.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
A break-down in communications
Climate change. Nuclear power. GM crops. Vaccines. Why is it that the general public is so often divided on issues that scientific experts largely agree on?
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Song of a distant star could solve mysteries close to home
By eavesdropping on far-away stars, scientists hope to better understand the Sun's magnetic properties and its influence on our lives.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Why matter matters: a new kind of physics?
Particle collision experiments reveal inadequacies in existing theory.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Sun + Plastic Sheet = Energy
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a major improvement for organic solar cells, reporting their results in the...
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
The passion and profession of Richard Ernst
On Wednesday 7 July, an audience of over a thousand scientists gathered to hear Nobel laureate Richard Ernst talk about the scientific investigations on Tibetian religious paintings known as thangkas.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Scientists create artificial mini black hole
Chinese researchers at the Southeast University in Nanjing have successfully built an electromagnetic absorbing device for microwave frequencies. They have utilised the special properties of metamaterials- a class of ordered composites which can distort light and other waves.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Silk is the secret to honeycomb strength
Engineers from China and Cardiff have uncovered the microscopic structure of honeycomb, which is responsible for its impressive mechanical properties...
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Bio-Gels for Drug Delivery
Scientists at Ajou University in South Korea have designed a material that forms a gel in vivo and releases protein...
Monday, 10 May 2010
Elegant Folding of Pollen Grains
The structures adopted by pollen grains as they dry out have been analysed and modelled by a team of physicists...
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Perspective: Funding in Crisis?
Gemma Thornton gives her perspective on the future of scientific funding
Monday, 3 May 2010
Behind the Science: The People’s Palaeontologist
Taylor Burns describes the life behind the science of Stephen Jay Gould
Monday, 3 May 2010
Focus: Lasers - Guiding us into the Future
BlueSci looks at how this physicist’s toy has become the tool of choice in so many areas of life and how they may play a vital role in solving the impending energy crisis.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Behind the Science: Joker, Womaniser... Physicist?
Jake Harris looks at the life behind the science of Richard Feynman
Monday, 4 January 2010
Feature: Mind Over Matter
Amy Miller considers why science and maths can be so hard to learn
Monday, 4 January 2010
Feature: The Perfect Conductor
Jack Gillett discusses the current uses and potential of superconductivity
Monday, 4 January 2010
Pavilion: Issue 17
In chemistry, highly complex behaviour can follow from a number of simple rules. Drawings can be made by looking at the ways of developing complex, and profound, patterns from simple structures and techniques.
Monday, 4 January 2010
POSTS FROM 2009
Spying on catalysts
A new method for measuring catalytic activity has been developed using nanoparticles ((E. M. Larsson et al., “Nanoplasmonic Probes of Catalytic Reactions,” Science 326, no. 5956 (2009): 1091-1094.)).
Friday, 30 October 2009
History: Bringing Elements to the Table
Lindsey Nield tracks the evolution of the periodic table.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Arts & Reviews: The Perfect Melody
Amy Chesterton looks at the mathematics behind a perfect tune.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Away From the Bench
Alison Peel braves the wilds of Africa to look at the spread of viruses in bats.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
A Day in the Life of: The Great Beyond
Chris Adriaanse and Sonia Aguera talk to Jim Bagian about becoming an astronaut.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Focus: The Manhattan Project
As the UK government continues discussion on the renewal of Trident, our missile-based nuclear weapons arsenal, Bluesci looks back on the only two bombs ever to be used in war and Britain’s role as a nuclear power.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Feature: A Revolution in Substance
Nicholas Gibbons explains how metamaterials can reveal what we can’t see and make what we can see invisible.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Feature: Seeing the Invisible
Bárbara Ferreira tackles the misconception surrounding black holes and describes how scientists can ‘see’ them.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Feature: The Extinction of Physics?
Frederik Floether examines whether a Theory of Everything could lead to the demise of a discipline.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Cover: Unstable Research
Katherine Thomas on the physics behind the cover image.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
POSTS FROM 2006
Our Second-Hand Universe
A cyclic universe, bouncing through a series of ‘Big Bangs’ and ‘Big Crunches’, could solve the mystery of the cosmological constant
Thursday, 11 May 2006
POSTS FROM 2000
Brane new world of higher dimensions
Why are there exactly three dimensions of space? Can there be more? These questions may lead to surprising consequences in our understanding of space and matter
Thursday, 23 November 2000
Space probe communications trouble from the Doppler effect
ESA's Huygens probe which is to explore Saturn's moon Titan in 2004, is expected to have communications problems due to Doppler effect, an elementary physical phenomenon that could have been predicted
Saturday, 28 October 2000
Mathematical enigma solved!
It seems that two undergraduates studying in the Cambridge University, UK, have solved one of the most challenging mathematical mysteries. They managed to make a plot of two superimposed transcendental functions. See figure below.
Sunday, 22 October 2000
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