Physics posts
- November 10, 2010
- 12:12 AM
- 741 views
CV Raman on drums
by Croor Singh in Learning to be Terse
A paper from 1920 that describes why a class of Indian percussion musical instrument can produce harmonic overtones.... Read more »
RAMAN, C., & KUMAR, S. (1920) Musical Drums with Harmonic Overtones. Nature, 104(2620), 500-500. DOI: 10.1038/104500a0
- November 8, 2010
- 04:21 AM
- 532 views
The Secret Loves of Trees
by Torah Kachur in Science in Seconds
Falling in love is so romantic, so blissful, so cherished in our lives. Most people will fall in love more than once, first with the 'wait until we're married' sterilizer, then with the 'jealous defender' and finally you hit an age where want to settle down and find the 'practical answer'. And then, after imminent divorce you find yourself with some gold digger who just can't wait for you to die and leave him or her everything.
That darling of a fairy tale also applies to trees.
........ Read more »
Palmer TM, Doak DF, Stanton ML, Bronstein JL, Kiers ET, Young TP, Goheen JR, & Pringle RM. (2010) Synergy of multiple partners, including freeloaders, increases host fitness in a multispecies mutualism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(40), 17234-9. PMID: 20855614
- November 7, 2010
- 11:08 AM
- 1,115 views
Where does desert sand come from?
by Vivienne in Outdoor Science
Sand is a great traveller. Go to the seaside for the day and it’ll ride home on your shoes or sneak into your picnic sandwiches. You may wonder, as you shake sand from your bag on the beach: ‘where did all this sand come from and how long’s it been here?’ Dr Pieter Vermeesch and colleagues had the same question about the sand in the Namib Sand Sea – one of …... Read more »
Vermeesch, P., Fenton, C., Kober, F., Wiggs, G., Bristow, C., & Xu, S. (2010) Sand residence times of one million years in the Namib Sand Sea from cosmogenic nuclides. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO985
- November 7, 2010
- 02:56 AM
- 1,088 views
Rolling and Slipping of Euler’s Disk – Spin a coin and watch it roll!
by Croor Singh in Learning to be Terse
An experimental study of the motion of Euler's disk. It is shown that the major energy dissipation mechanism in the problem is the friction from the surface and not viscous drag.... Read more »
Caps, H., Dorbolo, S., Ponte, S., Croisier, H., & Vandewalle, N. (2004) Rolling and slipping motion of Euler’s disk. Physical Review E, 69(5). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.69.056610
- November 5, 2010
- 12:53 PM
- 929 views
Tired of “novel supramolecular hydrogels”
by Andrew Sun in On The Road
Zhang, X., Huang, J., Chang, P., Li, J., Chen, Y., Wang, D., Yu, J., & Chen, J. (2010). Structure and properties of polysaccharide nanocrystal-doped supramolecular hydrogels based on Cyclodextrin inclusion Polymer, 51 (19), 4398-4407 DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2010.07.025 Last year I unsubscribed … Continue reading →... Read more »
Zhang, X., Huang, J., Chang, P., Li, J., Chen, Y., Wang, D., Yu, J., & Chen, J. (2010) Structure and properties of polysaccharide nanocrystal-doped supramolecular hydrogels based on Cyclodextrin inclusion. Polymer, 51(19), 4398-4407. DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2010.07.025
- November 5, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 675 views
Princess Leia and the Next Dimension
by Rheanna Sand in Science in Seconds
With my lightsaber and Jedi robes, this Halloween I defended the Rebel Alliance against the evil Galactic Empire with the help of Princess Leia, who faithfully acted out her hologram scene throughout the night: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Well, if Leia were here now, she could actually send that holographic message. That is, if she were friends with Nasser Peyghambarian at the University of Arizona. He and his colleagues have developed a new technique for three-dim........ Read more »
P.-A. Blanche, A. Bablumian, R. Voorakaranam, C. Christenson, W. Lin, T. Gu, D. Flores, P. Wang, W.-Y. Hsieh, M. Kathaperumal.... (2010) Holographic three-dimensional telepresence using large-area photorefractive polymer. Nature, 80-83. info:/10.1038/nature09521
- November 4, 2010
- 05:22 AM
- 1,003 views
Nanotechnology on ice - novel lithography approach to nanodevice fabrication
by Michael Berger in nanowerk
Researchers at Harvard University have shown that nanostructures can be patterned with focused electron or ion beams in thin, stable, conformal films of water ice grown on silicon. They demonstrated ice lithography as a lithographic technique for patterning e.g. metal wires down to 20 nm wide. What's interesting about this technique is that patterning with ices of any condensed gas is a straightforward and practical process. Ice resist does not require spinning or baking. All processing and patt........ Read more »
Han, A., Vlassarev, D., Wang, J., Golovchenko, J., & Branton, D. (2010) Ice Lithography for Nanodevices. Nano Letters, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1021/nl1032815
- November 4, 2010
- 05:07 AM
- 996 views
A galaxy far, far away…
by Kelly Oakes in Basic Space
When we look up into the sky at night, we see stars (even in London I can usually spot a few!). But there haven’t always been stars and galaxies in the universe. In a period known as the dark ages – not to be confused with the other dark ages – there was no light [...]... Read more »
M. D. Lehnert, N. P. H. Nesvadba, J. -G. Cuby, A. M. Swinbank, S. Morris, B. Clement, C. J. Evans, M. N. Bremer, & S. Basa. (2010) Spectroscopic confirmation of a galaxy at redshift z. Nature. arXiv: 1010.4312v1
- November 3, 2010
- 02:03 PM
- 831 views
Real-time holographic video displays could be near
by Joerg Heber in All That Matters
Holograms may seem like an original invention from some science fiction films. A famous scene often mentioned in this context is that from Star Wars where Princess Leia records an important holographic message, ending with the words “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi“. Such visions of holograms aren’t fiction. In a paper published in Nature, Nasser Peyghambarian, [...]... Read more »
Blanche, P., Bablumian, A., Voorakaranam, R., Christenson, C., Lin, W., Gu, T., Flores, D., Wang, P., Hsieh, W., Kathaperumal, M.... (2010) Holographic three-dimensional telepresence using large-area photorefractive polymer. Nature, 468(7320), 80-83. DOI: 10.1038/nature09521
- November 2, 2010
- 05:04 PM
- 1,031 views
Standing on the shoulders of tyrants
by Duncan Hull in O'Really?
There are at least two ways of looking at the history of Science: If we have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. If we have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of tyrants. Take Isaac Newton for example, a giant whose shoulders we all stand on today. [...]... Read more »
Isaac Newton. (1671) A Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton, Professor of the Mathematicks in the University of Cambridge; Containing His New Theory about Light and Colors: Sent by the Author to the Publisher from Cambridge, Febr. 6. 1671/72; In Order to be Communicated to the R. Socie. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 6(69-80), 3075-3087. DOI: 10.1098/rstl.1671.0072
- November 2, 2010
- 04:57 PM
- 362 views
Cell Traction Forces Independent of Intracellular Biochemistry
by Michael Long in Phased
How may cell shape regulate cell adhesion and spreading, important to many physiological processes, independent of intracellular biochemistry? A predictive model has been developed by Christopher Lemmon (Duke University Medical Center, United States) and Lewis Romer (John Hopkins Medical Institutions, United States) to answer this question.... Read more »
Lemmon, C. A., & Romer, L. H. (2010) A Predictive Model of Cell Traction Forces Based on Cell Geometry. Biophysical Journal, 99(9). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2010.09.024
- November 2, 2010
- 11:38 AM
- 1,308 views
This Week in the Universe: October 26th – November 1st
by S.C. Kavassalis in The Language of Bad Physics
Astrophysics and Gravitation:
Hubble Tries to See into the Future
Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI), Science Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson and R. van der Marel (STScI)
From NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson and R. van der Marel (STScI):
The multicolor snapshot, at top, taken with Wide Field Camera 3 aboard NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, captures the central region of the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri. All the stars in the image are moving in random direction........ Read more »
Hoover, S., & et al. (2010) Observation of Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Rays with the ANITA Balloon-Borne Radio Interferometer. Physical Review Letters, 105(15). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.151101
CMS Collaboration. (2010) First Measurement of the Cross Section for Top-Quark Pair Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at sqrt(s). arXiv. arXiv: 1010.5994v1
Andrew Randono. (2010) Gauge Gravity: a forward-looking introduction. arXiv. arXiv: 1010.5822v1
- October 28, 2010
- 01:24 PM
- 742 views
Teaching new tricks to insulators
by Joerg Heber in All That Matters
Insulators might seem pretty boring materials for an electronic device such as a computer memory, because by the very nature of their definition, they don’t conduct any electrical current. But some insulators show some pretty intriguing properties. Amongst them are the so-called ferroelectrics. A ferroelectric is a material where positive and negative electrical [...]... Read more »
Zhang, L. (2010) Field-induced phase transitions and dielectric energy density in poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) terpolymer. EPL (Europhysics Letters), 91(4), 47001. DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/91/47001
Scott, J. (2010) Switching of Ferroelectrics Without Domains. Advanced Materials. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201003264
Highland, M., Fister, T., Richard, M., Fong, D., Fuoss, P., Thompson, C., Eastman, J., Streiffer, S., & Stephenson, G. (2010) Polarization Switching without Domain Formation at the Intrinsic Coercive Field in Ultrathin Ferroelectric PbTiO_{3}. Physical Review Letters, 105(16). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.167601
- October 27, 2010
- 09:06 AM
- 611 views
Graphene research at Cal: Close, but no Nobel
by Anna Goldstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
Fans of the Nobel Prize in Physics know that this year's honors went to a pair of U.K.-based researchers for the discovery of graphene, a.k.a., The World's Thinnest Material. While neither winner has a significant connection to UC Berkeley (the last Cal professor to win the physics Nobel was George Smoot in 2006), many here in the physics department can rightly claim at least some stake in this year's prize. That's because graphene's discovery in 2004 sparked a huge burst of high-impact re........ Read more »
Zhou SY, Gweon GH, Fedorov AV, First PN, de Heer WA, Lee DH, Guinea F, Castro Neto AH, & Lanzara A. (2007) Substrate-induced bandgap opening in epitaxial graphene. Nature Materials, 6(10), 770-5. PMID: 17828279
Son YW, Cohen ML, & Louie SG. (2006) Half-metallic graphene nanoribbons. Nature, 444(7117), 347-9. PMID: 17108960
Son YW, Cohen ML, & Louie SG. (2006) Energy gaps in graphene nanoribbons. Physical Review Letters, 97(21), 216803. PMID: 17155765
Zhang, Y., Brar, V., Girit, C., Zettl, A., & Crommie, M. (2009) Origin of spatial charge inhomogeneity in graphene. Nature Physics, 5(10), 722-726. DOI: 10.1038/nphys1365
Levy N, Burke SA, Meaker KL, Panlasigui M, Zettl A, Guinea F, Castro Neto AH, & Crommie MF. (2010) Strain-induced pseudo-magnetic fields greater than 300 tesla in graphene nanobubbles. Science, 329(5991), 544-7. PMID: 20671183
Girit, C., Meyer, J., Erni, R., Rossell, M., Kisielowski, C., Yang, L., Park, C., Crommie, M., Cohen, M., Louie, S.... (2009) Graphene at the Edge: Stability and Dynamics. Science, 323(5922), 1705-1708. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166999
Zhang Y, Tang TT, Girit C, Hao Z, Martin MC, Zettl A, Crommie MF, Shen YR, & Wang F. (2009) Direct observation of a widely tunable bandgap in bilayer graphene. Nature, 459(7248), 820-3. PMID: 19516337
- October 26, 2010
- 05:23 PM
- 1,094 views
Groundbreaking method for computer simulation: Car-Parrinello Molecular Dynamics turns 25
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Twenty five years ago two budding scientists, Roberto Car and Michele Parrinello, used their expert knowledge, coupled with enthusiasm and a healthy dose of naivety, to develop a groundbreaking method for computer simulation. ... Read more »
Car, R., & Parrinello, M. (1985) Unified Approach for Molecular Dynamics and Density-Functional Theory. Physical Review Letters, 55(22), 2471-2474. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.55.2471
Editorial. (2010) A model approach to modelling. Nature Materials, 9(9), 687-687. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2852
Hafner, J. (2010) A joint effort with lasting impact. Nature Materials, 9(9), 690-692. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2838
- October 26, 2010
- 11:24 AM
- 1,121 views
This “Week” in the Universe: October 12th – October 25th
by S.C. Kavassalis in The Language of Bad Physics
Two weeks of news in one!
Astrophysics and Gravitation:
Did We Already Have the Data to Show Dark Matter Annihilation?
Dan Hooper, & Lisa Goodenough (2010). Dark Matter Annihilation in The Galactic Center As Seen by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope arXiv arXiv: 1010.2752v1
Analyzing old data from the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, the authors have noticed gamma ray emissions consistent with predictions for a certain type of dark matter. Unfortunately, these things are never nice, clea........ Read more »
Dan Hooper, & Lisa Goodenough. (2010) Dark Matter Annihilation in The Galactic Center As Seen by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. arXiv. arXiv: 1010.2752v1
Champion, D., Hobbs, G., Manchester, R., Edwards, R., Backer, D., Bailes, M., Bhat, N., Burke-Spolaor, S., Coles, W., Demorest, P.... (2010) MEASURING THE MASS OF SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETS USING PULSAR TIMING. The Astrophysical Journal, 720(2). DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/720/2/L201
Poznanski, D., Nugent, P., & Filippenko, A. (2010) TYPE II-P SUPERNOVAE AS STANDARD CANDLES: THE SDSS-II SAMPLE REVISITED. The Astrophysical Journal, 721(2), 956-959. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/956
Lopes, I., & Silk, J. (2010) Neutrino Spectroscopy Can Probe the Dark Matter Content in the Sun. Science, 330(6003), 462-462. DOI: 10.1126/science.1196564
Lehnert, M., Nesvadba, N., Cuby, J., Swinbank, A., Morris, S., Clément, B., Evans, C., Bremer, M., & Basa, S. (2010) Spectroscopic confirmation of a galaxy at redshift z . Nature, 467(7318), 940-942. DOI: 10.1038/nature09462
Raphael Bousso, Ben Freivogel, Stefan Leichenauer, & Vladimir Rosenhaus. (2010) Eternal inflation predicts that time will end. arXiv. arXiv: 1009.4698v1
Sabine Hossenfelder. (2010) Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity. arXiv. arXiv: 1010.3420v1
Major, S. (2010) Shape in an atom of space: exploring quantum geometry phenomenology. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 27(22), 225012. DOI: 10.1088/0264-9381/27/22/225012
Sachdev, S. (2010) Holographic Metals and the Fractionalized Fermi Liquid. Physical Review Letters, 105(15). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.151602
Henrique Gomes, Sean Gryb, & Tim Koslowski. (2010) Einstein gravity as a 3D conformally invariant theory. arXiv. arXiv: 1010.2481v1
- October 25, 2010
- 08:04 AM
- 680 views
Meteorite tea, and the failures of genius
by Lab Lemming in Lounge of the Lab Lemming
In the early 1970’s, Io, the innermost large moon of Jupiter, was somewhat of an enigma. Unlike Europa and Ganymede, it did not exhibit water ice adsorption bands it its IR spectra. Its density suggested that it was a rock and metal planet, but the surface reflectance was unlike anything known to science. This problem was addressed brilliantly in a Science paper by Fanale, Johnson, and Matson,... Read more »
Fanale, F., Johnson, T., & Matson, D. (1974) Io: A Surface Evaporite Deposit?. Science, 186(4167), 922-925. DOI: 10.1126/science.186.4167.922
- October 22, 2010
- 01:13 PM
- 569 views
The State of Confined Water in the Ribosome Exit Tunnel
by Michael Long in Phased
Vijay Pande (Stanford University, United States) and coworkers have used computer simulations to show that water confined within the ribosome exit tunnel has unique properties, which may explain certain aspects of protein synthesis, and provide insight into how certain antibiotics work.... Read more »
Lucent, D., Snow, C. D., Aitken, C. E., & Pande, V. S. (2010) Non-Bulk-Like Solvent Behavior in the Ribosome Exit Tunnel. PLoS Computational Biology, 6(10). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000963
- October 22, 2010
- 08:24 AM
- 595 views
Geim and Novoselov Isolate Graphene, Win 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics
by A. Goldstein in WiSci
It is 100 times stronger than steel and the best heat conductor known to man. Most people have produced this substance unwittingly, yet it could be used to substantially improve computer chips, solar cells, and even satellites. What is this astonishing material? The first truly 2-dimensional crystalline material: graphene. This year, two pioneering physicists received [...]... Read more »
Tsoukleri, G., Parthenios, J., Papagelis, K., Jalil, R., Ferrari, A., Geim, A., Novoselov, K., & Galiotis, C. (2009) Subjecting a Graphene Monolayer to Tension and Compression. Small, 5(21), 2397-2402. DOI: 10.1002/smll.200900802
Neubeck, S., Ponomarenko, L., Freitag, F., Giesbers, A., Zeitler, U., Morozov, S., Blake, P., Geim, A., & Novoselov, K. (2010) From One Electron to One Hole: Quasiparticle Counting in Graphene Quantum Dots Determined by Electrochemical and Plasma Etching. Small, 6(14), 1469-1473. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201000291
Novoselov, K. (2004) Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films. Science, 306(5696), 666-669. DOI: 10.1126/science.1102896
- October 22, 2010
- 03:45 AM
- 1,348 views
The Physics of Wet Dogs
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Dog owners no longer have to lay awake at night, wondering how rapidly a wet dog should oscillate its body to dry its fur. Presumably, dogs already know, and now, thanks to slo-mo photography, physicists know, too... Read more »
Andrew Dickerson, Grant Mills, Jay Bauman, Young-Hui Chang, & David Hu. (2010) The Wet-Dog Shake. Fluid Dynamics. info:/arxiv.org/abs/1010.3279
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