Physics
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Pushing the laser limit
Researchers offer a taste of what’s possible.
Australian quantum researchers have shown it’s possible to vastly improve the coherence of lasers, overcoming a bound...
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History
Georges Lemaître comes in with a bang
Belgian priest a big part of big scientific debates.
In 1927, Catholic priest Georges Lemaître published a paper in the Annales de la Societe scientifique de Bruxelles in...
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Making it easier to find ‘new Earths’
Australian sensor can correct the distortion of starlight.
Australian researchers have combined artificial intelligence and photonics to develop a new type of adaptive optics s...
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Honey goes with the flow
Clever coatings reverse the rules of viscosity.
Water flows more quickly than honey – except, perhaps, when it doesn’t. Physicists in Finland were surprised to fi...
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Superconductor happy at room temperature
Physics first achieved under great pressure.
US physicists have created a material that appears to conduct electricity with perfect efficiency at 15 degrees Celsi...
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Conversation
Could Schrödinger’s cat exist in real life?
New research may soon provide an answer.
Have you ever been in more than one place at the same time? If you’re much bigger than an atom, the answer will be no...
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Physicists propose the top speed of sound
Calculations build on two well-known physical constants.
The fastest possible speed of sound is around 36 kilometres per second, according to a team of British and Russian ph...
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Turning buoyancy on its head
French researchers have floated boats “upside down” on liquid.
At risk of stating the obvious: boats float on top of water. Yet French researchers have seemingly inverted gravity a...
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Conversation
Raising questions about physical reality
Unveiling a new paradox in quantum mechanics.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps not, some say. And if so...
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A three-in-one flame with potential
Researchers learn more about the intriguing blue whirl.
Four years ago, a team of aerospace and fire protection engineers from the University of Maryland, US, described a un...
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Alcohol beats the coffee ring effect
That could mean better printing for electronics, researchers say.
The “coffee ring effect” is one of the most puzzling phenomena in fluid mechanics. A quick Google search will unearth...
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History
Rachel Makinson and the science of wool
Distinguished career began on a temporary basis.
Rachel Makinson joined the radiophysics laboratory at Australia’s then Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ...