Page 36 - Corresponding Editor News Today

Force Scanning on a Shaky Membrane February 5, 2021• Physics 14, 19 A microscope technique that visualizes small objects on a vibrating membrane could deliver atomically resolved MRI scans. D. Hälg et al. [1] Brane scan. A new approach to force microscopy uses a thin membrane (purple), whose vibrations are controlled and monitored with laser light (left). A scanning probe moves over a separate section of the membrane (right), where samples are placed. D. Hälg et al. [1] Brane scan...

Steering Swimmers with Polarization Patterns February 4, 2021• S. Yang S. Yang × Light-sensitive biological cells could form the basis of controllable active matter—self-driven units that turn energy from the environment into motion. Most of the demonstrated schemes exploit the response of cells to gradients in light intensity. Now, Siyuan Yang at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and colleagues show that they can direct the motion of a collection of cells using patterns of pol...

Biochemistry Among the Stars Physics 14, 14 Physicist Mike Famiano explores the possibility that nuclear processes in extreme astrophysical environments might be responsible for a puzzling aspect of biochemistry. APS/Alan Stonebraker; Christoph Burgstedt/stock.adobe.com APS/Alan Stonebraker; Christoph Burgstedt/stock.adobe.com × Carl Sagan famously said that “we are made of star stuff.” Few scientists understand the implications of that statement as well as Mike Famiano. A professor of nuc...

Cosmic Ringtones in Pulsar Data? January 28, 2021• Physics 14, 15 A pulsar survey has detected a potential signal from low-frequency gravitational waves, which theorists are eager to explain. Tonia Klein/NANOGrav By monitoring the radio flashes from distant pulsars, astronomers have spotted a signal that could be the result of a background of gravitational waves. Tonia Klein/NANOGrav By monitoring the radio flashes from distant pulsars, astronomers have spotted a signal that could be...

A New Twist on Exciton Lifetimes January 26, 2021• Physics 14, s2 Varying the twist angle between layers of a 2D semiconductor can prolong the duration of resonances that give the material its unique optoelectronic properties. J. Choi J. Choi × Structures made by stacking two semiconductor monolayers have unique optical and electronic properties, making them promising platforms for nanoelectronic and photonic devices. Central to these properties are excitons—electron-hole pairs th...

The Strange Shapes of Cooling Droplets January 21, 2021• Physics 14, s10 Researchers uncover the mechanism that makes some oil droplets change shape from spheres to icosahedrons to flattened plates. I. García-Aguilar/Leiden Univ.; E. Sloutskin/Bar-Ilan Univ. I. García-Aguilar/Leiden Univ.; E. Sloutskin/Bar-Ilan Univ. × Strange things occur when a droplet made of an alkane oil and surfactants is placed in water and cooled. The alkane and surfactant molecules form a solid shell, separ...

During a fruit-fly egg cell’s early development, its internal fluid begins to swirl in a vortex—a transition caused by the coordinated behavior of elastic filaments in the cell.

Predicting the Limits of Atomic Nuclei January 12, 2021• Physics 14, s4 First-principles calculations predict the properties of nearly 700 isotopes between helium and iron, showing which nuclides can exist and which cannot. koya979/adobe.stock.com × Among the vast number of possible nuclear isotopes, very few are stable. Stray above a certain mass number—by adding neutrons to an element in the Periodic Table—and eventually the corresponding nucleus can’t exist because it leaks n...

Capturing the Path of a Light Pulse January 8, 2021• Physics 14, 4 Using a megapixel, high-speed camera, researchers reconstructed the complete trajectory of a laser pulse in time and space. K. Morimoto et al. [1] Slow-motion replay. With a sophisticated new detector, researchers captured a laser pulse moving in 3D space. (See video below.) K. Morimoto et al. [1] Slow-motion replay. With a sophisticated new detector, researchers captured a laser pulse moving in 3D space. (See video ...

Cooling Hadron Beams with Electron Pulses January 6, 2021• Physics 14, s3 Pulsed electron beams can be used to cool beams of ions and protons circulating in a hadron storage ring—a promising development for future high-energy accelerators. M. Bruker M. Bruker × In hadron accelerators, the accelerated ion or proton beam heats up over time, degrading in quality. A popular method for counteracting beam degradation involves using an electron beam to cool the ions: the electron beam m...