Page 18 - Katherine Wright News Today

Two research teams have used eye-tracking methods to learn how students approach complex physics problems.

A Lightweight Among Heavyweights Physics 14, s43 × Discovering new isotopes is like the stamp collecting of physics, but the consequences of adding to the set are much further reaching. A team of researchers using the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou, China, has now expanded the collection with the discovery of the lightest uranium isotope to date [1]. The finding could have implications for our understanding of a particular type of radioactive decay that is still mysterious despite more...

Hidden Magnetic Structures Revealed Physics 14, s31 Researchers capture the previously hidden twists of spins in the domain wall of a “proper” antiferromagnetic material, chromium oxide. M. Wörnle/ETH Zurich × “Interesting but useless,” is how Louis Néel famously described antiferromagnets, materials for whose discovery he was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in physics. Jump forward 50 years and these materials are trending among condensed-matter physicists, who are exploring their use ...

Many countries in the Middle East and Western Asia have exceptionally high levels of participation of women in STEM fields—a matter for reflection and celebration on International Women’s Day.

An Atom Pushed to Its Speed Limit February 19, 2021• Physics 14, 26 Researchers have transported an atom between two locations in the shortest possible time, an achievement that has implications for quantum technologies. A. Alberti/Univ. of Bonn Keep it movin’. Researchers used an atomic conveyor belt to find the top speed at which atoms can be moved without disturbing their quantum states. A. Alberti/Univ. of Bonn Keep it movin’. Researchers used an atomic conveyor belt to find th...

Unexpected Universality in Superconductor Behavior February 16, 2021• Physics 14, s17 In contrast with predictions, researchers find no variation in a thermoelectric signal (known as the Nernst signal) for different types of superconductor. C. W. Rischau C. W. Rischau × Kamran Behnia has a passion for Nernst signals and has spent the last two decades exploring their manifestation in different solids. These voltage signals arise when a material is subjected to a thermal gradient and ...

Busting the “Men are Better at Physics” Myth February 9, 2021• Physics 14, 22 Men and women perform equally well in introductory physics courses, according to a new study that looked at the exam grades of over 10,000 students. luckybusiness/stock.adobe.com × When asked to draw a physicist, most people will draw a man. This stereotype is reinforced by a widely held view that women who study physics are not as good at grasping the physics concepts as their male counterparts are. Ho...

A new theory explains the lack of variation in the refractive indices of atomic gases.

An Octad for Darmstadtium and Excitement for Copernicium January 22, 2021• Physics 14, s6 The discovery that copernicium can decay into a new isotope of darmstadtium and the observation of a previously unseen excited state of copernicium provide clues to the location of the “island of stability.” Orlando Florin Rosu/stock.adobe.com × A holy grail of nuclear physics is to understand the stability of the periodic table’s heaviest elements. The problem is, these elements only exist...

Starquake Observations Near Their Teenage Years January 21, 2021• Physics 14, 9 An observational target for more than a century, researchers have only very recently spotted “starquakes”—periodic fluctuations in brightness that can reveal secrets about a star’s interior. Gabriel Perez Diaz/Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias Researchers can use waves traveling through a star to understand the properties of the star’s interior. Gabriel Perez Diaz/Instituto de Astrofisica de C...