Physics

Sam Vennin is a biomechanical engineer research fellow at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Biomedical Research Centre and King’s College London, UK. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact

PeakForce Tapping has been widely adopted in a broad range of research fields, outpacing all other recently developed AFM modes in research impact and productivity. Webinar OverviewIn December 2009, a new mode for atomic force microscopy was introduced – PeakForce Tapping. Since then, it has been widely adopted in a broad range of research fields,

Charles Curry is a research associate at the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria in Canada. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact us at pwld@ioppublishing.org. 

“Bacteria always find new ways to manipulate their environment to protect themselves,” says Harshitha Kotian, a PhD candidate at the Indian Institute of Science. Like many physics students, Kotian once thought research on bacteria and antibiotics should be left to the biologists and chemists. Now she’s part of an interdisciplinary research team that recently uncovered

Most of the time science appears in the media – including in this podcast – the focus is on the scientific results. Rightly so, as scientific research consistently delivers inspiring breakthroughs. But this type of coverage can present an idealised version of science. Researchers are presented as dispassionate beings working together seamlessly to uncover the

Seyedamir Tavakoli Taba from the University of Sydney is investigating the use of propagation-based phase-contrast CT for breast cancer diagnosis. Propagation-based phase-contrast CT (PB-CT) is an advanced X-ray imaging technology that can generate higher quality diagnostic breast images than absorption-based CT (AB-CT), at a glandular radiation dose comparable to, or lower than, conventional mammography and

Forward thinker: physicist Philip Anderson made a vital contribution to our understanding of how electrons move in solids. (Courtesy: P W Anderson via Wikimedia Commons) The US condensed-matter physicist Philip Warren Anderson died yesterday aged 96. One of the most celebrated condensed-matter physicists of his generation, Anderson’s theoretical research into the electronic structure of magnetic

Formation of defect-pairs in GaN under high-energy particle irradiation. Courtesy: S Chen Gallium nitride (GaN) is the world’s second-favourite semiconductor, present in devices ranging from light-emitting diodes and photodetectors to high-temperature electron mobility transistors. When these devices are exposed to irradiation from high-energy particles – as they often are in fields such as satellite communications,

Of the shelf: 3D drawing of the MVM control unit. The base plate is 152×170 mm. (Courtesy: C Galbiati et al) Members of the DarkSide experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy have temporarily put their hunt for dark matter on hold in an attempt to stem the deadly tide of COVID-19. The

Suman Shrestha is a PhD student in medical physics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to

Joanne O’Meara is a professor and second year coordinator at the University of Guelph in Canada This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact us at pwld@ioppublishing.org.  Video shoot: Joanne

David Graves interview Plasmas are finding a growing number of applications in food production and agriculture. In this interview, Dave Graves of the University of California, Berkeley talks about the physics and chemistry of non-thermal (or cold) plasmas and explains how these plasmas could improve food and agriculture. He also talks about a special issue

[embedded content] Physicist and author Sabine Hossenfelder is probably most famous for being the bane of those who believe that physics should have an underlying mathematical beauty. But she is also a talented musician and video producer, as you can see in the above video. It’s a riff on REM’s “It’s the end of the

The March Meeting of the American Physical was cancelled, but here is an opportunity to learn about companies that would have been exhibiting products in Denver. Eureka moments: read about notable product launches that were to take place at the APS March Meeting. (Courtesy: iStock/Gajus) The last-minute decision by the American Physical Society (APS) to

Until something disrupts the rhythm of life (or you’re in the car with a five-year-old), most of us don’t stop to analyze why things are the way they are. We’re too busy navigating life to step back and ponder our reality. But let’s try it for a few minutes. Photo by Mike Kononov on Unsplash. We live in

A new type of nanoelectromechanical relay for reliable high-temperature, non-volatile memory. Courtesy: Dinesh Pamunuwa A new type of relay that retains its state even when the power is switched off could be used to make a reliable high-temperature non-volatile digital memory. The device, developed by researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK, could

Taken from the March 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. (Courtesy: Priyamvada Natarajan) What skills do you use every day in your job? My research revolves around building testable physical models of cosmic phenomena that are guided by current observational data,

Elizabeth von Hauff is an associate professor of physics at the VU Amsterdam, Netherlands. She spoke to Margaret Harris about how she and her research group are dealing with pandemic-related restrictions. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world.

Catherine Steffel is a PhD student in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact us at pwld@ioppublishing.org. Catherine Steffel at

Eye in the sky: NASA’s Fermi gamma-ray telescope may have caught a glimpse of dark matter. (Courtesy: NASA) A comparison of data from gravitational lensing and gamma-ray observations has revealed that regions of the sky with greater concentrations of matter emit more gamma rays. The researchers who carried out the work conclude that much of

Geyser-free zone: Zihua Zhu prepares his lithium-ion battery for in situ liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry. (Courtesy:Andrea Starr/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) What happens in a lithium-ion battery when it first starts running? A complex series of events, it turns out – from electrolytic ion reorganization to a riot of chemical reactions. To explore this early

The future of clothing is electronic. Along with color and size, you’ll probably be able to choose clothes based on what they do—as determined by the sensors, indicators, and power sources embedded within them. Many researchers expect that such “smart clothing” will revolutionize at least some aspects of medicine and fashion. But in the age

Non-learner: the white-tipped plantcutter. (Courtesy: Allan Drewitt/ CC BY 2.5) The characteristics of the white-tipped plantcutter’s song are directly linked to its body size, a new study shows. A team of physicists and ornithologists in Argentina and Germany, including Gonzalo Uribarri at the University of Buenos Aires, discovered the relationship through a detailed analysis of

Sensing from the inside. A mock-up of an ingestible pill containing the wireless transceiver. (Courtesy: Imec) Researchers at Imec, a Leuven, Belgium-based centre for nanoelectronics and digital technologies, have developed a wireless receiver and transmitter small enough to fit inside a millimetre-scale capsule. The transceiver, which was presented at the International Solid-State Circuits conference in

Taken from the April 2020 issue of Physics World where it appeared under the title “Fighting a pandemic”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The latest novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has reached pandemic status. While health workers and governments do their part, scientists are trying to

Taken from the March 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Is “biodynamic wine” is stuff or nonsense? In this article (originally published in Lateral Thoughts, Physics World’s regular column of humorous and offbeat essays, puzzles, crosswords, quizzes and comics, which

© AuntMinnieEurope.com An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm can provide fully automated quantification of emphysema, offering potential as a tool for image-based diagnosis and quantification of emphysema severity, according to research published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR 10.2214/AJR.19.21572). After testing prototype AI software on over 140 patients, a multinational team of researchers found that

Caught in a trap: Honeywell says it will soon be releasing a powerful new quantum computer. (Courtesy: Honeywell) Honeywell says that it will release the world’s most powerful commercial quantum computer by mid-2020. The US-based manufacturer of scientific and commercial equipment says that the device is based on trapped ions, which is a different technology

Dressing up: physicists have studied “The Portrait of FP Makerovsky in a Masquerade Costume” by Dmitry Levitsky (Courtesy: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) Physicists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology along with colleagues at the Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry and the Tretyakov Gallery have solved a longstanding mystery surrounding

The novel coronavirus responsible for the current pandemic has only been known for a few months but scientists have already gained a vast amount of information about it. Some of this knowledge has been gained by structural biologists who use techniques first developed by physicists. In this podcast episode, the science journalist Jon Cartwright explains

Mikkel Andersen (left) and Marvin Weyland in the physics lab. (Courtesy: University of Otago) Physicists in New Zealand have used optical tweezers to combine three atoms, with two of the atoms forming a molecule in the presence of the third. They we able to measure the rate at which this “three-body recombination” occurs and found

Taken from the March 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Paul Ewart says it is unfair to force active physicists to retire to “free up” positions for younger scientists or to improve diversity – when there is little evidence that

Left, a tissue sample dyed by traditional methods. Centre, a computed stain created from infrared–optical hybrid imaging. Right, tissue types identified with infrared data; the pink in this image signifies malignant cancer. (Courtesy: Rohit Bhargava, University of Illinois) A novel hybrid microscope delivers the same information as standard optical microscopy without the need for detrimental

Supermicro’s high-performance outdoor SuperServer. Mobile operators around the globe are gearing up for a new era of 5G network services. The move to 5G promises higher transmission speeds and more bandwidth, allowing videos and other data-rich content to be uploaded and downloaded up to 20 times more quickly than with current 4G technology. Perhaps even

[embedded content] The stiffness of the human foot is strongly influenced by an arch that spans its width, a new study suggests. An international research team, led by Madhusudhan Venkadesan at Yale University in the US, came to this conclusion by doing simulations and experiments of the physical mechanisms underlying the foot’s transverse tarsal arch

Expert assembly: cryogenic systems from Bluefors have been engineered in a modular system that now offers the option of high-density wiring. Researchers attempting to build the next generation of quantum computers are pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with current experimental technologies. One of the challenges is testing the behaviour of a complex

The Spring Meetings of the German Physical Society have been cancelled, but you can still check out some of the products that would have been on show in Hannover, Dresden and Bonn The DPG Spring Meetings have been cancelled. (Courtesy: DPG) The rapid spread of the coronavirus is continuing to affect the international calendar of

Rings in transit An artist’s conception of a ringed planet transiting in front of its host star. Astronomers used models of such events to constrain which of the known “super-puff” exoplanets could have rings. Courtesy: Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science The apparent “puffiness” of some exoplanets could be due to Saturn-like rings, rather than envelopes

The CT scan reveals the location of two lung cavities, while the PET/CT image shows the failure of a radioactively tagged anti-TB drug (in colour) to get inside those cavities and attack the microbes they encase. (Courtesy: Johns Hopkins Medicine) Shortening tuberculosis (TB) treatment by optimizing antibiotic dosing may be possible using data acquired from

Micro-lens machinists: Polina Medvedskaya and Ivan Lyatun. (Courtesy: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University) An international team of researchers has produced a stack of diamond micro-lenses precise enough to be compatible with the latest generation of X-ray sources. Physicists led by Polina Medvedskaya at Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Russia developed the intricate structures using

Weather conditions on Earth are influenced by a phenomenon known as Rossby waves. These planetary-scale fluctuations arise because the Coriolis force – due to the Earth’s rotation – varies with latitude. The resulting pressure system is associated with the jet stream in the atmosphere and also helps govern currents in the oceans. Within the past

An artist’s impression of the ExoMars rover on the surface of Mars. (Courtesy: ESA/ATG medialab) Europe’s Rosalind Franklin rover, which was set to begin its journey to Mars this summer, has had its launch postponed until 2022 amid parachute and electronics difficulties and uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint mission between the European

Salad days: Astronaut Steve Swanson harvests some of the first crop of space lettuce in June 2014 (Courtesy: NASA) Some readers may be secretly pleased that conference cancellations have spared them the arduous task of presenting their results at a scientific meeting. Many of us have finished talks feeling like we’ve spent a few rounds

A snapshot of the reconstructed 3D magnetic structure. Credit: Claire Donnelly Vortices, domain walls and other magnetic phenomena behave in complex and dynamic ways, but limitations in imaging technology have so far kept researchers from observing them in more than two dimensions. Scientists in the UK and Switzerland have now found a way around this

(Image courtesy: Shutterstock/orhan-cam) The American Physical Society’s April Meeting has become the latest event in the scientific calendar to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The annual particle-physics gathering, which was scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, on 18-21 April, has been called off, with organizers working to set up an online “virtual”

Harald Paganetti, Abdelkhalek Hammi and Clemens Grassberger (left to right) have modelled the dose to circulating blood during radiotherapy. (Courtesy: Abdelkhalek Hammi) Radiation is known to be damaging to the immune system, with recent studies linking radiation-induced lymphopenia (loss of lymphocytes, the white blood cells associated with immune response) with poor survival after radiotherapy. To

Optical micrograph of the inside of a luminescent substrate. Image: Cecile Chazot Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new dark-field imaging technique that does not require specialized microscope components. The technique, dubbed “substrate luminescence-enabled dark-field imaging” (SLED), involves adding a mirrored substrate to the sample stage of a standard optical

Taken from the March 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The terahertz range has been barely exploited compared to the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum. But as Sidney Perkowitz argues, our ability to detect radiation at these wavelengths has proved